Thank you for watching this episode of the breakdown! Check out the book here and support local bookshops: bookshop.org/a/89948/9780062662583

@darquanjr

Жыл бұрын

Will you do a Asoiaf breakdown?

@taimohamed4447

Жыл бұрын

I need a One Piece breakdown

@taimohamed4447

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the heart ❤

@deanryanmartin

Жыл бұрын

Hey DG. Please have a breakdown on The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks. Thank you.

I love how light hearted and whimsical this series is, it’s like being wrapped in a wool blanket on a cold day. Truly a healing experience for all who read it. 🔥☠️🔥☠️🔥☠️🔥☠️

@bendover7841

Жыл бұрын

I feel like you're lying me.....

@oliverdemille8388

Жыл бұрын

@@bendover7841 More than a little.

@destro6971

Жыл бұрын

@@bendover7841 yeah, much more than a little. I did enjoy it, but yikes it’s a downer

@Sp4rKzTV

Жыл бұрын

@@bendover7841 It starts off all cool and whimsical but shit hits the fan halfway through the first book and it's pretty hardcore from there until the end. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book series. To me it was on par with the First Law Trilogy.

@katieamarsh

Жыл бұрын

Fits right into that “cozy fantasy” genre. 😂

Poppy war is the most brutal thing I’ve read by far. I don’t know if I would ever dare to read something that dark again, but god did I love that trilogy. I wasn’t prepared but I was glued to every scene. It encouraged me to diversify my fantasy reading. And I may or may have not stumbled into a reread of the dragon republic 2 days ago so this video’s timing was great.

@bendover7841

Жыл бұрын

You should take a break from the dark stuff and read something lighthearted and fun like Berserk.

@greengandalf9116

Жыл бұрын

Don't read Malazan then lol. The second book is worse than this trilogy.

@AlexInASmallTown

Жыл бұрын

I also wouldn't recommend anything by Joe Abercrombie. All his books are amazing but they're also very brutal.

@kdot78

Жыл бұрын

@@bendover7841 or, de sade

@madamebelle-

9 күн бұрын

_Laughs in A Song of Ice and Fire_

What i love about it especially the first book is the tone shift. I went blind into it and enjoyed the ya elements but what made me really appreciate it was realizing that these teenagers who study in a military academy are completely unprepared for a real war. I also love Rin

@artisticbean4945

4 ай бұрын

Yes!! this is exactly how I feel about the tone shift, it was a vital part of the story in my opinion and I can't understand why others critisize it.

As a massive history nerd I was super impressed by how well she depicted in a fantasy way the events of the Sino Japanese War and also addressing the Western Colonialism. I was also unaware about the Yellow River Flood until reading about the Four Gorges Dam in the book, and figured it must have also been used in real life.

@itsgonnabeanaurfromme

5 ай бұрын

That's a way to put it I suppose. The events are basically from that so I hesitate to say it was inspired. And the story of Sun Tzu where she just ripped it off and renamed him. Nope. Not a fan of that

@anthonnygeoffrey7071

5 ай бұрын

the fact that the battles themselves are very porly described, if at all, did not bother you? As a bit of a history nerd myself, i was very put off buy the author's apparent lack of understanding of the Sun tzu strategy lessons that she was so often quoting

Out of everything I have read, I'd actually consider The Poppy War to be the trilogy that got me into reading fantasy. And one of the scenes near the end of The Burning God still might be my favorite scene in fiction, period. Such a wonderful series and it genuinely deserves the praise it gets and more.

@rgrex1

Ай бұрын

Wonder which scene you're talking about? I just finished The Burning God today and loved it but I'm curious lol

@DwayneRidgwayOfficial

Ай бұрын

@@rgrex1 Riga waking up and the scene to follow. (Minimal spoilers for those who haven't read. Please ignore.)

5:00 If you're wondering, the length is actually 19 hours like Daniel says, not 9 like it says on screen. Very small nitpick, great video as always. Loving the breakdown series.

@TheEarthenLie

Жыл бұрын

I double checked my audio copy and it’s 19 hours. He had me doing a double take with that length.

