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The Poppy War #1
噩賳诏 鬲乇蹖丕讴
欧宝娱乐 Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fantasy (2018), Nominee for Readers' Favorite Debut Author (2018)乇蹖賳 亘丕 讴爻亘 亘賴鬲乇蹖賳 賳賲乇丕鬲 丿乇 亘夭乇诏鈥屫臂屬� 丌夭賲賵賳 丕賲倬乇丕鬲賵乇蹖 讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 讴卮賮 丿乇禺卮丕賳鈥屫臂屬� 丕爻鬲毓丿丕丿賴丕 胤乇丕丨蹖 卮丿賴 亘賵丿貙 賴賲賴 乇丕 丕賳诏卮鬲 亘賴 丿賴丕賳 诏匕丕卮鬲. 丕夭 賲爻卅賵賱丕賳 丌夭賲賵賳 诏乇賮鬲賴 讴賴 亘賴 匕賴賳鈥屫簇з� 禺胤賵乇 賳賲蹖鈥屭┴必� 蹖讴 蹖鬲蹖賲 噩賳诏鈥屫藏団€屰� 乇賵爻鬲丕蹖蹖 亘鬲賵丕賳丿 亘丿賵賳 鬲賯賱亘 趩賳蹖賳 丕賲鬲丨丕賳蹖 乇丕 倬卮鬲 爻乇 亘诏匕丕乇丿 鬲丕 賯蹖賲鈥屬囏й� 丕賵 讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 卮賵賴乇 丿丕丿賳卮 賱丨馗賴鈥屫促呚ж臂� 賲蹖鈥屭┴必嗀� 賵 丨鬲蹖 禺賵丿卮鈥� 讴賴 賲蹖鈥屫з嗀池� 亘賱丕禺乇賴 丕夭 亘蹖诏丕乇蹖 賵 亘丿亘禺鬲蹖 乇賴丕 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲貨 丕賲丕 卮诏賮鬲鈥屫з嗂屫藏臂屬� 丕鬲賮丕賯貙 乇丕賴蹖丕亘蹖 丕賵 亘賴 爻蹖賳诏丕乇丿貨 賲賲鬲丕夭鬲乇蹖賳 丿丕賳卮讴丿賴鈥屰� 賳馗丕賲蹖 丿乇 爻乇丕爻乇 賳蹖讴丕賳 亘賵丿.
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丕夭 爻賵蹖 丿蹖诏乇 讴卮賵乇 丕鬲丨丕丿蹖賴 讴賴 丕夭 賱丨丕馗 賳馗丕賲蹖 趩賳丿 丿賴賴 丕夭 賳蹖讴丕賳 噩賱賵鬲乇 亘賵丿賴 丿乇 丌賳鈥屫迟堐� 丿乇蹖丕 鬲賳賴丕 賲鬲乇氐丿 蹖讴 噩乇賯賴 丕爻鬲 鬲丕 噩賳诏 鬲乇蹖丕讴 爻賵賲蹖 亘乇倬丕 讴賳丿鈥�
卮丕蹖丿 賯丿乇鬲鈥屬囏й� 卮賲賳蹖 乇蹖賳 鬲賳賴丕 乇丕賴 賳噩丕鬲 賲乇丿賲卮 亘丕卮丿貨 丕賲丕 賴乇趩賴 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丿乇賲賵乇丿 禺丿丕蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屫①呝堌藏� 賳诏乇丕賳蹖鈥屫ж� 丕夭 丕蹖賳 亘丕亘鬲 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 讴賴 賲賲讴賳 丕爻鬲 賮鬲丨 丿乇 賳亘乇丿貙 亘賴 賯蹖賲鬲 丕夭 丿爻鬲 丿丕丿賳 丕賳爻丕賳蹖鬲卮 鬲賲丕賲 卮賵丿鈥� 蹖丕 丕蹖賳讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 賴乇 丕賳鬲禺丕亘 丿蹖诏乇蹖 丿蹖乇 卮丿賴 亘丕卮丿.
555 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2018
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About the author
R.F. Kuang
20听books74.5k听followersRebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, translator, and award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy and Babel: An Arcane History, among others. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62,397 reviews
August 1, 2020
ARC provided by the publisher鈥擧arper Voyager鈥攊n exchange for an honest review.
I have no doubt this will end up being the best fantasy debut of the year. No no, scratch that understatement. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you a review for The Poppy War, a book that will go down as one of the best grimdark/military fantasy debuts of all time.
Once in a while, there comes a book that you just know will be a fantastic book just from the premise or the cover; this was one of those books for me. I鈥檝e been eyeing this book ever since I stumbled upon the gorgeous attention-grabbing cover by Jung Shan. (Seriously, check out her artworks. They鈥檙e incredible.) Reading that the book is highly inspired by Second Sino-Japanese War also the Rape of Nanking鈥攑lease look this up if you don't know about it so you鈥檒l have an idea of how dark the book will get鈥攕parked my interest even more. However, although I had a good feeling about this debut, I certainly didn鈥檛 expect it to be THIS incredible. In fact, I鈥檒l go so far as to say that this is literally THE best grimdark/military fantasy debut I've ever read; even better than The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie or Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher, and this author only turns 21 years old this year! How awesomely talented is she!?
Before I begin my long review, I will clarify that I鈥檓 an Asian and my review for this book will be affected by my experience growing up as one. Then, I need you to consider these two questions:
1. Do you enjoy or are you okay with reading books with a lot of violence? Because this book contains plenty of vividly brutal scenes. The author doesn鈥檛 pull any punches and the violence was handled splendidly, not only for the purpose of showing the horror and tragedy of war but also to let these scenes become a huge part of characters鈥� developments.
2. If the answer to question one is an absolute yes, I鈥檒l ask you this: "are you ready for this book to go into your favorites of all time shelf?" because there鈥檚 an incredibly high chance that it WILL happen.
The Poppy War is a debut by R.F. Kuang and it's a coming-of-age grimdark military fantasy. It's a book about empires, drugs, shamanism, and gods, and it's highly inspired by Second Sino-Japanese War, which is one of the darkest and bloodiest periods in Chinese history. I grew up learning about this war and it gave me great satisfaction to read an epic fantasy book inspired by it; one that was written exceptionally well, too. Considering the root of inspiration for the book, it's obvious that there will be a lot of allusions to China and Japan (I鈥檒l get into them more later) and that this will be a violent book. This is not a YA book; there are a lot of scenes that are definitely only appropriate for adults to read and there are tons of content warnings (I鈥檒l list them at the end of my review) in part III. This is also not a happy-go-lucky story to read. Also, this is literally the first time I鈥檝e read a fantasy book written by a female author that doesn鈥檛 feature ANY romance in it. (Thank God!)
As a Chinese myself, I have my own reasons for believing that The Poppy War is an Asian inspired coming-of-age grimdark military fantasy done absolutely right with finesse. Part I (roughly 40%) of the book may lead you to think this will be strictly an epic/high fantasy with a complete focus on learning, but this isn鈥檛 really true. Yes, the story does start with our main character, Fang Runin (Rin), learning tons of skills and forming friendships in a military academy called Sinegard. However, the storyline immediately took a different approach and became a complete grimdark/military fantasy in Part II and III. This won鈥檛 be a situation like Kvothe from The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss where after two installments he鈥檚 still in the University (I love this series so much though). Story structure wise, this book actually reminds me a lot of Blood Song by Anthony Ryan (another of my favorite debuts of all time), where the first half revolves around the character in a battle school and the second half revolves more around war and battles. This book alone feels like a trilogy in itself due to the sheer amount of monumental events that take place. Kuang did what a lot of authors try to do in the scope of a trilogy within the span of ONE book. Kuang鈥檚 prose was easy to read, simple, and most importantly, VERY engaging. Her writing never gets in the way of her story and it was truly compelling to read.
I need to give another reminder that part III in particular was filled with brutal scenes. These scenes are written exceptionally well; the author clearly shows the horrors of war and please do remember, like I said before, these scenes aren鈥檛 just there for the sake of making the book darker. The scenes are all there for the purpose of the story, characters development, and world building. In fact, this book just wouldn鈥檛 hold the same powerful impact without these scenes. The pacing was also brilliant. There wasn鈥檛 any chapter that bored me, none whatsoever. This is truly a story with a fine balance of heart, emotion, brutality, and action scenes that were only possible because of how magnificently written the author wrote all the characters, action sequences, and world-building.
Rin has seriously become one of the best female heroines I鈥檝e ever had the chance to encounter. She鈥檚 a highly well-developed character, multi-faceted and simply kickass. Her rise from a mere peasant, oppressed and hated by everyone because of the color of her dark skin and her low status, to becoming what she has to be as the story progressed. This was one of the most well-written developments of a heroine or any character I鈥檝e ever read. She makes brutally tough choices, she rises to any challenge that comes her way, and she never gives up. She鈥檚 fierce, she鈥檚 badass, and she demonstrates that being a strong woman character doesn鈥檛 only mean being physically powerful but mentally powerful, as well. Even though we see the story unfolds solely from 搁颈苍鈥檚 perspective in third person narration, the author does a fantastic job in making sure we鈥檙e really inside 搁颈苍鈥檚 head at all times. At one point, I actually forgot that I was reading the book in third person point of view as 搁颈苍鈥檚 character and personality were so well explored that I felt like her story was being told in first person POV. Besides that, all the other supporting characters' personalities were so well fleshed out because Part I was used VERY effectively to establish the characters鈥� introductions and world-building, making rooms for developments in the second half despite the story being in the middle of all the chaos. There鈥檚 always something new to discover on every page, and no words are wasted.
No military fantasy will ever reach greatness without intricate war tactics or extraordinary action scenes, and this book simply scored wonderfully on both counts. Every action sequence, whether it鈥檚 the martial arts battle or the magic system, was vividly written. The scale and scope of the action relentlessly escalate with each page turned. The magic users in this book are called Shaman鈥攖hose who commune with the Gods to use their power鈥攁nd Kuang did a terrific job researching Shamanism. Coincidentally, during my time reading this book, I received an email from one of my favorite artists, Noah Bradley, on his new art piece for Magic: the Gathering and somehow, it completely fits some of the action scenes in this book. Check out this picture below to give you an idea of how wildly the action scenes escalated.
Picture: Jaya鈥檚 Immolating Inferno by Noah Bradley
Lastly, I want to talk about the world-building. The history in the world of this book is filled with constant warfare, and this is also where the Asian influences really prevailed. There are TONS of Chinese and Asian influences in this book; I鈥檓 going to mention only a few of them here so you can experience the rest on your own:
-The provinces in this book are named after the twelve Chinese Zodiacs.
-The four cardinal mythological Gods are named exactly after the same Four Symbols of Chinese constellations creatures: the White Tiger of the West (Byakko), the Black Tortoise of the North (Genbu), the Azure Dragon of the East (Seiryu), and the Vermilion Bird of the South (Suzaku).
-The creator of the military tactics book named Principles of War in the story is called Sunzi, obviously named after the famous Sun Tzu and his Art of War.
-I鈥檓 a Buddhist (I think this is the first time I mention my religion in a review) and I鈥檓 pretty sure that Kuang used the name Bodhidharma intentionally to harken to Buddhism. In Buddhism, Bodhi means enlightenment and dharma means cosmic law. Considering the nature of Shamanism in this book, this naming and its meaning is very appropriate.
-Ki derives from Qi/Chi which means life force.
-Federation of Mugen, the name of the group of antagonists in this book, in Japanese means Infinite/Fantasy/Dream and they resembled the Japanese code of war where they are simply tools for the Emperor to use.
-Just one look at the map and you鈥檒l also know that the world is based on China and Japan.
-Then there鈥檚 also talk of the legend of Monkey King from Journey to the West.
Believe me, I鈥檓 holding myself back here; I鈥檓 pretty sure I found almost all the Asian influences in this book and I could talk about them in detail but I want you to experience them for yourself too. I spent four hours writing this review and it has been long enough already. In fact, this is actually my second longest review of all time. I really wish I could talk about how amazing this book is but I have to make sure my review is spoiler-free enough for readers to experience this debut with maximum results. You simply have to read and experience this greatness for yourself.
The Poppy War is an astounding debut and one of the greatest starts to a series I鈥檝e ever read. It鈥檚 a shining treasure of fantasy, literature, history, and culture. R.F. Kuang is truly a new author to watch. If this doesn鈥檛 become a one-hit wonder and she continues writing as her career, I have absolutely no doubt that her name will be up there with the likes of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin, and maybe even better. I鈥檓 already waiting for the second book eagerly. I don鈥檛 even know how Kuang will top this debut; it鈥檚 a magnificently written debut that will stay in the heart of readers. By this point in my reviewing career, it shouldn鈥檛 come as a surprise to my followers that I鈥檓 quite stingy with giving a full five-star rating, but this book simply deserves a full five stars.
The Poppy War is a book truly worth every second of your time. It鈥檚 a profound blending of history into military fantasy. It鈥檚 a relentlessly tension-packed book. Rin will capture your heart, embrace it. The Poppy will make you high, accept it. The War will break you, face it. The Poppy War will most likely be included in your favorite books of all-time list, get it. Come May, buy and read this superlative page turner immediately. This is the beginning for a new queen of fantasy and you should consider yourself damn lucky to have the chance to witness it.
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Trigger Warnings: Rape, self-harm, drug abuse, genital mutilations, and many more. Basically, you name it and there's a chance it's here.
Official release date: May 1st, 2018 (US) and May 3rd, 2018 (UK).
You can pre-order the book
You can find and the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at
I have no doubt this will end up being the best fantasy debut of the year. No no, scratch that understatement. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you a review for The Poppy War, a book that will go down as one of the best grimdark/military fantasy debuts of all time.
Once in a while, there comes a book that you just know will be a fantastic book just from the premise or the cover; this was one of those books for me. I鈥檝e been eyeing this book ever since I stumbled upon the gorgeous attention-grabbing cover by Jung Shan. (Seriously, check out her artworks. They鈥檙e incredible.) Reading that the book is highly inspired by Second Sino-Japanese War also the Rape of Nanking鈥攑lease look this up if you don't know about it so you鈥檒l have an idea of how dark the book will get鈥攕parked my interest even more. However, although I had a good feeling about this debut, I certainly didn鈥檛 expect it to be THIS incredible. In fact, I鈥檒l go so far as to say that this is literally THE best grimdark/military fantasy debut I've ever read; even better than The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie or Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher, and this author only turns 21 years old this year! How awesomely talented is she!?
Before I begin my long review, I will clarify that I鈥檓 an Asian and my review for this book will be affected by my experience growing up as one. Then, I need you to consider these two questions:
1. Do you enjoy or are you okay with reading books with a lot of violence? Because this book contains plenty of vividly brutal scenes. The author doesn鈥檛 pull any punches and the violence was handled splendidly, not only for the purpose of showing the horror and tragedy of war but also to let these scenes become a huge part of characters鈥� developments.
2. If the answer to question one is an absolute yes, I鈥檒l ask you this: "are you ready for this book to go into your favorites of all time shelf?" because there鈥檚 an incredibly high chance that it WILL happen.
The Poppy War is a debut by R.F. Kuang and it's a coming-of-age grimdark military fantasy. It's a book about empires, drugs, shamanism, and gods, and it's highly inspired by Second Sino-Japanese War, which is one of the darkest and bloodiest periods in Chinese history. I grew up learning about this war and it gave me great satisfaction to read an epic fantasy book inspired by it; one that was written exceptionally well, too. Considering the root of inspiration for the book, it's obvious that there will be a lot of allusions to China and Japan (I鈥檒l get into them more later) and that this will be a violent book. This is not a YA book; there are a lot of scenes that are definitely only appropriate for adults to read and there are tons of content warnings (I鈥檒l list them at the end of my review) in part III. This is also not a happy-go-lucky story to read. Also, this is literally the first time I鈥檝e read a fantasy book written by a female author that doesn鈥檛 feature ANY romance in it. (Thank God!)
鈥淚f there is a divine creator, some ultimate moral authority, then why do bad things happen to good people? And why would this deity create people at all, since people are such imperfect beings?鈥�
As a Chinese myself, I have my own reasons for believing that The Poppy War is an Asian inspired coming-of-age grimdark military fantasy done absolutely right with finesse. Part I (roughly 40%) of the book may lead you to think this will be strictly an epic/high fantasy with a complete focus on learning, but this isn鈥檛 really true. Yes, the story does start with our main character, Fang Runin (Rin), learning tons of skills and forming friendships in a military academy called Sinegard. However, the storyline immediately took a different approach and became a complete grimdark/military fantasy in Part II and III. This won鈥檛 be a situation like Kvothe from The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss where after two installments he鈥檚 still in the University (I love this series so much though). Story structure wise, this book actually reminds me a lot of Blood Song by Anthony Ryan (another of my favorite debuts of all time), where the first half revolves around the character in a battle school and the second half revolves more around war and battles. This book alone feels like a trilogy in itself due to the sheer amount of monumental events that take place. Kuang did what a lot of authors try to do in the scope of a trilogy within the span of ONE book. Kuang鈥檚 prose was easy to read, simple, and most importantly, VERY engaging. Her writing never gets in the way of her story and it was truly compelling to read.
I need to give another reminder that part III in particular was filled with brutal scenes. These scenes are written exceptionally well; the author clearly shows the horrors of war and please do remember, like I said before, these scenes aren鈥檛 just there for the sake of making the book darker. The scenes are all there for the purpose of the story, characters development, and world building. In fact, this book just wouldn鈥檛 hold the same powerful impact without these scenes. The pacing was also brilliant. There wasn鈥檛 any chapter that bored me, none whatsoever. This is truly a story with a fine balance of heart, emotion, brutality, and action scenes that were only possible because of how magnificently written the author wrote all the characters, action sequences, and world-building.
鈥淐hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�
Rin has seriously become one of the best female heroines I鈥檝e ever had the chance to encounter. She鈥檚 a highly well-developed character, multi-faceted and simply kickass. Her rise from a mere peasant, oppressed and hated by everyone because of the color of her dark skin and her low status, to becoming what she has to be as the story progressed. This was one of the most well-written developments of a heroine or any character I鈥檝e ever read. She makes brutally tough choices, she rises to any challenge that comes her way, and she never gives up. She鈥檚 fierce, she鈥檚 badass, and she demonstrates that being a strong woman character doesn鈥檛 only mean being physically powerful but mentally powerful, as well. Even though we see the story unfolds solely from 搁颈苍鈥檚 perspective in third person narration, the author does a fantastic job in making sure we鈥檙e really inside 搁颈苍鈥檚 head at all times. At one point, I actually forgot that I was reading the book in third person point of view as 搁颈苍鈥檚 character and personality were so well explored that I felt like her story was being told in first person POV. Besides that, all the other supporting characters' personalities were so well fleshed out because Part I was used VERY effectively to establish the characters鈥� introductions and world-building, making rooms for developments in the second half despite the story being in the middle of all the chaos. There鈥檚 always something new to discover on every page, and no words are wasted.
No military fantasy will ever reach greatness without intricate war tactics or extraordinary action scenes, and this book simply scored wonderfully on both counts. Every action sequence, whether it鈥檚 the martial arts battle or the magic system, was vividly written. The scale and scope of the action relentlessly escalate with each page turned. The magic users in this book are called Shaman鈥攖hose who commune with the Gods to use their power鈥攁nd Kuang did a terrific job researching Shamanism. Coincidentally, during my time reading this book, I received an email from one of my favorite artists, Noah Bradley, on his new art piece for Magic: the Gathering and somehow, it completely fits some of the action scenes in this book. Check out this picture below to give you an idea of how wildly the action scenes escalated.
Picture: Jaya鈥檚 Immolating Inferno by Noah Bradley
Lastly, I want to talk about the world-building. The history in the world of this book is filled with constant warfare, and this is also where the Asian influences really prevailed. There are TONS of Chinese and Asian influences in this book; I鈥檓 going to mention only a few of them here so you can experience the rest on your own:
-The provinces in this book are named after the twelve Chinese Zodiacs.
-The four cardinal mythological Gods are named exactly after the same Four Symbols of Chinese constellations creatures: the White Tiger of the West (Byakko), the Black Tortoise of the North (Genbu), the Azure Dragon of the East (Seiryu), and the Vermilion Bird of the South (Suzaku).
-The creator of the military tactics book named Principles of War in the story is called Sunzi, obviously named after the famous Sun Tzu and his Art of War.
-I鈥檓 a Buddhist (I think this is the first time I mention my religion in a review) and I鈥檓 pretty sure that Kuang used the name Bodhidharma intentionally to harken to Buddhism. In Buddhism, Bodhi means enlightenment and dharma means cosmic law. Considering the nature of Shamanism in this book, this naming and its meaning is very appropriate.
-Ki derives from Qi/Chi which means life force.
-Federation of Mugen, the name of the group of antagonists in this book, in Japanese means Infinite/Fantasy/Dream and they resembled the Japanese code of war where they are simply tools for the Emperor to use.
-Just one look at the map and you鈥檒l also know that the world is based on China and Japan.
-Then there鈥檚 also talk of the legend of Monkey King from Journey to the West.
Believe me, I鈥檓 holding myself back here; I鈥檓 pretty sure I found almost all the Asian influences in this book and I could talk about them in detail but I want you to experience them for yourself too. I spent four hours writing this review and it has been long enough already. In fact, this is actually my second longest review of all time. I really wish I could talk about how amazing this book is but I have to make sure my review is spoiler-free enough for readers to experience this debut with maximum results. You simply have to read and experience this greatness for yourself.
The Poppy War is an astounding debut and one of the greatest starts to a series I鈥檝e ever read. It鈥檚 a shining treasure of fantasy, literature, history, and culture. R.F. Kuang is truly a new author to watch. If this doesn鈥檛 become a one-hit wonder and she continues writing as her career, I have absolutely no doubt that her name will be up there with the likes of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin, and maybe even better. I鈥檓 already waiting for the second book eagerly. I don鈥檛 even know how Kuang will top this debut; it鈥檚 a magnificently written debut that will stay in the heart of readers. By this point in my reviewing career, it shouldn鈥檛 come as a surprise to my followers that I鈥檓 quite stingy with giving a full five-star rating, but this book simply deserves a full five stars.
The Poppy War is a book truly worth every second of your time. It鈥檚 a profound blending of history into military fantasy. It鈥檚 a relentlessly tension-packed book. Rin will capture your heart, embrace it. The Poppy will make you high, accept it. The War will break you, face it. The Poppy War will most likely be included in your favorite books of all-time list, get it. Come May, buy and read this superlative page turner immediately. This is the beginning for a new queen of fantasy and you should consider yourself damn lucky to have the chance to witness it.
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Trigger Warnings: Rape, self-harm, drug abuse, genital mutilations, and many more. Basically, you name it and there's a chance it's here.
Official release date: May 1st, 2018 (US) and May 3rd, 2018 (UK).
You can pre-order the book
You can find and the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at
December 30, 2024
I'm immensely disappointed.
Before going into a LONG rant, let me first put out a disclaimer: I was born and raised in China, and this is the first time that I attempted a novel from a Chinese-American author. My background inevitably affected my reading experience -- up to the 80% mark I was going to give this book 3.5 stars, and thought that if I had only an average American's knowledge of Chinese culture, it could've been 5 -- but it was the last 20% that ruined the book for me, for entirely different reasons.
That said, let's get started.
The Good
The Poppy War is fast-paced and moves through three distinct phases in the life of our main character Rin. Part 1 centers around her training at a military school, pushing her limits to survive the trials and win respect from her discriminating classmates. The stakes are high and some scenes get quite gritty, but there are also a lot of hilarious moments and the master-apprentice dynamics are heartwarming. This part has a strong YA vibe which is not my usual type, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable and could easily relate to Rin as a character.
Part 2 takes on a big change in tone. Rin joins her friends and foes alike from school in a war against her country's island neighbor, meanwhile learning to wield her newly-found shaman power. The themes get considerably darker, with lots of battle scenes and graphical violence. This part was the highlight of the book for me: I loved all the battle tactics, the detailed planning and execution, the deception and manipulation. The general outline of events mimics that of the Sino-Japanese War, and a lot of parallels were drawn, but the strategies were quite original and I appreciate all the effort that the author put into it.
Part 3 is where the book gets stamped as grimdark. After an astonishing turn of events, Rin and her comrades find themselves in dire situations where they have to make difficult decisions to save their country. I have major issues with the purpose of certain scenes in this section, which I will explain further below, but I admire the fact that Kuang thought of including them in the first place. Too many atrocities were committed during WWII, and too many of them remain little known outside the countries where they occurred. As someone who shares heritage and history with Kuang, I think her intention is respectable and it's important to have such voices heard.
