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

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

3.5

  • This was... not what I was expecting. The Poppy War was okay. Not great, not awful. Just in the middle. It took until the 200-page mark for it to somewhat pique my interest. I did love the story/plot as far as the shamanism and gods go. It was very interesting and unique. But what my score comes down to is the story seemed to go from boredom, to interesting, to boredom, to interesting and so on. I didn't feel the flow of the story; it had jagged edges which made it confusing at times. The authors writing style didn't vibe with me as well. If you're SUPER into historical fantasy than you will enjoy this book. Its dark and gritty and full of factual history. 

PLOT
-The plot was very interesting and was my main interest when reading. But it felt very start and stop for me as I previously said.
-The way that the gods and shamans were introduced was very clever.
-On a side note that needs mentioning,
drug use and abuse
is such a big part of the story, which is rarely seen these days (IMO). I believe it shines a lot of light on dark themes. People tend to use 'gore' and 'body horror' to manifest a dark book. They tip-toe around the darkest parts of humanity that the world is still struggling with. 

CHARACTERS
-The characters were not my favorite. I will admit, they were all very human. They had their own values and morals. This made them feel real. But many character choices didn't make sense to me. Now, I love a good morally grey character, and The Poppy War had plenty of them. But the discissions some of them made was just outwardly confusing and out of character with no elaboration and had little to no effect to character development/story. But I supposed that was how it was meant to be written

  • All being said, I think some of my critiques are solely based on reading preference. This was pretty different than the stuff that I normally read. A good chunk of the beginning was an academic setting, and I really dislike academic settings. I will be continuing the trilogy simply because this was a debut novel, and I feel it would be a waste not to indulge in the full experience.
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