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sarahholliday 's review for:
The Poppy War
by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
R.F. Kuang does it again—a well-paced story, thoughtfully built world, and compelling characters. To be fair, I wanted to shake just about every character by the shoulders at some point, but I think that's just a side effect of genuine complexity.
I enjoyed the somewhat leisurely pace of the first part of the story. Getting to see Rin gradually develop and grow allows the reader to get to know the essential parts of her personality that eventually become amplified in the context of warfare.
Overall, I think this was an incredibly strong opening to the series and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here. I'm especially interested to see how Rin deals with the grief and guilt after the final events of the book, and hope to see some familiar faces return in the second and third installments!
I enjoyed the somewhat leisurely pace of the first part of the story. Getting to see Rin gradually develop and grow allows the reader to get to know the essential parts of her personality that eventually become amplified in the context of warfare.
Overall, I think this was an incredibly strong opening to the series and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here. I'm especially interested to see how Rin deals with the grief and guilt after the final events of the book, and hope to see some familiar faces return in the second and third installments!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism