A review by novelheartbeat
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

4.0

It actually took me two tries to get into this book. *hides* The first time I just wasn't in the mood. I didn't make it very far before I moved on. The second time went a lot better! It does start a little slow, but once it picks up it's a pretty good read. It gets super intense in a few points! I really enjoyed it while I was reading it, even though it didn't really stick with me like I'd hoped. I appreciated that Kuang didn't pull punches - bad shit happens to her characters and in general within the story. War is dark and ugly and this book does not shy away from that fact.

I loved the idea of the gods and the powers! Very cool concept. Oh and Jiang was awesome - he was hilarious and by far my favorite character! The other characters were just okay for me. I didn't connect to Rin like I hoped I would. She was kind of rash and petulant sometimes, but I did understand where she was coming from. I also wish I had more of an emotional connection to the book overall - I mean, some really bad shit happened and I barely batted an eyelash. Oops.


This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.