I remember listening to the trilogy during the summer of ‘21, and I really loved it. The final shot/description from _The Burning God_ has been burnt into my head ever since. Based on how _Babel_ turned out, R.F. Kuang is definitely getting better and better with each publication.

I feel like "inspired by real-world history" is quite generous for The Poppy War. It's mostly "basically actually real-world history with some different names and a few magic people squished in"

@tomasxfranco

Жыл бұрын

A la song of ice and fire

@Dannsenman

Жыл бұрын

@@tomasxfranco I felt like a song of ice and fire distinguished itself more from history with some solidly cementing world building, which was more lacking in the Poppy War trilogy for me

@Murderbits

2 ай бұрын

I have yet to read it. Is it some disguised glorification or celebration of Mao or a Mao-like? I'm truly not interested in spending my money and time on something that is.

I absolutely love The Poppy War series, so thank you for making a breakdown video for it!

I love the phrase "people who still have to live". Because, boy do I feel that burden lol. Also Yellowface is sooooo good, so even though it isn't fantasy and you won't review it on the channel, I really hope you pick it up outside of the channel! Bring on RotE!

Daniel about 3 years ago: "Berserk is some edgelord BS." Daniel now: "Berserk is now a measurment on my newly invented tradegy-scale." Glad you came around :)

Just want to say Daniel that the quality of recent videos this year has been fantastic, the editing and prep put into them is brilliant 🤙

The first book has been sitting in my to read pile for a while now. Looking forward to finally getting around to it

I finished The Poppy War just a couple of weeks ago and it will forever be burned into my mind. I love history and found it really fun recognising some of the events that happened in the books and real life. The ending has still not left me and it finally pushed me into start writing my own book. This trilogy changed me and I will forever be grateful for that.

Just want to let you know I love these (new?) little effects that you use between shots. Fun, but in line with the tone of the video and also subtle enough. Great job (also love the video's content and I will definitely go read this series now!)

This video is super well made with the epic music doing justice to the series! I love the goblin breakdown series

I'm glad you brought up RF Kuang's improvements as an author as the series went on. I almost didn't finish Book 1 because I was so frustrated at the execution of the cool ideas and world. Glad I stuck with it though, Book 2 was a huge jump in quality. The Poppy Wars became one of my favorite series and Babel is high on my list of favorite individual books.

I finished this series this weekend and it absolutely rewired my brain chemistry. I will think about these characters forever. On my favorites shelf for sure. Now I just need to get my hands on those damn hardcovers.

I was just reading Babel and loving it, already considered this series, your timing is perfect!

@AE8dood

Жыл бұрын

you should definitely check it out! i also read and loved babel prior to reading this series. i am actually on the last chapter of the burning god, so the timing of this video really is perfect lol

Just finished this series two days ago, the absolute timing is amazing

Great idea with the tone scale! Could you make a website where you add the tone scores to the books you’ve already read? Would be really interesting to see where you rank WOT, ASOIAF, Red Rising and all the rest

This is actually really well done. Poppy war is one of the main series I want to dive right into when I'm really ready to start consuming adult fantasy once more 📖

I was looking for something new to read after I finish my current series and this video made me go to my local book store and buy the first book and order the second through them. Can't wait to get into it.

Thank you for the breakdown. I think Poppy War just jumped to the next on my TBR, just behind the Malazan series.

By some act of fate I started reading the poppy war the day this video released and finished it not too long ago. And it's utterly fantastic

I own the first two books in the series they may get read this year this video definitely makes me want to read them great content

Poppy War is one of my favourite series that I've read, no question, Kuang is a fantastic author...Babel's prose showed her growth and it was a-mazing. A series review (with book 6 slated for May) you might consider is "Red Rising".

Just bought the first book a week ago! This video is perfectly timed

So happy to see this, love your channel and love The poppy war seris

It's a... hard series to read. I believe part of the reason why I like Cradle so much is because I read it right after finishing this series, and it was such a breath of fresh air (that I quite needed). Got to give it props for making me feel so goddamned bad, when it comes to immersion and making you empathize with its characters it definitely gets a 10. (Although that empathy pretty quickly leads to suffering). I do like grimdark here and there, but The Poppy War puts the GRIM in grimdark, for sure.