Sadly, just like many other things in this book, her ideas are great, but the execution far from it.
The Bad
The worldbuilding is lazy to say the least, and very problematic in my opinion.
First, let's get one thing straight: Nikan is not inspired by China. It is China. Simply changing some names into a different language doesn't make it a different country (Nikan means "Chinese people" in Manchurian). Here's why:
- The texts Rin studies in chapter 1, Mengzi, Zhuangzi, and Fuzi (Chinese spelling for Confucius), as well as the strategy text used at Sinegard, Sunzi (Chinese spelling for Sun Tzu), are real classics studied throughout history in China. The keju is also a real test, but more on that later.
- The various types of foods, including the fancy dishes that appeared in chapter 8, are real dishes in China, although some of their names are modified (Eight Treasure Congee becomes Seven Treasure Soup, etc.). The trinkets sold by the street vendors in that chapter are also real toys for Chinese kids, and shadow play is a real hereditary art.
- The gods in the pantheon, such as NuWa, the Jade Emperor, Erlang Shen, and Sanshengmu, are real deities in Chinese mythology and folklore.
- The Wudang Mountain, on which Sinegard Academy is built, is a real mountain in China, home to a famous complex of Taoist temples and a martial arts system that is the southern counterpart to the more internationally known Shaolin. For all their martial arts training, it makes sense that the fictional Sinegard is located there.
I can keep going but you get the idea. The author doesn't spend too much time on worldbuilding and as much as there is, almost all of it is a direct depiction of China. Which is fine -- I won't sing the praises of the book's originality or creativity, but I would've been OK with treating it as alternate history -- except there are these little tweaks here and there that just make things really jarring.
For example, why are the provinces named after the twelve zodiacs? Because this is the only thing that western readers are guaranteed to know about Chinese culture so it adds a cool Chinese aesthetic? No reasonable person, English or Chinese speaking, would actually name their provinces that way, because no one would want to live in the Rat Province or be titled the Dog Warlord. They sound just as ridiculous in Chinese as they do in English. (Well, honestly more ridiculous in Chinese because dog is, unsurprisingly, the gender-neutral equivalent of the English bitch).
And why are certain characters named after historical figures? Su Daji and Jiang Ziya are real people from 11th century BC. Nezha, on the other hand, is a folklore god, but unlike all the other gods in this book who appear in the pantheon, this one gets his name planted onto a mortal character.
Surely you might say: they are just names! Then let's try this: grab a copy of ASOIAF and do a word search. Replace every instance of Jon Snow with George Washington, every Daenerys Targaryen with Jesus, every Tyrion Lannister with Shakespeare, and every Brandon Stark with Harry Potter. Keep everything else the same -- it's just names! But now can you still take this book seriously? Oh, and let's also replace the narrow sea with Mississippi River, Essos with The White Union, and Westeros with The Black Confederate. For no reason other than we can. What do you think of it now?
What's worse than these random namedrops is that on the other hand, many other concepts kept their original names in this book but got their contents swapped out for something different instead. The aforementioned keju, for example, was a real exam system in ancient China, but it was a series of tests taken as an assessment of the outcome of one's education to eventually qualify them for a job, not as a college entrance exam (so for the US, think medical boards instead of SAT). Not to mention that a person couldn't possibly pass it with mere mechanical memorization and that it was already abolished by the time of the Sino-Japanese War.
The hexagrams used for fortune-telling in chapter 20, are real as well and play central roles in Taoism (you can read about them ). But the symbols aren't drawn line by line, and there is no hexagram called The Net (nor did what Rin drew match the 26th one). I'm not expecting the author to do real fortune-telling, but say if you see something called Tarot de Marseille show up in a story, you'd expect them to be the correct deck of cards, not with all the numbers reordered, names replaced, and meanings changed, right?
I know these are such tiny details that most people probably won't even care, but I think cultural representation matters, and swapping concepts like this is misleading. An unsuspecting reader would either expect these concepts to be real, and consequently take the half-truths as cool trivia facts, or expect them to be purely fictional, and consequently praise the author's creative imagination. I won't try to speculate which way is the author's intention, but I think anyone that draws so directly and heavily from real sources should at least acknowledge what they did to their readers.
The Ugly
If these are the only issues I have, I would've still been willing to say this book is "good enough". It was the last four chapters that undid everything.
< Spoiler Alert : the following section contains vague spoilers for Part 3. I won't discuss any major events directly without spoiler tags, but if you prefer absolutely no hints of the plot, then please skip to the end of this review.>
I've mentioned before that I appreciate Kuang's effort in bringing events from the Sino-Japanese War back to light. History is a big part of where we come from, and I think it's necessary for genre fiction to give it a nod from time to time. However, war crimes are heavy subjects and shouldn't be treated lightheartedly. Kuang didn't hold back punches in depicting all the horrifying cruelty and suffering in , but for what purpose?
Sure, it pushed Rin to , but that's . What's worse, it managed to motivate her for precisely one short chapter. That's cheap even for fridging.
And sure, it delivered a powerful scene to the reader, but I feel strongly against using historical tragedies for mere shock value.
Rin's merciless revenge suffers from the same problem. I read some reviews for The Dragon Republic and found that this wasn't resolved in the second book either: I understand that this series is supposed to be grimdark, but please, there are not one, not two, but three genocides in this one book, two of which are based on real historical events. No significant consequences come out of any of them, and less than a handful of characters give a shit. Does no one else feel uncomfortable with this?
< End Spoiler Alert >
History aside, Rin's character also completely fell apart towards the end of the book. I get it, she went through a lot and has to make hard decisions, but none of her decisions make sense. I love antiheroes and I don't hold anything against unlikable characters, but they need to be at least understandable. Rin becomes so unreasonable and unrelatable that I felt like the book reverted to YA again, and a bad one this time: despite all the violence and gore, at the heart of it we still have a main character that's just as impulsive and immature as any recycled YA heroine.
These, combined with the mediocre prose and the choking number of typos (which is not the author's fault, but I had trouble believing such a book to be professionally edited and published by Harper Voyager. I'm not usually a careful reader yet I easily spotted four or five glaring errors in my kindle copy), made The Poppy War such a huge letdown. I won't be continuing with the series, and I hope that one day our history and heritage will be something that we truly understand and value, not to be reduced to marketing gimmicks.
Before going into a LONG rant, let me first put out a disclaimer: I was born and raised in China, and this is the first time that I attempted a novel from a Chinese-American author. My background inevitably affected my reading experience -- up to the 80% mark I was going to give this book 3.5 stars, and thought that if I had only an average American's knowledge of Chinese culture, it could've been 5 -- but it was the last 20% that ruined the book for me, for entirely different reasons.
That said, let's get started.
The Good
The Poppy War is fast-paced and moves through three distinct phases in the life of our main character Rin. Part 1 centers around her training at a military school, pushing her limits to survive the trials and win respect from her discriminating classmates. The stakes are high and some scenes get quite gritty, but there are also a lot of hilarious moments and the master-apprentice dynamics are heartwarming. This part has a strong YA vibe which is not my usual type, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable and could easily relate to Rin as a character.
Part 2 takes on a big change in tone. Rin joins her friends and foes alike from school in a war against her country's island neighbor, meanwhile learning to wield her newly-found shaman power. The themes get considerably darker, with lots of battle scenes and graphical violence. This part was the highlight of the book for me: I loved all the battle tactics, the detailed planning and execution, the deception and manipulation. The general outline of events mimics that of the Sino-Japanese War, and a lot of parallels were drawn, but the strategies were quite original and I appreciate all the effort that the author put into it.
Part 3 is where the book gets stamped as grimdark. After an astonishing turn of events, Rin and her comrades find themselves in dire situations where they have to make difficult decisions to save their country. I have major issues with the purpose of certain scenes in this section, which I will explain further below, but I admire the fact that Kuang thought of including them in the first place. Too many atrocities were committed during WWII, and too many of them remain little known outside the countries where they occurred. As someone who shares heritage and history with Kuang, I think her intention is respectable and it's important to have such voices heard.
Sadly, just like many other things in this book, her ideas are great, but the execution far from it.
The Bad
The worldbuilding is lazy to say the least, and very problematic in my opinion.
First, let's get one thing straight: Nikan is not inspired by China. It is China. Simply changing some names into a different language doesn't make it a different country (Nikan means "Chinese people" in Manchurian). Here's why:
- The texts Rin studies in chapter 1, Mengzi, Zhuangzi, and Fuzi (Chinese spelling for Confucius), as well as the strategy text used at Sinegard, Sunzi (Chinese spelling for Sun Tzu), are real classics studied throughout history in China. The keju is also a real test, but more on that later.
- The various types of foods, including the fancy dishes that appeared in chapter 8, are real dishes in China, although some of their names are modified (Eight Treasure Congee becomes Seven Treasure Soup, etc.). The trinkets sold by the street vendors in that chapter are also real toys for Chinese kids, and shadow play is a real hereditary art.
- The gods in the pantheon, such as NuWa, the Jade Emperor, Erlang Shen, and Sanshengmu, are real deities in Chinese mythology and folklore.
- The Wudang Mountain, on which Sinegard Academy is built, is a real mountain in China, home to a famous complex of Taoist temples and a martial arts system that is the southern counterpart to the more internationally known Shaolin. For all their martial arts training, it makes sense that the fictional Sinegard is located there.
I can keep going but you get the idea. The author doesn't spend too much time on worldbuilding and as much as there is, almost all of it is a direct depiction of China. Which is fine -- I won't sing the praises of the book's originality or creativity, but I would've been OK with treating it as alternate history -- except there are these little tweaks here and there that just make things really jarring.
For example, why are the provinces named after the twelve zodiacs? Because this is the only thing that western readers are guaranteed to know about Chinese culture so it adds a cool Chinese aesthetic? No reasonable person, English or Chinese speaking, would actually name their provinces that way, because no one would want to live in the Rat Province or be titled the Dog Warlord. They sound just as ridiculous in Chinese as they do in English. (Well, honestly more ridiculous in Chinese because dog is, unsurprisingly, the gender-neutral equivalent of the English bitch).
And why are certain characters named after historical figures? Su Daji and Jiang Ziya are real people from 11th century BC. Nezha, on the other hand, is a folklore god, but unlike all the other gods in this book who appear in the pantheon, this one gets his name planted onto a mortal character.
Surely you might say: they are just names! Then let's try this: grab a copy of ASOIAF and do a word search. Replace every instance of Jon Snow with George Washington, every Daenerys Targaryen with Jesus, every Tyrion Lannister with Shakespeare, and every Brandon Stark with Harry Potter. Keep everything else the same -- it's just names! But now can you still take this book seriously? Oh, and let's also replace the narrow sea with Mississippi River, Essos with The White Union, and Westeros with The Black Confederate. For no reason other than we can. What do you think of it now?
What's worse than these random namedrops is that on the other hand, many other concepts kept their original names in this book but got their contents swapped out for something different instead. The aforementioned keju, for example, was a real exam system in ancient China, but it was a series of tests taken as an assessment of the outcome of one's education to eventually qualify them for a job, not as a college entrance exam (so for the US, think medical boards instead of SAT). Not to mention that a person couldn't possibly pass it with mere mechanical memorization and that it was already abolished by the time of the Sino-Japanese War.
The hexagrams used for fortune-telling in chapter 20, are real as well and play central roles in Taoism (you can read about them ). But the symbols aren't drawn line by line, and there is no hexagram called The Net (nor did what Rin drew match the 26th one). I'm not expecting the author to do real fortune-telling, but say if you see something called Tarot de Marseille show up in a story, you'd expect them to be the correct deck of cards, not with all the numbers reordered, names replaced, and meanings changed, right?
I know these are such tiny details that most people probably won't even care, but I think cultural representation matters, and swapping concepts like this is misleading. An unsuspecting reader would either expect these concepts to be real, and consequently take the half-truths as cool trivia facts, or expect them to be purely fictional, and consequently praise the author's creative imagination. I won't try to speculate which way is the author's intention, but I think anyone that draws so directly and heavily from real sources should at least acknowledge what they did to their readers.
The Ugly
If these are the only issues I have, I would've still been willing to say this book is "good enough". It was the last four chapters that undid everything.
< Spoiler Alert : the following section contains vague spoilers for Part 3. I won't discuss any major events directly without spoiler tags, but if you prefer absolutely no hints of the plot, then please skip to the end of this review.>
I've mentioned before that I appreciate Kuang's effort in bringing events from the Sino-Japanese War back to light. History is a big part of where we come from, and I think it's necessary for genre fiction to give it a nod from time to time. However, war crimes are heavy subjects and shouldn't be treated lightheartedly. Kuang didn't hold back punches in depicting all the horrifying cruelty and suffering in , but for what purpose?
Sure, it pushed Rin to , but that's . What's worse, it managed to motivate her for precisely one short chapter. That's cheap even for fridging.
And sure, it delivered a powerful scene to the reader, but I feel strongly against using historical tragedies for mere shock value.
Rin's merciless revenge suffers from the same problem. I read some reviews for The Dragon Republic and found that this wasn't resolved in the second book either: I understand that this series is supposed to be grimdark, but please, there are not one, not two, but three genocides in this one book, two of which are based on real historical events. No significant consequences come out of any of them, and less than a handful of characters give a shit. Does no one else feel uncomfortable with this?
< End Spoiler Alert >
History aside, Rin's character also completely fell apart towards the end of the book. I get it, she went through a lot and has to make hard decisions, but none of her decisions make sense. I love antiheroes and I don't hold anything against unlikable characters, but they need to be at least understandable. Rin becomes so unreasonable and unrelatable that I felt like the book reverted to YA again, and a bad one this time: despite all the violence and gore, at the heart of it we still have a main character that's just as impulsive and immature as any recycled YA heroine.
These, combined with the mediocre prose and the choking number of typos (which is not the author's fault, but I had trouble believing such a book to be professionally edited and published by Harper Voyager. I'm not usually a careful reader yet I easily spotted four or five glaring errors in my kindle copy), made The Poppy War such a huge letdown. I won't be continuing with the series, and I hope that one day our history and heritage will be something that we truly understand and value, not to be reduced to marketing gimmicks.
November 24, 2024
4.45!
鈥淲ar doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.鈥�
It was absolutely brilliant. I am at a loss of words because it has been such a long time since I have read a book that takes into account such horrors that are present in this world and beautifully writes a horrific story about war with complex characters and by complex I mean COMPLEX, amazing action scenes and a good stronghold for the plot. R.F Kuang did not shy away from any brutality, she wrote everything and the way she wrote it was I think the perfect style suited to a story like that and it amazes me how easily she can change her style. Her writing range is insane because I have read Babel, Yellowface and The poppy war and each was so different from the other in terms of everything, the plot, the story, the writing style, the characters and I could not find one similarity besides loving them all. It's obvious by now that Rebecca is among my auto buy authors because the stories that she's putting out are so good and I am literally devouring them all.
Rebecca just woke up one day and thought I am going to present the world with the perfect epic military fantasy and she delivered!! From the cover to the blurb to the actual story to the execution of it. Also this being her first novel baffles me because how can one write such an amazing first book. It was so well thought and so well crafted and I just learned that this was based on true events which makes it so much more dark and terrifying and goosebumps inducing. I would definitely recommend checking out how dark it is because this I felt uncomfortable reading some scenes and this coming from someone who does not get affected by trigger warnings. Reading part 1 I really thought that this was going to be a plot driven story considering the war and the battle that was taking place but after that?? it was solely focused on the characters and I really liked that but that maybe one of the reason why its getting a 4 and not a 5. Part 1 had me engrossed, it had me hooked, I was breathless after reading that part and the one after that still had me captivated but there were often moments where I felt the book drag and loosing my interests, they were few but I didn't like that.
The book is over 500 pages and has 25 chapters, yes very long chapters they did not bother me at all because it was written well and easy to read so they didn't seem tiresome at all although they were two or three chapters that got too much I think they were 15, 17 and 21? they felt a little too long in my opinion and it's written in third persons point of view but it was an overall well written novel.
鈥淚 have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.鈥�
Fang Runin. She is arguable one of the best female characters written. Oh my god, the complexity of that character alone, it was so hard to decipher her whole arc because It was so hard to understand her decisions. Her wanting to kill and save. I loved her and the way we got so much of character development just from her side? It was honestly beautiful the way she set a goal and did everything to achieve it had me loving her even more. The way she topped the exam by studying herself, the way she carried a full fatass pig up and down a mountain, trained and became the strongest solider, the most powerful, I loved it but to be honest she is a badass but a very hard character to like as the story progresses you just have to understand her and once you understand her it would still be hard to like her for some people for others it'll be I think more easy but she is easily one of the most complex characters I have come across so it felt so refreshing to read about a character like, frustrating? yes, but also so satisfying to finally read about someone who I could be conflicted on!! Whether to like her or hate her or just stay in between but I enjoyed it a lot.
Nezha, Kitay and Altan, three of the side characters. There were more but ahahaha I am writing the review after a week so I don't exactly remember their name but there was one who I loved and who always put Rin in her place (I cant remember the name). Nezha 馃珷 the enemies to lovers that we deserve (there's barely any romance here) but the fragments of Rin and Nezha that we got were everything the way they started off on the worst foot possible and the way they literally started off by fighting one another to respectfully admiring each other, to shying away and exchanging forbidden glances. Nezha is missing for the most part of this book but when we got his scenes he did deliver. Kitay would be Rin's only true friend in this war, I liked him a lot and the scenes of him with rin, especially the one where he takes her to his house. I think he would her morality and I can't wait to see what more is there for his story. Altan, I just cant explain to you why I feel about him the way I still do but I like him, he's even more complex than Rin, you all would read about him and think 'I can fix him' but nope you cannot. These three definitely made this story more memorable.
Venka, I didnt really write about her at first but her story stuck with me till the very end and it was undoubtfully more impactful, heartbreaking and easily the most traumatizing story in this whole book. Every word that she spoke shattered my heart bit by bit and I had to keep my book down to breathe and it hit me harder because the thought that this is literally happening in a genocide that is taking place and the world is too silent to speak up about. Venka's whole monologue caused my mind to go into these deep thoughts even after the book was over. It just stick with me, the words that she spoke revolved around my head and I honestly forgot many of the things that happened here but one thing that I cannot forget is her words, the way she said that have me choked, they make me feel so claustrophobic, its like my throat is closing in on me and I can see why many people might think that I am exaggerating but the way Rebecca wrote it was so impactful and the real life events being similar to this especially to my people it just hits very hard, So even a little thought about this could actually change your whole mood and I applaud Rebecca for writing Venka's story and for making her speak up!
鈥淐hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�
The worldbuilding was stellar, its laid the foundations of the word so well, it was vivid and immersive and I really enjoyed it!! the one thing that I did have a problem with was the magic system, I feel like it could have been more explored, more fleshed out, the presence of it missing was definitely seen but it wasn't to such a high scale that would affect the book.
The plot, it's more of a coming of age story so you can see how the character revolved around the plot, it was very different form most coming of age stories, the plot here is weaved around such intricate political warfare, the political intrigue was top notch and the way it was all in a a web that was entangled in another web was absolutely brilliant!!
鈥淲e aren鈥檛 here to be sophisticated. We鈥檙e here to fuck people up.鈥�
My favorite part of the book was it's action sequences , they were so detailed and well written and I cannot stress this enough how immersive it was to read those scenes, the techniques, the details that were put into them and they were described so well that it was hard not to imagine them. The way they proved to give this book a sharp edge by having me at the edge of my seat?? I think this was definitely my favorite part of the book, battles and sequences like these are only present in book like red rising and any Brandon Sanderson book so it was a good surprise that caught me.
Finally, I would love to thank Rowan who finally tipped me off into starting this series, and Roxy who had planned this with me initially back in June but the events that happened weren't really encouraging so I got motivation from Rowan and a buddy reading partner who made this whole experience so much more better, ranting to them was amazing<3
Additional quotes that I loved:
鈥淵ou humans always think you鈥檙e destined for things, for tragedy or for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose.鈥�
.
鈥淭hey were monsters!" Rin shrieked. "They were not human!"
"Have you ever considered" he said slowly "that that was exactly what they thought of us?鈥�
.
鈥淲ell, fuck the heavenly order of things. If getting married to a gross old man was her preordained role on this earth, then Rin was determined to rewrite it.鈥�
.
鈥淣othing is written," said the Phoenix. "You humans always think you're destined for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose. You chose to take the exam. You chose to come to Sinegard. You chose to pledge Lore, you chose to study the paths of the gods, and you chose to follow your commander's demands over your master's warnings. At every critical juncture you were given an option; you were given a way out. Yet you picked precisely the roads that led you here. You are at this temple, kneeling before me, only because you wanted to be.鈥�
.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to be brave. Harder to know when not to fight.鈥�
.
When man begins to think that he is responsible for writing the script of the world, he forgets the forces that dream up our reality.鈥�
.
鈥淚 don't need your pity. I need you to kill them for me. You have to kill them for me," Venka hissed. "Swear it. Swear on your blood that you will burn them.鈥�
.
鈥淧ower dictates acceptability,鈥�
.
鈥淚f there is a divine creator, some ultimate moral authority, then why do bad things happen to good people? And why would this deity create people at all, since people are such imperfect beings?鈥�
.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the worst that could happen?鈥� 鈥淵ou鈥檙e so young,鈥� he said softly. 鈥淵ou have no idea.鈥�
.
鈥淚f you're focused only on your enemy's weapon, you'll always be on the defensive. Look past the weapon to your target. Focus on what you want to kill.鈥�
.
鈥淚 don't love you. And I can kill anything.鈥�
.
鈥淚 command the Cike.鈥� Chaghan looked sideways at her. His expression was grim. 鈥淵ou are going to paint the world in Altan鈥檚 blood, aren鈥檛 you?鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 going to find and kill everyone responsible,鈥� said Rin. 鈥淵ou cannot stop me.鈥� Chaghan laughed a dry, cutting laugh. 鈥淥h, I鈥檓 not going to stop you.鈥� He held out his hand. She grasped it, and the drowned land and the ash-choked sky bore witness to the pact between Seer and Speerly.鈥�
.
鈥淏ut I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.鈥�
.
鈥淗ow could she compare the lives lost? One genocide against another鈥攈ow did they balance on the scale of justice? And who was she, to imagine that she could make that comparison?鈥�
.
鈥淐all off your men, or I will summon into existence things that should not be in this world鈥� (ate)
.
鈥淭here. A clear opening. Rin raised a leg and kicked out, hard. Her leg caught Nezha in midair with a satisfying whoomph. Nezha uttered an unnatural shriek and clutched his crotch, whimpering. The entire studio fell silent as all heads swiveled in their direction. Nezha clambered to his feet, scarlet-faced. 鈥淵ou鈥攈ow dare you鈥斺€� 鈥淛ust as you said.鈥� Rin dipped her head into a mocking bow. 鈥淚 only know one kick.鈥�
.
鈥淭hen I will die on my feet," she said. "I will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart. I will die fighting for the legacy of my people, rather than on Shiro's operating table, drugged and wasted. I will not die a coward.鈥�
.
鈥淵ou were a scared little boy, and they turned you into a weapon. And now . .. now you're lost.鈥�
.
鈥淵ou're blinded by your own desire for
vengeance. Why are you doing this?" He reached out and grasped Altans shoulder. "For the Empire? For the love of the country? Which is it Trengsin? What story have you told yourself?鈥�
.
鈥淚t feels good to hate, doesn鈥檛 it? Up until now you鈥檝e been storing your anger up and using it as fuel. But unless you learn to let it go, you are never going to find your way to the gods.鈥�
Overall, a brilliant debut novel with a few problems but easy to overlook!! I would definitely recommend it!!
__
I have been dying to read this but it has always intimidated me 馃槶
ITS TIME!! for Rebecca to break me into pieces again 馃様 also Rowan can live in peace because I'm finally starting this 馃槶 this better be revolutionary ISTG 馃槫
鈥uddy reading with one and only Roxy because what would I ever do without you 馃様
鈥淲ar doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.鈥�
It was absolutely brilliant. I am at a loss of words because it has been such a long time since I have read a book that takes into account such horrors that are present in this world and beautifully writes a horrific story about war with complex characters and by complex I mean COMPLEX, amazing action scenes and a good stronghold for the plot. R.F Kuang did not shy away from any brutality, she wrote everything and the way she wrote it was I think the perfect style suited to a story like that and it amazes me how easily she can change her style. Her writing range is insane because I have read Babel, Yellowface and The poppy war and each was so different from the other in terms of everything, the plot, the story, the writing style, the characters and I could not find one similarity besides loving them all. It's obvious by now that Rebecca is among my auto buy authors because the stories that she's putting out are so good and I am literally devouring them all.
