The Poppy War

First off, I listened to the audio book rather than read it, so that may affect how I found the book.

I felt this book was extremely uneven. There were parts that I really enjoyed that seemed to zip along and there were parts that seemed to drag until I almost just dropped the book entirely.

Things that I enjoyed:

I loved the world in general. I don't read enough Asian influenced fantasy and I enjoyed the little touches that made this different from the usual European influenced fantasy that I often see.

I enjoyed the main character's backstory and motivation to start her epic journey.

The magic system seemed internally consistent and different enough that it seemed fresh.

Things that I didn't like:
The main character kept running into her former schoolmates (or hearing of their deaths). It seemed like we met her classmates just so we would have someone to feel sad about when a town or unit was destroyed. We couldn't meet someone new to tell us about the horrors of war; it had to be someone she personally knew that magically survived when 99% of the other people were dead.

The middle grimdark stuff. Yes, war is hell, and many many atrocities happen. Yes, this is based off of real events. However the beginning is warrior Harry Potter, which had me unprepared for baby murder. (I'm not against grimdark in general, but I like to know what I am getting into.)

Length: I felt like it could have used an editor cutting some out. I felt that certain sections dragged out too long.

Overall, I liked it, but didn't love it. I probably wouldn't recommend it to most of my friends as a great book, but I don't regret reading it.