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sloogkat 's review for:
The Poppy War
by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To be honest I didn't really love this book. It's a sort of dark fantasy/Asia inspired setting with the weirdest pacing that I couldn't really get behind.
It started out as a kind of shounen-esque military school arch that was really rushed and had mostly uninspiring characters. The main character has her own special sensei that taught her in unconventional methods, in a very Karate Kid kind of way that felt kind of tired to me. Of coure she becomes so much better and stronger and more dangerous than her classmates because of these unconventional methods etc. etc.
It takes a sharp turn into absolute and unnecessary misery, with some truly horrific and drawn out scenes of human torture. Everyone is a bad person, there is no salvation, war is horrible, all that.
The main character just keeps making the worst decisions and is so wishy-washy about it. It just becomes so tiring to keep watching the same struggle within her and see the same thing play out several times throughout the book. I really could not get behind anything she did throughout this whole book.
There are also Gods and magic that play a major role in the story, but they feel so unexplored and boring to me, I really couldn't care less. The world building is very very flimsy, and not even in the fun whimiacal way or a fairy tale or something. It just feels half formed.
Maybe the most annoying thing to me about the book is that occasionally the dialog feels like a Disney channel laugh track moment, especially in the first half of the book. Stupid comebacks and one lone zingers that don't land for me. Just very artificial and tropey. Not a big fan of this one.
It started out as a kind of shounen-esque military school arch that was really rushed and had mostly uninspiring characters. The main character has her own special sensei that taught her in unconventional methods, in a very Karate Kid kind of way that felt kind of tired to me. Of coure she becomes so much better and stronger and more dangerous than her classmates because of these unconventional methods etc. etc.
It takes a sharp turn into absolute and unnecessary misery, with some truly horrific and drawn out scenes of human torture. Everyone is a bad person, there is no salvation, war is horrible, all that.
The main character just keeps making the worst decisions and is so wishy-washy about it. It just becomes so tiring to keep watching the same struggle within her and see the same thing play out several times throughout the book. I really could not get behind anything she did throughout this whole book.
There are also Gods and magic that play a major role in the story, but they feel so unexplored and boring to me, I really couldn't care less. The world building is very very flimsy, and not even in the fun whimiacal way or a fairy tale or something. It just feels half formed.
Maybe the most annoying thing to me about the book is that occasionally the dialog feels like a Disney channel laugh track moment, especially in the first half of the book. Stupid comebacks and one lone zingers that don't land for me. Just very artificial and tropey. Not a big fan of this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, War, Classism