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A review by afrathefish
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
copied from GR
nearly a four but it DRAGGED for me, the plot was a bit slow for me, and coupled with my fantasy fatigue, it took nearly a month for me to finish the bastard thing.
i have a few qualms , but my biggest take away is how in hell kuang started writing this at 19???? 19?? im not joking her mind works on a different plane than the rest of us bc how was she able to come up with something this complex and this beautiful before her double masters at cambridge and oxford respectively??? like . i genuinely think her mind is that of the MC of ‘flowers for algernon’ at the height of intelligence but without the uh latter half of the book bc genuinely like ???? ???
it’s one of the best presentations of the antihero i’ve ever seen. i can’t explain like i want to draw mind maps to this shit, and without the few qualms i have, it genuinely should be kept in the annals of history in how to write anti heroes in historical fantasy, or in fantasy as a whole. admittedly not every character is fleshed out the way it could be , but those who are??? they’re dancing between the pages and feel entirely tangible. their motivations and their experiences feel so vivid. it allows one to get so deeply attached that when these characters start fucking up, the pain you personally feel is hard to actually put into words.
also the writing was a delight. the descriptions used here genuinely make you feel like you’re in a movie. the horrors described feel so vivid and unbelievable at the same time it’s actually really hard to put into words. kuang has a way with words that very few are able to replicate. and again what stuns me was this was started at 19.
the nuances captured here are okay. good enough that they make you think. for a YA it goes way deeper than it should, and the contrast between good and evil and right and wrong and the way they’re portrayed here is written so so so well. i wish i had read this a few years back bc i think it would’ve changed my life then.
nonetheless i do have qualms. the pacing of the plot. i think it was just a bit too slow, and at other parts way too fast. toward the end though things felt like they were dragging, but then again, it’s a bloody big book. some of the other characters could have been more fleshed out, and their motivations for changing seem very out of the blue. but then again. war changes everyone rapidly and it’s very privileged of me to demand a more ‘realistic’ shift in characterisation when they’re literally traumatised soldiers forced to fight against their will.
most of these qualms go to shit tho when i take into consideration that kuang was 19 when she wrote this. bloody hell.
nearly a four but it DRAGGED for me, the plot was a bit slow for me, and coupled with my fantasy fatigue, it took nearly a month for me to finish the bastard thing.
i have a few qualms , but my biggest take away is how in hell kuang started writing this at 19???? 19?? im not joking her mind works on a different plane than the rest of us bc how was she able to come up with something this complex and this beautiful before her double masters at cambridge and oxford respectively??? like . i genuinely think her mind is that of the MC of ‘flowers for algernon’ at the height of intelligence but without the uh latter half of the book bc genuinely like ???? ???
it’s one of the best presentations of the antihero i’ve ever seen. i can’t explain like i want to draw mind maps to this shit, and without the few qualms i have, it genuinely should be kept in the annals of history in how to write anti heroes in historical fantasy, or in fantasy as a whole. admittedly not every character is fleshed out the way it could be , but those who are??? they’re dancing between the pages and feel entirely tangible. their motivations and their experiences feel so vivid. it allows one to get so deeply attached that when these characters start fucking up, the pain you personally feel is hard to actually put into words.
also the writing was a delight. the descriptions used here genuinely make you feel like you’re in a movie. the horrors described feel so vivid and unbelievable at the same time it’s actually really hard to put into words. kuang has a way with words that very few are able to replicate. and again what stuns me was this was started at 19.
the nuances captured here are okay. good enough that they make you think. for a YA it goes way deeper than it should, and the contrast between good and evil and right and wrong and the way they’re portrayed here is written so so so well. i wish i had read this a few years back bc i think it would’ve changed my life then.
nonetheless i do have qualms. the pacing of the plot. i think it was just a bit too slow, and at other parts way too fast. toward the end though things felt like they were dragging, but then again, it’s a bloody big book. some of the other characters could have been more fleshed out, and their motivations for changing seem very out of the blue. but then again. war changes everyone rapidly and it’s very privileged of me to demand a more ‘realistic’ shift in characterisation when they’re literally traumatised soldiers forced to fight against their will.
most of these qualms go to shit tho when i take into consideration that kuang was 19 when she wrote this. bloody hell.