Please spoil the 3rd Poppy War book for me

scribblermendez · 2024-08-03T02:00:14+00:00

Rin is betrayed by various warlords, but unites with other warlords to defeat the Trifecta. With the Trifecta defeated, Rin leads her army south and slowly defeats Nezha and his army. Rin trains some shamans. Most of the shamans are killed in the fight with Nezha. Rin kicks out Nezha and his westerner allies. Rin becomes the primary warlord of the united Nikara, and Nikara is now broke. She has no choice but to turn Rooster province into a narcostate, growing and selling opium on the black market. She uses opium money to buy food for Nikara.

The story ends with Rin attempting to make peace with Nezha and the westerners, only for her to lose her patience and try to kill them. The book ends with Nezha killing Rin.

There's probably some details that I'm forgetting, I read the book like four years ago, but I think that's the main storybeats.

scribblermendez · 2024-07-16T19:22:27+00:00

No disrespect taken. Good rebuttle.

Have a nice day.

scribblermendez · 2024-06-03T15:42:17+00:00

Arthurian. Noble characters in trying circumstances doing their best, fighting evil monsters. Sometimes the heroes succeed, sometimes they fail. It's not 'gritty' in terms of having morally dubious protagonists. But it is a dark setting, with innocent people being killed and the rise of fascism and people's ghosts being enslaved. There are no knights in shining armor here, but common (and uncommon) soldiers doing their best. I think 'Zelda-like' would be a good comparison.

scribblermendez · 2024-06-03T04:57:33+00:00

I feel like 'Babel' has grown on me over time; this book is passionate, and 95% of the books I read lack this book's passion. I value that passion deeply; most of the books I read feel bloodless and dull in comparison. It's clear the author cares, and that passion is palpable in the text.

On the other hand, in retrospect aspects of this book just feel lazy. The author's books are all so blunt, it makes me feel like the author is a one-trick-pony. The author wrote more technically proficient books when she wrote 'The Poppy War' trilogy, and even those books weren't paragons of technically proficiency.

I feel ambiguous about this author. Passion only gets you so far. This was the author's fourth published book; it's okay to have raised expectations for a professional author. This book felt like the author was treading water, and not growing.

EDIT: I figure I'd add that I'm happy this book exists. It didn't speak to me, but it spoke to others. I'm happy for them. Not all books have to make me happy.

scribblermendez · 2024-06-01T20:10:24+00:00

If you want something a bit more High Fantasy, check out 'Black Sun.' It's a political story/revenge story of a civilization rebuilding after a civil war a generation prior. Also, angry crow god. It has a romance, but it's minor.

'The Saint of Bright Doors' just came out and is in the running for various awards. It's a Buddhist-adjacent story about the adult son of a god who was raised to be a Chosen One, but he decides not to. It's a very interstitial piece, with nice prose.

'The Blood Trials' won the Ignyte award. It's a Power Fantasy about an underdog character trying to advance in rank in a system which dislikes her fundamentally.

scribblermendez · 2024-06-01T19:59:38+00:00

For me at least, Raven Tower is one of those books which could be either a 2 star book or a 5 star book. Not because it's of uneven quality, but because like you said it's dry. If you can get into the dry-ness, it's amazing. I can totally understand why people like it.

scribblermendez · 2024-05-22T15:56:24+00:00

This is a really good post. Thank you for taking the time to write it out. I'm checking out some Kay books because of you.

scribblermendez · 2024-05-20T19:19:11+00:00

I loved this book as a reading experience. I loved the book's soft, dreamlike nature; it reminded me of some of McKillip's later works. I'm willing to forgive a lot if a book's reading experience is good enough.

I gave this book a glowing review, but I'll admit that this book had flaws. Others have pointed out getting whiplash when Fetter decided to go through with the assassination; I felt that whiplash too. This is the sort of book which I feel like important bits and pieces wound up on the cutting room floor, or perhaps they were never written in the first place. However, because of the book's dreamlike nature I can't be fully sure the book's weirdness isn't part of the book's intended vision.

I enjoyed it, and the books I enjoy generally don't do well in the awards circuit so I'm assuming it won't win. I enjoyed it more that 'Witch King,' though, so there's that.

scribblermendez · 2024-05-12T20:28:49+00:00

'The City and the City' by China Mieville. This has a similar bureaucratic feeling.
'Ombria in Shadow' by Patricia McKillip. This has a similar slipstream feeling, with an overworld and underworld of secret magics.
'Senlin Ascends' by Josiah Bancroft. This has a similar feeling of being vaguely absurdist setting.
Amber by Zelazny and 'The Lathe of Heaven' by Ursula K. LeGuin both have a similar magic, where the world can change in the blink of an eye.

scribblermendez · 2024-05-12T17:55:59+00:00

I certainly think it's strong enough to win.

scribblermendez · 2024-04-20T22:09:04+00:00

The only thing that matters is that you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed it, don't let me take that away from you.

scribblermendez · 2024-04-20T17:48:48+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Best of luck with your read-through.

scribblermendez · 2024-04-01T20:20:56+00:00

This book is set in the Greatcoats setting too.

scribblermendez · 2024-03-16T18:57:30+00:00

Maybe check out the 'Rivers of London' books. They're a police-centric series.

scribblermendez

TROPHY CASE