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“What’s the worst that could happen?” “You’re so young,” he said softly. “You have no idea.”

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

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I embarked on The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang after seeing it on some  “best new fantasy series” list or another, and I decided to read through all three books despite finding it a rocky go occasionally. Ultimately, I’m very happy to have read these books and I’m impressed by Kuang’s fearlessness as a storyteller – but I don’t think I’m likely to add these to my “re-read” pile any time soon! I don’t know how to review this whole series without including quite […]

I’m living Athena’s life. I’m experiencing publishing the way it’s supposed to work.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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I know what you’re thinking. Thief. Plagiarizer. And perhaps, because all bad things must be racially motivated, Racist. Hear me out. It’s not so awful as it sounds. Readers, it is exactly as bad as it sounds. Juniper Song Hayward is bad person, but don’t worry, she has forgiven herself. Yellowface is told to the reader by June. We are her confessor. She tells us all of her resentments, fears, manipulations, and triumphs. Most of all, she tells us her rationalizations. Athena Liu and June […]

might not be the book you think it is, but it might be the book you need

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang

by 4 Comments

Man oh man do people dislike this book! And when they do, they seem to dislike it for all sorts of suspicious reasons. Oh, white/western person, do you think the main characters in this book, the majority of whom are from colonies, spend a little bit too much time griping about the evils of the British colonial empire? Well then, boy do I have some news that’s going to REALLY disturb you about non-fictional humans in the real world who were once subjugated by the […]

“And the system cannot survive the shock.”

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

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The reviews for this book have been so very mixed – people either really loved it (best book of the year!) or were really frustrated by it. I think a key distinction in the tone of reviews boils down to how much science fiction you were looking for when you cracked open these ambitious pages. If your heart is more invested in the science fiction / fantasy elements, you’re likely to be disappointed by this novel that chooses to focus much more on characters than […]

The Necessity of Violence

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators Revolution by R.F. Kuang

by 11 Comments

I think my mixed feelings are going to come out so I’ll say up front that this is way outside of what I usually read, and while I appreciated that it is a very good book, I often didn’t enjoy reading it. I appreciate it more than I love it. But, I think it’s a worthwhile read. Maybe don’t pick it up right after you put down a book that owns your whole heart. This book is also in conversation with The Secret History and […]

Didn’t super like this one, but also didn’t give it a fair shake.

The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War, #2) by R.F. Kuang

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I’m going to need to re-read this. About 25% in, I gave up on it emotionally and only mostly paid attention to the audio after that. Please take this as really only a review of the first 25% of the audiobook, specifically. Honestly, the reason I need to re-read is because I turned on the audiobook narrator very quickly into this listening experience. I just couldn’t take listening to her anymore. She was overacting the hell out of everything and ruining perfectly good lines, especially […]



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