I did not write any spoilers in my post.
This was an interesting read. I've been processing my thoughts and I felt like throwing them into the forums of the internet.
I don't mind any of the historical events being portrayed in a magic fantasy novel. I've read a lot of people say that they thought it was done in poor taste. However, Kuang did successfully shine a flashlight on real tragedies. It got a lot of people talking about some atrocious historical events.
To be honest, I have always practiced death of the author whenever I experience media. I don't care if an author is an evil person. I've always separated the art from the artist completely.
So any criticisms that I have are regarding the quality of the novel. I do feel like there are valid criticisms. My main complaint is that the quality of her prose is not consistent. I would also say that there are a lot of segments that are poorly framed and paced.
I find this pretty frustrating. It is hard to know that an author is capable of very dynamic prose, yet unable to consistently apply quality writing.
I've read many novels by Ursula Le Guin and she is very consistent in the high quality of writing throughout each of her books. Le Guin also wrote her most well known fantasy series as a young adult book. Yet, it definitely does not come across as a YA book. Conversely, Kuang isn't writing a YA book here, but it reads like one.
The Poppy War comes across as often sophomoric and unpolished to me. That is to be expected from a debut novel. If Kuang continues to develop her craft I am definitely excited to see what she cooks up.
Some of the scenes were so well done! There's this one scene where a man is hanging from a building as a crowd of bystanders helplessly watch. The scene really stuck with me.
There's a lot of little moments that convey perfectly what they are meant to. Pictures are painted vividly and I have been totally engrossed within them. Unfortunately, directly following these moments, there will be 10 pages of YA banter.
I would give the book a 7.5/10. I'm glad to have read it, and I would recommend it to others. Far above average, but not mind-blowing.
To anyone that has read the full series: is it worth continuing? I'm currently leaning on not continuing. I am working on the Malazan book of the fallen series, this has been a relaxing detour!
by InsomniacPsychonaut