triforcefusion 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

DID NOT FINISH: 81%

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The pace and focus of the book takes a sharp turn in part 2. The main character's characterization swings wildly for narrative function and it rings untrue. There is extreme detail

on mass murder and rape

that feels wholly unnecessary. There is a lot of build up as to why people would be upset, vengeful, etc. The extreme detail just feel gratuitous. The story is not helped by the petulance of most of the main characters you are following in the 2nd part of the book. The final straw for me was the unbelievable nature

of two of the main character's classmates surviving and entire town's destruction

. The Deus Ex Machina of it all induced eye rolling. I found no one likeable anymore and while the world building is interesting, it became more exposition and less exploration like in Part 1. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use