I changed my rating to five starsa because while I was left scratching my head after the novel, I cannot stop thinking about it and missing the gorgeous and bizarre atmosphere.
I was obsessed with Holly Black's Cruel Prince series. Everything I've read since then has been... fine. Unfortunately the novels seem to blend together in my mind. I can never remember in hindsight which was which.
Everyone raves about this series but it was severely chronically terminally poorly written. I dont care what happens in this series because the writing was distractingly basic and stunted to the point where is was like... weird. I dont know about the author. I'll give her credit if shes very very young. If a preteen wrote this, kudos, otherwise wtf lol
Maybe? Ugh. No. Maybe? Yes for a second. Absolutely not. Okay? Hmm. Sure. No. Ugh.
If you took Shakespeare's Tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy and added a million pages.
Some bright spots of hope and interesting interjections about art and beauty but all in all a slice of life turned into a textbook about ennui. I kept wanting to be let out.
Well I read this in English, unsure why it isn't on Goodreads that way anywhere.
A really wonderful and refreshing break from too much Eurocentric fantasy laden with cheap romance. The Poppy War is a gritty, fascinating novel with obvious but not heavy handed historical inspiration. Full of culture and realistic multifaceted characters, politics, magic, and war.
My top recommendation for anyone who reads fantasy and even those who don't.