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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
5.0
adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
The Poppy war is set in an Alternate Asia and is inspired by the Opium Wars & the 19th century colonialism in China.

In this book we follow Rin, a warn orphan who’s only hope to escape an arranged marriage is to earn a place the top military academy in the country. While at the academy Rin learns about shamanist magic, which is used to channel the power of the Gods. 

This is a fast paced, action packed, very dark war story. Please check all of the trigger warns going into this book, as it is a very graphic depiction of war crimes. RF Kuang sent me on such a spiral, I went down a whole rabbit hole after finding out that everything in the book is based on actual historical events. 

I absolutely love all of the characters in this book, each one has its own unique personality which can be difficult when there are so many characters. I loved that Rin was a prime example of standing on business, and how her flaws really weren’t sugar coated or played in an annoying way. 

I chose to listen to the audiobook for this read, as I worried that I would struggle with the names if I were to just read it. The only complaint that I have is that the narrator (Emily Woo Zeller) has a very light and almost breathy way of speaking for the main section of the book that I needed to have my volume all the way up so that I could hear what she was saying that when she switched into a new voice it was too loud then. I do wish that the volume was more consistent, and a bit more solid for lack of better words.  Other than that I think that Emily did an amazing job.

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