From the Bookshelf of Ranters and Reviewers…

The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)

R.F. Kuang

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: BOTM

Why we're reading this: March Diverse BOTM
[close] March Diverse BOTM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 70 topics — 1,434 comments total

BOTM

November 2021 Series BOTM Suggestions
By Sofia , duckish things · 9 posts · 19 views

last updated Oct 21, 2021 11:56PM

October 2021 Continuation BOTM: The Wicked King
By Sofia , duckish things · 9 posts · 16 views

last updated Oct 21, 2021 11:55PM

showing 1 of 1 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 28, 2021 Charmel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: diverse, fantasy, w-asian-rep, god-tier-faves, rtc

wow. astonishing. beautiful. terrifying. this book is a masterpiece. tears streaming down my face. just wow

61 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2021 Lia is currently reading it

Have I heard the warnings? Yes
Am I ready for this? No
Am I still going to read it? Hell yeah! Though I'm not sure what that says about me hehe👀 ...more

60 likes · Like · see review

May 09, 2021 rania rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-stars

I am in pain. But this was freaking amazing.

RTC (god knows when)

Edit: I just realised I never rated this book. Oop.

4.5 stars it is.

31 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2022 ananya ྀི rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-lit, read-in-2023

Hmm controversial....

23 likes · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2021 Ally rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-best-thing-to-exist, feasible-reviews, made-me-cry, that-s-a-nice-cover-you-got-there, characters-i-would-die-for, teenagers-scare-the-shit-out-of-me, therapy-is-needed

Buddy read with Tara (here's her link because I don't know how to do the fancy name-click thing: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...)

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I opened up my first review of this by saying that this wasn't as brutal as I thought it be. Well, past Al was on something when she wrote that because that was certainly a lie.

The Poppy War took the question "what happens when you zoom in on the big picture of war?" and ran with it. R.F Kuang created a character that we all want to r Buddy read with Tara (here's her link because I don't know how to do the fancy name-click thing: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...)

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I opened up my first review of this by saying that this wasn't as brutal as I thought it be. Well, past Al was on something when she wrote that because that was certainly a lie.

The Poppy War took the question "what happens when you zoom in on the big picture of war?" and ran with it. R.F Kuang created a character that we all want to root for--the little guy, the poor peasant girl who wants to escape her life to become something bigger, better. It's classic.

But what this story does is it takes that character that we all know and love and says "yeah, but what if we did a deep dive into their trauma? What if there was something keeping the character from getting solace? What would happen when something that's usually described as plot armor (in this case an all-powerful god) turned into a curse for the main character?"

In a way, hype warped my vision when I went into this book for the first time. I wanted to see the cruelty that everybody was talking about so bad that I completely ignored the beauty of the morally-grey characters, that absolute grim truth that Miss Kuang puts forward in her books. I didn't go in with those glasses this time, so it was so much more impactful this time around. I found myself squealing over characters and hyping characters up. I am personally tethered to Rin now which makes me terrified to read The Burning God (which is the reason why I started rereading this in the first place).

This very much reads like a villain origin story. In most stories, Rin would be the dedicated villain whose defeat is ultimately bittersweet. "She started out good," they would say, "but she lost herself." Rin would not be the hero of most stories. Everybody's the hero of their own story though.

(view spoiler)

I don't really have anything else to say. Read it if you dare, but make sure to heed the warnings. It's a solid five for me.
**
SCREEEEEEE
**
Y’all know the drill. That shit was great. ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2021 Sophia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Is this one of my new favorites? Yes.

RTC

10 likes · Like · see review

Apr 27, 2021 dhuha added it

I really loved the whole idea and plot of the book but it's just been on my currently reading for so long with not even a miniscule step of progress, so yes i have to re-read it... ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 12, 2021 Ciera Rae rated it it was amazing

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang blew me away. I loved every moment I spent reading but will admit the content makes for a difficult read at times. In my opinion, that’s a testament to Kuang – her writing is so descriptive and real it elicits a deeply emotional response.

Please note— this is not Young Adult Fiction. There are parts of this book covering heavy topics. Before diving in, please look up the trigger warnings. I would list them here, but things I would consider a trigger warning may not be ...more

Like · see review

Sep 12, 2022 Maria rated it liked it

El inicio del libro y más o menos hasta la mitad es todo lo que esperaba, después simplemente se vuelve más lento y aburrido.
Pero sigue siendo un buen libro.

Like · see review