Title: Poppy War

Author: R.F. Kuang

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Date: May 1st 2018 

Pages: 530 pages

ISBN (Hardcover): 9780062662569

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adult

Rating: 4.75 / 5 stars

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Summary: This book is about a girl named Fang Runin (Rin), who is a war orphan. War orphans are considered the worst of the society, but when she aces exam everyone is in shock. No one expects anything from her and her achievement of getting first place turns the empire upside down. However, this is just the beginning to a greater story and an upcoming war. Getting into the most highest and famous academy in the capital city, Senegard, it is only the first step for Rin. 

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Review: I really loved this book. This book had everything I want from a fantasy and young adult book. It had great characters, plots that kept twisting, and a well-built world. In the beginning of the book, the author introduces us to the new world she is creating. She is explaining the social status of the world and where our main character Rin is in. Rin as a character was a fantastic character to read about. She wasn't a boring character that didn't improve herself, but did the extreme to make herself better and useful to her empire. The other characters surrounding her also had specific goals to influence the main character. As all the characters intertwined, the plot slowly started to move forward. In the beginning of the book, the plot was kind of simple and didn't have the twists in it. As the story progressed to the midpoint, it started to quicked it's pace. A lot of fighting scenes and big events happen. I was very shocked how the midpoint of the story changed the plan for the whole point of the book. The goal that Rin had in mind after finishing studying at the academy shattered. Everything changed in good and bad ways. She gets to meet new people who are part of the bigger story. In the bigger story, I could see the world expanding and giving more description of places. I got to know the setting better and understand the situation more easily. As a whole this book was great and it's kind of hard to find problems with the book. But one problem that occured was that there were some scenes that were disturbing. When the war was happening some things happened that were really disturbing. For example, there was a scene of people killing each other in a battle and it disturbed me a little. The description of the people getting killed were very clear and hard to let in. That was the bad part about this book. In conclusion, this book didn't fail to impress me.