#the poppy war series

[starfallkaz]

she is a traitor that has committed numerous war crimes and a vengeful goddess housed within a flesh suit, but have u considered she is also baby girl in need of a hug and a kiss on the forehead ?????

#fang runin I am looking at you #wittle kiss #sooo baby girl #rinezha #yin nezha #the poppy war series #the poppy war #rf kuang #the burning god #the dragon republic

[squichky]

Fang Runin

#waking up super early to be a hater #i agree with her #the poppy war #fang runin #rin #the poppy war series #the dragon republic #the burning god #altan trengsin #yin nezha #chen kitay #r f kuang #tpw

[a-crystalclearsquid]

chen kitay, fang runin, yin nezha:

that kiss from: a midsummer night’s dream

#alex does art #the poppy war series #tpw #chen kitay #fang runin #yin nezha #playing around with colors

[daisymylove]

So I started Babel, I'm currently on chapter six, and so far I think robin swift is a snivelling coward.Fang runin would eat that bitch for breakfast.

Where are my babel fans at? Is it worth it? Im curious to see how things are going to play out, but not overly invested

#robin swift #fang runin #the poppy war #babel an arcane history #r f kuang #the poppy war series

[lueurichor]

it just hurts so much

from this:

“But Kitay’s not like you,” Rin said. “Our wills aren’t aligned. If anything, we disagree more often than not. And I don’t want to . . . erase him.”

Qara’s expression softened. “Do you love him?”

“Yes,” Rin said immediately. “More than anyone else in the world.”

“Then you don’t need to worry,” Qara said. “If you love him, then you can trust yourself to protect him.”

Rin hoped that was true.

to this:

Until she was alone.

Was that peace? Was that liberation?

She could see her victories. She could see the burned wreckage of Hesperian shores. She could see herself at the center of a conflagration that consumed the world, scorched it, cleansed it, ate away its rotted foundations—

But she couldn’t see where it ended.

She couldn’t see where the pain stopped—not for the world, and not for Kitay.

“You’re hurting me,” he whispered.

#the poppy war #poppy war #fang runin #chen kitay #quote #quotes #pain #sad #the burning god #the dragon republic #the poppy war series #the poppy war spoilers

[bloodbroox]

fang runin, my beloved daughter

💌 instagram. 🏷 redbubble

#the poppy war #the poppy war fanart #fang runin #rinezha #rin #the poppy war series #the dragon republic #the burning god #r f kuang #fanart #art #artists on tumblr #my art

[iiowaw]

“I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.”

#the poppy war #the poppy war series #tpw #my edit

[wutheringmights]

2023 Reading Wrap Up

I tried starting this post about 20 times already, and no introduction is really hitting. I am quite a bit hungover, and in dire need of a rest. But alas, I want to talk about all the books I read last year.

So I had the goal of reading as much as I physically could last year. Why? After finishing my degree, I was having trouble reading for the sake of reading. I wanted to be someone who read a lot, but my self-motivated reading habit was in the dumps. My sibling and I ended up making a bet to see who could read more in 2023, and I was determined to win.

I did win, but that's besides the point. My importantly, I am now back in the habit of reading again.

I really enjoyed starting my reading tag and making little write-ups summarizing my thoughts. I really appreciate everyone being so patient with my book-posting, especially as I gradually went from writing a sentence or two to rambling bullet point lists to well-thought out reviews. If you ever interacted with one of those posts-- thank you so much! I hope to continue in this upcoming year.

So to wrap up my year of reading, I figured I would rank all of the books I read. If I read an entire series, I'll count it as one entry on the list. Also, the ranking is going to be determined less by quality and more by personal enjoyment.

All that being said, let's go~

Ranking My 2023 Reads

#17) Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg - This was my first read of the year, and my worst. This book is near unreadable in terms of prose, and features one of the most infuriating lines I have ever read in my entire life:

Add the most unoriginal plot I have ever seen, and this makes for one bad read. I knew it was going to be bad going on, but the levels of incompetency on display here was mind-boggling.

#16) Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan - Is this the worst book I read this year? No. But it definitely pissed me off more than the others. I didn't need this book to be good; I just wanted it to be fun, but it couldn't commit to a plot line long enough to do so. I will give this book credit for having one of the unintentionally funniest villains I have ever read. That man failed upwards and it was GREAT. No notes.

