A Book Review: The Poppy War
Title of the book: The Poppy War
Author: R. F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: First published on the 1st of May 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Why I picked up this book:
So, if you read my post about upcoming releases in March, here, you know that I have issues reading book series if they have not been completed yet. I am too impatient and maybe part of me is a completionist. I hate reading through 2 or 3 books in a series and then being forced to wait for the conclusion. That doesn’t mean I don’t regularly put myself through this torture, but every now and again I offer myself a respite.
Lucky me, the conclusion to the Poppy War series has recently been published, so I could finally get stuck in this series which has been on my to-read list forever.
The reason it has been on my to-read list is that about 2 or 3 years ago I was struck by the realization that most, if not all of the fantasy books I owned, were rooted in Western mythology. Shameful I know! I have been missing out on such a rich vein of myths and legends. Since then I have steadily been working on correcting this with some amazing titles like the Deavabad Trilogy, the Children of Blood and Bones series, The empress of all seasons and the Poppy Wars series just to name a few. And let me tell you, I am incredibly glad that I did.
About the Author:
Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, Chinese-English translator, and the Astounding Award-winning and Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award-nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy. Her work has won the Crawford Award and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. 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 Literature at Yale.
Synopsis:
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her colour, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .
Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.
Review of the Book:
Let me warn you, let me make it absolutely abundantly clear, this book is not for the faint of heart. This book deals with some truly horrifying themes such as war, drug use, genocide, torture, self-harm, rape, and it does so in an extremely graphic way. It doesn’t allow you to look away from the intense violence and it leaves you raw and vulnerable after reading it.
Don’t be fooled by the first part of the book. This introduces us to the main character Fang Runin ‘Rin’. It follows this orphan of war as she faces many challenges from the threat of forced marriage, to racism, bullies at her newly found salvation the Sinegard Military school, and teachers who refuse to instruct her. However, there is a silver lining and we see Rin thrive and forge friendships of her own. She makes mistakes but she learns, sometimes slowly, but she learns all the same. The first part, at times, feels lighthearted and reads almost like a young-adult fantasy.
However, this soon takes a dark, much darker turn when the titular Poppy War looms on the horizon. We are invested in Rin and her friends so by now we are truly starting to worry about their safety. The world-building and carefully crafted characters ensure we are on the edge of our seats during every siege, during every melee battle. The threats are real, as with Game of Thrones, no character is safe no matter how much we like them. They will get hurt, they will be left like mere mirages of their former self, leaving the reader to wonder if death had not been kinder.
The atrocities committed by either side of the raging conflict leave you in a near-permanent state of shell-shock. The vivid descriptions of the sacked war-time capital will not be something you soon forget. The ‘experiments’ conducted on the Speerlies raising the hairs on the back of your neck.
The Poppy War is a cruel book. It’s history, culture and magic all make perfect sense and draw from an immensely rich background. The characters are flawed and utterly believable. The book does not glorify war but rather takes a magnifying lens and shows us what happens when the waves of violence breach our shores. The Poppy War is uncomfortable and wonderful at the same time. R. F. Kuang seems to have the uncanny ability to keep these opposing forces in balance and I cannot wait to read the next book in this fantastic series.
What are your thoughts? Did you like the Poppy War as much as I did, or where the grotesque descriptions of war crimes too much for you to bear? Do you have recommendations for other fantasy series set in non-western mythology? Please let me know in the comment section below, and until then - just one more page!