The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang

 

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang got a simply wonderful review by a blogger who said that it truly haunted him (in a good way?).  There have been other good reviews.  It was a finalist for both the Nebula and the Locus awards.  I think that I first saw it on the Nebula awards website.  This is the debut novel for Kuang and is the first in The Poppy War Series.

Started: 10/25/2020
Completed: 10/29/2020
Recommendation: Not Recommeneded
Recommended By: Generally good reviews

Words for which I sought help:

immure -- enclose or confine (someone) against their will

Review:

This book has a grand scale with decent character development.  It is well written.  I simply did not like it.  I did not enjoy the scenes of genocide and the relish to have it repeated.  I found the characters off-putting with the lead character particularly off-putting.  It is just not the kind of escape fantasy into which I was comfortable escaping.