It was on my tbr for a while now, deffenetly gonna pick it up soon!

After reading the Poppy War, I had to DNF the rest of the trilogy. It just wasnt for me. I was super disappointed. I completely bought the series because of the gorgeous cover art, and it was a sad day when I decided to sell them all. I tried Babel thinking it would be different, but I felt exactly the same and DNF'd it after 100 pages. It's just me, but I just do not enjoy her writing style I guess.

@jokingswood

6 күн бұрын

I know this is a year later, but I'm curious as to why you DNF? I'm halfway through Book 2, and the series hasn't fully clicked with me yet.

Hey Daniel, great content as always. Here's a rather niche perspective for you - I'm Singaporean, ethnically Chinese. I read the poppy war and loved it, but some of my friends did not, because they felt it was too much of a fusion. I would be considered slightly more western/non-traditional than the average Singaporean. Some of my friends skew more the other way (for example they read much of the same English-language fiction as I do, but they also read Chinese fiction) and they felt rather weird about the poppy war. Like how some people don't like fusion foods - because the Poppy War does feel like a fusion book, even to me. As much as Rebecca is Chinese as well and one of her sources is her grandfather who literally grew up in China, she's also American and her writing probably has been influenced by that. Furthermore, seeing Chinese words in an English book was strange for my friends, as well as the way they're used. They also disagreed on some of the (Chinese) word choices. They also didn't like the way the myths/historical figures of people like Ziya, Nezha and Sunwukong (the monkey God) were adapted. Like cherry picking characters from five different unrelated stories and throwing them together in a semi-historical narrative. To be honest, I don't know any of those myths (except Sunwukong, vaguely) so it didn't bother me, but to others I can see how that would be weird. It would be interesting to get more Chinese perspectives of this work. And it will be something Asians will have to grapple with over time, as more non-western fiction gets written and popularized. Do we support it just because it's Asian-authored and Asian-based? Or is staying true to the context important as well? The target audience must also be considered. At the end of the day my personal view is that language, culture, and stories are made to change over time, and we should embrace that while still valuing traditional values and stories.

This is just what I needed to continue with this series. I loved the first book, but was a bit hard to get into The Dragon Republic after the high of the first ending.

@musicgenius1948

Жыл бұрын

Book 2 is even better

These videos are such good advertising, I really want to pick this series up

That tonal scale thing is really cool. Can you make a video about 1 - 10 tonal scale for every series. Btw, love you Daniel 💓💓

I read the trilogy last year and really enjoyed it! It ranges in tone wildly though, from Name of the Wind style beginnings to full on uber-intense grimdark. Gave me whiplash but I loved it.

Oh crap! When you looked into the camera and said "I am watching the video at 1.5 speed". You really got me and I laughed out loud. Imao.

Your fascination with numbers just reminds me of Kitay....

I'm just finished book 1, and if the the rest of the books are like this it's well on its way to being my favorite series

Currently reading the last book in the series ;)

Just finished poppy war yesterday while on vacation. The first two days i finished "legend & lattes" then i went on to read poppy war. Almost broke my neck with that whiplash and i think this book came closer than any other to giving me *actual* nightmares. The blip at the back of the Edition was perfect "i thought i was prepared. I was Not". I actually have waking flashbacks to some of the parts of the book, closest to having a waking nightmare that i ever came. Its genuinely a great book, with a lot to say. But shiva, Kristna and Christ only read that when you prepared for something *super* dark and in an emotionally stabile state

@NiceBeard

Жыл бұрын

Same, bro. The first book really scar me. It took me weeks before i stop thinking about it all the time. I can't bring myself to read the second and third book. And very unlucky of me, i read it right after the war start, the anxiety was terrifying.

The timing of this! I'm about 90% of the way through the first book

Man, I do enjoy me some Breakdown. I've heard about this series for a very long time and I can't wait to read it! But I have to, because I'm not in a good mental space right now and I'm not sure I can handle war crimes in my fiction!

