A review by rebelscum
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While I did enjoy the book, I don't think I'll continue the series, as I found the setting very dark by the end with, to me, not much hope for a good ending. That alone would be fine but I struggled to connect to the character by the end. Not a bad book, but not for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Rape, War, and Genocide

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Colonisation, and Medical content

There is an extended sequence depicting the sacking of a town, where we get gruesome details of what happened from survivors, as well as descriptions of the aftermath. This includes graphic depictions of rape, murder of people of all ages, and torture. I believe much of this was deliberately drawing from accounts of the Rape of Nanking by Japanese forces in WW2, and other details from that war and occupation in China. There are also depictions of drug use throughout the book