I can't speak to the Poppy War but her Babel was the most disappointed I've ever been by a book.

I liked the first book. The second was a trial, I gave up on the third.

And I like everything else she has written more than the first book of the Poppy War.

Babel and Katabasis are both also dark academia books and I love them both.

Yellowface is about being a writer.

R.F. Kuang has great ideas for books, but the execution is just never there in the final product. The Poppy War was a rare DNF for me.