The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)

by R.F. Kuang

[lessthelonely]

4.5/5 stars.

Well, that was phenomenal.

Sometimes, you need a book that knows exactly how to get under your skin, grab you with teeth and nails and only let go when it's through with you. That is what this book felt like. From the very beginning, you can tell this is written by someone who knows her shit and the feelings just start coming. The initial chapter is so simple, along with the motivation of the main character and you're going to find that this is one of those cases where the simplicity is appreciated, because it makes sense and it's not convoluted at all.

Instead of making a complex reason for what's happening, this is overshadowed by *what's happening*, and it's incredible to see the corruption that seeps through every page from the very beginning in the most simple of interactions. The characters are all easy to understand and even more so incredibly fitting to their roles in the story, while never feeling like just pawns. We get a rivalry, we get a friend, we get the people who bully the MC but they always seem like people, everyone seems human.

I would say I really enjoyed the first part of book and I think this is a shared sentiment between people, but the book's beginning was merely an introduction arc. Hell, more of a prologue, to be honest. The thick of the book isn't in the place the 1st Part takes place in, though a lot of things are set in place and, when first reading it, I was eating it the fuck up. There's nothing like reading like obsession, and R. F. Kuang made obsession the center piece of this novel.

My one initial problem - that I got past when I was simply speeding through this book -, is that chapters are long. Very long. Like, I'm used to being interrupted when reading a book, even in Summer, so short chapters always let me finish them and then go do whatever I need to do. But I had to stop this book mid-chapter a lot, hell, mid-subsection of a chapter. Those were appreciated, to be honest.

I read a review somewhere that this book is incredibly violent. And yes. That is true. But the brutal nature of the violence and its descriptions isn't really shock thirsty, though you could easily assume that a military fantasy would go for that. This is, ultimately, a book about war and what I can only call ethnic grievances: the violence is used not only as a brutal display of what's happening, but to show the gratuituous nature of it all. After all, the war started human and will most definitely end human, no matter how much fantasy is also pumped into this pages. And all I can say is: point taken. That being said, check trigger warnings, I beg you. I am not joking when I say this book is brutal.

Finally, I should also say this book isn't for people looking for romance. Romance is talked about, but this isn't a book about romance and that's OK. I, to be honest, expected it, but that says more about me than about this book, and I can say I'm glad it didn't go that route, to be honest.

So, why the 4.5 and not a straight 5 stars? Because I feel like this book could've used just a little more tightening in its writing. Don't get me wrong, the writing is superb, but when the book shifts into the thick of it, it almost feels like we're reading a new book from the beginning, with a whole new cast of characters who I'm expected to care about a little to soon for how quickly they're introduced. There's also a character I didn't connect that much with simply because, while they were through A LOT, there was this very clearly abusive scene that left me a sour taste in my mouth, no matter how much I ended up liking said character in the end. Forgiven, I guess, but not forgotten.

So, I'm expecting to give the 5 stars to one or the other two books.