Great, now i want a nice adaptation

The Poppy War, along with many other books, is in my TBR. I wouldn't mind a breakdown of the Arcane Ascension series by Andrew Rowe. I haven't read the 4th book yet and I don't know how many books are going to be in the series. But with the other recent news you had the other day, it might be a good one to break down.

Yeah the Poppy War kicks ass. Kicks my ass emotionally

Excited to watch this, thank you so much for the video, Daniel! ✌️🤎

I have this on my shelf, but I've actually heard mostly bad things about it, so it's very low in my TBR list. It did have an interesting premise that immediately grabbed me and got me to buy the book, though, so I'm sure there's something worthwhile there! :)

The grittier the better for me. Loved this series!

hi would you mind doing a video going through all of your books and showing your shelves? thank you so much

I’ve read the first two books and Rebecca is just incredible. I loved what’s happened with vin and so many other characters in the first two books. Hopefully going to finish the trilogy next month 😊

Great series. Burning God's ending was a bit abrupt but apart from that, I loved it

I listened to the audiobook after you have recommended this on your channel. That was a ride, indeed. I like grimdark, but man, that was daaark. Loved it. Additionally, Rebecca won totally legit and official Tolkien Jeopardy here on Daniel Greene channel, which shows how enlightend being she is.

For me I really enjoyed the first book, book two was a step down, and book three was a step further down. I still enjoy the other two books, but there is something about the feeling of the first book that the other two cannot quite capture for me.

Midway through the first book and ordered the other two just yesterday! A god among men, you are 🙏🏽

I'm almost finished 'The Burning God', one of the best books I've read in a long time

If I could make a suggestion for the next Breakdown, it would be for some old school fantasy I don't see many people talk about, and that would be the Dying Earth series from Jack Vance (aka the author and series that inspired the Greyhawk setting, magic system, and one of the biggest baddies of D&D, since Vecna is an anagram of Vance)

i started the first one a few days ago, i genuinely did not know anything about this book going in to it and it has shit beyond my comprehension of dark. I’m 17 and never in my life have i ever read a book this dark but i literally cannot stop reading. I don’t really know what to expect with the next two but i’m just about finished with the first

no shot this video dropped now. im currently reading the first book and im halfway through :D

Audiobook narrator was great, too, for all those ear fans out there

I won't be watching this video yet since I'm 1/3 with The Poppy War, and I own the other 2 books. But I'll have this on my watch later so that I can enjoy it after I'm done

Masterpieces, simply put, you give them a special place in your heart Another kind, idk what to call it, but they make a special place in your heart without you wanting to, poppy wars is the latter

Minor editing error for the length of the audobook for Poppy War. It's 19 hours, not 9 hour long.

Rin just got so many demons it can be hard to hear about them over and over and over and over and over but its a gripping story nonetheless

This video led me to read The Poppy War and I have no regrets.

I loved the first half of the first book. The intense academic drive of the MC, to the point of sheer insanity, and that being paid off was the ultimate catharsis for a college student like me. But the later half completely ruined the book for me. To avoid spoilers I'll just say this: It was a dramatic shift in pacing and tone, trying to cram some dense real world history ON TOP of an already complex drug magic system exploring themes of addiction and recovery. It felt like one book that would have been better split into two. The time skips, the landscape changes, the new characters, the graphic war scenes, all would have had time to breathe and hit home further. I've debated reading the second book, but not if it can make up for the failings of the first

@admiralepic1357

Жыл бұрын

I'm genuinely not sure how critics can ignore all these glaring flaws. Half of the book doesn't make sense (either characters forget what their motivations are and do what the author wants or forget information that's been told to them multiple times) and the other half has pacing issues. I'm not sure how Daniel can claim it has "few flaws" when it's got these massive issues that break immersion an make the book really hard to grasp. That's what annoys me at least: the critics that seem to just not see that the book isn't perfect.

@viinaart

Жыл бұрын

The tone is SO weird in the first book (which is the only one of these I'll ever touch), it honestly kinda reads like Kuang forgot she was trying to write grimdark for the first half and then just decided to squeeze every bad thing ever into like two chapters

@losgann

8 ай бұрын

The first book is the best of the three, if you weren't sold by the end of the first book probably don't bother.

