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marufa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
belle2022's review against another edition
5.0
Reread: 24/04/2022
Okay so I liked this book. The first part of this book we follow Rin from the Rooster Province as she tries to pass the test that will allow her to go to the Academy Sinegard. She wants more for herself than what is expected of a girl in the province and she pushes herself to get there. Once she’s there her experience is neither good nor bad but I believe she learns a lot which is then carried through the rest of the book. At times I found Rin immature but by the end all I felt was pity.
After leaving Sinegard where the war is brewing it quickly becomes complicated and brutal. The war in the book has parallels to Chinese history. We start to see the darker side of characters like Rin and Altan. Nothing is the same as before. Rin has a difficult time in the book there is a lot going on for someone so young. The book shows the brutality of war and the lengths of hate that human kind are capable of. By the end of the book I know there are many mixed reviews. Which I completely understand. But I kinda saw it as a last resort and if this thing that Rin had done had not been done then when would this war have ended. There has been murder on both sides and not just Rin’s. It’s definitely not over but you know what I mean. It shows the impossible choices made in dire need and maybe they aren’t always the last option but what the character thought was the last option.
The whole thing with the shamans I thought was super cool and I enjoyed seeing the Cike in action but the reality of what their future would be was so scary. And the death of a certain character left me sooo empty because it just felt too soon.
Overall, a solid 5 stars. I would say to check the trigger warnings before reading this book. This is an Adult Fantasy book. I also recommend that you read this book a little blind maybe just read the summary and no reviews. The book is dense so go into it knowing that and there is a lot going on too.
03/11/2019: This is probably the most dense book I’ve read. In the way of political and violence. The first part was good and it was a lot more cheery than the rest. Not even that cheery but then you get to parts two and three and the whole dynamic changes. I really appreciated that. This book showed the way war ruins everything and everyone. How horrifying and disgusting it is. When I read the part of Golyn Niis, I felt like throwing up. The part of poor Venka and the “relaxation houses” I knew it sounded like like the Nanking. That was so well done and truly showed the terribleness of humans.
I liked all the characters. Rin towards the end was a bit iffy. But I can understand her reasons for doing what she did but I can’t help but agree with Kitay. I hope Altan is still alive as likely as it is that his dead. I’m intrigued to see what’s in store for the Cike. There’s so much more to the story but I’d be here for hours trying to talk about it all.
Okay so I liked this book. The first part of this book we follow Rin from the Rooster Province as she tries to pass the test that will allow her to go to the Academy Sinegard. She wants more for herself than what is expected of a girl in the province and she pushes herself to get there. Once she’s there her experience is neither good nor bad but I believe she learns a lot which is then carried through the rest of the book. At times I found Rin immature but by the end all I felt was pity.
After leaving Sinegard where the war is brewing it quickly becomes complicated and brutal. The war in the book has parallels to Chinese history. We start to see the darker side of characters like Rin and Altan. Nothing is the same as before. Rin has a difficult time in the book there is a lot going on for someone so young. The book shows the brutality of war and the lengths of hate that human kind are capable of. By the end of the book I know there are many mixed reviews. Which I completely understand. But I kinda saw it as a last resort and if this thing that Rin had done had not been done then when would this war have ended. There has been murder on both sides and not just Rin’s. It’s definitely not over but you know what I mean. It shows the impossible choices made in dire need and maybe they aren’t always the last option but what the character thought was the last option.
The whole thing with the shamans I thought was super cool and I enjoyed seeing the Cike in action but the reality of what their future would be was so scary. And the death of a certain character left me sooo empty because it just felt too soon.
Overall, a solid 5 stars. I would say to check the trigger warnings before reading this book. This is an Adult Fantasy book. I also recommend that you read this book a little blind maybe just read the summary and no reviews. The book is dense so go into it knowing that and there is a lot going on too.