Rebecca just woke up one day and thought I am going to present the world with the perfect epic military fantasy and she delivered!! From the cover to the blurb to the actual story to the execution of it. Also this being her first novel baffles me because how can one write such an amazing first book. It was so well thought and so well crafted and I just learned that this was based on true events which makes it so much more dark and terrifying and goosebumps inducing. I would definitely recommend checking out how dark it is because this I felt uncomfortable reading some scenes and this coming from someone who does not get affected by trigger warnings. Reading part 1 I really thought that this was going to be a plot driven story considering the war and the battle that was taking place but after that?? it was solely focused on the characters and I really liked that but that maybe one of the reason why its getting a 4 and not a 5. Part 1 had me engrossed, it had me hooked, I was breathless after reading that part and the one after that still had me captivated but there were often moments where I felt the book drag and loosing my interests, they were few but I didn't like that.
The book is over 500 pages and has 25 chapters, yes very long chapters they did not bother me at all because it was written well and easy to read so they didn't seem tiresome at all although they were two or three chapters that got too much I think they were 15, 17 and 21? they felt a little too long in my opinion and it's written in third persons point of view but it was an overall well written novel.
鈥淚 have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.鈥�
Fang Runin. She is arguable one of the best female characters written. Oh my god, the complexity of that character alone, it was so hard to decipher her whole arc because It was so hard to understand her decisions. Her wanting to kill and save. I loved her and the way we got so much of character development just from her side? It was honestly beautiful the way she set a goal and did everything to achieve it had me loving her even more. The way she topped the exam by studying herself, the way she carried a full fatass pig up and down a mountain, trained and became the strongest solider, the most powerful, I loved it but to be honest she is a badass but a very hard character to like as the story progresses you just have to understand her and once you understand her it would still be hard to like her for some people for others it'll be I think more easy but she is easily one of the most complex characters I have come across so it felt so refreshing to read about a character like, frustrating? yes, but also so satisfying to finally read about someone who I could be conflicted on!! Whether to like her or hate her or just stay in between but I enjoyed it a lot.
Nezha, Kitay and Altan, three of the side characters. There were more but ahahaha I am writing the review after a week so I don't exactly remember their name but there was one who I loved and who always put Rin in her place (I cant remember the name). Nezha 馃珷 the enemies to lovers that we deserve (there's barely any romance here) but the fragments of Rin and Nezha that we got were everything the way they started off on the worst foot possible and the way they literally started off by fighting one another to respectfully admiring each other, to shying away and exchanging forbidden glances. Nezha is missing for the most part of this book but when we got his scenes he did deliver. Kitay would be Rin's only true friend in this war, I liked him a lot and the scenes of him with rin, especially the one where he takes her to his house. I think he would her morality and I can't wait to see what more is there for his story. Altan, I just cant explain to you why I feel about him the way I still do but I like him, he's even more complex than Rin, you all would read about him and think 'I can fix him' but nope you cannot. These three definitely made this story more memorable.
Venka, I didnt really write about her at first but her story stuck with me till the very end and it was undoubtfully more impactful, heartbreaking and easily the most traumatizing story in this whole book. Every word that she spoke shattered my heart bit by bit and I had to keep my book down to breathe and it hit me harder because the thought that this is literally happening in a genocide that is taking place and the world is too silent to speak up about. Venka's whole monologue caused my mind to go into these deep thoughts even after the book was over. It just stick with me, the words that she spoke revolved around my head and I honestly forgot many of the things that happened here but one thing that I cannot forget is her words, the way she said that have me choked, they make me feel so claustrophobic, its like my throat is closing in on me and I can see why many people might think that I am exaggerating but the way Rebecca wrote it was so impactful and the real life events being similar to this especially to my people it just hits very hard, So even a little thought about this could actually change your whole mood and I applaud Rebecca for writing Venka's story and for making her speak up!
鈥淐hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�
The worldbuilding was stellar, its laid the foundations of the word so well, it was vivid and immersive and I really enjoyed it!! the one thing that I did have a problem with was the magic system, I feel like it could have been more explored, more fleshed out, the presence of it missing was definitely seen but it wasn't to such a high scale that would affect the book.
The plot, it's more of a coming of age story so you can see how the character revolved around the plot, it was very different form most coming of age stories, the plot here is weaved around such intricate political warfare, the political intrigue was top notch and the way it was all in a a web that was entangled in another web was absolutely brilliant!!
鈥淲e aren鈥檛 here to be sophisticated. We鈥檙e here to fuck people up.鈥�
My favorite part of the book was it's action sequences , they were so detailed and well written and I cannot stress this enough how immersive it was to read those scenes, the techniques, the details that were put into them and they were described so well that it was hard not to imagine them. The way they proved to give this book a sharp edge by having me at the edge of my seat?? I think this was definitely my favorite part of the book, battles and sequences like these are only present in book like red rising and any Brandon Sanderson book so it was a good surprise that caught me.
Finally, I would love to thank Rowan who finally tipped me off into starting this series, and Roxy who had planned this with me initially back in June but the events that happened weren't really encouraging so I got motivation from Rowan and a buddy reading partner who made this whole experience so much more better, ranting to them was amazing<3
Additional quotes that I loved:
鈥淵ou humans always think you鈥檙e destined for things, for tragedy or for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose.鈥�
.
鈥淭hey were monsters!" Rin shrieked. "They were not human!"
"Have you ever considered" he said slowly "that that was exactly what they thought of us?鈥�
.
鈥淲ell, fuck the heavenly order of things. If getting married to a gross old man was her preordained role on this earth, then Rin was determined to rewrite it.鈥�
.
鈥淣othing is written," said the Phoenix. "You humans always think you're destined for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose. You chose to take the exam. You chose to come to Sinegard. You chose to pledge Lore, you chose to study the paths of the gods, and you chose to follow your commander's demands over your master's warnings. At every critical juncture you were given an option; you were given a way out. Yet you picked precisely the roads that led you here. You are at this temple, kneeling before me, only because you wanted to be.鈥�
.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to be brave. Harder to know when not to fight.鈥�
.
When man begins to think that he is responsible for writing the script of the world, he forgets the forces that dream up our reality.鈥�
.
鈥淚 don't need your pity. I need you to kill them for me. You have to kill them for me," Venka hissed. "Swear it. Swear on your blood that you will burn them.鈥�
.
鈥淧ower dictates acceptability,鈥�
.
鈥淚f there is a divine creator, some ultimate moral authority, then why do bad things happen to good people? And why would this deity create people at all, since people are such imperfect beings?鈥�
.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the worst that could happen?鈥� 鈥淵ou鈥檙e so young,鈥� he said softly. 鈥淵ou have no idea.鈥�
.
鈥淚f you're focused only on your enemy's weapon, you'll always be on the defensive. Look past the weapon to your target. Focus on what you want to kill.鈥�
.
鈥淚 don't love you. And I can kill anything.鈥�
.
鈥淚 command the Cike.鈥� Chaghan looked sideways at her. His expression was grim. 鈥淵ou are going to paint the world in Altan鈥檚 blood, aren鈥檛 you?鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 going to find and kill everyone responsible,鈥� said Rin. 鈥淵ou cannot stop me.鈥� Chaghan laughed a dry, cutting laugh. 鈥淥h, I鈥檓 not going to stop you.鈥� He held out his hand. She grasped it, and the drowned land and the ash-choked sky bore witness to the pact between Seer and Speerly.鈥�
.
鈥淏ut I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.鈥�
.
鈥淗ow could she compare the lives lost? One genocide against another鈥攈ow did they balance on the scale of justice? And who was she, to imagine that she could make that comparison?鈥�
.
鈥淐all off your men, or I will summon into existence things that should not be in this world鈥� (ate)
.
鈥淭here. A clear opening. Rin raised a leg and kicked out, hard. Her leg caught Nezha in midair with a satisfying whoomph. Nezha uttered an unnatural shriek and clutched his crotch, whimpering. The entire studio fell silent as all heads swiveled in their direction. Nezha clambered to his feet, scarlet-faced. 鈥淵ou鈥攈ow dare you鈥斺€� 鈥淛ust as you said.鈥� Rin dipped her head into a mocking bow. 鈥淚 only know one kick.鈥�
.
鈥淭hen I will die on my feet," she said. "I will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart. I will die fighting for the legacy of my people, rather than on Shiro's operating table, drugged and wasted. I will not die a coward.鈥�
.
鈥淵ou were a scared little boy, and they turned you into a weapon. And now . .. now you're lost.鈥�
.
鈥淵ou're blinded by your own desire for
vengeance. Why are you doing this?" He reached out and grasped Altans shoulder. "For the Empire? For the love of the country? Which is it Trengsin? What story have you told yourself?鈥�
.
鈥淚t feels good to hate, doesn鈥檛 it? Up until now you鈥檝e been storing your anger up and using it as fuel. But unless you learn to let it go, you are never going to find your way to the gods.鈥�
Overall, a brilliant debut novel with a few problems but easy to overlook!! I would definitely recommend it!!
__
I have been dying to read this but it has always intimidated me 馃槶
ITS TIME!! for Rebecca to break me into pieces again 馃様 also Rowan can live in peace because I'm finally starting this 馃槶 this better be revolutionary ISTG 馃槫
鈥uddy reading with one and only Roxy because what would I ever do without you 馃様
August 11, 2022
The Poppy War is a historical military fantasy grounded in the bloody history of China鈥檚 20th century in which Rin鈥攁 dark-skinned war orphan from the rural south鈥攈as fixed her heart on passing the Empire-wide placement test and attending the most prestigious military academy in Nikan, as a desperate lunge at the hope of escaping the gruesome inevitability of an arranged marriage.
A year at Sinegard of her rival classmates鈥攁ll heirs of the Warlords and the wealthy and privileged鈥攖elling her to cease the folly of imagining herself their equal only gave 搁颈苍鈥檚 determination a more savage edge, and soon Rin learns, with the aid of her seemingly insane and much-disdained teacher, that she possesses a lethal aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism.
But the chain of wonders and horrors hadn鈥檛 ended with her discovery: the Nikans had lived with the certainty that sooner or later the Federation of Mugan would come and blood would flow, and when they did, Rin finds herself assigned to a company of the Cike鈥攐ddball misfits with shamanic powers鈥攆ighting for her country鈥檚 very survival. Through their shared heritage and a connection to a perilous divinity, Rin glimpses the world as her Commander鈥擜ltan鈥攕ees it: made simple by the righteousness and fury that were the legacy of their unjustly murdered people. And it made a good whetstone upon which to sharpen her own rage. Rin is determined to win this war and do whatever it takes to ensure that her country would never again be forced to its knees.
But just how many of those unavoidable choices will result in unforgivable consequences?
This is not a book for the faint of heart. The Poppy War is a wide array of unpleasant possibilities. My mind was unwinding the tangled threads with tattered patience, following each thread from one end to another through a thicket. The author is so good at building tension and sitting tone and once the action gets going, she only delights in twisting the knife deeper and deeper. I never knew in which parts to be elated and terrified, and I continuously felt the caution of wondering whether everything was a trick, or another lie. My expectations were so uprooted and jumbled that I was constantly forced to sit rapt with attention just to get my bearings.
But what truly snagged at me the most is waking up to the gruesome horrified realization that the author鈥檚 depiction of the war between Nikan and Mugen was strongly influenced by the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s, and specifically the Nanjing Massacre (also known as the Rape of Nanking). There鈥檚 sadly nothing too far-fetched or too unbelievable about the horrors in this book and I just can't hold the reality of it all in my head without stirring a war in me between grief and utter disbelief.
I felt her every sorrow and anger and disappointment and so much loss with a keenness that often forced me to exclamation, to stamping my feet or clutching my book to my chest. And then she meets Altan and together, their wrath ignited, impossible to quell鈥攃arving through their minds and pushing everything out of its way.
Altan鈥檚 life has been a sequence of monsters one after another tossing him about to suit their whims, and it all eventually twisted into wild distorted rage and thwarted fury. He and Rin were two hollowed-out halves of a whole, two allegiances doing battle but the one that has been sewn into their blood since birth winning out, because they would always be the last remaining survivors of their kind, and that has become a truth that both guarded and isolated them.
And as much as I tried to take heart from their scattered successes, it was precious little to take heart from when it鈥檚 matched by horror at its costs and the knowledge that they both had finally become the worst of what they had always had the potential to be. Especially when I still can't听shake off the feeling that all the characters are merely pawns in a very treacherous game.
A year at Sinegard of her rival classmates鈥攁ll heirs of the Warlords and the wealthy and privileged鈥攖elling her to cease the folly of imagining herself their equal only gave 搁颈苍鈥檚 determination a more savage edge, and soon Rin learns, with the aid of her seemingly insane and much-disdained teacher, that she possesses a lethal aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism.
But the chain of wonders and horrors hadn鈥檛 ended with her discovery: the Nikans had lived with the certainty that sooner or later the Federation of Mugan would come and blood would flow, and when they did, Rin finds herself assigned to a company of the Cike鈥攐ddball misfits with shamanic powers鈥攆ighting for her country鈥檚 very survival. Through their shared heritage and a connection to a perilous divinity, Rin glimpses the world as her Commander鈥擜ltan鈥攕ees it: made simple by the righteousness and fury that were the legacy of their unjustly murdered people. And it made a good whetstone upon which to sharpen her own rage. Rin is determined to win this war and do whatever it takes to ensure that her country would never again be forced to its knees.
But just how many of those unavoidable choices will result in unforgivable consequences?
鈥淲ar doesn鈥檛 determine who鈥檚 right. War determines who remains.鈥�To be honest, summing up the plot of The Poppy War does it a huge disservice. For one thing, it unfurls into at least three books' worth of plot, but without ever feeling rushed or anything less than sure-footed and scrupulous in its exploration of character and setting. This is a dazzling debut painted by an inventive hand that takes hold and doesn鈥檛 let go. It鈥檚 full of imaginative flair, mad entombed gods, truths too heavy for the hearts, and a high-stakes quest for revenge鈥攂lending magical elements with a culturally vibrant cast of characters and creating a shadowy world dripping with blood and revenge, in which our fierce, head-strong heroine must claw her way to the top of a deadly pecking order. The author also created secondary characters that were just as richly crafted and multidimensional so that each one gives you a tinge of pain when they go.
This is not a book for the faint of heart. The Poppy War is a wide array of unpleasant possibilities. My mind was unwinding the tangled threads with tattered patience, following each thread from one end to another through a thicket. The author is so good at building tension and sitting tone and once the action gets going, she only delights in twisting the knife deeper and deeper. I never knew in which parts to be elated and terrified, and I continuously felt the caution of wondering whether everything was a trick, or another lie. My expectations were so uprooted and jumbled that I was constantly forced to sit rapt with attention just to get my bearings.
But what truly snagged at me the most is waking up to the gruesome horrified realization that the author鈥檚 depiction of the war between Nikan and Mugen was strongly influenced by the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s, and specifically the Nanjing Massacre (also known as the Rape of Nanking). There鈥檚 sadly nothing too far-fetched or too unbelievable about the horrors in this book and I just can't hold the reality of it all in my head without stirring a war in me between grief and utter disbelief.
鈥淐hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�搁颈苍鈥檚 character radiated such an extraordinary vitality and her arc was nothing short of astounding鈥攖he years that stretched between the book鈥檚 beginning and its ending feeling impossibly vast. Everything Rin was, everything she鈥檚 become, grew out of the carnage of her people. Anger and indignation carved away everything else inside her鈥攄oubt, fear, embarrassment鈥攍eaving room for nothing else, and her will was a blade forged by the sight of her country being whittled down one small piece of itself at a time, despised and taken advantage of.
I felt her every sorrow and anger and disappointment and so much loss with a keenness that often forced me to exclamation, to stamping my feet or clutching my book to my chest. And then she meets Altan and together, their wrath ignited, impossible to quell鈥攃arving through their minds and pushing everything out of its way.
Altan鈥檚 life has been a sequence of monsters one after another tossing him about to suit their whims, and it all eventually twisted into wild distorted rage and thwarted fury. He and Rin were two hollowed-out halves of a whole, two allegiances doing battle but the one that has been sewn into their blood since birth winning out, because they would always be the last remaining survivors of their kind, and that has become a truth that both guarded and isolated them.
And as much as I tried to take heart from their scattered successes, it was precious little to take heart from when it鈥檚 matched by horror at its costs and the knowledge that they both had finally become the worst of what they had always had the potential to be. Especially when I still can't听shake off the feeling that all the characters are merely pawns in a very treacherous game.
鈥淏ut I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.鈥�Equal parts heartbreaking, and thoroughly satisfying,听The Poppy War听is the fantasy novel I feel I've been waiting two lifetimes and a half for. So clear your schedule before picking it up鈥攜ou won't want to put it down!
August 25, 2018
I wish I hadn't read this.
Maybe I should've done my due diligence before picking up The Poppy War (I didn't). I just saw that it was:
1) an Asian-inspired fantasy
2) even rarer, actually by a Asian-American (!) author
3) highly rated on goodreads
and that was enough to get me really excited, so I immediately picked up a copy and started reading.
The first few chapters are good, and Rin, a dark-skinned peasant girl who busts her ass studying to get herself into an elite military academy is the kind of heroine you can root for. But the entire section at the military academy with school antics was both boring and juvenile (there is a major character who is a teacher and makes fart sounds with his elbow).
It should be noted that I was under the mistaken impression that I was reading a YA fantasy while I was reading the academy part. Even though I wasn't enjoying the book by then, I wanted to continue reading and give it a chance to improve, because Representation Matters (even if flawed) and I did love Harry Potter and Alanna when I was younger (though I haven't re-read them in years, so I suppose I can't judge accurately whether the reason I disliked the school part in The Poppy War is because it is badly written or because it's a trope I've grown out of as a whole). Then I realized this was an adult book, and I couldn't understand why Kuang hadn't began the book with action -- with battles or war or something, and fleshed out Rin's background through flashbacks and other devices. The school part truly reads like HP fanfiction (complete with an Asian Draco Malfoy) that doesn't belong in the same book as the rest of this novel. It created pacing problems and did not fit the tone of the rest of The Poppy War .
Once the war starts, the book gets progressively darker and faster paced. At first, I was happy that something was actually happening, and I thought this was a sign the book was picking up. Then, how the world-building was handled really became an issue for me. Nikan, Rin's country, is a stand-in for China, while Mugen, the nation attacking them, is based off Japan. The war that Kuang narrates is based on the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), though the world she makes isn't adorned with the modern technology to match: with no guns, cars, telephones, or radio, Rin's setting feels more medieval in conception --think horses, scrolls, and armor.
The line between fiction and reality is always blurred. Stories can be truth or fiction, or more likely, some shade of in-between. For the most violent and brutal events in human history, non-fiction books and documentaries are crucial for remembrance and understanding. Fictionalized takes on these events need to be handled carefully, but are also important. I'm read and watched realistic historical fiction about tragic or violent events, and when it's done right, it's extremely powerful.
What makes me uncomfortable with The Poppy War is that it's fantasy: gods and magic play a large part in the story. Nikan and Mugen are thinly veiled approximations of real nations. The fall of Golyn Niis is really the story of the The research facility Rin and Altan end up in is supposed to be . Some of the most sickening, abhorrent instances of violence Kuang inflicts on characters in her book are things that happened to real people, as documented in photographs and first person accounts. Kuang is incredibly graphic about these details, and she's not using her imagination, but rather history, to write these scenes. To me, it feels exploitative and incredibly tasteless. To use other people's pain to make your fantasy novel more exciting. It's a line that I think shouldn't be crossed.
The utility of it -- for remembrance, for analysis -- is debatable. I don't know if the casual American reader of this book will have read The Rape of Nanking or been to Hall of Remembrance in Nanjing or understand how many Asian people from countries Japan attacked during the war still feel anger and pain about the brutal war crimes committed. Perhaps I'm more upset than I should be because I'm also Chinese-American and I care too much about how these things are represented and handled because let's face it, the audience for this work is going to be majority white Americans, who might not understand just how much of this is fact, not fiction, as the extent of how much this is taken straight from primary sources isn't made explicit in the blurb or in some sort of author note. I know comparisons between atrocities is ridiculous. But since it happened during the same period and is more familiar to Americans, I wonder how a fantasy novel that draws directly from firsthand accounts of torture inflicted on people in Auschwitz or war crimes committed by Nazis in order to entertain its readers and and justify the main character's genocidal arc would be received, and if it would seem just as tasteless and ill-advised. Oh, and by the way, everything has been fantasy-renamed to things like As'gmordor and Nasuaron and the map at the front of the book is just Europe flipped backwards.
It's not that The Poppy War is extremely violent or draws heavy inspiration from history that is really the problem. It's the way the world-building is executed and handled in relation to the real world: magic and gods are real, but Kuang, instead of using her imagination as fantasy authors are supposed to, merely changes the names of countries and cities, while using actual atrocities that happened to real people as her plot.
Kuang, I know, has the academic credentials (studying for a Chinese History MA) to back up her reasoning. Even so, to me, her story of drugged up X-men teenagers making stupid decisions completely failed to be a respectful, sensitive, or appropriate handling of the Nanjing Massacre or Unit 731 in fiction.
Maybe I should've done my due diligence before picking up The Poppy War (I didn't). I just saw that it was:
1) an Asian-inspired fantasy
2) even rarer, actually by a Asian-American (!) author
3) highly rated on goodreads
and that was enough to get me really excited, so I immediately picked up a copy and started reading.
The first few chapters are good, and Rin, a dark-skinned peasant girl who busts her ass studying to get herself into an elite military academy is the kind of heroine you can root for. But the entire section at the military academy with school antics was both boring and juvenile (there is a major character who is a teacher and makes fart sounds with his elbow).
It should be noted that I was under the mistaken impression that I was reading a YA fantasy while I was reading the academy part. Even though I wasn't enjoying the book by then, I wanted to continue reading and give it a chance to improve, because Representation Matters (even if flawed) and I did love Harry Potter and Alanna when I was younger (though I haven't re-read them in years, so I suppose I can't judge accurately whether the reason I disliked the school part in The Poppy War is because it is badly written or because it's a trope I've grown out of as a whole). Then I realized this was an adult book, and I couldn't understand why Kuang hadn't began the book with action -- with battles or war or something, and fleshed out Rin's background through flashbacks and other devices. The school part truly reads like HP fanfiction (complete with an Asian Draco Malfoy) that doesn't belong in the same book as the rest of this novel. It created pacing problems and did not fit the tone of the rest of The Poppy War .
Once the war starts, the book gets progressively darker and faster paced. At first, I was happy that something was actually happening, and I thought this was a sign the book was picking up. Then, how the world-building was handled really became an issue for me. Nikan, Rin's country, is a stand-in for China, while Mugen, the nation attacking them, is based off Japan. The war that Kuang narrates is based on the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), though the world she makes isn't adorned with the modern technology to match: with no guns, cars, telephones, or radio, Rin's setting feels more medieval in conception --think horses, scrolls, and armor.
The line between fiction and reality is always blurred. Stories can be truth or fiction, or more likely, some shade of in-between. For the most violent and brutal events in human history, non-fiction books and documentaries are crucial for remembrance and understanding. Fictionalized takes on these events need to be handled carefully, but are also important. I'm read and watched realistic historical fiction about tragic or violent events, and when it's done right, it's extremely powerful.
What makes me uncomfortable with The Poppy War is that it's fantasy: gods and magic play a large part in the story. Nikan and Mugen are thinly veiled approximations of real nations. The fall of Golyn Niis is really the story of the The research facility Rin and Altan end up in is supposed to be . Some of the most sickening, abhorrent instances of violence Kuang inflicts on characters in her book are things that happened to real people, as documented in photographs and first person accounts. Kuang is incredibly graphic about these details, and she's not using her imagination, but rather history, to write these scenes. To me, it feels exploitative and incredibly tasteless. To use other people's pain to make your fantasy novel more exciting. It's a line that I think shouldn't be crossed.
The utility of it -- for remembrance, for analysis -- is debatable. I don't know if the casual American reader of this book will have read The Rape of Nanking or been to Hall of Remembrance in Nanjing or understand how many Asian people from countries Japan attacked during the war still feel anger and pain about the brutal war crimes committed. Perhaps I'm more upset than I should be because I'm also Chinese-American and I care too much about how these things are represented and handled because let's face it, the audience for this work is going to be majority white Americans, who might not understand just how much of this is fact, not fiction, as the extent of how much this is taken straight from primary sources isn't made explicit in the blurb or in some sort of author note. I know comparisons between atrocities is ridiculous. But since it happened during the same period and is more familiar to Americans, I wonder how a fantasy novel that draws directly from firsthand accounts of torture inflicted on people in Auschwitz or war crimes committed by Nazis in order to entertain its readers and and justify the main character's genocidal arc would be received, and if it would seem just as tasteless and ill-advised. Oh, and by the way, everything has been fantasy-renamed to things like As'gmordor and Nasuaron and the map at the front of the book is just Europe flipped backwards.
