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A review by cherub456
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I see what the author was trying to do an emulate, but it’s personally just was not my taste and that okay.
I was really enjoying this book and was invested until maybe around the 52% mark, afterwards the book turned was just off the mark for me.
I can handle morally grey characters, however Rin and her hero worship was just too insufferable for me. She continually made and supported reckless and ill advised plan - the consequences of which I could easily guess. Someone worded it better than me, that with morally grey characters you can abuse them with some semblance of understanding of why they act the way they do. However Rin’s actions in the latter section of the book felt like a significant dissonance from the character arc she was on in the first section of the book.The way she was so un-remorseful about enacting genocide on a whole state and saw that as just achieving what needed to be done - whilst the soldiers that actually committed the preceding genocide and inhumane atrocities at Golyn Nis are still alive and well Nikar - cannot be justified or even just understood to me.
I feel I particularly agreed with critics that the events that the author writes about in this book mirror real-life history too much for this book to properly be considered a fantasy. Further, I feel the author failed to adequately tread the line of sensitivity (for lack of a better word) required when using true historical events to further the arc of the fantastical and parabolic.
While I did really enjoy the first half of the book, the second half was a letdown.
I was really enjoying this book and was invested until maybe around the 52% mark, afterwards the book turned was just off the mark for me.
I can handle morally grey characters, however Rin and her hero worship was just too insufferable for me. She continually made and supported reckless and ill advised plan - the consequences of which I could easily guess. Someone worded it better than me, that with morally grey characters you can abuse them with some semblance of understanding of why they act the way they do. However Rin’s actions in the latter section of the book felt like a significant dissonance from the character arc she was on in the first section of the book.
I feel I particularly agreed with critics that the events that the author writes about in this book mirror real-life history too much for this book to properly be considered a fantasy. Further, I feel the author failed to adequately tread the line of sensitivity (for lack of a better word) required when using true historical events to further the arc of the fantastical and parabolic.
While I did really enjoy the first half of the book, the second half was a letdown.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail