Avneesh Khanna's Reviews > The Poppy War

** spoiler alert ** 2.5/5 stars
It’s a very average-read.

WARNING: Major spoilers

Bad Parts

1. Pace: The book’s pace was very irregular. I found myself skipping entire pages because the author used to go into tiring descriptions about the inner turmoil/thoughts of the main character (Rin), overusing metaphors for things which could be described crisply. It made many pages too dry to read, giving the impression that the author was trying to simply make it past the 500-page mark.

2. Originality: I didn’t find the overall story very original. Felt as if I have heard versions of this story before. Main character is an underdog. She lives with her foster parents who mistreat her (Harry Potter?). She escapes to go to this far-off school where only the selected few are admitted (Harry Potter again). She discovers that she is special, possessing unique abilities (The Matrix? Stranger Things?). There is an evil race who wants to destroy the good ones’ race (Star Wars?). Main character realizes full extent of her powers in the end to defeat the enemy (The Matrix, again). Clichéd plot all over.

3. Characters: Apart from the protagonist (and one other character), every one else had a much shorter arc than they deserved. Rin’s master Jiang simply disappears (or at-least falls off the narrative very quickly) after training her. He came into the picture, did his part, and left. It made it seem like his character was concocted to just advance the plot. His story took a very abrupt end (with some short re-appearances). Another character, Nezha, had a very good build up. But then his strengths and his back story never fully blossomed. Sure, there is a fight between the two which is a turning point in Rin’s life, but even with him there was so much more which could have been explored. Example, what’s Nezha’s role in the larger fight with the Mugens (the bad guys’ army)? How did he evolve as a character after his fight with Rin? I would have loved to see his character develop into someone more mature than just a high-school rival who is annoyed by the main character. I also wanted him to play a more impactful role in the larger fight with the enemy of the state. But none of these things are explored, especially given the fact that he makes a re-appearance in the story at an important juncture. His character too simply existed as a flashy object injected to instil colour in Rin’s character.

Good Parts:
1. Backdrop: the novel has an amazing backdrop. Inspired by the Sino-Japanese war, the author has created a new world which is supposed to represent war-torn China harking back to the times of WW2. The environments are intriguing; there is a martial arts school and a lot of Chinese mythology built-in to add a good mix of mystery, history, and supernatural to the whole story. As a reader who knows close to nothing about Chinese history and mythology, it was an attractive setting. It was also a big reason why I picked up this book.

2. New Elements: One of the good parts was that the author succeeded in adding new elements every now and then to keep the reader engaged with the overall plot. The book introduces multiple characters each of whom had their quirks. As a reader you get curious to know what each character will bring to the table and how will that impact the overall story. But I’ll also say that sometimes it felt as if the author stuffed a lot of different things into one novel and thus some parts felt a bit rushed.

3. Action Sequences: The fight scenes are very well described. You can visualise the action sequences pretty clearly in your head. This is something which I have rarely seen happen in writing.

TLDR: the bad parts overweighed the good ones. Choppy storytelling, clichéd plot elements, insufficient character development, and an interesting backdrop which makes the book engaging just enough to keep you moving forward. Going to skip the other 2 books in the trilogy.