It's not that The Poppy War is extremely violent or draws heavy inspiration from history that is really the problem. It's the way the world-building is executed and handled in relation to the real world: magic and gods are real, but Kuang, instead of using her imagination as fantasy authors are supposed to, merely changes the names of countries and cities, while using actual atrocities that happened to real people as her plot.
Kuang, I know, has the academic credentials (studying for a Chinese History MA) to back up her reasoning. Even so, to me, her story of drugged up X-men teenagers making stupid decisions completely failed to be a respectful, sensitive, or appropriate handling of the Nanjing Massacre or Unit 731 in fiction.
May 23, 2018
鈥淏ut I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.鈥�
Holy hell, what did I just read??
鉃� A fantasy military school
鉃� A rich world based on modern Chinese history
鉃� Shamans and gods
鉃� Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters
鉃� Adorable, opium-smoking mentors
That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that will be one of my best reads of 2018.
Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).
Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.
It begins with one of my favourite things: a downtrodden orphan attends a fantasy boarding school. However, Rin doesn't get to attend her school by being "chosen" or "special". She works her ass off studying for the Keju test, which allows her to go to the prestigious Sinegard - the best military school in the country. I absolutely love the message this book sends about the merits of hard work and perseverance over genetics and natural specialness. Nothing is handed to Rin on a plate.
This first part is much lighter than the rest of the book, but I enjoyed it immensely. And there are still many challenges to be faced in these early chapters. Rin must go up against school bullies and racist teachers who don't want a backwater war orphan in their classes. But she also encounters friendship and delightfully quirky teachers who like to get high on opium. And secrets. Secrets like that of the shamans who can conjure gods and use their powers - but those are just a myth, right?
But there's trouble brewing outside the school's walls. War is coming and Rin and her classmates will be put to the test again and again.
If she went with him, she would help him to unleash monsters. Monsters worse than the chimei. Monsters worse than anything in the Emperor's Menagerie-- because these monsters were not beasts, mindless things that could be leashed and controlled, but warriors. Shamans. The gods walking in humans, with no regard for the mortal world.
This is where things get very dark. The strong world-building and carefully-crafted characters set us up to care even more when the action really kicks in and lives are threatened. It is the very opposite of the "mindless action scenes" I have been complaining about recently in fantasy novels. I cared so deeply about the characters that the action scenes were extremely tense and terrifying.
I feel like my heart was pounding for the majority of this fantastic story. I can hardly recall the last time I was this engrossed in a book, and I am so so glad there will be more books to come. It's just a perfect blend of action, memorable characters, vividly-imagined setting and a look at humanity at its very worst. There's no romance, but there is a wonderful enemies-to-friends relationship that I can't wait to read more about.
I am so very excited about this series and seeing where the author takes us next.
| | | |
September 25, 2019
I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this one. Right up to about 45% in I was wondering how the hell anyone was giving this 5 stars - not only was it not grimdark, it was borderline/actual YA, and a rather blatant rip off of to boot, including but not limited to: super clever, good at EVERYTHING main character who gets a place at top university/college and proceeds to be trained/confused/challenged by quirky professor/lore master who is the only one who believes in/can do a specific type of magic etc etc. One of the first bits of magic he shows her is even how he can bend the air to his will. Hmmm. It's all school antics, with particular OTTness when one rude comment on the day of induction escalates a chance meeting into two characters becoming immediate mortal enemies. On top of that she nukes her womb because she has her first period- interesting choice, to make women useful only when we're neutered. Anyway, I'm not entirely knocking this part of the book, for all its faults it was the best bit.
Then you get book 2 and the violence/action levels go up a bit as the war hits and the school yard is left in the past. But Rin is hard to get on with, she's intensely childish and it's already clear that she wants power more for her own sake. She's jealous of her commander because he has more firepower than her and is even more dangerously reckless than Kvothe. She strops around for the entire book, increasingly losing any agency to emotional reactionary outbursts. The less said about book 3 the better, the stupidity of the decision making by Rin and her commander is on another level. The last two sections epitomise epic immaturity on the part of pretty much everyone, the only reason this isn't YA is because of the way violence is gratuitously used to up the levels. Sure, this is what happens in war, this is the kind of stuff that's happening now all over the world, but the levels of brutality do not fit the level of the rest of the story. Even in books where it's essentially a death arena (/ ), you didn't get the author lovingly describing (TRIGGER warning for extreme violence) . You also get a female character not seen since the first book brought back just so she can detail her repeated rape. It's the kind of stuff you get in horror, not fantasy and often not even in real grimdark. (This is not the novel to read for female empowerment despite having an apparently strong, female lead.) It feels more like someone wrote a coming of age/school story but wanted a bit more publicity so used the savagery to spice it up a bit. War is brutal, and yes use it so you can make people aware of just how sadistic and monstrous people can be when normal rules are destroyed, but you have to make it fit your narrative....It started all Harry Potter and ended with Saw.
The one thing that made the book for me was the incredible worldbuilding, it was excellent to have a Chinese and Japanese basis for the terrain as well as the historical and mythical past. If it didn't have that, I'm not sure it would even have got the two stars. I won't be reading any more.
ARC via Netgalley
Then you get book 2 and the violence/action levels go up a bit as the war hits and the school yard is left in the past. But Rin is hard to get on with, she's intensely childish and it's already clear that she wants power more for her own sake. She's jealous of her commander because he has more firepower than her and is even more dangerously reckless than Kvothe. She strops around for the entire book, increasingly losing any agency to emotional reactionary outbursts. The less said about book 3 the better, the stupidity of the decision making by Rin and her commander is on another level. The last two sections epitomise epic immaturity on the part of pretty much everyone, the only reason this isn't YA is because of the way violence is gratuitously used to up the levels. Sure, this is what happens in war, this is the kind of stuff that's happening now all over the world, but the levels of brutality do not fit the level of the rest of the story. Even in books where it's essentially a death arena (/ ), you didn't get the author lovingly describing (TRIGGER warning for extreme violence) . You also get a female character not seen since the first book brought back just so she can detail her repeated rape. It's the kind of stuff you get in horror, not fantasy and often not even in real grimdark. (This is not the novel to read for female empowerment despite having an apparently strong, female lead.) It feels more like someone wrote a coming of age/school story but wanted a bit more publicity so used the savagery to spice it up a bit. War is brutal, and yes use it so you can make people aware of just how sadistic and monstrous people can be when normal rules are destroyed, but you have to make it fit your narrative....It started all Harry Potter and ended with Saw.
The one thing that made the book for me was the incredible worldbuilding, it was excellent to have a Chinese and Japanese basis for the terrain as well as the historical and mythical past. If it didn't have that, I'm not sure it would even have got the two stars. I won't be reading any more.
ARC via Netgalley
January 20, 2020
You think I torture my characters? Pffft. I am a rank amateur compared to R.F. Kuang! Set in an alternate Asia and inspired by the Opium Wars and 19th Century colonialism in China, The Poppy War is the story of Rin, a small-town orphan whose only chance to escape poverty and an oppressive arranged marriage is to score top marks on the government鈥檚 exams and earn a place at Sinegard Academy, where the Nikara Empire鈥檚 best and brightest are trained for leadership. Imagine a combination of West Point, Oxford and Hogwarts, and if that sounds intriguing, it is! Just don鈥檛 get too attached to the place, because 搁颈苍鈥檚 training at Sinegard is only the beginning of our story. Nikara (think Qing dynasty China), a vast but disorganized empire with out-of-date technology and many warring internal factions, is on the verge of war with its old nemesis the Mugen Federation (think Imperialist Japan). Rin and a few other ragtag misfits with an aptitude for shamanist magic may be the only secret weapon that can stop Mugen from completely destroying their homeland. The problem is the type of magic Rin summons cannot easily be controlled. It could drive her crazy, take her over completely, or, you know, possibly start Armageddon. But other than that, I鈥檓 sure everything will be fine!
Not really. Though the beginning of the book may read like the fantasy narrative we all know and love 鈥� obscure girl goes through training to discover she is the Chosen One 鈥� Kuang subverts that narrative and quickly turns our expectations upside-down. She shows us how sinister a training academy can be, how it can be used for nefarious purposes, and how easily the teacher-student relationship can turn abusive and traumatizing. Who are the good guys here? Are there any? Kuang gives us no easy answers, but she lets us feel sympathy for our young protagonist Rin and her comrades. The cruelty and horror of war are vividly described, so be prepared for violence 鈥� graphic and awful, but entirely appropriate to the narrative. The big question becomes what Rin will choose. Is victory worth the price of her soul? No one is spared in this book. Everyone is beat up, orphaned, traumatized, killed, gravely injured, driven insane, dehumanized, abused and/or tortured. I loved it! I mean . . . I didn鈥檛 love the horrors described, or the vast amount of suffering, but the stakes were real, the story was grimly compelling, and the characters stayed with me long after I finished the book. Highly recommended. Now I am going to take a deep cleansing breath and prepare myself for more painful enjoyment (enjoyable pain?) in Kuang鈥檚 two sequels!
Not really. Though the beginning of the book may read like the fantasy narrative we all know and love 鈥� obscure girl goes through training to discover she is the Chosen One 鈥� Kuang subverts that narrative and quickly turns our expectations upside-down. She shows us how sinister a training academy can be, how it can be used for nefarious purposes, and how easily the teacher-student relationship can turn abusive and traumatizing. Who are the good guys here? Are there any? Kuang gives us no easy answers, but she lets us feel sympathy for our young protagonist Rin and her comrades. The cruelty and horror of war are vividly described, so be prepared for violence 鈥� graphic and awful, but entirely appropriate to the narrative. The big question becomes what Rin will choose. Is victory worth the price of her soul? No one is spared in this book. Everyone is beat up, orphaned, traumatized, killed, gravely injured, driven insane, dehumanized, abused and/or tortured. I loved it! I mean . . . I didn鈥檛 love the horrors described, or the vast amount of suffering, but the stakes were real, the story was grimly compelling, and the characters stayed with me long after I finished the book. Highly recommended. Now I am going to take a deep cleansing breath and prepare myself for more painful enjoyment (enjoyable pain?) in Kuang鈥檚 two sequels!
August 20, 2024
Pretty Sure Wonder Woman Wrote This Book
Rin, a war orphan, is facing a poorly arranged marriage unless she scores extremely well on an upcoming test, the Keju. Against all odds, she places into a slot at a prestigious military school. However, 搁颈苍鈥檚 time at the school is cut short as the third Poppy War threatens her very way of life.
R.F. Kuang is also known as Rebecca F. Kuang. She has attended Georgetown University, University of Cambridge, Oxford University, and Yale University. Kuang was born in 1996 and began writing The Poppy Wars while she was 19 years old during a gap year in China. The Poppy War was subsequently published in 2018 while Kuang was approximately 22 years old. How absolutely remarkable.
Most veteran authors could not have produced a novel to the caliber of The Poppy War. This book has all the hallmarks of an exceptional novel. It has imperfect characters doing their best and great storytelling. The Poppy War has a female lead who is having important conversation (not just talking about men or nail polish). While the book is fast paced, it also has incredible rivalries and interesting backstory. R.F. Kuang also established the groundwork to entice readers into the next book of the series. The first book was satisfying yet there were a couple of open plot points to lead to the next book.
My only complaint is that Book 1 contained the part where Rin is at school. Recently, I have read 3 other fantasy novels that involve overcoming obstacles to go to school: Harry Potter, The Name of the Wind, and Skyward. Although I understand that attending school is a highly relatable right of passage to many readers, I was craving something a bit more original given my current reads.
Overall, an exceptional fantasy novel, and I am excited to read more from R.F. Kuang.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
Rin, a war orphan, is facing a poorly arranged marriage unless she scores extremely well on an upcoming test, the Keju. Against all odds, she places into a slot at a prestigious military school. However, 搁颈苍鈥檚 time at the school is cut short as the third Poppy War threatens her very way of life.
R.F. Kuang is also known as Rebecca F. Kuang. She has attended Georgetown University, University of Cambridge, Oxford University, and Yale University. Kuang was born in 1996 and began writing The Poppy Wars while she was 19 years old during a gap year in China. The Poppy War was subsequently published in 2018 while Kuang was approximately 22 years old. How absolutely remarkable.
Most veteran authors could not have produced a novel to the caliber of The Poppy War. This book has all the hallmarks of an exceptional novel. It has imperfect characters doing their best and great storytelling. The Poppy War has a female lead who is having important conversation (not just talking about men or nail polish). While the book is fast paced, it also has incredible rivalries and interesting backstory. R.F. Kuang also established the groundwork to entice readers into the next book of the series. The first book was satisfying yet there were a couple of open plot points to lead to the next book.
My only complaint is that Book 1 contained the part where Rin is at school. Recently, I have read 3 other fantasy novels that involve overcoming obstacles to go to school: Harry Potter, The Name of the Wind, and Skyward. Although I understand that attending school is a highly relatable right of passage to many readers, I was craving something a bit more original given my current reads.
Overall, an exceptional fantasy novel, and I am excited to read more from R.F. Kuang.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
March 5, 2024
I barely know how to read.
Even at my most literate, the best thing a book can be is under 300 pages. There is nothing more appealing in the world than a tiny little volume of literary fiction: I get to feel smart twice over (because I'm reading a capital-B Book in a day).
So when I even pick up a book that's over the 350 mark, that's high praise already.
And I have long thought I've grown out of my fantasy stage of life, instead preferring depressing lit fic and boring old classics and however way I can be pretentious.
So the fact that I read this book, a 550-page monster of my least successful genre, in a couple of sittings, should say it all.
And the fact that people call this boring is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.
It has FIGHTING BOARDING SCHOOL that is also MAGIC BOARDING SCHOOL. It has nemeses. It has unlikely friendships.
Most importantly, it has an incredibly compelling and important fantasy depiction of imperialism, violence, colonization, and war, through the lens of the Rape of Nanking.
Per the advice of the brilliant and amazing Lily, I read this shortly after reading Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. I recommend everyone do so.
It's tough reading, but it's necessary reading.
Bottom line: Redefined my idea of what fantasy can even be.
-------------------
pre-review
holy hell.
how do people call this book boring?
review to come / 4 stars
-------------------
currently-reading updates
me reading normally: time to pick up yet another 200 page book!
me during a readathon when i'm supposed to read as much as possible: this is a good time for the longest books i own
clear ur shit prompt 3: a book you were recommended
follow my progress
-------------------
tbr review
this is your reminder that you are allowed to like or dislike whatever book you want, but the language you use when discussing it MATTERS.
especially if you are a white person reading an own voices narrative about an entire nation's trauma.
because apparently that needs to be said.
Even at my most literate, the best thing a book can be is under 300 pages. There is nothing more appealing in the world than a tiny little volume of literary fiction: I get to feel smart twice over (because I'm reading a capital-B Book in a day).
So when I even pick up a book that's over the 350 mark, that's high praise already.
And I have long thought I've grown out of my fantasy stage of life, instead preferring depressing lit fic and boring old classics and however way I can be pretentious.
So the fact that I read this book, a 550-page monster of my least successful genre, in a couple of sittings, should say it all.
And the fact that people call this boring is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.
It has FIGHTING BOARDING SCHOOL that is also MAGIC BOARDING SCHOOL. It has nemeses. It has unlikely friendships.
Most importantly, it has an incredibly compelling and important fantasy depiction of imperialism, violence, colonization, and war, through the lens of the Rape of Nanking.
Per the advice of the brilliant and amazing Lily, I read this shortly after reading Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking. I recommend everyone do so.
It's tough reading, but it's necessary reading.
Bottom line: Redefined my idea of what fantasy can even be.
-------------------
pre-review
holy hell.
how do people call this book boring?
review to come / 4 stars
-------------------
currently-reading updates
me reading normally: time to pick up yet another 200 page book!
me during a readathon when i'm supposed to read as much as possible: this is a good time for the longest books i own
clear ur shit prompt 3: a book you were recommended
follow my progress
-------------------
tbr review
this is your reminder that you are allowed to like or dislike whatever book you want, but the language you use when discussing it MATTERS.
especially if you are a white person reading an own voices narrative about an entire nation's trauma.
because apparently that needs to be said.
February 24, 2018
Hi, there!
THE POPPY WAR is my book, so I'm obviously a bit biased. I wrote it over three months during the winter of 2015, signed with an agent in February 2016, and sold the book to Harper Voyager during my birthday weekend in May 2016. It's been nearly two years since then, so I'm terribly excited for it to finally go out in the world!
I'm going to use this space to tell you a little about THE POPPY WAR in case you're wondering whether you might enjoy reading it. This book is not a romance story. This is not a YA fantasy school story (sorry. I love those too.) Yes, there's a school, and we learn some things at the school, but please don't let that description deceive you as we leave that setting quite quickly.
This is, as I've always conceived it, a war story. It draws heavily on the Second Sino-Japanese war which鈥搃f you know anything about Asia鈥搘as one of the darkest and bloodiest moments in Chinese history. It grapples with the Rape of Nanjing. It deals heavily with opium and drug use. (Opium was a source of Chinese weakness. This book asks what would have happened if opium were instead a source of shamanic power.) This book is primarily about military strategy, collapsing empires, mad gods, and the human ability to make awful, ruthless decisions. It's about how dictators are made.
To be entirely frank, if you're turned off by violence, I might pick up a different book.
But! If you liked Avatar the Last Airbender but always wished it were a little darker and more fucked-up, you might like this. I think everyone writes, unconsciously or not, from the sources they loved, and this book ended up being my creative smorgasbord of ATLA, Ender's Game, The Grace of Kings, and Game of Thrones. I'm not saying THE POPPY WAR will necessarily read like those books. But geopolitical dramas mixed with brutally cruel choices is something I loved about all of those works, and I really hope that's reflected in the writing.
Thanks for stopping by, and I really hope you enjoy the book <3 <3 <3
THE POPPY WAR is my book, so I'm obviously a bit biased. I wrote it over three months during the winter of 2015, signed with an agent in February 2016, and sold the book to Harper Voyager during my birthday weekend in May 2016. It's been nearly two years since then, so I'm terribly excited for it to finally go out in the world!
I'm going to use this space to tell you a little about THE POPPY WAR in case you're wondering whether you might enjoy reading it. This book is not a romance story. This is not a YA fantasy school story (sorry. I love those too.) Yes, there's a school, and we learn some things at the school, but please don't let that description deceive you as we leave that setting quite quickly.
This is, as I've always conceived it, a war story. It draws heavily on the Second Sino-Japanese war which鈥搃f you know anything about Asia鈥搘as one of the darkest and bloodiest moments in Chinese history. It grapples with the Rape of Nanjing. It deals heavily with opium and drug use. (Opium was a source of Chinese weakness. This book asks what would have happened if opium were instead a source of shamanic power.) This book is primarily about military strategy, collapsing empires, mad gods, and the human ability to make awful, ruthless decisions. It's about how dictators are made.
To be entirely frank, if you're turned off by violence, I might pick up a different book.
But! If you liked Avatar the Last Airbender but always wished it were a little darker and more fucked-up, you might like this. I think everyone writes, unconsciously or not, from the sources they loved, and this book ended up being my creative smorgasbord of ATLA, Ender's Game, The Grace of Kings, and Game of Thrones. I'm not saying THE POPPY WAR will necessarily read like those books. But geopolitical dramas mixed with brutally cruel choices is something I loved about all of those works, and I really hope that's reflected in the writing.
Thanks for stopping by, and I really hope you enjoy the book <3 <3 <3
July 9, 2018
Hands down Best Fantasy of 2018!
This was such an amazing read and cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the trilogy. The books will be insta buys for me!
War, school, magic, no freaking romance... This book kept me on my toes.
I have no doubt this series will become huge and I'll make sure to rave about it until you all read it!
PS. Just wanted to add that there are trigger warnings for... well everything. Self harm, drug use, rape, etc. It's a pretty dark book!
This was such an amazing read and cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the trilogy. The books will be insta buys for me!
War, school, magic, no freaking romance... This book kept me on my toes.
I have no doubt this series will become huge and I'll make sure to rave about it until you all read it!
PS. Just wanted to add that there are trigger warnings for... well everything. Self harm, drug use, rape, etc. It's a pretty dark book!
August 22, 2019
This series is wonderful. Straight into the sequel for me.
June 9, 2023
wooooooooow
Lots to unpack here but overall I really respect the approach the author took.
Lots to unpack here but overall I really respect the approach the author took.
July 24, 2022
this book has done irreversible damage to my mental health, see you all in therapy
March 5, 2025
i support women鈥檚 rights but more importantly i support women鈥檚 wrongs
rest in peace to all the soldiers that died in the service 馃槚
rest in peace to all the soldiers that died in the service 馃槚
October 21, 2018
Low 3 Stars
Boy, did it take me forever to finish this thing.
I really wanted to love this book. One of my favorite reviewers adored it and sang it's praises, but it just didn't draw me in the way I thought it would.
The last 150 pages or so got really good (thus why I rated it 3 instead of the possible 2 I was planning on up until that point - not that it matters) and I smashed through them in one sitting; however, it still didn't save the entire book for me.
I felt that the world-building was loose and the magic system somewhat unclear. I also felt like I never truly got to know the characters. Their characterizations were very surface-level...and completely inconsistent to boot. I didn't like our protagonist, Rin (I thought she acted like a whiny child who threw tantrums every now and then) and, other than Altan, almost all the other characters felt like one big blob of background noise with no truly defining characteristics or story lines of their own.
Thus, I spent the entirety of the book not really knowing for what or whom I should (or wanted) to root. And I'm a rooter. I need to know whose side I'm on, especially in my fantasy.
I might continue with book 2 when/if it comes out as it's possible I will love that whole book to the level I loved the last 150 pages of this one; but we shall see.
Regardless, I know I am very much in the minority with this book, so I would encourage you to still give it a go if it was something that caught your eye.
Boy, did it take me forever to finish this thing.
I really wanted to love this book. One of my favorite reviewers adored it and sang it's praises, but it just didn't draw me in the way I thought it would.
The last 150 pages or so got really good (thus why I rated it 3 instead of the possible 2 I was planning on up until that point - not that it matters) and I smashed through them in one sitting; however, it still didn't save the entire book for me.
I felt that the world-building was loose and the magic system somewhat unclear. I also felt like I never truly got to know the characters. Their characterizations were very surface-level...and completely inconsistent to boot. I didn't like our protagonist, Rin (I thought she acted like a whiny child who threw tantrums every now and then) and, other than Altan, almost all the other characters felt like one big blob of background noise with no truly defining characteristics or story lines of their own.
Thus, I spent the entirety of the book not really knowing for what or whom I should (or wanted) to root. And I'm a rooter. I need to know whose side I'm on, especially in my fantasy.
I might continue with book 2 when/if it comes out as it's possible I will love that whole book to the level I loved the last 150 pages of this one; but we shall see.
Regardless, I know I am very much in the minority with this book, so I would encourage you to still give it a go if it was something that caught your eye.