@nokaroundgy8674

8 ай бұрын

I just finished reading the first book and I definitely feel this (though I did end up enjoying it a lot). The Sinegard and Khurdalain halves of this novel should definitely have been 2 novels. It would have flowed better and allowed for deeper characterization of the academy students and the Cike. We could also have explored the characters of Feylen, Dr. Shiro, Tearzen, and the Empress much more. As it was , all of these characters have big impact on the first book story without really being included outside of their one chapter.

“What if Mao was a teenage girl…” was what convinced me I need to read this. 😭 Once I’m caught up on the Cosmere this very well might be my next read

Rin’s childhood is terrible and then her life gets difficult. What a great synopsis.

Oh please rank every fantasy series on that berserk to discworld scale !❤️

I'd like to see NK Jemisin's The Broken Earth Trilogy reviewed/explained in a format like this!

It’s a crime that Dresden Files breakdown isn’t here yet.

I read the very first one all the way through (okay listened at 2.5 speed, sue me) and every minute of it hurt my heart. I recognized the real world corollaries though, and similar to the harder scenes in Malazan, used it as a mirror to some of the worst humanity can offer. But yeah, was NOT strong enough to go straight into the second, will try it once my mind has refreshed...

please review more Vinland Saga

Love the new B2D (Berserk to Diskworld) scale

I sat through the torture scenes in 1984 barely blinking, but I can’t even re-read the part where they get to Golyn Niis.

Please do the green bone saga next, Daniel Green please!!!

What are the several different pieces of music here? Especially the opening.

About to pick the trilogy up looking forward to , heard a bit of the audiobook. Yes dark.

It looks like your WoT read along stopped after Book 6. Is there a reason for that? I'd love to see more!

Dude, review her next book, even if it’s not fantasy. We will watch it.

Daniel, you sweet summer child. My old ass doesn’t have time for 1.5x, we have BOOKS TO CONSUME!! 2x for unfamiliar series, or ones with complex dialog or plots to follow, and 2.5x for rereads, non-fiction, and YA or below-level literature.

darkness level tier list for novels/fantasy please ty

Took a while, but thanks!

Do you feel like this series has some similarity to Red Rising? I just finished the last book in that series and I’m looking for some thing similar

Read the first two and could not finish the third. It was too dark and depressing and I tried to read it during a time where the real world was too dark and depressing. Unfortunately I probably won't finish it. It did cement into my brain that I am not built for grimdark, so at least it was a learning experience about my personal tastes as well.

@zhazhagab0r

Жыл бұрын

I had the same experience, but I think I would have liked it if there had been a different character arc for Rin. Watching her make the same mistakes page after page was the most brutal part.

Brazil’s ENEM is VERY similar to that test; the day I took it was definitely one the worst days of my life

FYI, The poppy war has also been translated to Indonesian, but isn't on the list in 4:08. And actually you've already shown the cover of indonesian version in 01:12 and 08:28

Don't you think a non-numeric score for the tone is better as people might think 10 means quality of execution of the tone? I know you explicitly explained it but I mean just a thought

coincidentally, breakdown is the exact word to describe how i felt after finishing this series

I will one day read the 'The Poppy War' trilogy, but I am still in recovery from 'Babel' I loved Babel, but it also emotionally destroyed me.

what is the first song in the video? it is immaculate

I found it interesting that by the end of the series, the colonist absolutely have the moral high ground. Not what I was expecting.

So I saw something online and I'm wondering if it was a joke or if you're really moving to New York 🗽😅 loved this video! I wanna read these books soon😃

and no we read the poppy war. damn it sounds super interesting

I read the first book like… meh. The second book like… huh. And the third book.. ouch. BUT when I finished the trilogy I looked back and realized I was hooked and bamboozled from book one. Great trilogy. She’s quite talented. Subversive and brutal.

I have a question: How hard is to read 'the poppy war' if english is not my native?? My level is B2

Haven been able to get into it after the womb incident

In my audiobook stats for listening on Libby, I had 23:46 for Dragon Republic and 23:47 for The Burning God.