khockett 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

3.0

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Was expecting to really love this one but didn’t live up to the hype for me. Learning the historical context after reading does make me view it in a better light, but ultimately it was still hard to get through for fantasy. Somehow both extremely dark and boring at times. I felt like the plot had so much promise and I kept waiting for the chapter where the characters and events would all click but they never did. I felt like there was a lot of whiplash between characters and they were just hard to root for -I did  appreciate the different take on a FMC but wish she and her arc would have made more sense.  Hoping that this one is just the foundation for the next two!