August 18, 2024
3.75/5 鈽呪€檚
鉂濔潚橉潚傪潚� 饾拝饾拹饾拞饾挃饾拸'饾挄 饾拝饾拞饾挄饾拞饾挀饾拵饾拪饾拸饾拞 饾挊饾拤饾拹'饾挃 饾挀饾拪饾拡饾拤饾挄. 饾挊饾拏饾挀 饾拝饾拞饾挄饾拞饾挀饾拵饾拪饾拸饾拞饾挃 饾挊饾拤饾拹 饾挀饾拞饾拵饾拏饾拪饾拸饾挃.鉂�
would you believe me if i told you that there wasn鈥檛 an ounce of romance and i still ate this up? crazy, right? those who know me know that if there鈥檚 no romance, there鈥檚 no me. so, as a non fantasy girly鈥 suggest you pick this up馃き
i would love to give a full review that this book deserves, but i fear i won鈥檛 do it any justice because i wouldn鈥檛 even know where to begin. i admit that i was confused a lot during this book, but that鈥檚 simply because i don鈥檛 read fantasy often. the characters were everything tho and really made it enjoyable.
i cried. the last 100 pages did in fact ruin my life and i鈥檓 scared to continue so please hype me up馃槱
鉂濔潚橉潚傪潚� 饾拝饾拹饾拞饾挃饾拸'饾挄 饾拝饾拞饾挄饾拞饾挀饾拵饾拪饾拸饾拞 饾挊饾拤饾拹'饾挃 饾挀饾拪饾拡饾拤饾挄. 饾挊饾拏饾挀 饾拝饾拞饾挄饾拞饾挀饾拵饾拪饾拸饾拞饾挃 饾挊饾拤饾拹 饾挀饾拞饾拵饾拏饾拪饾拸饾挃.鉂�
would you believe me if i told you that there wasn鈥檛 an ounce of romance and i still ate this up? crazy, right? those who know me know that if there鈥檚 no romance, there鈥檚 no me. so, as a non fantasy girly鈥 suggest you pick this up馃き
i would love to give a full review that this book deserves, but i fear i won鈥檛 do it any justice because i wouldn鈥檛 even know where to begin. i admit that i was confused a lot during this book, but that鈥檚 simply because i don鈥檛 read fantasy often. the characters were everything tho and really made it enjoyable.
i cried. the last 100 pages did in fact ruin my life and i鈥檓 scared to continue so please hype me up馃槱
June 6, 2018
The Nikara believed in strictly defined social roles, a rigid hierarchy that all were locked into at birth. Everything had its own place under heaven. Princelings became Warlords, cadets became soldiers, and orphan shopgirls from Tikany should be content with remaining orphan shopgirls from Tikany.Epic. Spectacular. Breathtaking. This is the one of the best books I have ever read in my adult life. I literally could not put it down. I'm gushing, I know, but it is THAT. GOOD. Holy shit this book is brutal. The author is an expert on military strategy and I believe it. If you guys have a weak stomach, this is not for you, but holy shit this is good.
Well, fuck the heavenly order of things.
Really.
Oh, and no romance. Just girl-power asskickery. UNF.
I don't want to compare this to Harry Potter because it is so dissimilar, but the premise is a familiar one that will draw comparison, however unlikely. A downtrodden orphan doomed to a miserable life until an opportunity opened up that brings them to an school designated for the special.
Unlike Harry Potter, the spot at this school is EARNED, through merit, not through mere chance of birth. And the risks are far greater should our hero fail. Mulan ain't got nothing on this bitch, and I use bitch as a term of praise. You gotta get down and dirty and nasty to survive.
16-year old Rin has a miserable existence. She is an orphan, worked to the bone and intended to be sold off to a ghastly old merchant once she comes of age. She rejects that destiny. In the kingdom, there is an annual test that every pupil takes. If they score high, they get to go to a school to be educated and trained. Sinegard is the best school of them all.
By studying her fucking ass off, Rin makes it to the top.
Her name was at the very top of the scroll. She hadn鈥檛 placed in the top ten. She鈥檇 placed at the top of the entire village. The entire province.There's no magical induction ceremony here. Life is hard and Rin is hopelessly behind. Her peers are the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful, who have trained for this their whole life. Rin came from nothing and she quickly discovers that she is nothing. It is unimaginably harder than she could have envisioned.
She had bribed a teacher. She had stolen opium. She had burned herself, lied to her foster parents, abandoned her responsibilities at the store, and broken a marriage deal.
And she was going to Sinegard.
She had made it all the way across the country to a place she had spent years dreaming of, only to discover a hostile, confusing city that despised southerners. She had no home in Tikany or Sinegard. Everywhere she traveled, everywhere she escaped to, she was just a war orphan who was not supposed to be there.Her peers hate her. Her teachers hate her. The school is supposed to be based on a system of merit. It's not. Life is full of prejudice, especially for a peasant girl, and people let her know of their contempt.
She felt so terribly alone.
鈥淓very year we get someone like you, some country bumpkin who thinks that just because they were good at taking some test, they deserve my time and attention. Understand this, southerner. The exam proves nothing. Discipline and competence鈥攖hose are the only things that matter at this school. That boy鈥濃€擩un jerked his thumb in the direction Nezha had gone鈥斺€渕ay be an ass, but he has the makings of a commander in him. You, on the other hand, are just peasant trash.鈥�Enemies abound. Rin will fail many times before she succeeds.
No鈥攖hey couldn鈥檛 just do this to her. They might think they could sweep her away like rubbish, but she didn鈥檛 have to lie down and take it. She had come from nothing. She wasn鈥檛 going back to nothing.The world building is unbelievably intricate. It is based on Ancient China, and it does a great job of portraying an alternate history. I would compare it to Guy Gavriel's Under Heaven in that it is loosely based on it, and completely believable, while having elements that distinguishes it from being an actual historical retelling. My only complaint is the names. They're Western or Middle-Eastern based names of sort, and I would have preferred Chinese names too.
But if the Keju had taught her anything, it was that pain was the price of success.
And she hadn鈥檛 burned herself in a long time.
Success required sacrifice. Sacrifice meant pain. Pain meant success.
The world built in this book is extraordinarily intricate.
The characters are fantastic, from the mysterious Altan to my favorite, Master Jiang. He seriously is so awesome and hilarious.
Jiang was an effective if unconventional combat instructor. He made her hold her kicks up in the air for long minutes until her leg trembled. He made her duck as he hurled projectiles at her off the weapons rack. He made her do the same exercise blindfolded, and then admitted later that he just thought it would be funny.I am left utterly astonished by the scale and depth of this book. Bravo. Fucking bravo. This is a masterpiece.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e a real asshole,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou know that, right?鈥�
December 18, 2023
with all due respect, please read this book or i will make you.
January 2, 2025
I鈥檓 quite literally speechless. No words can do this masterpiece justice. A work of sheer fucking art. I am stunned. I am unwell. I am mesmerized. I am in PAIN. I am SCARED. And I am completely and utterly OBSESSED WITH FANG FUCKING RUNIN. She is rage and power INCARNATE and she is giving every other FMC on the planet a run for their money. A. WOMEN.
She quite literally had her uterus violently removed because she got her period ONE TIME and thought it was an inconvenience and interfered with her ability to become more powerful than men. Bye.
Nezha and Altan鈥︹€�. The chokehold these two men have over me. We aren鈥檛 okay. I don鈥檛 wanna talk about it.
Listen this book was so far out of my comfort zone, I have never read anything like this in my entire life and my only regret is that I didn鈥檛 pick it up sooner.
Seeing has I can鈥檛 form coherent thoughts about this I鈥檓 just gonna leave some quotes here. You鈥檙e welcome.
鈥淩in glared up at her, blood dripping from her mouth, and smiled.鈥�
鈥淕reat danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take that risk.鈥�
鈥淗ating was so easy. It filled a hole inside her. It let her feel something again. It felt so good.鈥�
鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 people,鈥� she whispered. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e animals. I want you to make them burn. Every last one.鈥�
鈥淲as she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.鈥�
She quite literally had her uterus violently removed because she got her period ONE TIME and thought it was an inconvenience and interfered with her ability to become more powerful than men. Bye.
Nezha and Altan鈥︹€�. The chokehold these two men have over me. We aren鈥檛 okay. I don鈥檛 wanna talk about it.
Listen this book was so far out of my comfort zone, I have never read anything like this in my entire life and my only regret is that I didn鈥檛 pick it up sooner.
Seeing has I can鈥檛 form coherent thoughts about this I鈥檓 just gonna leave some quotes here. You鈥檙e welcome.
鈥淩in glared up at her, blood dripping from her mouth, and smiled.鈥�
鈥淕reat danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take that risk.鈥�
鈥淗ating was so easy. It filled a hole inside her. It let her feel something again. It felt so good.鈥�
鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 people,鈥� she whispered. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e animals. I want you to make them burn. Every last one.鈥�
鈥淲as she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.鈥�
November 16, 2021
Yeah, I hated this book. I thought about writing something short, witty, and scathing, but fuck it. I'm going full essay, the amount of self-righteousness I feel is too much to contain.
But first, I see a lot of people seem to think that the greatest sin this book commits is that it's too dark. Well, the book, in the only real praise I have for it, actually does show in some measure how awful the Second Sino-Japanese war was. If you think what this book talks about is "excessive", I implore you to learn that Unit 731 did, what the IJA did at Nanking. Seriously. It's good to know.
Now everything else about the book, though? Trash.
See, I'm an Asian-American. I have a great interest in Chinese history, which I studied for a while. But neither of these things really mattered when I first picked up this book. I thought this would be a pleasantly culturally sensitive standard edgy YA about an underdog protagonist whom everyone hates because of bigotry going to wizard school and standing up to save totally-not-China from Mongols or western imperialists or something. Boom. Done. Innocuous story-wise, but historically-aware and a bit of fun.
That's not what The Poppy War is. To her credit, Kuang refutes this directly:
"This is not a YA fantasy school story... This is, as I've always conceived it, a war story. It draws heavily on the Second Sino-Japanese war which鈥搃f you know anything about Asia鈥搘as one of the darkest and bloodiest moments in Chinese history. It grapples with the Rape of Nanjing. It deals heavily with opium and drug use."
Okay, great. Maybe should have put that in the blurb, but hey. Only, of course, it's not that either. See, it's totally cool to be inspired by history, weaving the zeitgeist of the past into fiction. Totally cool... only, inspiration is not what's happening here. Inspiration would be Brian McClellan's Powder Mage being inspired by the French revolution. It would be Naomi Novik's Temeraire being inspired by the Napoleonic wars. It would be Tolkien or Orwell being inspired by their contemporary experience and putting the themes in to their works. No, what's happening here is different.
How so? Well, does the Poppy War draw heavily on the second Sino-Japanese war? Well, yeah. It straight-up lifts a majority of the story beats from its second half verbatim from IJA war crimes. And when I say "lifts", I don't mean "draws heavily", I mean it renames all the countries to fantasy equivalents, and inserts a YA protagonist into these real historical events so that she can justify committing wholesale genocide on every single Japanese person. Well, alright, does it grapple with the Rape of Nanjing/Unit 731 wherein some of the most awful torture, rape, and genocide ever was perpetrated? Oh yeah, it describes the torture and rape it in great, agonizing detail... to give our protagonist character development toward becoming more brooding and angry, of course. Er, well then, does it deal heavily with opium and heroin, drugs which harmed the lives of countless Chinese civilians over decades and were often forced upon them by imperialist powers? Ah, yes of course... but only because opium in Nikara doesn't destroy your livelihood, it gives you magic powers.
Fucking why, though.
As I'm writing this, it occurs to me that maybe someone might not know why this is so bad. Oh, she did say it drew heavily, what's the issue? Think of it this way, then.
Imagine a story with an underdog wizard soldier girl straight out of half of any modern YA fantasy as she goes to magic wizard battle school from humble and underprivilidged beginnings. She dicks around there, training under an enigmatic master and beating up people who have years of training on her with unorthodox tactics only she can learn. Pretty standard stuff, right? Not perfect writing, but who cares? Ah, but now imagine that halfway through the book... WW2 breaks out and she's sent to the front lines as a conscript to the Red Army X-men, eventually finding herself in Auschwitz.
Uhhhh.
Oh yeah, and upon doing that, her character development is predicated on the story describing the suffering and murder of Poles, Slavs, the Jewish people in concentration camps... only, hold up, it's not Auschwitz because they've made up a name for it, it's Drakenhold or something. Oh it looks like Auschwitz, Arbeit Macht Frei and all that, and the things happening there are exactly what happened at Auschwitz, but it's been given a fictional coat of paint. And the Jewish people have too; they're not Jewish, they're... Kamorthanian or Veranian or some other made-up thing, and just bear a striking resemblance to the Jewish people. And actually, the story has gone and made up fantasy names for all the other participants of WW2 in Europe, only there are dragons, it's aesthetically based on medieval times for some reason, and, I don't know, the SS run around saying "Heil Shmidt!".
Isn't that just a tiny bit gauche? Well hold on, I'm not done.
Imagine now that all across this dissonant second act of the story, you read verbatim about Kursk, Stalingrad, D-Day. Not events inspired by these, these actual events, just under different names. You read about the mass graves on the eastern front, the Einstatsgruppen, the bombings of Dresden, where real people suffered and died. All this is described in great detail. But then it continues, and instead of focusing on... all that, it mainly talks about the wizard main character's lust for power, her and her team killing of truckloads of inhuman "Notzis" with their wild and uncontrollable dark magic, and of course her fiery spats with her smoking hot, rage-filled, brooding commanding officer. No, not on the scores of people who died in these very poorly veiled real historical events... it's all about her rebellious streak, yes. Oh right, and the ending is her erasing every German person from the face of the earth, without a single shred of remorse.
Now finally, imagine at some point the sidekick character goes, "This food is worse than the Rape of Belgium! Well... it's not that bad, but still, haha!"
Yeah, maybe a little yikes, no? Well, that's what Kuang does. The Poppy War is the above, for the Second-Sino Japanese war.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be inspired by history. Of course you should. Reality is stranger than fiction. Go crazy. Be inspired by evil, incredible, terrifying things. Maybe this is controversial, but I don't think you should ever obfuscate your work if what's happening is consistent with your theme. Portraying war without suffering is dishonest, portraying genocide but in sterilized terms is insulting. But, again, this isn't inspiration, this is acquisition. This is placing history in your fiction, not being inspired by it.
Like, am I wrong in thinking an edgy YA action-adventure novel's plot should not be literally made up of contemporary war crimes? I feel like maybe I'm insane here. Characters say things that we're supposed to image they themselves thought of, only the things they're saying are verbatim things real people have said. A student invents a cool solution to a tactical problem? No wait, it's a literal Three Kingdoms story. A commander quips about making war? Ah, no, that's a direct quotation from US Army General Omar Bradley.
Why? It's not about not being clever enough, just... don't directly copy history? Why is this so hard for this book? Tolkien didn't have Sauron quote the fucking Kaiser, Christ dude.
I could understand that, maybe, this was a bait-and-switch. Surprise, bitch! You're not reading standard edgy military fantasy at all, you're going to gain some awareness about Japanese war crimes and you're going to like it.
No, I think not. Because for a story that's taken so much from history, there's not actually much history there.
I mean, Kuang has an MA. She knows about opium and the opium wars. She knows the causes of the century of humiliation, about western imperialism and the concessions. She knows that Japan eventually rose to dominance because of the success of he Meiji restoration reforms, in contrast to the failed Self Strengthening movement of the Late Qing, a dynasty whose power had degraded across centuries of decay due to multiple complex factors. She knows the vast complex legacy of provincial armies, from Three Kingdoms to the Taiping Rebellion to the post-1911 warlord period.
But does any of this show up? No.
The Nikaran warlords are all caricatured morons, typical adults in a YA story. None of them are even remotely realistic. Mugen beat Nikara because they are strong and Nikara was shit and still are, YA battle school aside, not because of modernization or civil war or anything else. The humiliation of Nikara began with their Sino-Japanese war; no western imperialism stand-in, even. And opium? Well, it gives you wizard powers, so really who cares about all that boring history!
Now, do I expect all this pedantic dogshit to be in there? God, no. That wouldn't be very much of a readable fantasy-action novel at all. But what I'm getting at is, you can't do both. You can't say, "oh I'm not writing YA, I'm writing a story about a thinly veiled fictional expy of a real life war to explore and draw attention to it" but then ignore history and make it about an edgy teen wizard thumbing her nose at Song-dynasty Draco Malfoy. And it goes both ways; you can't go, "ah, I'll write a rags-to-riches YA story about a hotheaded underdog protagonist who goes to a magic school" and the run around putting imperial Japanese war crimes, which were done to real people who still feel the effects today, in it, and say, "oho, it was a war story all along, come on now".
You can write something in the middle. Of course you can. But this ain't it. The Poppy War isn't accurate enough to be an informative and emotionally poignant historical examination, but it's not sensitive enough to be a good fictional adventure with historical themes. Its entirely fictional aspects are tainted by the thoughtless use of real-life suffering as a mere plot point, to be thrown around at the author's whim. Merely regurgitating history verbatim, then viewing it through the eyes of an entirely fantastic character who uses real atrocities to further her own trite storyline rather than engaging with them as the people who were actually there did, is not good writing.
Wow, this was long as fuck. I should have gone for the short and biting critique.
Well, I'm sure the average reader doesn't give a shit about all of this, given the ratings on this book. All I'm saying is, if you're thinking about writing contemporary genocide into your girlboss YA fantasy... don't.
For reasons that should be, and should have been, obvious.
But first, I see a lot of people seem to think that the greatest sin this book commits is that it's too dark. Well, the book, in the only real praise I have for it, actually does show in some measure how awful the Second Sino-Japanese war was. If you think what this book talks about is "excessive", I implore you to learn that Unit 731 did, what the IJA did at Nanking. Seriously. It's good to know.
Now everything else about the book, though? Trash.
See, I'm an Asian-American. I have a great interest in Chinese history, which I studied for a while. But neither of these things really mattered when I first picked up this book. I thought this would be a pleasantly culturally sensitive standard edgy YA about an underdog protagonist whom everyone hates because of bigotry going to wizard school and standing up to save totally-not-China from Mongols or western imperialists or something. Boom. Done. Innocuous story-wise, but historically-aware and a bit of fun.
That's not what The Poppy War is. To her credit, Kuang refutes this directly:
"This is not a YA fantasy school story... This is, as I've always conceived it, a war story. It draws heavily on the Second Sino-Japanese war which鈥搃f you know anything about Asia鈥搘as one of the darkest and bloodiest moments in Chinese history. It grapples with the Rape of Nanjing. It deals heavily with opium and drug use."
Okay, great. Maybe should have put that in the blurb, but hey. Only, of course, it's not that either. See, it's totally cool to be inspired by history, weaving the zeitgeist of the past into fiction. Totally cool... only, inspiration is not what's happening here. Inspiration would be Brian McClellan's Powder Mage being inspired by the French revolution. It would be Naomi Novik's Temeraire being inspired by the Napoleonic wars. It would be Tolkien or Orwell being inspired by their contemporary experience and putting the themes in to their works. No, what's happening here is different.
How so? Well, does the Poppy War draw heavily on the second Sino-Japanese war? Well, yeah. It straight-up lifts a majority of the story beats from its second half verbatim from IJA war crimes. And when I say "lifts", I don't mean "draws heavily", I mean it renames all the countries to fantasy equivalents, and inserts a YA protagonist into these real historical events so that she can justify committing wholesale genocide on every single Japanese person. Well, alright, does it grapple with the Rape of Nanjing/Unit 731 wherein some of the most awful torture, rape, and genocide ever was perpetrated? Oh yeah, it describes the torture and rape it in great, agonizing detail... to give our protagonist character development toward becoming more brooding and angry, of course. Er, well then, does it deal heavily with opium and heroin, drugs which harmed the lives of countless Chinese civilians over decades and were often forced upon them by imperialist powers? Ah, yes of course... but only because opium in Nikara doesn't destroy your livelihood, it gives you magic powers.
Fucking why, though.
As I'm writing this, it occurs to me that maybe someone might not know why this is so bad. Oh, she did say it drew heavily, what's the issue? Think of it this way, then.
Imagine a story with an underdog wizard soldier girl straight out of half of any modern YA fantasy as she goes to magic wizard battle school from humble and underprivilidged beginnings. She dicks around there, training under an enigmatic master and beating up people who have years of training on her with unorthodox tactics only she can learn. Pretty standard stuff, right? Not perfect writing, but who cares? Ah, but now imagine that halfway through the book... WW2 breaks out and she's sent to the front lines as a conscript to the Red Army X-men, eventually finding herself in Auschwitz.
Uhhhh.
Oh yeah, and upon doing that, her character development is predicated on the story describing the suffering and murder of Poles, Slavs, the Jewish people in concentration camps... only, hold up, it's not Auschwitz because they've made up a name for it, it's Drakenhold or something. Oh it looks like Auschwitz, Arbeit Macht Frei and all that, and the things happening there are exactly what happened at Auschwitz, but it's been given a fictional coat of paint. And the Jewish people have too; they're not Jewish, they're... Kamorthanian or Veranian or some other made-up thing, and just bear a striking resemblance to the Jewish people. And actually, the story has gone and made up fantasy names for all the other participants of WW2 in Europe, only there are dragons, it's aesthetically based on medieval times for some reason, and, I don't know, the SS run around saying "Heil Shmidt!".
Isn't that just a tiny bit gauche? Well hold on, I'm not done.
Imagine now that all across this dissonant second act of the story, you read verbatim about Kursk, Stalingrad, D-Day. Not events inspired by these, these actual events, just under different names. You read about the mass graves on the eastern front, the Einstatsgruppen, the bombings of Dresden, where real people suffered and died. All this is described in great detail. But then it continues, and instead of focusing on... all that, it mainly talks about the wizard main character's lust for power, her and her team killing of truckloads of inhuman "Notzis" with their wild and uncontrollable dark magic, and of course her fiery spats with her smoking hot, rage-filled, brooding commanding officer. No, not on the scores of people who died in these very poorly veiled real historical events... it's all about her rebellious streak, yes. Oh right, and the ending is her erasing every German person from the face of the earth, without a single shred of remorse.
Now finally, imagine at some point the sidekick character goes, "This food is worse than the Rape of Belgium! Well... it's not that bad, but still, haha!"
Yeah, maybe a little yikes, no? Well, that's what Kuang does. The Poppy War is the above, for the Second-Sino Japanese war.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be inspired by history. Of course you should. Reality is stranger than fiction. Go crazy. Be inspired by evil, incredible, terrifying things. Maybe this is controversial, but I don't think you should ever obfuscate your work if what's happening is consistent with your theme. Portraying war without suffering is dishonest, portraying genocide but in sterilized terms is insulting. But, again, this isn't inspiration, this is acquisition. This is placing history in your fiction, not being inspired by it.
Like, am I wrong in thinking an edgy YA action-adventure novel's plot should not be literally made up of contemporary war crimes? I feel like maybe I'm insane here. Characters say things that we're supposed to image they themselves thought of, only the things they're saying are verbatim things real people have said. A student invents a cool solution to a tactical problem? No wait, it's a literal Three Kingdoms story. A commander quips about making war? Ah, no, that's a direct quotation from US Army General Omar Bradley.
Why? It's not about not being clever enough, just... don't directly copy history? Why is this so hard for this book? Tolkien didn't have Sauron quote the fucking Kaiser, Christ dude.
I could understand that, maybe, this was a bait-and-switch. Surprise, bitch! You're not reading standard edgy military fantasy at all, you're going to gain some awareness about Japanese war crimes and you're going to like it.
No, I think not. Because for a story that's taken so much from history, there's not actually much history there.
I mean, Kuang has an MA. She knows about opium and the opium wars. She knows the causes of the century of humiliation, about western imperialism and the concessions. She knows that Japan eventually rose to dominance because of the success of he Meiji restoration reforms, in contrast to the failed Self Strengthening movement of the Late Qing, a dynasty whose power had degraded across centuries of decay due to multiple complex factors. She knows the vast complex legacy of provincial armies, from Three Kingdoms to the Taiping Rebellion to the post-1911 warlord period.
But does any of this show up? No.
The Nikaran warlords are all caricatured morons, typical adults in a YA story. None of them are even remotely realistic. Mugen beat Nikara because they are strong and Nikara was shit and still are, YA battle school aside, not because of modernization or civil war or anything else. The humiliation of Nikara began with their Sino-Japanese war; no western imperialism stand-in, even. And opium? Well, it gives you wizard powers, so really who cares about all that boring history!
Now, do I expect all this pedantic dogshit to be in there? God, no. That wouldn't be very much of a readable fantasy-action novel at all. But what I'm getting at is, you can't do both. You can't say, "oh I'm not writing YA, I'm writing a story about a thinly veiled fictional expy of a real life war to explore and draw attention to it" but then ignore history and make it about an edgy teen wizard thumbing her nose at Song-dynasty Draco Malfoy. And it goes both ways; you can't go, "ah, I'll write a rags-to-riches YA story about a hotheaded underdog protagonist who goes to a magic school" and the run around putting imperial Japanese war crimes, which were done to real people who still feel the effects today, in it, and say, "oho, it was a war story all along, come on now".
You can write something in the middle. Of course you can. But this ain't it. The Poppy War isn't accurate enough to be an informative and emotionally poignant historical examination, but it's not sensitive enough to be a good fictional adventure with historical themes. Its entirely fictional aspects are tainted by the thoughtless use of real-life suffering as a mere plot point, to be thrown around at the author's whim. Merely regurgitating history verbatim, then viewing it through the eyes of an entirely fantastic character who uses real atrocities to further her own trite storyline rather than engaging with them as the people who were actually there did, is not good writing.
Wow, this was long as fuck. I should have gone for the short and biting critique.
Well, I'm sure the average reader doesn't give a shit about all of this, given the ratings on this book. All I'm saying is, if you're thinking about writing contemporary genocide into your girlboss YA fantasy... don't.
For reasons that should be, and should have been, obvious.
