The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)

by R.F. Kuang

[Mercy]

What do you do when you don't know how to rate a novel?

I have been thinking about it since I finished this book but I can't decide if it's a 3, 4 or a 5 star read :__

I really liked most of the book, except one part at the beginning when is said that girls almost never make to the highhest ranking academy in the country, I'm still mad about it but I'm kinda okay but just because it doesn't get mentioned again (?. After that, I started to really enjoy the story, Rin is a great protagonist and we can see her development through the book and it wasn't as in other books when the main character learns to be a badass warrior in like a week?? nope, this doesn't happen in The Poppy War. We get to see Rin training and getting beated over and over again and slowly she starts to get better at what she does. She is also smart but she actually spends time doing her homework and studying a lot to pass her exams. So yeah, Rin is a very very realistic character.

As a military fantasy (I think it's the first time I read a military book) it gets pretty twisted and dark at some point. Part III has some specially gruesome parts and if you want to read it you should be aware of the following trigger warnings: self harm, torture, genocide, rape, mutilation and many more.
The story is mainly about war and the role humans have in it, the choices they have to make that often have terrible consequences, part III has some scenes that were so hard to read for me because it was so fucked up that I couln't make myself to continue reading. Although the violence in the book is not a shock value factor but R.F. Kuang uses it to show the nature of war with all its atrocities. This is when I get to talk about what I didn't like, I think it's more because I am still so shocked of what happened and not the fact that it just shows how war is for both bands but there's something almost at the end of the book the part of Rin killing everyone and I guess I didn't like that. It's a shame I can't talk clearly about it because spoilers but now I want to know how the author will develop that in the next books. If she does it in a good way, I will come back and probably give this book a higher rating.

Anyway, The Poppy War is an awesome debut and I wish I could have a clear mind now and write a better review but if you want to read one that I think I mostly agree with (except for the part where I liked the book less) you can read Petrik's review. .