#15) Ariadne by Jennifer Saint - I don't think this book is terrible, but its flaws are the most glaring to me. Structurally, it's a mess. The prose tries to use imagery to cover up how much telling it's truly doing. Both hampered an overall decent plot.

#14) Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - This book wasn't really for me. It was an entertaining read, but the references to pop-culture were more cringey than humorous. I also could not stand how the book was ashamed to be escapist literature and tried to uplift itself with shallow critiques of American politics.

#13) Lightlark by Alex Aster - That I am putting this book so high on the list is a crime and an insult against every book ranked below it. If I was ranking off of quality alone, it would be the second worst book I read this year. Unfortunately, I started an inside joke with my friends about how I'm Lightlark's #1 Fan, which ended up increasingly my enjoyment of this very stupid book exponentially. #TeamOro

#12) Garrison Girl by Rachel Aarons - This book really isn't anything special, but its place in publishing and anime history tickles my brain. It's not bad but it's not all that good either.

#11) The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack - Someone with a more thorough baseline on science would probably find this book more enjoyable than me. As is, I didn't understand half of it.

#10) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - A fast, enjoyable read. I think it reveals its hand a bit too quickly, but the plot overall is really fascinating. Lacking on prose, but it didn't need a lot of it. This is a book begging to be made into a movie (which will probably be better than the book itself).

#9) A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - What this book lacks in originality and plot, it makes up for with comprehensiveness. As much as I enjoyed reading all of its varied perspectives, I am still peeved by how Penelope's perspective was wasted and how Haynes had no interest in writing from Helen's perspective.

#8) The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - A prime example of a book series that is objectively excellent, but was simply not for me. My interests didn't align with what the narrative thought was important. However, the characters are fantastic and what there is of the central conflict between mother and daughter is earth shattering.

#7) The Poppy War Trilogy by R.F. Kuang - An incredible fantasy series with some excellent characters and ideas. While I do think that the series is a little simplistic, it makes up for it by being endlessly entertaining. Except for the last book, which leaned too heavily into its grimdark flares.

#6) Beowulf by Unknown (Translated by Seamus Heaney) - A reread featuring a fantastic introduction from Heaney that connects the text to his Irish roots. The translation itself, while good, prioritized brevity a bit too much for my taste.

#5) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - A long overdue reread that reaffirmed why I found this book life changing when I first read it in junior high. Lyrical, brutal, and surprisingly funny, this book paints an honest picture of depression and trauma in adolescence.

#4) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado - A lyrical, dreamy exploration of an abusive relationship. I love how this memoir pushes the limits of its own medium as it also tries to establish a canon for abusive queer relationships. Machado's imagery is insane, and I devour it every time.

#3) The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger - My last and most surprising read of the year. I did not expect to love this novel as much as I do. I will never forgive the world for insisting that Holden Caulfield is an archetypal male manipulator when he's a traumatized kid (albeit a bratty one) who desperately wants to be feel happy.

#2) Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price - An incredible, comprehensive look on the history, culture, and legacy of the vikings. Price parses through popular fiction to bring humanity back to a historical group of people every subculture wants to claim as their own, for better and for worse. This book broke a damn in my head that was preventing me from doing world building for a piece of original fiction I want to write.

#1) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - I have been haunted by this book since I was a little kid, promising myself that I would one day gather the courage to read this behemoth of a story. As long as it is, every word was worth it. It was both parts entertaining and stimulating, and I ended by the book knowing why so many people call this the best book ever written.

--

And that was my year! Please feel free to share what you read this year. Let me know if there's anything I should try to read in 2024. You can also fight me about any of my opinions lol

#me rambling #me reading #books #bookblr #bookish #books and reading #The Count of Monte Cristo #Children of Ash and Elm #The Catcher in the Rye #In the Dream House #Speak #Beowulf #The Poppy War Series #The Broken Earth Trilogy #A Thousand Ships #The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo #The End of Everything #Garrison Girl #Lightlark #Red White and Royal Blue #Ariadne #Daughter of the Moon Goddess #Breaking Time

[vavuska]

The dead of Loraille do not rest. Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on. She’d rather deal with the dead than the living, who point and whisper about the odd girl who was once possessed by a violent spirit. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia fights back by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a high saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being now whispering in her head. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her in body and soul. But death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has a chance of stopping it. As Artemisia investigates a mystery of saints, secrets and dark magic, an ancient evil is stirring. Can an untrained girl, tormented by the burden of containing the revenant’s devouring power, have any hope of defeating it?

