murielreads's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Violence, War, and Murder
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Rape, Blood, Genocide, Hate crime, and Torture
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Addiction, Vomit, Slavery, and Drug abuse
bergha1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Fantasy, Historical, Found Family
“I believe in gods as a cultural reference. As metaphors. As things we refer to keep us safe because we can’t do anything else, as manifestations of our neuroses. But not as things that I truly trust are real. Not as things that hold actual consequence for the universe.”
“Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.”
“It was, simply, what happened when one race decided that the other was insignificant.”
“And if your opponent was not human, if your opponent was a cockroach, what did it matter how many of them you killed?”
“If you were the victim, what could you say to make your tormentor recognize you as human? How did you get your enemy to recognize you at all?”
Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Blood, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Xenophobia, Addiction, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit
joeynystrom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Sexual assault, Torture, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Body horror
mdiffer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Torture, Drug abuse, and War
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
lynnd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Rape, War, Violence, Genocide, Drug abuse, Torture, and Animal cruelty
geminireader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I don’t know what book I read but it was not anywhere near the 5 star book people have described it as. I really don’t even know where to start. The main character… I feel absolutely nothing. I’m not even sure I could give more than 2 characteristics that describe her. She is simply there to carry the plot as it must follow a character but I feel nothing for her. Others critique that they dislike her… I am jealous of that because at least they feel something. Dislike is more intriguing than nothing at all. Just absolutely no character development. And are her driving pain really isn’t even her own? Maybe if we got to spend time with her at the beginning or had a more compelling backstory but I really have a hard time even feeling bad for her supposedly abusive childhood. So all her “rage” comes off very superficial and egotistical. I would have rather followed Altan who had a more genuine backstory and understandable rage. I can understand plot-wise why Rin is the choice and not Altan but still. The reader pays for that choice. While we’re at it, a critique of this book is that it doesn’t have romance. I’d argue it has something much worse: it has a feeble “will they won’t they” with the main character and someone who is implied to their sibling/at least related. And when I say feeble, I mean FEEBLE. They barely talk. And quite honestly, the fact that there was even a hint of romance in this book really disgusts me considering the content this book contains. There is so much more issue I have with the “characters” in this book (put in quotations because they are so weak) but we’ve hit a good transition into plot time. The content of this book is devastating and unfortunately, the real atrocities of this book aren’t fiction. As you probably know, this book is derived from the second Sino-Japanese war, which was a really heinous time in all of human history. So, I agree with all the other reviews on here saying the reader takes on some heavy trauma. But what bothers me so much about this, is that I felt so emotional reading this content because it is historical and completely inhuman, not because the writing/story/characters or literally anything about this book made me feel that way. Which I guess brings me to a point where I would have felt nothing from this book or story if it hadn’t contained retellings of real events.
In summary (pat on the back if you actually read this), I am greatly disappointed. I was so excited going into this read. And now I feel guilty tearing it down because it’s an East Asian fantasy that has reached high popularity and has added some much needed diversity to the fantasy section (getting a little tired of the Greek mythology retellings over here). But a book still has to be good. And I would argue this book, objectively, isn’t good. If anyone is curious, I will still be attempting the second book as I’ve read it has major improvements on the first. Funny, im trusting those reviews even after the glowing reviews from the first book betrayed me. But alas, this is how badly I want to like this series. Stay tuned.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Torture, Animal death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, War, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Racism
dreamreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Genocide, Torture, War, Violence, and Addiction
space_corgi's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Blood, Drug use, Murder, War, Drug abuse, Gore, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
Moderate: Classism, Sexual violence, and Rape
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
nushka_online's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed the Poppy War and devoured it rather quickly but I did have some things I didn't love so much. I read about half of this as an e-book and the other half I listened to the audiobook, switching frequently between the two and the narrator also did a great job.
I see a lot of comments comparing Book One to The Name of the Wind, initially I saw some minor similarities but I felt as though the school thing was a fairly common trop in fantasy, especially YA/middle-grade so it didn't feel that comparable, but admittedly nearly everything to do with Jiang/Lore brought The Name of the Wind to mind. The tone shift after they leave Sinegard was a little sudden, Rin's relationship/feelings towards Altan felt a little inconsistent too but maybe that's understandable given circumstances.
I also felt that since it was a fantasy, but almost everything had a direct real world equivalent (aside from Speer which was Taiwan but only barely), I felt a lot less drawn in by the world-building than I normally am in fantasy. That being said, I still enjoyed the historic parallels, though at some points I was like oh so that's literally just the Art of War, or recounting
Spoiler
near exact accounts of the Rape of Nanjing. Some of Venka's accounts of the relaxation house felt a little much for meI still found it an easy book to get into and enjoy, although there were some scenes especially listening to the audiobook made me uncomfortable, and I did enjoy most of the characters. I like (view spoiler) I have somewhat mixed feelings about Rin and Altan's characters but I do like how their choices were portrayed and I'm interested to see how the story progresses in the next two
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, War, Sexual assault, Genocide, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Xenophobia
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, and Infertility
lizy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Genocide
Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, and Drug use
Minor: Kidnapping