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

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

4.25

This book took me a second to get into, mainly due to the shift to third person narration, BUT it was so worth it once I did. The display of internal complexity between the main character, Rin, and her comrades/enemies is insane. I haven't read a book in a long time where the characters really demonstrate the difficulty of maintaining and gaining relationships and learning to quickly adapt to a variety of factors all of this while an entire war going on as well.