5/5 stars - a gripping story and morally gray main character you can't look away from

I'm almost a year late to The Poppy War party (is it a party? there's an awful lot of blood and fire...) so I'll be succinct: this book earned every ounce of hype. I don't always have the attention span or time for long books, but the breadth of Rin's journey deserves its page count.

The novel starts out almost like a Tamora Pierce-esque coming-of-age story (albeit with a lot more f-bombs and an (un)healthy dose of opium), and escalates into some of the most visceral and disturbing descriptions of war I've ever read. But I mean that in a good way. The Poppy War's plot spans several years (four or five, I think), during which protagonist Rin's determination to determine her own fate leads her down increasingly dark paths.

In the interest of remaining spoiler-free (and because other reviewers have had plenty of time to say it better already), I'll end here. Suffice it to say I highly recommend The Poppy War to anyone with a strong stomach (trigger warnings for extreme gore and described rape; see www.doesthedogdie.com/media/17719 for a few more) who enjoys dark historical fantasy. I'll definitely pick up The Dragon Republic when it's released in August!