TPW: Finished, and reminded of Shades of Milk and Honey

[Laura]

So I finished The Poppy War and it was a little bit of a struggle for me. It was well written and I have no specific complaints other than it kind of bored me. We had an orphan, school with rivalry, and fantasy troop of misfits in a war... I don't mind reading the same basic ideas done in different ways, but I just had trouble getting excited for this one.

Then I got to the end and find I'm insanely curious to see what happens next. How is Rin going to (view spoiler)[cope with having the phoenix with her all the time? How will they deal with the other shaman? What's up with that Empress? (hide spoiler)] While this book was only okay for me, I might have to read more of the series. It seems this is the groundwork that had to be laid for something more interesting.

I got the same vibe from Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. That book was only okay for me because (view spoiler)[it was beat-for-beat Pride and Prejudice and bored me (hide spoiler)] but when it was over I wanted to see what the characters would go on to do in the world Kowal created once the introductory novel was out of the way. And The Glamourist Histories are among my favorites now.

So I may come back to this series. We'll see.

[Trike]

I don’t recall Jane committing genocide.

[John (Taloni)]

Yeah, it was kinda (view spoiler)[the death of 70 million people (hide spoiler)] that wrecked the story for me.