03/11/2019: This is probably the most dense book I’ve read. In the way of political and violence. The first part was good and it was a lot more cheery than the rest. Not even that cheery but then you get to parts two and three and the whole dynamic changes. I really appreciated that. This book showed the way war ruins everything and everyone. How horrifying and disgusting it is. When I read the part of Golyn Niis, I felt like throwing up. The part of poor Venka and the “relaxation houses” I knew it sounded like like the Nanking. That was so well done and truly showed the terribleness of humans.
I liked all the characters. Rin towards the end was a bit iffy. But I can understand her reasons for doing what she did but I can’t help but agree with Kitay. I hope Altan is still alive as likely as it is that his dead. I’m intrigued to see what’s in store for the Cike. There’s so much more to the story but I’d be here for hours trying to talk about it all.
sarahmhall's review against another edition
3.0
I’d rate it a 3.5. Sometimes the story felt really all over the place and Rin’s character was so chaotic and her choices didn’t always match who she is. However, I couldn’t put the book down and was engaged through all 500+ pages. 3 stars instead of 4 because I’m not entirely sure if I’ve been convinced to read the rest of the series. I’m just not sure that I am a fantasy girly
laerugo's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to like this, because a historical Chinese action/political fantasy really intrigues me, but several parts of this book just fought me. There were a few consistency problems, plot holes, and pacing issues, which isn’t a big deal, but what frustrated me the most was the main character.
I often felt that Rin was only who she was because the story needed her to be that way - her actions and feelings and dialogue get her from A to B, but for that reason they often make her feel like an inconsistent vessel for the plot instead of her own person. Some of the few consistencies of Rin’s character were her anger (understandable), impulsiveness (also understandable, but got tiring as it went on), and childishness (understandable at first but I quickly lost patience for it). Rin is a poor, brown young woman tossed into a war to fight for a country that hates her, so she has a lot to be upset about; and yet outside schoolyard bullying and teachers’ discrimination, once she joins the military, she more or less ceases to be the victim the story paints her to be, while other women in uniform do suffer. She definitely has a strong case of plot armor; several times when she should have failed or died, she enters a fugue state and cannot remember how she survived or accomplished her goals (no fantastical explanation here; divine intervention in this universe doesn’t work that way). I’m not sure if the writer just didn’t want to write these sections or is just trying to get Rin to the next Plot Event, but once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing.
I could go on about what I disliked, because unfortunately there were a fair amount of things, but I did tear through this book because I was still interested in the story (if only to see if my theories; so far I’ve found a lot of the twists to be pretty predictable, but that doesn’t diminish my interest in reading, I just like knowing if my guesses are right). The author’s background in history is where this book shines: the politics of a large country, wartime horrors, the suspense of fights. When I think about a word to describe the prose, the best I can think of is “serviceable”: I’ve read worse and I’ve read better. I like when drama happens, but I dislike being *told* in the prose when something dramatic is happening, if that makes sense.
I wish I could rate this 3.5, because I enjoyed it more than I’m indicating here (I did tear through it in about three days on vacation), but I decided to round down to 3 because I don’t know if I’d recommend this to someone; they’d have to be really tolerant of female characters who are often unnaturally, inconsistently over-aggressive to everyone around them (in what I think are attempts to make them into Strong Female Characters) but are surrounded by a supporting cast of mostly important male characters and few, if any, fellow women to add a diversity of experiences. I’ll be reading the next book in the series out of curiosity but I hope it doesn’t have the same troubles as the first book.
