The Poppy War

Book Basics:
Third person limited point-of-view, female MC, adult grim-dark fantasy, large cast of characters

Book Trigger Warnings:
Self harm, sexual assault(described by another character), graphic violence and gore(including children and babies), drug use, abuse, toxic relationships

Non-Spoiler Review:
Three stars from my rating system means “it's ok.” If I could, I would rate it 3.5 . When I was about half way into this book, I was positive this was going to be a solid five stars, then it slowly dropped two stars as the story went on.

This book does not hold back on the horrors of war, though that is not why it dropped in stars for me. For me, the narration became a bit repetitive and did a lot of telling rather than showing. This includes the fight scenes which lacked detail to my preference.

I think it is VERY important for people picking this up to know that this is not a story about an anti-hero, or even a morally good hero. It is a story about how war (and toxic relationships) can twist people. For me personally, her emotions felt a little all over the place after about half way in the book. One moment she's happy, a line later she's crying her eyes out only to be ok another line later. One moment she hates a character, the next she's fawning over them. Sometimes how she feels about a side character is so vague, it's hard to tell if she hates or likes any of them.

I will agree that the writer is talented, well-read in history(its very much based on real-world history) and mythology, and writes a unique story that most people will love.

I will be reading the next book