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

Shelves: favorites, reviewed, fantasy

This book left me speechless. A story about war - with all the bloody, cruel details. Through a richly crafted world inspired by Chinese history and with stunning morally-grey characters who are anything but basic, it pulls the reader into a dark tale of loss, vengeance and suffering. The Poppy War is a heavy book. And that's what I love most about it. It's violent, it's brutal and it doesn't try to glorify anything. Politics and military are combined with the harm they inflict on the people. No ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2022 jace (taylor's version) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: incredible-writing, bipoc-author, cliffhanger, adult, favorites, fantasy, books-i-own, im-married, jaw-drop, women-i-would-die-for

this book made me want to cry, throw up, scream, and hug the characters all at the same time.

i don’t think i’ve read anything this good in a while.

nezha owns my heart btw

PLEASE CHECK TWS CHAPTER 21 !!!!

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2023 B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2023, read-google-books, recs-highly-recommend, reviewed, reviewed-2023, actual-morally-grey-characters, genre-adult, genre-adult-fantasy, genre-fantasy, recs-all-time-favs

This was heavy. It was long but I surprisingly liked it. There's nothing I have to say that hasn't already been said so I'd encourage you to read other reviews instead.

Review written on 25th October, 2023.

Storygraph. Spotify. Youtube. Pinterest. Twitter. Instagram. Linktree.

DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.
5 stars

How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked a ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2023 From Heaven With Love rated it liked it · review of another edition

I don't even know what to rate this cuz I started it a year and a half ago and finished it yesterday...

I didn't like it, but also the wiritjg style, characters and the morally greyness was top tier in the development scale

hmmm

3 stars it is then 🤣 ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 18, 2025 Anam rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2025-read

Throughout this book it felt like going nowhere, the pacing was all over the place and finally when it actually reached the crux of the entire story and tried to sell the theme of this book, it was long overdue. Additionally, it does not help when you do not empathize or care about any of the characters.
Gotta say intriguing choice of theme about revenge, genocide and the cost of losing one's humanity but the execution felt off.

Anyway I do want to point out this quote about genocide and atrociti ...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

May 07, 2022 Hannah rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022

Unpopular opinion- I didn’t love this book. I didn’t think it was a game-changer and I didn’t enjoy reading a third of it. Then why the 4 star rating, you ask? The first part of this book was really interesting to me. I loved learning about Rin and her preparing to go to the Academy. I loved her determination and tenacious personality. I really enjoyed all the first part and her training in Lore… however:

I feel like the world building was poorly done. I never really got a clear picture of the wo Unpopular opinion- I didn’t love this book. I didn’t think it was a game-changer and I didn’t enjoy reading a third of it. Then why the 4 star rating, you ask? The first part of this book was really interesting to me. I loved learning about Rin and her preparing to go to the Academy. I loved her determination and tenacious personality. I really enjoyed all the first part and her training in Lore… however:

I feel like the world building was poorly done. I never really got a clear picture of the world, it’s history, and why I’m supposed to care about the Mugenese haters. I understand its based off real world geopolitics, but the writing felt weak here.

Next, when Jiang was teaching her about Lore, I felt really lost at times trying to understand what this power was. It seemed like other students who were not Lore had heightened physical abilities as well? How could they have this if they didn’t study it?

Overall, I absolutely love that Rin had to realize that her master was not all she thought him to be. He was imperfect, and she ended up disagreeing with his view on how shamans should handle the gods powers. I love this kind of character development, because we all face times in life where we come to the realization that the people we look up to aren’t always what they seem to be and it’s disappointing.

The second part of this book was my least favorite. It felt like it dragged forever and there was a lot of standing around doing nothing. This is also where the writer starts telling us things are happening instead of showing. I think this portion of the book was supposed to show us Altan’s unraveling and weaknesses… but gosh it was BORING. Also the very basic and rushed explanation of the Cike members was so ridiculous and basically their powers were just used as a means to push the plot along. Bucket of water guy (legit don’t remember his name even) that can conveniently manipulate the tides and says like two sentences in the whole story? LAME.

The last part of the book was decent. I hate the choices Rin made but I understand where she is coming from. I hate that her friendship with Katay is likely over and I see them becoming enemies (rightfully so). I like the character development in this book and it’s left me thinking about these characters, so for that I give 4 stars. This is NOT a light read. Honestly I think if it were like 200 pages shorter I would have given 5 stars. ...more

Like · see review