artmuseam 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

this book was definitely one of the darkest and heaviest themes i faced when reading a historical-fantasy novel. while it had a fast-paced action sequence that had me hooked throughout the story, i was more interested in the character of rin and loved the challenge set by the author to decide whether i supported rin or not. i eventually found that answer later on, but i think this book wasn’t as compelling as i expected it to be for me to want to read the rest of the series. i still appreciated the grim realities of war that rf kuang did not shy away from within this book, as it serves as a reminder to the tragedies people had to face during those times. overall i would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in east asian history and fantasy. 4/5 stars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail