sarah_reads_stuff3 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

2.0

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Spoiler

I don’t understand the hype with this one. It gets 2 starts because there were still elements of the story I enjoyed, such as the idea of the Shamans and the Gods and the crazy old Lore Master getting high in his garden.
But none of the main characters are likeable. Rin is whiney and spiteful to a degree that isn’t justified by her story. There was way too much brutality and hate, and it wasn’t balanced.
There are no good deep connections here between characters. Her Lore Master ghosted her, I thought Altan would be a love interest but he was a doped up loser, even her best friend dude at the end was like nah I’m out.
They all just got high and made shit decisions. The smartest guy in the book was the Lore Master who imprisoned himself in the Stone Mountain and went fuck this i’d rather be trapped for eternity than deal with this BS.