Saturday, January 19, 2019

The Poppy War - A Review

MORE PICTURES ARE COMING SOON I SWEAR


Do you ever read a book and then proceed to immediately scream and freak out over it, lose all thoughts of sense and cohesion, and rush to Goodreads to convince the website to develop a 6/5 star rating because the book is just that good?

That's me with The Poppy War, people. Holy. I am DEAD on so many levels.

REASONS YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY
RIN. A YA badass heroine with dimension to her personality and also no romance??? Sign me tf up. (I was so so worried it was going to make her and Altan a thing, but they didn't, and thank god.) Rin is so motivated and ambitious and wholeheartedly amazing. She studies like hell for a test to avoid marrying an old man and gets into a school where she's still belittled but keeps fighting and honestly she's so damn inspiring. I love her. She works hard and consistently and is all in all amazing. I relate wholly to her need for validation (because me) and also destroying her entire damn womb because the cramps will interfere with her education. *quiet clapping*

Legitimately the best developed fantasy I've read yet. iT'S LITERALLY BETTER DONE THAN HARRY POTTER. OKAY. IT IS. This world is so insanely well done and the information about it is conveyed to the audience in the best way. It's not all infodumps, it's strategically placed information that makes consistent sense and is easy to uncover. This does not read like a debut. This reads like one of the (if not THE) best young adult fantasy available right now. Wordlbuilding is A++++.

P-L-O-T. That spells "avocado," because my ability to spell was lost after becoming so endlessly infatuated with the plot of this book that I forgot how to spell and also read. I'm not sure what the correct words to describe this plot are, because it has three parts (well divided, I might add) that are relatively coursed through in terms of action. Like, it's never gonna feel really slow or like there's no detail, but it's also not like R.F. Kuang documents every single day over the years this story takes place. It's a very interesting way of writing, one that doesn't leave too much room for drag or for me shutting up about it. I think the lack of drag is because every part the author chooses to write is something they want to, and it's great. 100%. I wish I could communicate effectively in English but no that's competence and I'm allergic.

The Other Characters. Obviously there are characters other than the amazing Rin, and they are very very good. Kitay, for one? First, incredibly written. Secondly, has off-screen character development that makes sense and doesn't come off as forced. Thirdly, I read that last sentence and decided I had to add R.F. Kuang to my list of favourite authors because I've never read that in a book before. Damn. We love talent. Anyway, another really awesome thing about this book is that it has a ton of side characters and I managed to not get confused between them because they all actually had personalities. Wow! I know! Shocking! It can be done! I just want to applaud the sheer writing skill involved in this book, everyone. And I will, with...

THE WRITING. Literally one of the first things that really struck me about this book was how good at writing R.F. Kuang is. This book is a) quotable, b) consistently well written from start to finish (and it's 500+ pages, folks!), and c) has excellent characterization. Just!!!! The sheer writing talent present in the pages (but not in this review) is awe-worthy, people. We as a society were not prepared for this level of artistry. Bow chicka WOW WOW.

I feel like this is super long and super rambly, but I love this book way too much to bother shortening it in the slightest, so you're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go 'borrow' some money to purchase 9000000 copies of this book and ship them globally.


Have you read The Poppy War? Did you like it? Are there any books that made you want to force Goodreads to have a 6/5 rating? What are they? Do you like pineapple?

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