John Hamm

An excellent follow up to The Poppy War. I will leave out a synopsis of the story as it might spoil the first one. Kuang gave more detail to the characters from the original as well as introducing a whole new set of people that were a nice metaphor towards the real world. I know she mirrored The Poppy War to China during WWII and after realizing that it enhanced this series quite a bit. I can't wait to read the final installment. I would highly recommend this series and R.F. Kuang as an author to anyone!

A strong entry in the Earthsea cycle.

Pros:
Return of my favorite character in the series.
More characters than previous books.
Great vibes throughout the whole book.
Exciting conclusion to tie things together.

Cons:
The plot is a little weaker but it doesn't rely on it.
Less overall magic than previous books.
A little slower than past entries.

This series is so cool! I liked venturing into a ‘nonsense' world for this entry and trying to follow along with everything going on. It is just pure magic and so fun to read through.

Great world building book. Very well written with a satisfying story.

Overall a decent book. I enjoyed the beginning and the end, but felt the middle dragged a little and could have been cut down a little. When I first started it I thought “This is Gaiman’s best” but now I’m not so sure. Shadow was a fairly blank slate character. He had his moments but was a little dull. A good concept with an interesting plot.