I often felt that Rin was only who she was because the story needed her to be that way - her actions and feelings and dialogue get her from A to B, but for that reason they often make her feel like an inconsistent vessel for the plot instead of her own person. Some of the few consistencies of Rin’s character were her anger (understandable), impulsiveness (also understandable, but got tiring as it went on), and childishness (understandable at first but I quickly lost patience for it). Rin is a poor, brown young woman tossed into a war to fight for a country that hates her, so she has a lot to be upset about; and yet outside schoolyard bullying and teachers’ discrimination, once she joins the military, she more or less ceases to be the victim the story paints her to be, while other women in uniform do suffer. She definitely has a strong case of plot armor; several times when she should have failed or died, she enters a fugue state and cannot remember how she survived or accomplished her goals (no fantastical explanation here; divine intervention in this universe doesn’t work that way). I’m not sure if the writer just didn’t want to write these sections or is just trying to get Rin to the next Plot Event, but once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing.
I could go on about what I disliked, because unfortunately there were a fair amount of things, but I did tear through this book because I was still interested in the story (if only to see if my theories; so far I’ve found a lot of the twists to be pretty predictable, but that doesn’t diminish my interest in reading, I just like knowing if my guesses are right). The author’s background in history is where this book shines: the politics of a large country, wartime horrors, the suspense of fights. When I think about a word to describe the prose, the best I can think of is “serviceable”: I’ve read worse and I’ve read better. I like when drama happens, but I dislike being *told* in the prose when something dramatic is happening, if that makes sense.
I wish I could rate this 3.5, because I enjoyed it more than I’m indicating here (I did tear through it in about three days on vacation), but I decided to round down to 3 because I don’t know if I’d recommend this to someone; they’d have to be really tolerant of female characters who are often unnaturally, inconsistently over-aggressive to everyone around them (in what I think are attempts to make them into Strong Female Characters) but are surrounded by a supporting cast of mostly important male characters and few, if any, fellow women to add a diversity of experiences. I’ll be reading the next book in the series out of curiosity but I hope it doesn’t have the same troubles as the first book.
tdowniem's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Everyone is this book is batshit crazy. But seriously, I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the (many) connections to Chinese history and the Second Sino-Japanese war were both exciting and incredibly disturbing, felt a bit like reading a history textbook at times. Sometimes some of the parallels felt a bit too obvious, and I’m curious about the connection of this conflict that is obviously tied to the Second World War and the title/ discussion of the poppy wars, which seems to connect more to the Opium Wars, but overall a good book and excited to see what happens next.
thebookpantheon's review against another edition
5.0
It has been a long time since a book has truly captivated me. I very rarely rate things 5 stars, but this book has quite literally forced me to (and I say “forced” but really, I mean happily do) shift my entire bookshelf’s schematics to make space on my top row (the best row) for it. I also want to say I've read past the first book already, but I'll try and stay focused on this book's events.
I don't even know how to start this review because, even though it's been more than a week since I finished this book, I still have so many thoughts that I am untangling in my mind. But anyways, let's start somewhere:
I had a vague idea of what this book was about. I try to avoid spoilers before I read as my imagination runs away from me and I end up disappointed with the book if it doesn't line up with my machinations. But this book? This plot? Did not disappoint. My friend had told me that it was incredibly dark and had mature themes (violence, war, death, etc) and for the first half of the book I was slightly concerned since I had yet to see any of that. The beginning chapters feel like a fantasy YA where the heroine from another world is dropped into strange, new lands and must now prove herself competent. We see the main character Rin, face the challenges of being a peasant with a haphazard education dropped into a school where everyone, besides her, is prepared. This is where the plot fully deviates from your traditional fantasy YA. Rin makes it to Sinegard, and not just with a passing mark. She obtains the highest score in her region. Life seems to breathe itself back into Rin - she has escaped her fate, she can go to the city; be her own person, and seek out greatness. It all quickly comes crashing down for her when she arrives at Sinegard. There, she meets our other main characters like Nezha (may he live a long life, may death not seek him until it has found its satisfaction, may his last breath be as deep as the garden pools in his ancestral home and linger in his lungs) and Kitay (he who holds my heart in his hands). They are the exact opposite of Rin: a poor, brown girl from Tikany. Her classmates are wealthy and white, and they know it - they also make sure to let Rin know it too (some more kindly than others).