December 27, 2022
TW: child abuse; self harm; death of animals; VERY graphic violence; gore; graphic torture; graphic deaths particularly of women and children; rape; self-sterilization; opium use
(Note that this is not throughout the book; the torture and graphic death are mostly present in 2 chapters)
This is a adult grimdark fantasy inspired by the historical events of the second Sino-Japanese war. It weaves the fantastical elements of magic and gods with the grim realities of war. I adored our characters and how their history impacts their motivations. Rin is one of my new favorite characters.
I鈥檓 looking forward to the rest of this series!
(Note that this is not throughout the book; the torture and graphic death are mostly present in 2 chapters)
This is a adult grimdark fantasy inspired by the historical events of the second Sino-Japanese war. It weaves the fantastical elements of magic and gods with the grim realities of war. I adored our characters and how their history impacts their motivations. Rin is one of my new favorite characters.
I鈥檓 looking forward to the rest of this series!
March 1, 2021
This book thoroughly destroyed me.
This is dark and heavy and not at all an easy read. It鈥檚 a story of vengeance, hatred, and manipulation. Added to the bleak retelling of the darkest period in Chinese history, it鈥檚 a painful book to read. But it鈥檚 so, so good.
Rin, a peasant from the south, is a ruthless, determined, ambitious character who craves power over all other things. She鈥檚 a student at Sinegard, a prestigious military academy, but she stands out because of her dark skin and accent. She has to fight twice as hard to get to the top. Along the way, she discovers a power within herself that is fueled by her own anger. She longs to unleash it and burn the world down, but the gods are never to be trusted, and nothing comes for free. The grey morality is excellent.
Altan, the only survivor after his entire race was butchered in a previous war, is a complex and layered character. He鈥檚 filled with a hatred so strong it manifests itself in his fire, but he hides it deep within him, using it to fuel his brutality. He鈥檚 a raging force of nature, a sly, cunning commander intent on revenge--but his weaknesses and his strengths both lie in his fury.
This book does not romanticize war, and I鈥檓 thankful. We live in a culture where fighting is glorified and praised as heroic. The Poppy War presents a brutal, raw, and honest perspective where war is seen as the horrific, cruel act it truly is, instead of being glossed over. It鈥檚 a commentary on the horrors of human brutality and the violence we are capable of.
This is about strategy, politics, sacrifice. It鈥檚 not for the faint of heart. It鈥檚 intense, bloody--but extremely intelligent. Only a portion of the book is spent in the academy, but the lessons are well-researched and incredibly thoughtful. This is not your typical fantasy school story. It鈥檚 not really a fantasy school story at all. It鈥檚 a reflection on the ethical dilemma of sacrificing everything for the greater good, despite the unthinkable costs.
The Poppy War is difficult to read. It鈥檚 a page-turner, but a dark one. The questions it raises are relevant, heartbreaking, sometimes controversial. But I promise you, it is worth it.
5 stars
This is dark and heavy and not at all an easy read. It鈥檚 a story of vengeance, hatred, and manipulation. Added to the bleak retelling of the darkest period in Chinese history, it鈥檚 a painful book to read. But it鈥檚 so, so good.
Rin, a peasant from the south, is a ruthless, determined, ambitious character who craves power over all other things. She鈥檚 a student at Sinegard, a prestigious military academy, but she stands out because of her dark skin and accent. She has to fight twice as hard to get to the top. Along the way, she discovers a power within herself that is fueled by her own anger. She longs to unleash it and burn the world down, but the gods are never to be trusted, and nothing comes for free. The grey morality is excellent.
"'They were monsters!' Rin shrieked. 'They were not human!'
Kitay opened his mouth. No sound came out. He closed it. When he finally spoke again, it sounded as if he was close to tears.
'Have you ever considered,' he said slowly, 'that that was exactly what they thought of us?'"
Altan, the only survivor after his entire race was butchered in a previous war, is a complex and layered character. He鈥檚 filled with a hatred so strong it manifests itself in his fire, but he hides it deep within him, using it to fuel his brutality. He鈥檚 a raging force of nature, a sly, cunning commander intent on revenge--but his weaknesses and his strengths both lie in his fury.
This book does not romanticize war, and I鈥檓 thankful. We live in a culture where fighting is glorified and praised as heroic. The Poppy War presents a brutal, raw, and honest perspective where war is seen as the horrific, cruel act it truly is, instead of being glossed over. It鈥檚 a commentary on the horrors of human brutality and the violence we are capable of.
鈥淐hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�
This is about strategy, politics, sacrifice. It鈥檚 not for the faint of heart. It鈥檚 intense, bloody--but extremely intelligent. Only a portion of the book is spent in the academy, but the lessons are well-researched and incredibly thoughtful. This is not your typical fantasy school story. It鈥檚 not really a fantasy school story at all. It鈥檚 a reflection on the ethical dilemma of sacrificing everything for the greater good, despite the unthinkable costs.
鈥淭hose weren鈥檛 lives.
They were numbers.
They were a necessary subtraction.鈥�
The Poppy War is difficult to read. It鈥檚 a page-turner, but a dark one. The questions it raises are relevant, heartbreaking, sometimes controversial. But I promise you, it is worth it.
5 stars
January 11, 2021
reread 1/8/21: Reading this another time knowing exactly how everything ends is... so painful. I feel such a deep sense of despair for these characters and how their lives are touched and terribly scarred by war and trauma. I was able to appreciate 搁颈苍鈥檚 character arc in a whole new light after reading the next books, and I also shed a lot of my initial dislike of Altan this time around. This book and series is so wonderfully written, and it is so tragic to witness but a blessing at the same time.
鈥斺槄鈥�
what I should be thinking: The Poppy War explores themes of power, ambition, and humanity with a skill that is thoroughly inspiring for an author only 21 years old at the time of publishing, and Kuang expertly develops Rin into a character you hate yet also, somehow, adore. The book snakes its way through your brain, subtly becoming an obsession that only grows as time passes, and each day you find yourself thinking about how perfect of a book it is.
what I鈥檓 actually thinking: Fang Runin please step on me.
鈥斺槄鈥�
It feels like my life has been split into two eras: Before The Poppy War, and After The Poppy War.
There is no way to write a review that encompasses both my love for and the literary excellence of this book, and there are already some brilliant reviews out there (my personal favorites are 笔别迟谤颈办鈥檚 and 闯补尘颈鈥檚). But my feelings about this book have grown to become an irritating cramp in my side, constantly pestering me: I genuinely cannot stop thinking about it every day. There is a burgeoning need in me to get something written down before I spontaneously combust.
The Poppy War follows a girl named Rin, a dark-skinned poor orphan who, to everyone鈥檚 surprise, manages to get into Nikan鈥檚 prestigious military academy Sinegard. There, she is relentlessly bullied for her skin color, gender, and economic status, yet she works tirelessly and climbs to the top of her class. But war is looming, and soon, with the dangerous, destructive shamanic powers she accidentally accessed, she shifts from student to soldier and is forced to make difficult decisions to save her country.
I think my favorite thing about the entire book鈥攚hich is a grand statement to make considering how excellent it is in every aspect鈥攊s Rin. Her character development is phenomenal, and not only in terms of who she becomes in the story, but also just Kuang鈥檚 ability to craft a character so well. It鈥檚 made clear from the very start that whether or not you like Rin is up for you to decide, and this idea only grows as Rin begins to make questionable choices.
But god, if you don鈥檛 find yourself rooting for her, at least in the beginning, I鈥檓 not sure you get the point at all: Rin is a girl who, throughout her entire life, has fought against every person who tells her she is a burden and she is lesser, every obstacle that represents how her very own existence is an inferiority. And she never stops fighting. Everything Rin does is a pushback against her oppressors: gaining power, becoming a top student, turning into the perfect warrior and soldier (or鈥� mostly perfect), and most of all using her anger and desire for vengeance as a motivation. Many of her actions are morally ambiguous, but you always understand the reasoning behind them, and whether or not you like her or agree with what she does, you still can鈥檛 help but feel a keen sense of both compassion and sadness for her.
(I love her so much. I love her so, so much.)
Kuang also writes other characters just as complex as Rin, most notably Altan. He is the sole survivor of a massacre that destroyed his race, and his life has only consisted of suffering and trauma. Now he鈥檚 seen only as a weapon to use to the Nikara military鈥檚 advantage. And it鈥檚 heartbreaking to see his rage fester, because it鈥檚 the one thing he鈥檚 ever known, and this hatred and desire for vengeance against Nikan was brought upon themselves for the things they did to his race.
Rin and Altan share many characteristics鈥擜ltan is her commander and role model鈥攁 large one being that neither of them are seen as human. I will never stop losing my mind and being desperately sad over how they are seen as risky yet powerful weapons but disposable once used, and how this view of them is exactly what shaped them into who they are now, is exactly why they do the things they do. Their complex relationship is written so masterfully, especially in the sequel The Dragon Republic, and I feel like I could wail about them forever. I may not love Altan, but I still appreciate the way that Kuang makes me mind-blown over his development.
I also don鈥檛 want to forget Kitay and Nezha, who are some of 搁颈苍鈥檚 classmates that I love a lot. They鈥檙e both assholes, in all honesty, but it鈥檚 part of their charm! I feel like they are more developed in The Dragon Republic, as this installment seems to focus more on Altan, but they still have important roles in 搁颈苍鈥檚 life, as the only friend she had in Sinegard and her bully-turned-friend(-turned-LOVER?), respectively.
(I guess my one complaint for the entire book is that there are some side characters, specifically the members of the Cike, who are not that developed. But that鈥檚 my only critique and it鈥檚 so minor that it is practically irrelevant! I also didn鈥檛 care that much because, if it isn鈥檛 obvious, I pretty much just care about Rin.)
On top of the excellent character work, Kuang succeeds in many other areas of the book as well. The way war is depicted stands out the most: She does not shy back, and I didn鈥檛 want her to. It鈥檚 brutal and graphic and most definitely difficult to read (content warnings at the end), but the way it viscerally tears at you is unforgettable and that鈥檚 the exact kind of effect it should have. It鈥檚 a harsh reminder of how viciously cruel humans can be, especially when you realize that what happens in the book is based on real-life historical events. You question over and over again, What lets humans do this to one another? How can such wicked violence be justified? How can people commit atrocities and not feel an ounce of remorse? and if that isn鈥檛 the lovely, jarring reading experience I want!!
A good fantasy must have good worldbuilding, and The Poppy War doesn鈥檛 disappoint in this aspect either. I鈥檓 not usually one to notice worldbuilding unless it stands out, either in a really good or really bad way, and Kuang鈥檚 worldbuilding is definitely on the really good side of the spectrum. Shamanism, gods, and magic are among the fantastical elements of the worldbuilding. The concept you usually see in fantasy of 鈥渕agic is glorious and practicing it makes you healthier鈥� is subverted into 鈥渕agic can destroy you and you risk insanity each time you call upon the gods鈥� and I adored it, especially when looking at it through the lens of how it furthered 搁颈苍鈥檚 character development. (Again, if it鈥檚 not clear yet, I! love!! Rin!!!)
Just the geographic worldbuilding was enjoyable to me as well鈥攖he explorations of colonialism and imperialism are so well-done. The way it mirrors our world, with China, Japan, and the West, is also something I really adore, because it depicts the horrific war crimes that Japan has committed while also painting the West as, dare I say it, the larger evil. (This is developed more in book 2 than in book 1, but I think it鈥檚 still worth mentioning.)
The final cherry on top, though, is Kuang鈥檚 prose and ability to write everything in a deeply compelling way. It鈥檚 simple and lovely and engaging, and it fits perfectly with the heavy content. This book is one that I chose to read for an English project, and for one of my assignments I talked about how there aren鈥檛 too many details in her writing, yet somehow I can imagine everything clearly and her words still have a strong emotional impact. (This assignment was a video that ended up being over 20 minutes long because, clearly, I cannot shut up about this book.)
It鈥檚 also worth noting that I struggle a lot to get through long adult fantasy novels, but this one was an exception. If you鈥檙e looking for an easier to read adult fantasy in terms of dense or heavy writing, I definitely recommend this one. I kept reading 100 pages in one sitting before realizing I had to stop reading, and everything seemed to fly by so quickly. It鈥檚 a wonder how 500+ pages can feel like nothing, yet I think back on this book and feel a strange flurry of excitement at the prospect of rereading it all within a day.
I鈥檝e been writing this review for around three hours now (even though it feels like no time has passed because I could go on and on about this book). It鈥檚 certainly not my best, and there is so much more I could say to display how this book is absolute perfection. I don鈥檛 know if there鈥檚 someone out there who still hasn鈥檛 read this yet, but if there is, imagine me on my knees begging you to read it and experience the masterpiece that is The Poppy War for yourself. Rin will forever remain one of my favorite characters (step on me step on me step on me), and I won鈥檛 be getting over this book for a long time. It鈥檚 genuinely one of the best I鈥檝e ever read, both subjectively and objectively, and I cannot recommend it enough!
鈥斺槄鈥�
:: rep :: Asian-inspired (mainly Chinese-) cast
:: content warnings :: war themes (death, murder, violence, etc.), drug use, substance addiction, suicide, self-harm, racism, colorism, misogyny, genocide, bullying, abandonment, abuse, animal death, animal cruelty, brutal & graphic torture, killing & rape, mutilation, human experimentation
// buddy reread with rain!!
鈥斺槄鈥�
what I should be thinking: The Poppy War explores themes of power, ambition, and humanity with a skill that is thoroughly inspiring for an author only 21 years old at the time of publishing, and Kuang expertly develops Rin into a character you hate yet also, somehow, adore. The book snakes its way through your brain, subtly becoming an obsession that only grows as time passes, and each day you find yourself thinking about how perfect of a book it is.
what I鈥檓 actually thinking: Fang Runin please step on me.
鈥斺槄鈥�
It feels like my life has been split into two eras: Before The Poppy War, and After The Poppy War.
There is no way to write a review that encompasses both my love for and the literary excellence of this book, and there are already some brilliant reviews out there (my personal favorites are 笔别迟谤颈办鈥檚 and 闯补尘颈鈥檚). But my feelings about this book have grown to become an irritating cramp in my side, constantly pestering me: I genuinely cannot stop thinking about it every day. There is a burgeoning need in me to get something written down before I spontaneously combust.
The Poppy War follows a girl named Rin, a dark-skinned poor orphan who, to everyone鈥檚 surprise, manages to get into Nikan鈥檚 prestigious military academy Sinegard. There, she is relentlessly bullied for her skin color, gender, and economic status, yet she works tirelessly and climbs to the top of her class. But war is looming, and soon, with the dangerous, destructive shamanic powers she accidentally accessed, she shifts from student to soldier and is forced to make difficult decisions to save her country.
I think my favorite thing about the entire book鈥攚hich is a grand statement to make considering how excellent it is in every aspect鈥攊s Rin. Her character development is phenomenal, and not only in terms of who she becomes in the story, but also just Kuang鈥檚 ability to craft a character so well. It鈥檚 made clear from the very start that whether or not you like Rin is up for you to decide, and this idea only grows as Rin begins to make questionable choices.
But god, if you don鈥檛 find yourself rooting for her, at least in the beginning, I鈥檓 not sure you get the point at all: Rin is a girl who, throughout her entire life, has fought against every person who tells her she is a burden and she is lesser, every obstacle that represents how her very own existence is an inferiority. And she never stops fighting. Everything Rin does is a pushback against her oppressors: gaining power, becoming a top student, turning into the perfect warrior and soldier (or鈥� mostly perfect), and most of all using her anger and desire for vengeance as a motivation. Many of her actions are morally ambiguous, but you always understand the reasoning behind them, and whether or not you like her or agree with what she does, you still can鈥檛 help but feel a keen sense of both compassion and sadness for her.
(I love her so much. I love her so, so much.)
Kuang also writes other characters just as complex as Rin, most notably Altan. He is the sole survivor of a massacre that destroyed his race, and his life has only consisted of suffering and trauma. Now he鈥檚 seen only as a weapon to use to the Nikara military鈥檚 advantage. And it鈥檚 heartbreaking to see his rage fester, because it鈥檚 the one thing he鈥檚 ever known, and this hatred and desire for vengeance against Nikan was brought upon themselves for the things they did to his race.
Rin and Altan share many characteristics鈥擜ltan is her commander and role model鈥攁 large one being that neither of them are seen as human. I will never stop losing my mind and being desperately sad over how they are seen as risky yet powerful weapons but disposable once used, and how this view of them is exactly what shaped them into who they are now, is exactly why they do the things they do. Their complex relationship is written so masterfully, especially in the sequel The Dragon Republic, and I feel like I could wail about them forever. I may not love Altan, but I still appreciate the way that Kuang makes me mind-blown over his development.
I also don鈥檛 want to forget Kitay and Nezha, who are some of 搁颈苍鈥檚 classmates that I love a lot. They鈥檙e both assholes, in all honesty, but it鈥檚 part of their charm! I feel like they are more developed in The Dragon Republic, as this installment seems to focus more on Altan, but they still have important roles in 搁颈苍鈥檚 life, as the only friend she had in Sinegard and her bully-turned-friend(-turned-LOVER?), respectively.
(I guess my one complaint for the entire book is that there are some side characters, specifically the members of the Cike, who are not that developed. But that鈥檚 my only critique and it鈥檚 so minor that it is practically irrelevant! I also didn鈥檛 care that much because, if it isn鈥檛 obvious, I pretty much just care about Rin.)
On top of the excellent character work, Kuang succeeds in many other areas of the book as well. The way war is depicted stands out the most: She does not shy back, and I didn鈥檛 want her to. It鈥檚 brutal and graphic and most definitely difficult to read (content warnings at the end), but the way it viscerally tears at you is unforgettable and that鈥檚 the exact kind of effect it should have. It鈥檚 a harsh reminder of how viciously cruel humans can be, especially when you realize that what happens in the book is based on real-life historical events. You question over and over again, What lets humans do this to one another? How can such wicked violence be justified? How can people commit atrocities and not feel an ounce of remorse? and if that isn鈥檛 the lovely, jarring reading experience I want!!
A good fantasy must have good worldbuilding, and The Poppy War doesn鈥檛 disappoint in this aspect either. I鈥檓 not usually one to notice worldbuilding unless it stands out, either in a really good or really bad way, and Kuang鈥檚 worldbuilding is definitely on the really good side of the spectrum. Shamanism, gods, and magic are among the fantastical elements of the worldbuilding. The concept you usually see in fantasy of 鈥渕agic is glorious and practicing it makes you healthier鈥� is subverted into 鈥渕agic can destroy you and you risk insanity each time you call upon the gods鈥� and I adored it, especially when looking at it through the lens of how it furthered 搁颈苍鈥檚 character development. (Again, if it鈥檚 not clear yet, I! love!! Rin!!!)
Just the geographic worldbuilding was enjoyable to me as well鈥攖he explorations of colonialism and imperialism are so well-done. The way it mirrors our world, with China, Japan, and the West, is also something I really adore, because it depicts the horrific war crimes that Japan has committed while also painting the West as, dare I say it, the larger evil. (This is developed more in book 2 than in book 1, but I think it鈥檚 still worth mentioning.)
The final cherry on top, though, is Kuang鈥檚 prose and ability to write everything in a deeply compelling way. It鈥檚 simple and lovely and engaging, and it fits perfectly with the heavy content. This book is one that I chose to read for an English project, and for one of my assignments I talked about how there aren鈥檛 too many details in her writing, yet somehow I can imagine everything clearly and her words still have a strong emotional impact. (This assignment was a video that ended up being over 20 minutes long because, clearly, I cannot shut up about this book.)
It鈥檚 also worth noting that I struggle a lot to get through long adult fantasy novels, but this one was an exception. If you鈥檙e looking for an easier to read adult fantasy in terms of dense or heavy writing, I definitely recommend this one. I kept reading 100 pages in one sitting before realizing I had to stop reading, and everything seemed to fly by so quickly. It鈥檚 a wonder how 500+ pages can feel like nothing, yet I think back on this book and feel a strange flurry of excitement at the prospect of rereading it all within a day.
I鈥檝e been writing this review for around three hours now (even though it feels like no time has passed because I could go on and on about this book). It鈥檚 certainly not my best, and there is so much more I could say to display how this book is absolute perfection. I don鈥檛 know if there鈥檚 someone out there who still hasn鈥檛 read this yet, but if there is, imagine me on my knees begging you to read it and experience the masterpiece that is The Poppy War for yourself. Rin will forever remain one of my favorite characters (step on me step on me step on me), and I won鈥檛 be getting over this book for a long time. It鈥檚 genuinely one of the best I鈥檝e ever read, both subjectively and objectively, and I cannot recommend it enough!
鈥斺槄鈥�
:: rep :: Asian-inspired (mainly Chinese-) cast
:: content warnings :: war themes (death, murder, violence, etc.), drug use, substance addiction, suicide, self-harm, racism, colorism, misogyny, genocide, bullying, abandonment, abuse, animal death, animal cruelty, brutal & graphic torture, killing & rape, mutilation, human experimentation
November 5, 2018
What. The Hell. Happened.
This book could have been a new favorite. It could have been a five star read. It could have been not torture to read. But alas.
Let's back up a bit. I went into this book with pretty high expectations given the raving reviews I'd heard and to begin with I was not disappointed.
Sure, the setup was a little (or a lot) clich茅: Poor peasant girl with undeserved natural talent gets into prestigious military academy, beats out classmates with more knowledge, training and experience due to her just generally being *the shit*, discovers she has hidden powers and is bullied by students and teachers alike. Throw a single friend and an eccentric but likeable and secretly powerful teacher in the mix and well, you get the general plot to probably fifty million books in total.
Now, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. As I said, I reaaaally enjoyed myself for the first half of the book. Rin is very devoted to her studies and her training. Due to her upbringing she is determined to prove she deserves to be at the Academy and her motivation and thirst for praise shines through in every single one of her actions. She throws herself into her studies like crazy, resorts to something close to self-harm to stay awake at times and often reminds herself of the fate that would be hers should she be kicked out of the Academy. This is her driving force for the first section of the book and it is written in a very believable and well constructed way. Her actions make sense. There is a feeling of greater purpose, of all of this training leading up to something. She is, as such, a well written and fully formed character with flaws and strengths.
Unfortunately I eventually passed the 50% mark of the book, and this is where, well, for lack of a better term, everything goes to shit. While the first year of Rin's studies was described in a lot of detail, the author glosses over the next two years with little more than a few sentences and all of a sudden Rin has been at the Academy for a while. The war that has been looming with the Mugen has broken out. The capital is attacked, and all of a sudden every single parameter of the book changes. I am not exaggerating. From that point forward, it felt like I was reading an entirely different book. The setting changes, old characters are discarded (except for two of the more obnoxious ones) and a whole set of new characters and introduced that the author then wastes no time on actually developing. I get not wanting to start the process of character development over again in the middle of your novel. But well, that's why you generally don't switch out NINETY PERCENT OF YOUR ENTIRE CAST in one fell swoop.
As a reader, you're thrown into this "war" that was barely set up and expected to care about it. You're also supposed to work heavily on your suspension of disbelief, because otherwise you'd be reading most of the book with eyebrows raised to the ceiling (my future wrinkles are on you Ms Kuang).
Here's some questions that I have:
1) Why was Sinegard, the capital of an actual EMPIRE and seat of the most prestigious military Academy in the entire country, so poorly defended that it took an invading army all of two seconds to tear down?
2) Why do they spend so much time learning how to theorize the most outlandish tactics, but then all the tactics and strategies actually employed in the war are either extremely basic and/or plain stupid?
3) Why does our main character, who was literally top of her class in the strategy course, throw all that brain matter away the second she enters the actual war and refuses to make a single smart decision from that point forward?
4) Just in general, why is Nikara so poorly prepared for a war? All they do in the first half is talk and talk about how likely it is for Mugen to invade again. Well then, WHY DON'T YOU TRY PREPARING A LITTLE?
I could go on and on. The worst moment for me was this little gem once Rin has joined the Cike (basically rag-tag team of outcasts with special powers aka The Avengers, is what I'm calling them now [And I swear I've been calling them that since before they started doing so themselves. Pinky promise.])
Essentially, the second half of this book is closer to a trashfire than a meaningful story. It's as if it was written by an entirely different person. Rin suddenly doesn't have a personality anymore, aside from flip-flopping between panic to rage to insecurity to stubbornness to hatred to not really caring. From that point forward we hear nothing more of her motivations or what she thinks needs to happen aside from her going on about how she's so scared of war. Girl, you chose to enter a military Academy. What did you think was going to happen.
