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A review by joycerosereads
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
4.0
(4.5 stars)
Wow! I have been sleeping on this book. There is no excuse, it’s been on my shelves since February 2020 so why am I only reading it now. There is simply no excuse. However, I am not sorry. I buddy read this with a great bookish friend and so the timing felt perfect and this book is amazing!
A dark, graphic and epic fantasy. Rin is accepted to a prestigious military school to train to fight for her empress and things kick off from there. I went into this one without too much knowledge on the plot and I think that’s for the best so I won’t say more. The character development and growth in this is brilliant. There is so much action packed into 530 pages and yes yes yes we love to see it. You will not be bored.
My favourite aspect of this book was how well developed the world was and how the information and lore is presented to you. It is so inclusive of the reader when doing this whether it’s outlined in conversations, someone reading an article, being thought in class or visually seeing it. I loved this as it never felt like the author was infodumping.
So why is it not 5 stars? Why did it lose half a star? How could it this is amazing! It’s the pacing. For me, there are a few instances where the pacing felt very clunky or the shift in dynamic comes out of nowhere and is a little jarring. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I won’t say where exactly but yeah I feel like this did pull me out of the world at times and that sucked however it’s not bad enough to lose more than half a star and it’s so forgivable as the entirety of the book is phenomenal.
If you haven’t read it yet do it. Now is the time. The series is over so you can binge and she has a new book coming out end of summer I believe. Go!
Wow! I have been sleeping on this book. There is no excuse, it’s been on my shelves since February 2020 so why am I only reading it now. There is simply no excuse. However, I am not sorry. I buddy read this with a great bookish friend and so the timing felt perfect and this book is amazing!
A dark, graphic and epic fantasy. Rin is accepted to a prestigious military school to train to fight for her empress and things kick off from there. I went into this one without too much knowledge on the plot and I think that’s for the best so I won’t say more. The character development and growth in this is brilliant. There is so much action packed into 530 pages and yes yes yes we love to see it. You will not be bored.
My favourite aspect of this book was how well developed the world was and how the information and lore is presented to you. It is so inclusive of the reader when doing this whether it’s outlined in conversations, someone reading an article, being thought in class or visually seeing it. I loved this as it never felt like the author was infodumping.
So why is it not 5 stars? Why did it lose half a star? How could it this is amazing! It’s the pacing. For me, there are a few instances where the pacing felt very clunky or the shift in dynamic comes out of nowhere and is a little jarring. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I won’t say where exactly but yeah I feel like this did pull me out of the world at times and that sucked however it’s not bad enough to lose more than half a star and it’s so forgivable as the entirety of the book is phenomenal.
If you haven’t read it yet do it. Now is the time. The series is over so you can binge and she has a new book coming out end of summer I believe. Go!