Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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 […]

“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains.”

The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang

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It’s super gross that this book was written by a nineteen year old on her gap year. I thought it was good before I learned that’s how old she was when she wrote it but now I’m straight up sickened. I’m just thinking about the kind of shit I was up to when I was nineteen, and it was basically attending classes, going to marching band practice, afternoon naps in my dorm, and eating infinity burritos from the burrito cart. Kuang was basically like, Oh, […]

The Poppy War (Not Your Parent’s Light Fantasy Escapism)

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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The Poppy War is a hard book to say you recommend. It’s well written, for sure. But the last few chapters are, without giving anything away, excruciating. I had been warned this was the case, but yet I still found myself staying up one night, and reading the final section with increasing horror. Reader, be warned, this is a wonderfully written book, with one hell of a trigger warning. The start of the book is classic enough. Rin is a poor orphan girl from the […]

An Impressive But Grim Debut Fantasy Novel

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

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  I hadn’t heard of R.F. Kuang until recently. It wasn’t until her name came up as John Campbell Award nominee that I decided to look into her work. And then I felt like a bit of a dill – because not only had The Poppy War been nominated for a John Campbell Award (Not quite a Hugo), but it had been nominated for a Nebula and a Locus Award as well. So I’m slightly ashamed I let her go unnoticed! There was nothing for […]

The grimmest of grim

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

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The best way to describe this book is by saying it’s A LOT. Kuang has written something pretty epic here and kept me guessing the whole way through. The plot and writing style sucked me in, but I wouldn’t call this an easy read. It’s extremely grim and becomes progressively more disturbing as the narrative goes on. Well worth your time if you have the stomach for something that will repeatedly kick you in the face. Rin is an orphan who comes from a fairly […]



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