Suddenly she is this empty husk of a person that's just there to relay what's left of the so-called story. And honestly, it's not much. There's fighting, sure, but who cares at this point? Most of it is written poorly, with a setting that's hard to discern or place in the greater context of a war, and the characters that have been set up to act a certain way entirely go off script and basically just fuck up. A lot.
So you see, there are bad books. You pick them up and can tell pretty quickly what you've gotten yourself into, giving you a chance to decide whether you want to waste your time on them or not. And then there a books with a better-than-average premise, that have solid writing and characters, that actually make you CARE about what's happening, and then turn around and throw it all in your face. This is infinitely worse. I don't just dislike this book. I am bitter. I hold a grudge. And I will rant about it in more detail in a video coming next Friday. So hold on to your hats...
This book could have been a new favorite. It could have been a five star read. It could have been not torture to read. But alas.
Let's back up a bit. I went into this book with pretty high expectations given the raving reviews I'd heard and to begin with I was not disappointed.
Sure, the setup was a little (or a lot) clich茅: Poor peasant girl with undeserved natural talent gets into prestigious military academy, beats out classmates with more knowledge, training and experience due to her just generally being *the shit*, discovers she has hidden powers and is bullied by students and teachers alike. Throw a single friend and an eccentric but likeable and secretly powerful teacher in the mix and well, you get the general plot to probably fifty million books in total.
Now, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. As I said, I reaaaally enjoyed myself for the first half of the book. Rin is very devoted to her studies and her training. Due to her upbringing she is determined to prove she deserves to be at the Academy and her motivation and thirst for praise shines through in every single one of her actions. She throws herself into her studies like crazy, resorts to something close to self-harm to stay awake at times and often reminds herself of the fate that would be hers should she be kicked out of the Academy. This is her driving force for the first section of the book and it is written in a very believable and well constructed way. Her actions make sense. There is a feeling of greater purpose, of all of this training leading up to something. She is, as such, a well written and fully formed character with flaws and strengths.
Unfortunately I eventually passed the 50% mark of the book, and this is where, well, for lack of a better term, everything goes to shit. While the first year of Rin's studies was described in a lot of detail, the author glosses over the next two years with little more than a few sentences and all of a sudden Rin has been at the Academy for a while. The war that has been looming with the Mugen has broken out. The capital is attacked, and all of a sudden every single parameter of the book changes. I am not exaggerating. From that point forward, it felt like I was reading an entirely different book. The setting changes, old characters are discarded (except for two of the more obnoxious ones) and a whole set of new characters and introduced that the author then wastes no time on actually developing. I get not wanting to start the process of character development over again in the middle of your novel. But well, that's why you generally don't switch out NINETY PERCENT OF YOUR ENTIRE CAST in one fell swoop.
As a reader, you're thrown into this "war" that was barely set up and expected to care about it. You're also supposed to work heavily on your suspension of disbelief, because otherwise you'd be reading most of the book with eyebrows raised to the ceiling (my future wrinkles are on you Ms Kuang).
Here's some questions that I have:
1) Why was Sinegard, the capital of an actual EMPIRE and seat of the most prestigious military Academy in the entire country, so poorly defended that it took an invading army all of two seconds to tear down?
2) Why do they spend so much time learning how to theorize the most outlandish tactics, but then all the tactics and strategies actually employed in the war are either extremely basic and/or plain stupid?
3) Why does our main character, who was literally top of her class in the strategy course, throw all that brain matter away the second she enters the actual war and refuses to make a single smart decision from that point forward?
4) Just in general, why is Nikara so poorly prepared for a war? All they do in the first half is talk and talk about how likely it is for Mugen to invade again. Well then, WHY DON'T YOU TRY PREPARING A LITTLE?
I could go on and on. The worst moment for me was this little gem once Rin has joined the Cike (basically rag-tag team of outcasts with special powers aka The Avengers, is what I'm calling them now [And I swear I've been calling them that since before they started doing so themselves. Pinky promise.])
Essentially, the second half of this book is closer to a trashfire than a meaningful story. It's as if it was written by an entirely different person. Rin suddenly doesn't have a personality anymore, aside from flip-flopping between panic to rage to insecurity to stubbornness to hatred to not really caring. From that point forward we hear nothing more of her motivations or what she thinks needs to happen aside from her going on about how she's so scared of war. Girl, you chose to enter a military Academy. What did you think was going to happen.
Suddenly she is this empty husk of a person that's just there to relay what's left of the so-called story. And honestly, it's not much. There's fighting, sure, but who cares at this point? Most of it is written poorly, with a setting that's hard to discern or place in the greater context of a war, and the characters that have been set up to act a certain way entirely go off script and basically just fuck up. A lot.
So you see, there are bad books. You pick them up and can tell pretty quickly what you've gotten yourself into, giving you a chance to decide whether you want to waste your time on them or not. And then there a books with a better-than-average premise, that have solid writing and characters, that actually make you CARE about what's happening, and then turn around and throw it all in your face. This is infinitely worse. I don't just dislike this book. I am bitter. I hold a grudge. And I will rant about it in more detail in a video coming next Friday. So hold on to your hats...
March 22, 2024
釢�.釔� 鈯� 鉁夛笍 4 stars. 饟彶啵�
猡� spoilers are marked 鈹� links + trigger warnings listed at end
at its core, the poppy war is not a simple historical fantasy- it鈥檚 an examination of china鈥檚 twentieth century, and is at its most interesting when you鈥檙e reading through an analytical lens. the question this trilogy tries to answer is: how could someone with simple, backwater roots, turn into a powerful and twisted dictator? what makes a monster? i feel like this is something only r.f. kuang could write, weaving in narratives of militaristic themes and treachery. she leaves a devastating effect on the reader, asking us to wonder about the change of someone going from fighting for the greater good into the oppressor itself.
i. the plot. the poppy war chronicles rin鈥檚 story, who aces the keju, which is a national test that's purpose is to find the most talented individuals in the empire. even though many cannot even fathom the idea that a peasant could do so well, she blocks everyone鈥檚 negativity out and attends sinegard, an elite military school only for the fittest. while she fights inner battles involving poverty and gender, rin realizes that the nikara empire and the federation of mugen might just be on the brink of a third poppy war. we follow her as she realizes that perhaps she is becoming the monster that she鈥檚 feared from the very beginning, slowly loosening her grip on her humanity.
ii. analysis. so incredibly engaging, and the parallels that were crafted in the plot is to thank for that. mao zedong, leader of china from its establishment 1949-1966, is supposed to represent rin, as he has built up a reputation that is both revered and feared, culminating into one of history鈥檚 greatest debates. when i was doing research on him as a person, i came across an article that talked about the divide when it comes to zedong as a leader: was he a great savior, or a harbinger of impending doom? although i haven鈥檛 done nearly enough research to formulate an opinion on him, it鈥檚 clear how he relates to our fmc- their shared innate craving of power and what means they will use to get what they want. i鈥檓 sure that kuang used this in some way when writing the other books in the trilogy: she always relies on fantasy and speculative fiction as a powerful tool to create empathy, and of course make us visualize ourselves in the minds of characters with questionable morals yet profound beliefs. at least in my experience!
spoilers from here on, until the trigger warnings <3
猡� fang runin. i鈥檝e read so many points about how she, as a character, was so distant and disconnected, but something that is extremely important to understand is that rin is intentionally written as a 鈥減erpetrator of genocide.鈥� kuang stated in an interview that she loved writing the poppy war so much because of her thesis: what if the villain deeply cared about the people they loved? what if they were passionate, had something to strive for, and would save a friend if it meant sacrificing their own life? rin is a character study of how madness confuses. put simply, she is an anti-hero. rin鈥檚 corrupt and reckless, has a craving for gratification, and validates herself based on praise. her change from thinking of herself as a measly, coward girl to everything is addicting to read about! inevitably, i feel like the euphoria rin achieves from power will be the end of her, but i鈥檓 desperately holding out hope for her to have some miraculous redemption arc.
猡� chen kitay. my love. he cares about rin in such a beautiful way, i just adore him and their platonic relationship was refreshing to read! kitay learns how to be stable and have more security in himself, not give all of his attention to one singular individual, and access the admirable ability to retain his bravery even with the terrible, inhumane events that he has witnessed firsthand. what i loved most about kitay is how the author implied that even with an upbringing of privilege, he was the one who, in my opinion, was the strongest in the end.
there was this exchange between rin and kitay which was not only written brilliantly, but it highlighted their unique traits and characteristics in a way that i never could:
[鈯� i鈥檓 about to leave you with a long list of trigger warnings, and a little note. please be prepared when reading this, because there鈥檚 content in here that can be quite disturbing. i just want to make sure everyone who tries reading this trilogy knows that this book is unfiltered, giving us crystal-clear visuals. please make sure you feel comfortable when touching on this material]
鈱� 馃彿锔忊攩 trigger/content warnings: rape, animal abuse and death, human torture and experimentation, self-harm, racism, misogyny, substance addiction, drugs, murder, abandonment, and war. please keep in mind that this may not be all of them!
links:
ches鈥� review (she鈥檚 just so talented and one of my favorite writers and reviewers, also the sweetest ever)
ju鈥檚 review WILL BE LINKED because it is the cutest and everyone needs to read it <3
the rape of nanking
forgotten ally: china鈥檚 world war ii, 1937-1945
猡� bottom line. a special thank you (and i love you) to r.f. kuang鈥檚 official representative and rin鈥檚 biggest apologist: bff rina! she鈥檚 honestly the best person ever and i鈥檓 so so thankful that she gives me recs that i always end up loving. the poppy war is one of the best books i鈥檝e ever read. it鈥檚 a raw, in depth, and real analyzation of history; everyone should read this at some point in their lifetime <3
猡� spoilers are marked 鈹� links + trigger warnings listed at end
陹� 鈼岎煪� 鈥渋 have become something wonderful, she thought. i have become something terrible. was she now a goddess or a monster? perhaps neither. perhaps both.鈥�
at its core, the poppy war is not a simple historical fantasy- it鈥檚 an examination of china鈥檚 twentieth century, and is at its most interesting when you鈥檙e reading through an analytical lens. the question this trilogy tries to answer is: how could someone with simple, backwater roots, turn into a powerful and twisted dictator? what makes a monster? i feel like this is something only r.f. kuang could write, weaving in narratives of militaristic themes and treachery. she leaves a devastating effect on the reader, asking us to wonder about the change of someone going from fighting for the greater good into the oppressor itself.
i. the plot. the poppy war chronicles rin鈥檚 story, who aces the keju, which is a national test that's purpose is to find the most talented individuals in the empire. even though many cannot even fathom the idea that a peasant could do so well, she blocks everyone鈥檚 negativity out and attends sinegard, an elite military school only for the fittest. while she fights inner battles involving poverty and gender, rin realizes that the nikara empire and the federation of mugen might just be on the brink of a third poppy war. we follow her as she realizes that perhaps she is becoming the monster that she鈥檚 feared from the very beginning, slowly loosening her grip on her humanity.
ii. analysis. so incredibly engaging, and the parallels that were crafted in the plot is to thank for that. mao zedong, leader of china from its establishment 1949-1966, is supposed to represent rin, as he has built up a reputation that is both revered and feared, culminating into one of history鈥檚 greatest debates. when i was doing research on him as a person, i came across an article that talked about the divide when it comes to zedong as a leader: was he a great savior, or a harbinger of impending doom? although i haven鈥檛 done nearly enough research to formulate an opinion on him, it鈥檚 clear how he relates to our fmc- their shared innate craving of power and what means they will use to get what they want. i鈥檓 sure that kuang used this in some way when writing the other books in the trilogy: she always relies on fantasy and speculative fiction as a powerful tool to create empathy, and of course make us visualize ourselves in the minds of characters with questionable morals yet profound beliefs. at least in my experience!
陹� 鈼岎煪� 鈥渨ar doesn't determine who's right. war determines who remains.鈥�
spoilers from here on, until the trigger warnings <3
猡� fang runin. i鈥檝e read so many points about how she, as a character, was so distant and disconnected, but something that is extremely important to understand is that rin is intentionally written as a 鈥減erpetrator of genocide.鈥� kuang stated in an interview that she loved writing the poppy war so much because of her thesis: what if the villain deeply cared about the people they loved? what if they were passionate, had something to strive for, and would save a friend if it meant sacrificing their own life? rin is a character study of how madness confuses. put simply, she is an anti-hero. rin鈥檚 corrupt and reckless, has a craving for gratification, and validates herself based on praise. her change from thinking of herself as a measly, coward girl to everything is addicting to read about! inevitably, i feel like the euphoria rin achieves from power will be the end of her, but i鈥檓 desperately holding out hope for her to have some miraculous redemption arc.
猡� chen kitay. my love. he cares about rin in such a beautiful way, i just adore him and their platonic relationship was refreshing to read! kitay learns how to be stable and have more security in himself, not give all of his attention to one singular individual, and access the admirable ability to retain his bravery even with the terrible, inhumane events that he has witnessed firsthand. what i loved most about kitay is how the author implied that even with an upbringing of privilege, he was the one who, in my opinion, was the strongest in the end.
there was this exchange between rin and kitay which was not only written brilliantly, but it highlighted their unique traits and characteristics in a way that i never could:
陹� 鈼� 饟彶啵� 鈥測ou don鈥檛 know what they did,鈥� she said in a low whisper. 鈥渨hat they were planning. they were going to kill us all. they don鈥檛 care about human lives. they鈥斺€�oh my god. i cried so much while reading this.
鈥渢hey鈥檙e monsters! i know! i was at golyn niis! i lay amid the corpses for days! but you鈥斺€� kitay swallowed, choking on his words. 鈥測ou turned around and did the exact same thing. civilians. innocents. children, rin. you just buried an entire country and you don鈥檛 feel a thing.鈥� 鈥渢hey were monsters!鈥� she shrieked. 鈥渢hey were not human!鈥� kitay opened his mouth. no sound came out. when he finally spoke again, it sounded as if he was close to tears. 鈥渉ave you ever considered,鈥� he said slowly, 鈥渢hat that was exactly what they thought of us?鈥�
[鈯� i鈥檓 about to leave you with a long list of trigger warnings, and a little note. please be prepared when reading this, because there鈥檚 content in here that can be quite disturbing. i just want to make sure everyone who tries reading this trilogy knows that this book is unfiltered, giving us crystal-clear visuals. please make sure you feel comfortable when touching on this material]
鈱� 馃彿锔忊攩 trigger/content warnings: rape, animal abuse and death, human torture and experimentation, self-harm, racism, misogyny, substance addiction, drugs, murder, abandonment, and war. please keep in mind that this may not be all of them!
links:
ches鈥� review (she鈥檚 just so talented and one of my favorite writers and reviewers, also the sweetest ever)
ju鈥檚 review WILL BE LINKED because it is the cutest and everyone needs to read it <3
the rape of nanking
forgotten ally: china鈥檚 world war ii, 1937-1945
猡� bottom line. a special thank you (and i love you) to r.f. kuang鈥檚 official representative and rin鈥檚 biggest apologist: bff rina! she鈥檚 honestly the best person ever and i鈥檓 so so thankful that she gives me recs that i always end up loving. the poppy war is one of the best books i鈥檝e ever read. it鈥檚 a raw, in depth, and real analyzation of history; everyone should read this at some point in their lifetime <3
November 23, 2019
鈥滳hildren ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.鈥�
This book. I mean鈥� THIS BOOK! *sighs deeply and shakes head*
There is so much to be said about 鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� and I鈥檓 afraid I won鈥檛 even be able to put at least half of my thoughts into decent sentences. Because after finishing this book about a month ago (A MONTH AGO!!!) I still have troubles to sort out all of my feelings and thoughts.
鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� is a great book but it tackles a lot of serious topics and I guess that鈥檚 the reason why my heart always feels kind of heavy when I think about it. Of course there is a war raging in this book but there happen so many other things that it鈥檚 almost impossible not to flinch when you reach those final 40%. Think about every atrocity that鈥檚 ever happened and you get a good idea about what you鈥檙e going to read in this book. There鈥檚 genocide, rape, torture, self-harm鈥� and that鈥檚 just me naming a few of the triggers that might come your way.
鈥漌ar doesn鈥檛 determine who鈥檚 right. War determines who remains.鈥�
Let me tell you this: The longer you continue the worse it gets and even though this was masterfully done and I loved the world building and all the characters, there is still this strange undercurrent of heavy sadness and dread. Golyn Niis was so tough to read, I still get goose bumps when I think about it. This chapter was so, so, so, so damn hard to get through and I can鈥檛 remember the last time I read a book and felt that way. Maybe I never felt that way reading a book before. At least I can鈥檛 remember a single book that actually made me feel like this. I swear my stomach turned and I had troubles to breathe. I was feeling nauseous reading a book! Yes, it was that heavy! Everyone who already read the book will know what I鈥檓 talking about and to those who didn鈥檛: It鈥檚 really as bad as everyone claims it to be! I got plenty of warnings but nothing prepared me for Golyn Niis!
鈥滱mateurs obsess over strategy, Irjah had once told their class. Professionals obsess over logistics.鈥�
Still, despite this heavy feeling of uneasiness that always overcomes me when I think about 鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� this book was definitely worth reading! I loved the fantasy elements and the idea of powers from the gods! Plus I really enjoyed the chapters at Sinegard Academy and the chimei! What I loved the most was the representation of human nature though. I might be alone with this but it鈥檚 obvious that R.F. Kuang put a lot of effort into her characters and you could see it in the way they grow, develop and change. Their character arcs were so amazing to follow, I鈥檓 in awe! And before I continue to gush about them here, I might as well move to my character section instead. ;-P
The characters:
This is my spoilery spoiler section and if you didn鈥檛 read the book already you better turn around and leave. If you鈥檙e still curious and don鈥檛 want to heed my warning you may proceed at your own risk! I mean I warned you, right? ;-P
Rin:
鈥漀o 鈥� they couldn鈥檛 just do this to her. They might think they could sweep her away like rubbish, but she didn鈥檛 have to lie down and take it. She had come from nothing. She wasn鈥檛 going back to nothing.鈥�
Oh gods! Rin! I can鈥檛 believe what she did in the end and I can鈥檛 wrap my head around the fact that such a sweet and innocent girl could change that much! But it still happened and her descent was so heavy to watch. >_< I guess that鈥檚 what happens when you play with fire, quite literally in her case. She got addicted to the power and I鈥檓 so damn afraid of what she鈥檚 going to do next! I loved her defiance and strength at the beginning of the book, how she wanted to learn and did everything possible to achieve her goal. She was so determined and strong-willed! But then the war began and all those things happened and with every chapter Rin changed! She became something different, she hardened her heart, she lost her moral compass and made decisions that got her deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole! And then she did the unthinkable and I鈥檓 not sure if she鈥檒l ever be able to return from that darkness again. T_T The ending broke my heart, for Rin, for the person she could have been for everything she HAD been before she came to Sinegard. She鈥檚 not the person she used to be and I find myself weeping for everything she lost and for what she became. =(((
鈥漇he didn鈥檛 want to be possessed. She wanted to remain free.鈥�
鈥漈hen I will die on my feet,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart.鈥�
鈥滿y god didn鈥檛 make me do anything,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he gods can鈥檛 make our choices for us. They can only offer their power, and we can wield it. And I did, and this is what I chose.鈥� She swallowed. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 regret it.鈥�
鈥漇he was sane, she was convinced of it. She was whole. She had lost much, yes, but she still had her own mind. She made her decisions. She chose to accept the Phoenix. She chose to let it invade her mind.鈥�
Altan:
鈥漌e鈥檙e the final front,鈥� said Altan. 鈥淚f we fail, this country鈥檚 lost.鈥� He clapped her on the shoulder. 鈥淓xcited?鈥�
Altan broke my heart. At first I had the same impression like everyone else: That he knows what he鈥檚 doing, that he鈥檚 in control and a perfect student/soldier but the more we got to see from him, the more it became obvious that he鈥檚 far from all those things! This boy was broken beyond repair and he hid it so well that no one ever noticed until it was too late! I can鈥檛 say that I liked his actions but I could understand why he acted the way he did! He was lashing out at everyone because he was like a wild animal that only saw threats and didn鈥檛 know how to react to kindness. Altan was unable to see that not everyone who confronted him wanted to do him harm. Which makes me sad on so many levels. =( That poor, poor boy! To be tortured like this, to get out of it alive, to live with his past and the knowledge that it might happen again. Just to live with everything he went through! To draw breath every day and to continue, to keep on moving! I can鈥檛 even begin to comprehend how he must have felt and I can鈥檛 put into words how strongly I feel for him. T_T And I don鈥檛 want to believe that he鈥檚 dead! He can鈥檛 be dead! >_<
鈥滻 don鈥檛 know,鈥� he said after a long moment. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 doing.鈥�
鈥滱ltan鈥檚 fire drew as its source an unending hate. It was a deep, slow burn. She could almost taste it, the venomous intent, the ancient misery, and it horrified her.
How could one person hate so much?
What had happened to him?
Kitay:
鈥漁ne urinating statue for my easily entertained friend.鈥�
Rin blushed. 鈥淜itay, I can鈥檛.鈥�
鈥淚t costs nothing.鈥�
鈥淚t costs a lot to me,鈥� she said.
Kitay placed the statue in her hand. 鈥淚f you say one more thing about money, I鈥檓 leaving you to get lost.鈥�
I absolutely adored Kitay! He鈥檚 such a good friend and I loved that Rin and he became besties. =) Despite being fortunate enough to be one of the rich kids at Sinegard Academy he still reached out to her and became her friend. I think that鈥檚 what I loved about him the most, he didn鈥檛 care about titles or money, he just cared about the person and what it could do! Kitay is the living and breathing proof that good people exist and in the end his character was the only one that gave me any hope. Because despite all the things he witnessed and regardless of everything that happened to him, he still had moral values and acted according to them. In a world so harsh and cruel that it changed everyone around him, he still held on to his convictions and I loved him for it! <333
鈥漈here was a hard glint to his eyes that she had never seen in him before. He looked as if he had aged five years. He looked like his father. He was like a sword that had been sharpened, metal that had been tempered.鈥�
Jiang:
鈥滻 am a mortal who has woken up, and there is power in awareness.鈥�
I really don鈥檛 know how to feel about Jiang! I actually liked him at the beginning of the book but I was so disappointed by him when it ended. His character was some sort of catalyst and I had the distinct feeling that he could have done more, that he SHOUD HAVE done more! What if he would have taught Rin about her powers? What if he would have allowed her to use them in a safe setting? What if he would have fought alongside them and would have helped her to control the phoenix? He basically left Altan and Rin to their own devices and this set them on the dark path they were descending at the end. How different everything could have gone if Jiang would have watched out for them! =( To drop Altan as his student was the first mistake he made and not to teach Rin properly apparently his last.
鈥滱h. The law.鈥� Jiang sniffed at an unidentified leaf and then tossed it away. 鈥淪o inconvenient. So irrelevant.鈥�
The relationships & ships:
Rin & Altan:
鈥漇he knew what addiction looked like. Opium smokers were yellowed, useless sacks of flesh. They did not fight like Altan did. They did not move like Altan did. They were not perfect, lethal animals of graceful beauty.鈥�
Okay, I鈥檓 going to say it: I DIDN鈥橳 SHIP RIN AND ALTAN! I鈥檓 sorry but I just couldn鈥檛! They didn鈥檛 have much of a relationship before Rin joined the Cike and once she was a part of them her relationship with Altan was nothing but abusive. He slapped her, hurt her with words, forced her to do things she didn鈥檛 want to do and was everything else but supportive. How was I supposed to ship that? I get that Altan was thoroughly broken but he didn鈥檛 have to let it out on Rin and as frustrated as he might have been with her, he still had no right to hurt her. So nope, it was clear right from the beginning that he didn鈥檛 respect her as much as she respected him and if you ask me those two never had a future. (Not saying that I wouldn鈥檛 love for Altan to come back again. I still wouldn鈥檛 ship him with Rin though) I鈥檒l never ship those two and I stand by it. Fight me! *lol* ;-P
鈥滺ey. Hey.鈥�
Cool fingers wrapped around her wrists. Gently, Altan pulled her hands away from her face. She looked up and met his eyes. They were a shade of crimson brighter than poppy petals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 okay,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know. I know what it鈥檚 like. I鈥檓 going to help you.鈥�
鈥漇he had adored an idea of him, an archetype, a version of him that was invulnerable. But now she knew the truth, she knew the realness of Altan and his vulnerabilities and most of all his pain鈥� and still she loved him.鈥�
He leaned forward and grasped her face in both hands. She thought for a bizarre moment that he was going to kiss her. He didn鈥檛. He pressed his forehead against hers for a long time. She closed her eyes. She drank in the sensation of her skin against his. She seared it into her memory.鈥�
Rin & Nezha:
鈥漌e aren鈥檛 here to be sophisticated. We鈥檙e here to fuck people up.鈥�
Now that鈥檚 a relationship I could appreciate! Yes, Nezha was an ass at the beginning of the book but in contrast to Altan he actually realized his faults and apologized to Rin. I loved how they both grew out of their initial animosity and became friends in the end. And those fighting scenes!! They were pure harmony on the battlefield and anyone who claims differently didn鈥檛 read the book! XD Just like Kitay seemed to have become a moral compass for Rin the same could be said for Nezha and I鈥檓 sure if he鈥檇 been around at the end she wouldn鈥檛 have gone down that dark road. >_< Unfortunately Nezha was lost in the toxic mist and seems to be dead. I refuse to believe that he鈥檚 gone for good though. I mean he had some serious healing abilities so maybe he survived it and became a prisoner? But then again he most likely would have been with the Mugenese when Rin launched her attack and I don鈥檛 know if he would have been able to survive this as well. >_< I really hope Nezha will magically reappear in the second book! =)
鈥滲ut I saved your life. Doesn鈥檛 that make us at least a little square?鈥�
Square? Square? She had to laugh. 鈥淵ou almost got me expelled!鈥�
鈥淎nd you almost killed me,鈥� he said. That shut her up.
