Review by rubybastille - The Poppy War

rubybastille 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

2.5

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This shifted from dark academia to grimdark epic fantasy in the blink of an eye. The humor that had made characters relatable quickly became painfully out of place. While the worldbuilding around Nikan/Mugen politics, Speer, and the shamanic system were really well done, especially for a debut, Rin's motivations never made sense to me beyond her taking the Keju. Why would she have such loyalty to an Empress she never met and who enforced the systems that favored people like Nezha and kept her in poverty? When would she have even learned such patriotism? The constant flipping between "I won't summon the gods, they're awful" and "I'm going to summon the gods BECAUSE they are awful and so am I" got repetitive. That plus the incredibly dark tone/themes made this one book enough for me.

Content Warnings