The complete Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, a stunning epic fantasy series by Mark Lawrence! Red Sister: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls. Grey Sister: Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to—and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist. Holy Sister: The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat. Nona Grey faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that she and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.

This two books are very similar: both the protagonists, Artemisia in Vespertine and Nona in The Book of Ancestor, are orphans raised in a female-dominated holy place, trained in their ways. Both became possessed by devious spirits at some point of the story and both are reluctantly call to save the day. Both the characters are highly influenced by the traumas they endured (physically and psychologically) but while Artemisia — at the beginning of the book — is more isolated and lacks of friends, Nona, despite her more feral nature, is more easily going with people who became loyal friends to her. Both in Vespertine and Book Of Ancestor Trilogy there's a great curruption in the secular and religious hierarchies, but while in Vespertine those religious authorities are victims in their own way, in Book Of Ancestor the corrupted spiritual leaders are more mundane and their action are plotted by the political plans and ambitions of the royal family members.

The main difference is that Artemisia is not a warrior herself: when the convent is attacked by possessed soldiers (Revenants), she takes up a reliquary kept by an elderly nun and, thanks to the spirit that resided there, she runs into the fight, saving the day. Afterward, she is arrested by a priest — probably a future love interest — in conflict with himself and his religious beliefs.

There are a handful of supporting characters with their own special traits: a soldier who experienced a similar trauma to what Artemisia went through as a kid, whom she's able to connect with and help; a fellow nun from the convent who is very different from Artemisia (I appreciated their enemies-to-friends relationship, and her cleverness); and a grouchy but powerful elder who you can't help but adore (which is very similar to the cunning Abbess who took Nona under her care) .

The Revenant is an interesting character, who is supposed to be evil, and it is in some ways, but it’s also caring: it's the revenant that taught Artemisia to take care of herself, to consider herself worthy of being cared for.

Artemisia isn't as kickass as Nona ––many of the badass moments were due to the revenant controlling her––but she has her strengths. I appreciated that she grew to trust and care for the revenant despite how she was raised, and that she was able to push out of her comfort zone at times. It's nice to see how people in similar situations can turn out differently based on their individual experiences.

Book of the Ancestor, on the other hand, follows the growth of young Nona Grey, adopted into a convent of nuns known for their martial and magical skills. Nona and her friends must learn how to utilize the magic of their world to hopefully save their empire. Nona’s story, as she taps into her own potential and makes peace with herself — and the violence within her — is well-written and the self-immersion in her thoughts is cathartic and immediate.

The world of Book of the Ancestor deserves special attention. It is, in my reading, wholly unique. Giant ice sheets are slowly covering the world, squeezing nearly the entire population of the world into a narrow strip of land. It's a fascinating concept and becomes a major part of the series.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It's fast-paced with characters that I came to enjoy (more on that in a moment). The books have a fun magic system that leads to excellent pay-offs in each of the books, and Lawrence plays with time, too, keeping the tension high throughout the stories.

I'm not a huge fan of magical academy tropes, which are very prevalent in Book Of The Ancestor (like the first book of the The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang). There are occasional moments of familiar tropes (there is a brief period where the book seems like it is aping the story of the first Harry Potter book beat for beat; luckily, that quickly fades out), but in the end, Nona and her friends more than turn this into their own story…helped by the fact that this most definitely isn’t a Chosen One story. Indeed, within the first few chapters, it’s revealed that the Chosen One prophecy of this world is hokum designed to distract people – and it’s that sort of decision that makes Book Of Ancestor a great trilogy.

In Book Of Ancestor, magic and supernatural abilities are more common and accepted, while in Vespertine is more marginal, at the point that only elderly nuns have a deep knowledge of the precious powers of the reliquary that they kept.

Nona Grey is also very similar to Rin from The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang: high skilled warriors, dominated by their fury, but loyal to their friends, used as weapons by powerful authorities. Even if Rin, at the end, falls victim of her rage and is more eager to be manipulated than Nona, who seems to be unaware of the deeper meaning of her own battles all the time and just follows the Abbess' indications.