鈥淚 was scared of you,鈥� Nezha continued. 鈥淎nd I lashed out. I was stupid. I was a spoiled brat. I was a real pain in the ass. I thought I was better than you, and I鈥檓 not. I鈥檓 sorry.鈥�
Altan & Chaghan:
鈥漈hey had come to an understanding, she and Chaghan. They were no longer opposed, vying for Altan鈥檚 favor. They were allies, now, bound by the mutual atrocities they had commited.鈥�
I鈥檓 going to be honest here: I鈥檓 such a sucker for Chaghan!!! I love his character!!!! And is it just me or did I actually feel some gay vibes between those two?! Altan and Chaghan definitely had more chemistry than Rin and Altan ever had! *lol* And they didn鈥檛 even have all too many scenes together! I got the distinct feeling that something happened when they spent those three days in the valleys and I鈥檓 not talking about Altan winning a fight between them, feel me? *wriggles eyebrows* Haha! ;-P Gosh, I really would have loved to find out more about their relationship and this is just one more reason why Altan can鈥檛 be dead! I just ship him and Chaghan too much to accept his death! Period! XD
Conclusion:
鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� was an amazing and sometimes truly revolting dark tale about a young girl that follows her own path and fights for what she thinks is right. It shows us how people can grow and how their circumstances and perceptions can change them. For better or for worse鈥� This tale isn鈥檛 over yet. In fact it just began and I can鈥檛 wait to read what鈥檚 going to happen next. Let鈥檚 continue to hope for the best while we expect the worst, because apparently that鈥檚 the only attitude that will get you through this series. ;-)
鈥滱nd she would call the gods to do such terrible things.鈥�
This book. I mean鈥� THIS BOOK! *sighs deeply and shakes head*
There is so much to be said about 鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� and I鈥檓 afraid I won鈥檛 even be able to put at least half of my thoughts into decent sentences. Because after finishing this book about a month ago (A MONTH AGO!!!) I still have troubles to sort out all of my feelings and thoughts.
鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� is a great book but it tackles a lot of serious topics and I guess that鈥檚 the reason why my heart always feels kind of heavy when I think about it. Of course there is a war raging in this book but there happen so many other things that it鈥檚 almost impossible not to flinch when you reach those final 40%. Think about every atrocity that鈥檚 ever happened and you get a good idea about what you鈥檙e going to read in this book. There鈥檚 genocide, rape, torture, self-harm鈥� and that鈥檚 just me naming a few of the triggers that might come your way.
鈥漌ar doesn鈥檛 determine who鈥檚 right. War determines who remains.鈥�
Let me tell you this: The longer you continue the worse it gets and even though this was masterfully done and I loved the world building and all the characters, there is still this strange undercurrent of heavy sadness and dread. Golyn Niis was so tough to read, I still get goose bumps when I think about it. This chapter was so, so, so, so damn hard to get through and I can鈥檛 remember the last time I read a book and felt that way. Maybe I never felt that way reading a book before. At least I can鈥檛 remember a single book that actually made me feel like this. I swear my stomach turned and I had troubles to breathe. I was feeling nauseous reading a book! Yes, it was that heavy! Everyone who already read the book will know what I鈥檓 talking about and to those who didn鈥檛: It鈥檚 really as bad as everyone claims it to be! I got plenty of warnings but nothing prepared me for Golyn Niis!
鈥滱mateurs obsess over strategy, Irjah had once told their class. Professionals obsess over logistics.鈥�
Still, despite this heavy feeling of uneasiness that always overcomes me when I think about 鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� this book was definitely worth reading! I loved the fantasy elements and the idea of powers from the gods! Plus I really enjoyed the chapters at Sinegard Academy and the chimei! What I loved the most was the representation of human nature though. I might be alone with this but it鈥檚 obvious that R.F. Kuang put a lot of effort into her characters and you could see it in the way they grow, develop and change. Their character arcs were so amazing to follow, I鈥檓 in awe! And before I continue to gush about them here, I might as well move to my character section instead. ;-P
The characters:
This is my spoilery spoiler section and if you didn鈥檛 read the book already you better turn around and leave. If you鈥檙e still curious and don鈥檛 want to heed my warning you may proceed at your own risk! I mean I warned you, right? ;-P
Rin:
鈥漀o 鈥� they couldn鈥檛 just do this to her. They might think they could sweep her away like rubbish, but she didn鈥檛 have to lie down and take it. She had come from nothing. She wasn鈥檛 going back to nothing.鈥�
Oh gods! Rin! I can鈥檛 believe what she did in the end and I can鈥檛 wrap my head around the fact that such a sweet and innocent girl could change that much! But it still happened and her descent was so heavy to watch. >_< I guess that鈥檚 what happens when you play with fire, quite literally in her case. She got addicted to the power and I鈥檓 so damn afraid of what she鈥檚 going to do next! I loved her defiance and strength at the beginning of the book, how she wanted to learn and did everything possible to achieve her goal. She was so determined and strong-willed! But then the war began and all those things happened and with every chapter Rin changed! She became something different, she hardened her heart, she lost her moral compass and made decisions that got her deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole! And then she did the unthinkable and I鈥檓 not sure if she鈥檒l ever be able to return from that darkness again. T_T The ending broke my heart, for Rin, for the person she could have been for everything she HAD been before she came to Sinegard. She鈥檚 not the person she used to be and I find myself weeping for everything she lost and for what she became. =(((
鈥漇he didn鈥檛 want to be possessed. She wanted to remain free.鈥�
鈥漈hen I will die on my feet,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart.鈥�
鈥滿y god didn鈥檛 make me do anything,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he gods can鈥檛 make our choices for us. They can only offer their power, and we can wield it. And I did, and this is what I chose.鈥� She swallowed. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 regret it.鈥�
鈥漇he was sane, she was convinced of it. She was whole. She had lost much, yes, but she still had her own mind. She made her decisions. She chose to accept the Phoenix. She chose to let it invade her mind.鈥�
Altan:
鈥漌e鈥檙e the final front,鈥� said Altan. 鈥淚f we fail, this country鈥檚 lost.鈥� He clapped her on the shoulder. 鈥淓xcited?鈥�
Altan broke my heart. At first I had the same impression like everyone else: That he knows what he鈥檚 doing, that he鈥檚 in control and a perfect student/soldier but the more we got to see from him, the more it became obvious that he鈥檚 far from all those things! This boy was broken beyond repair and he hid it so well that no one ever noticed until it was too late! I can鈥檛 say that I liked his actions but I could understand why he acted the way he did! He was lashing out at everyone because he was like a wild animal that only saw threats and didn鈥檛 know how to react to kindness. Altan was unable to see that not everyone who confronted him wanted to do him harm. Which makes me sad on so many levels. =( That poor, poor boy! To be tortured like this, to get out of it alive, to live with his past and the knowledge that it might happen again. Just to live with everything he went through! To draw breath every day and to continue, to keep on moving! I can鈥檛 even begin to comprehend how he must have felt and I can鈥檛 put into words how strongly I feel for him. T_T And I don鈥檛 want to believe that he鈥檚 dead! He can鈥檛 be dead! >_<
鈥滻 don鈥檛 know,鈥� he said after a long moment. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 doing.鈥�
鈥滱ltan鈥檚 fire drew as its source an unending hate. It was a deep, slow burn. She could almost taste it, the venomous intent, the ancient misery, and it horrified her.
How could one person hate so much?
What had happened to him?
Kitay:
鈥漁ne urinating statue for my easily entertained friend.鈥�
Rin blushed. 鈥淜itay, I can鈥檛.鈥�
鈥淚t costs nothing.鈥�
鈥淚t costs a lot to me,鈥� she said.
Kitay placed the statue in her hand. 鈥淚f you say one more thing about money, I鈥檓 leaving you to get lost.鈥�
I absolutely adored Kitay! He鈥檚 such a good friend and I loved that Rin and he became besties. =) Despite being fortunate enough to be one of the rich kids at Sinegard Academy he still reached out to her and became her friend. I think that鈥檚 what I loved about him the most, he didn鈥檛 care about titles or money, he just cared about the person and what it could do! Kitay is the living and breathing proof that good people exist and in the end his character was the only one that gave me any hope. Because despite all the things he witnessed and regardless of everything that happened to him, he still had moral values and acted according to them. In a world so harsh and cruel that it changed everyone around him, he still held on to his convictions and I loved him for it! <333
鈥漈here was a hard glint to his eyes that she had never seen in him before. He looked as if he had aged five years. He looked like his father. He was like a sword that had been sharpened, metal that had been tempered.鈥�
Jiang:
鈥滻 am a mortal who has woken up, and there is power in awareness.鈥�
I really don鈥檛 know how to feel about Jiang! I actually liked him at the beginning of the book but I was so disappointed by him when it ended. His character was some sort of catalyst and I had the distinct feeling that he could have done more, that he SHOUD HAVE done more! What if he would have taught Rin about her powers? What if he would have allowed her to use them in a safe setting? What if he would have fought alongside them and would have helped her to control the phoenix? He basically left Altan and Rin to their own devices and this set them on the dark path they were descending at the end. How different everything could have gone if Jiang would have watched out for them! =( To drop Altan as his student was the first mistake he made and not to teach Rin properly apparently his last.
鈥滱h. The law.鈥� Jiang sniffed at an unidentified leaf and then tossed it away. 鈥淪o inconvenient. So irrelevant.鈥�
The relationships & ships:
Rin & Altan:
鈥漇he knew what addiction looked like. Opium smokers were yellowed, useless sacks of flesh. They did not fight like Altan did. They did not move like Altan did. They were not perfect, lethal animals of graceful beauty.鈥�
Okay, I鈥檓 going to say it: I DIDN鈥橳 SHIP RIN AND ALTAN! I鈥檓 sorry but I just couldn鈥檛! They didn鈥檛 have much of a relationship before Rin joined the Cike and once she was a part of them her relationship with Altan was nothing but abusive. He slapped her, hurt her with words, forced her to do things she didn鈥檛 want to do and was everything else but supportive. How was I supposed to ship that? I get that Altan was thoroughly broken but he didn鈥檛 have to let it out on Rin and as frustrated as he might have been with her, he still had no right to hurt her. So nope, it was clear right from the beginning that he didn鈥檛 respect her as much as she respected him and if you ask me those two never had a future. (Not saying that I wouldn鈥檛 love for Altan to come back again. I still wouldn鈥檛 ship him with Rin though) I鈥檒l never ship those two and I stand by it. Fight me! *lol* ;-P
鈥滺ey. Hey.鈥�
Cool fingers wrapped around her wrists. Gently, Altan pulled her hands away from her face. She looked up and met his eyes. They were a shade of crimson brighter than poppy petals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 okay,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know. I know what it鈥檚 like. I鈥檓 going to help you.鈥�
鈥漇he had adored an idea of him, an archetype, a version of him that was invulnerable. But now she knew the truth, she knew the realness of Altan and his vulnerabilities and most of all his pain鈥� and still she loved him.鈥�
He leaned forward and grasped her face in both hands. She thought for a bizarre moment that he was going to kiss her. He didn鈥檛. He pressed his forehead against hers for a long time. She closed her eyes. She drank in the sensation of her skin against his. She seared it into her memory.鈥�
Rin & Nezha:
鈥漌e aren鈥檛 here to be sophisticated. We鈥檙e here to fuck people up.鈥�
Now that鈥檚 a relationship I could appreciate! Yes, Nezha was an ass at the beginning of the book but in contrast to Altan he actually realized his faults and apologized to Rin. I loved how they both grew out of their initial animosity and became friends in the end. And those fighting scenes!! They were pure harmony on the battlefield and anyone who claims differently didn鈥檛 read the book! XD Just like Kitay seemed to have become a moral compass for Rin the same could be said for Nezha and I鈥檓 sure if he鈥檇 been around at the end she wouldn鈥檛 have gone down that dark road. >_< Unfortunately Nezha was lost in the toxic mist and seems to be dead. I refuse to believe that he鈥檚 gone for good though. I mean he had some serious healing abilities so maybe he survived it and became a prisoner? But then again he most likely would have been with the Mugenese when Rin launched her attack and I don鈥檛 know if he would have been able to survive this as well. >_< I really hope Nezha will magically reappear in the second book! =)
鈥滲ut I saved your life. Doesn鈥檛 that make us at least a little square?鈥�
Square? Square? She had to laugh. 鈥淵ou almost got me expelled!鈥�
鈥淎nd you almost killed me,鈥� he said. That shut her up.
鈥淚 was scared of you,鈥� Nezha continued. 鈥淎nd I lashed out. I was stupid. I was a spoiled brat. I was a real pain in the ass. I thought I was better than you, and I鈥檓 not. I鈥檓 sorry.鈥�
Altan & Chaghan:
鈥漈hey had come to an understanding, she and Chaghan. They were no longer opposed, vying for Altan鈥檚 favor. They were allies, now, bound by the mutual atrocities they had commited.鈥�
I鈥檓 going to be honest here: I鈥檓 such a sucker for Chaghan!!! I love his character!!!! And is it just me or did I actually feel some gay vibes between those two?! Altan and Chaghan definitely had more chemistry than Rin and Altan ever had! *lol* And they didn鈥檛 even have all too many scenes together! I got the distinct feeling that something happened when they spent those three days in the valleys and I鈥檓 not talking about Altan winning a fight between them, feel me? *wriggles eyebrows* Haha! ;-P Gosh, I really would have loved to find out more about their relationship and this is just one more reason why Altan can鈥檛 be dead! I just ship him and Chaghan too much to accept his death! Period! XD
Conclusion:
鈥淭he Poppy War鈥� was an amazing and sometimes truly revolting dark tale about a young girl that follows her own path and fights for what she thinks is right. It shows us how people can grow and how their circumstances and perceptions can change them. For better or for worse鈥� This tale isn鈥檛 over yet. In fact it just began and I can鈥檛 wait to read what鈥檚 going to happen next. Let鈥檚 continue to hope for the best while we expect the worst, because apparently that鈥檚 the only attitude that will get you through this series. ;-)
鈥滱nd she would call the gods to do such terrible things.鈥�
July 19, 2018
My Video Review:
This novel started out so strong for me, and I can't believe how little I was enjoying it toward the end. This novel reads like two separate people wrote it. I loved the first 40 percent. I know people have compared The Poppy War to The Kingkiller Chronicle because of the academy setting and the fact that the main characters don't have much going on personality-wise. I get that criticism, but I was just enjoying the academy and the classes and everything with the world building.
Rin is very determined, strong (and over the top with her self-harm), and persistent. She's quick-tempered and has a strong desire to learn and to lead. Then after 40%, she's completely the opposite. I don't understand. She whines and complains all the time. She's unfocused and weak (with random sprinkles of strength that are too few and far between?) She went to the academy to avoid getting herself locked down in the first place and then attached herself completely to some random dude that treats her poorly and she hardly knew? In one chapter she's "given up the luxury of fear," and then in the next, "fear struck her as she looked into that eye." Rin's characterization was just too inconsistent and really threw me out of the story constantly in the second half. I was fine with Rin being a Mary Sue, but I wished she'd at least been consistent with her Mary Sue-nature. At the very least, I wish she had kept her quick-tempered nature because that would have made the most sense with what happens in the second half.
Caveat: I read this as an audiobook, so her drastic change in tone and personality may have been read into her by the audiobook narrator. She may be a little better if you read it physically.
I honestly thought the gruesome aspects made a lot of sense, and I thought it was realistic. There is genocide, rape, torture, colorism, racism, and substance abuse. Those are terrible, but it wasn't where I had problems with this book. I think maybe this should have been published and split into two. The first half, the better half, would have been amazing. I probably would have given it 4-5 stars. Then Kuang would have had more time to polish and fix the characterization problems with the latter half.
I'm happy to see so many people love this book, but I was unfortunately a little disappointed.
This novel started out so strong for me, and I can't believe how little I was enjoying it toward the end. This novel reads like two separate people wrote it. I loved the first 40 percent. I know people have compared The Poppy War to The Kingkiller Chronicle because of the academy setting and the fact that the main characters don't have much going on personality-wise. I get that criticism, but I was just enjoying the academy and the classes and everything with the world building.
Rin is very determined, strong (and over the top with her self-harm), and persistent. She's quick-tempered and has a strong desire to learn and to lead. Then after 40%, she's completely the opposite. I don't understand. She whines and complains all the time. She's unfocused and weak (with random sprinkles of strength that are too few and far between?) She went to the academy to avoid getting herself locked down in the first place and then attached herself completely to some random dude that treats her poorly and she hardly knew? In one chapter she's "given up the luxury of fear," and then in the next, "fear struck her as she looked into that eye." Rin's characterization was just too inconsistent and really threw me out of the story constantly in the second half. I was fine with Rin being a Mary Sue, but I wished she'd at least been consistent with her Mary Sue-nature. At the very least, I wish she had kept her quick-tempered nature because that would have made the most sense with what happens in the second half.
Caveat: I read this as an audiobook, so her drastic change in tone and personality may have been read into her by the audiobook narrator. She may be a little better if you read it physically.
I honestly thought the gruesome aspects made a lot of sense, and I thought it was realistic. There is genocide, rape, torture, colorism, racism, and substance abuse. Those are terrible, but it wasn't where I had problems with this book. I think maybe this should have been published and split into two. The first half, the better half, would have been amazing. I probably would have given it 4-5 stars. Then Kuang would have had more time to polish and fix the characterization problems with the latter half.
I'm happy to see so many people love this book, but I was unfortunately a little disappointed.
June 21, 2021
You know when you read the first few chapters of a book and you鈥檙e overcome by a feeling, a knowing, that this book is going to stick with you. That you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen next, but you can tell you鈥檙e going to love it? 鈥� that鈥檚 what The Poppy War made me feel.
The writing was exquisite. It drew me in, and kept me hooked. It felt like I was watching a movie in my head, everything was so vivid, mesmerising but also heartbreaking. From descriptions of the setting, to the history and world building. Wow. I鈥檓 completely in awe of the authors skill. With each chapter I became more and more obsessed with this world and this story.
I loved the elements of magic and mythology combined with the history and war.
There was constantly a lot of new information to process and so many characters that I had to start keeping a log of who鈥檚 who 鈥� but honestly that just added to my enjoyment.
The first portion is set during 搁颈苍鈥檚 time at the academy is slow paced. After that things really start picking up.
I cannot say there was one moment I was bored or uninterested, even during the slower chapters.
The setting was fantastic. I鈥檓 so used to reading western centric fantasy and this just made me realize how much I need Asian fantasy in my life.
Something that I enjoy most as a reader is learning through fiction. The author draws from real Chinese historic events such as the Opium Wars, the Second Sino-Japanese War and The Rape of Nanking.
I immediately found myself looking up these events, wanting to know more. It hit me so hard to find out that all these atrocities actually happened and people don鈥檛 speak about it.
This book while an enjoyable read was also very hard to read. It portrays the very real horrors of war and there were times I was crying my eyes out for all the suffering Rin had witnessed. (content and trigger warnings at the end of this review)
Rin, I admire the most. She fought tooth and nail for her place at Sinegard and didn鈥檛 let the others who thought she had no right to be there bring her down. She was fierce and determined. And yes, when war came knocking she realised she wasn鈥檛 as prepared as she鈥檇 thought. War and circumstances changed her and she ends up making questionable decisions that I didn鈥檛 agree with, however I still wanted the best for her (I鈥檓 still worried about her and I鈥檓 so scared for her in the next books eeeek! ).
Altan was also another character I really enjoyed reading about. There were times I hated him but at the end of the day I think Kuang did such a great job creating this character who has been used as a weapon, treated like an animal, who is driven by vengeance and hate.
The character growth we see in the span of one book left me shook. Some characters I thought were garbage become dear to me (*cough* Nezha *cough*). Kuang makes sure we see the flaws in every character, the basics of human nature, the cruelty humans are capable of when they think others are lesser.
The ending left me teary eyed and with a hunger for more. I鈥檓 sad that I didn鈥檛 read this book when it came out but now I鈥檓 glad because I can immediately continue on to book 2 and there鈥檚 not much time I have to wait till the final book is released 馃拑.
I really hope we get to see more development of the Cike crew. I feel like there is still so much I need to know!
CONTENT WARNINGS: violence, murder, genocide, gore, rape, animal cruelty, human experimentation, torture, mutilation
Buddy read with Ameerah & Warda
___
Read my reviews for
Book 2: The Dragon Republic
___
Pre-Read
I'm gonna love this. Right?
Seriously guys, after just finishing City of Brass I cant take another disappointment
The writing was exquisite. It drew me in, and kept me hooked. It felt like I was watching a movie in my head, everything was so vivid, mesmerising but also heartbreaking. From descriptions of the setting, to the history and world building. Wow. I鈥檓 completely in awe of the authors skill. With each chapter I became more and more obsessed with this world and this story.
I loved the elements of magic and mythology combined with the history and war.
There was constantly a lot of new information to process and so many characters that I had to start keeping a log of who鈥檚 who 鈥� but honestly that just added to my enjoyment.
The first portion is set during 搁颈苍鈥檚 time at the academy is slow paced. After that things really start picking up.
I cannot say there was one moment I was bored or uninterested, even during the slower chapters.
The setting was fantastic. I鈥檓 so used to reading western centric fantasy and this just made me realize how much I need Asian fantasy in my life.
Something that I enjoy most as a reader is learning through fiction. The author draws from real Chinese historic events such as the Opium Wars, the Second Sino-Japanese War and The Rape of Nanking.
I immediately found myself looking up these events, wanting to know more. It hit me so hard to find out that all these atrocities actually happened and people don鈥檛 speak about it.
This book while an enjoyable read was also very hard to read. It portrays the very real horrors of war and there were times I was crying my eyes out for all the suffering Rin had witnessed. (content and trigger warnings at the end of this review)
Rin, I admire the most. She fought tooth and nail for her place at Sinegard and didn鈥檛 let the others who thought she had no right to be there bring her down. She was fierce and determined. And yes, when war came knocking she realised she wasn鈥檛 as prepared as she鈥檇 thought. War and circumstances changed her and she ends up making questionable decisions that I didn鈥檛 agree with, however I still wanted the best for her (I鈥檓 still worried about her and I鈥檓 so scared for her in the next books eeeek! ).
Altan was also another character I really enjoyed reading about. There were times I hated him but at the end of the day I think Kuang did such a great job creating this character who has been used as a weapon, treated like an animal, who is driven by vengeance and hate.
The character growth we see in the span of one book left me shook. Some characters I thought were garbage become dear to me (*cough* Nezha *cough*). Kuang makes sure we see the flaws in every character, the basics of human nature, the cruelty humans are capable of when they think others are lesser.
The ending left me teary eyed and with a hunger for more. I鈥檓 sad that I didn鈥檛 read this book when it came out but now I鈥檓 glad because I can immediately continue on to book 2 and there鈥檚 not much time I have to wait till the final book is released 馃拑.
I really hope we get to see more development of the Cike crew. I feel like there is still so much I need to know!
I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible.
Was she now a goddess or a monster?
Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.
CONTENT WARNINGS: violence, murder, genocide, gore, rape, animal cruelty, human experimentation, torture, mutilation
Buddy read with Ameerah & Warda
___
Read my reviews for
Book 2: The Dragon Republic
___
Pre-Read
I'm gonna love this. Right?
Seriously guys, after just finishing City of Brass I cant take another disappointment
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