Review by sailormegan - The Poppy War

sailormegan 's review for:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

4.0

adventurous challenging dark funny informative tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Writing Quality 5/5 stars

R.F. Kuang has amazing attention to detail. I also appreciated her use of time and jumped ahead when necessary without the loss of character and plot development. Her background in Chinese history was strongly demonstrated in this book and she paints a vivid picture with her words in more ways than one.

Characters 4.5/5 stars

Each character was fleshed out nicely. I knew the internal and external wants and needs of our main character Rin as well as the other major characters in the book. There were a few characters that I felt were mentioned (some of the Cike) that seemed to get lost in the story and only surfaced when they were useful. I would have liked to see them have at least a more passive presence in the story. I finished the book feeling 95% on Rin’s side for her choices. I don’t know if that is because I don’t think her decision fully made sense with her character or if this is what R.F. Kuang wanted and we will explore it more in the sequels.

Overall story 4/5 stars

There were a few gut-wrenching scenes in this book. Though the story itself was unique and detailed, there are a lot of content warnings within this that made be feel unsettled. That being said, it truly shows the horror of war and genocide. Read with caution (see note at end).

Post-reading Story 4/5 stars

I loved the characters and the world R.F. Kuang created. However, with my own feelings of Rin’s actions not quite what I expected as well as the rotten taste left in my mouth from some of the more graphic scenes, I could only give this a 4 out of 5 stars.

Final Rating 4/5 stars

I have ordered the second and third books so I am excited to continue Rin’s story and see where it goes!

Content warning: I Highly suggest looking at story graph or googling for the various content warnings within this book before reading. This book deals with war, genocide, rape, infant/child death, addiction, among other trigging events. Chapter 21 has basically all the things in it and I would describe it as quite graphic.

Content Warnings