And also the detailed distinction made by Lawrence of the four tribes and their powers reminds me of the one created by Susan Dennard in her Witchlands saga, in which every nation has their own elemental-related talents.

#vavuskapakage #The book of the ancestor trilogy #Nona Grey #vespertine #margaret rogerson #mark lawrence #the witchlands #witchlands #susan dennard #r. f. kuang #The Poppy War Series #the poppy war #fantasy #book review #bookmark #book reviews #bookblr #fantasy books #Vavuskabooks #goodreads

[phoebebuggers]

if my favorite fantasy series is the poppy war by r.f. kuang and i’m craving a reread but also want to read something new what should i read?? preferably series but standalone are fine too

#the poppy war #the poppy war trilogy #the poppy war series #rf kuang #r.f. kuang #fang runin #adult fantasy #fantasy books #books #bookblr #reading #books and reading #book recs #fantasy book recs

[daisyjones13]

fang runin

#digital art #digital drawing #digital illustration #digital artist #drawing #small artist #artist #art #artists on tumblr #my art #rin #fang runin #the poppy war #r f kuang #the dragon republic #the burning god #the drowning faith #speer #the poppy war series

[starfallkaz]

I cant stop thinking abt rinezha and it is killing me.

The petty hate of enemies/rivals, the bregruding allies, the cultivated intimacy of knowing each others weaknesses and short comings bc they’ve spent so long picking apart each others defences to hurt and bully one another, but it’s turned into a tentative respect and mutual understanding of each other and how they’ve gotten here. And they haven’t completely acted on it but there’s an assuredness in looking at each other and knowing how the other feels, in prolonged eye contact and all the words unsaid but felt so deeply, in lingering touches.

But they’re on opposite sides of a war and the gap between them that used to be minute with their petty squabbles has turned into a chasm, seemingly irreparable. And they have to hate each other to justify hurting the other, but there’s the lingering familiarity of loving one another and holding each other. The nostalgia for an easier time when they were both children playing at soldiers and students, not generals - exhausted and covered in blood. the yearning, but lingering anger that the other won’t change. If you tried to hurt me, I think I’d let you. I cant live without you (don’t ask me to). Dying in the others arms - the joint relief and grief of holding them again and losing them.

It’s a visceral pain in my gut thinking abt them. I’ve cried so much over them today, I started gagging

#rin x nezha #rinezha #the poppy war series #the poppy war #the dragon republic #the burning god #the burning god spoilers #rf kuang #rebecca kuang #fang runin #yin nezha #book recs #emotional damage #I’m so unstable #I want to kiss them

[andreai04]

“It’s so much harder to stay alive. That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to live. It means you’re brave.”

#reading #books read in 2023 #bookblr #books #book photography #book blog #bibliophile #the burning god #rf kuang #r.f. kuang #the poppy war series #third book #final book in series #conclusion #review #ya fantasy #chinese history #fang runin #a bit dragged out #took me a while #to get through #fantasy #war #strategy #intense #destruction #three stars #taking a break from fantasy #after this #april reads

[a-crystalclearsquid]

i finished the dragon republic with tears in my eyes and starting the burning god with still said tears, not giving myself time to grieve because just like rin, i am self-destructive

anyways, fuck yin vaisra. i hope he dies the most gruesome death in the burning god

#i keep thinking of the what ifs #what if they had escaped that day #what if rin hadnt been betrayed thrice over #and i keep grieving over the little details #the fact that they didnt even get to say goodbye #that juat hourse before they were hoping to set sail for their chance at freedom #no matter how fleeting that may be #but instead vaisra took that away from them #just so he'd come out on top #alex rants #alex reads #the dragon republic #the poppy war series #fang runin #yin vaisra

[squichky]

My favourite part of tpw was when chaghan takes rin to the divinatory, reads her hexagram and doesn't tell her anything. I too would hold back information from a small angry girl capable of summoning the god of fire just out of spite

#yes they find out about golyn niis from it but what about the rest of the lines #i need explanations #chaghan is so chaotic gay #i get him #but i was so confused during that part #tpw #chagan #rin #fang runin #the poppy war series #yin nezha #chen kitay

[folklorin]

just chen kitay and robin swift learning how to fire a gun. i love them both sm.

#chen kitay #the poppy war series #babel #robin swift