We are quickly introduced to systemic colorism, misogyny, and classism - all of which are hurled at our heroine by everyone, including her masters. Following the trials and tribulations that abound, the plot abruptly dives into the war halfway into the book, like a blindfold being pulled from one's eyes, and to put it in layman’s terms, shit gets real. A popular quote that's used when discussing this book is “Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands.” and I wholeheartedly disagree. They don’t cease to be children at all. They become children with swords, children who see their friends and fellow soldiers disemboweled - murdered. Children who wear uniforms that are tugged and pulled like chess pieces across a board.
Fang Runin.
Rin.
Rin is a unique character - one that I haven't seen before. Yes, I've read stories of reckless, spit-fire heroines who act before they think, but she is singular in the way the world interacts with her and she with it. Rin is merely a child when this story begins - and to be frank, she still is one when it ends - if you don't know much about children, then I shall tell you this: they often deal in absolutes. For Rin, her only options were to slave away studying for an exam to join the most highly sought school in Sinegard or to become the wife of a man three times her age. I cannot even try to describe how much I love Rin, and how much sorrow I hold in my heart for her. She is just a girl who was dealt all of the wrong cards and was never told what they meant or how to use them. Her desperation to be successful and to be seen as such is so pathetically strong, and I cannot help but love her for it. She is all that we secretly wish to be: loved, accepted, and to be told we’re doing a good job. Rin is also so incredibly funny and quickwitted and it made me immediately respect her as a character. She would rather die than show weakness, and yet, we do see it. In the quiet corners of the book, where no one else but us and she is, we see her cry and miss home and long for another life. She is so beautifully human and real (never mind the magical fire powers).
There is a specific scene in the book that some people took issue with - the one where Rin begins menstruating and decides that this tangible symptom of femininity is debilitating for someone like her so she decides to… fix the issue. As someone who dearly loves Rin and supports all of her rights and wrongs, I wanted to talk about this a bit. Though I do not believe a period is something to be ashamed of, for Rin, it’s everything she does not want - what she quite literally self-mutilated herself over to avoid it. Her menstrual cycle, aside from the pain she faced - which in battle could mean your death - symbolized her position as nothing more than property to be bred. Even Venka (who we love and support no matter what) acknowledges this. Rin is not a woman, she is a soldier. And soldiers do not show weakness. We also have to acknowledge that she is a CHILD, and as I said earlier, they often deal in absolutes; what other logical choice did she think she had? Why should we hate Rin for her actions and not the physician who admitted to pandering his remedy across the school? Why not hate the institution for making her feel like she had no other option?
Do you know how I was wondering where the trigger warnings were at? Yea, they’re right here. And I don’t mean the chemical hysterectomy performance mentioned in the prior paragraph. The book liberally takes inspiration from real-life events like the Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre, both brutal events in history which are not spoken about or discussed in the U.S. curriculum as often as they should be. As someone who is neither Asian nor has a deep cultural understanding of these events, I do have to say that Kuang has opened a pathway for readers to step away from fantasy and learn about fact. It’s as simple as realizing that the horrific events she wrote of really happened and firing off a quick Google search to learn more. It’s an incredible way of educating a demographic that was not afforded the opportunity to know about these events. I say this as a person living in Florida, where our education is systematically limited and censored. I had not even heard of Nanjing until I had reached university-level education. I know some reviews thought that using these events as loose inspiration is disrespectful and I have no opinion on this matter - nor would I deem myself important enough to have one. I cannot ever fathom the impact that these events have had on a nation, on a culture. What I find upsetting is how these comments seem to attack Kuang for using her cultural history for fiction writing. How many stories have used the backdrop of WWII just to slap a romance plot on it, or a heart-clenching espionage story over it, and have it received well? Why is Kuang receiving so much contempt for doing something similar? Why is one worse than another?
But I digress. I shall not speak more of the plot, as I do not wish to spoil the absolute clusterfuck that is the last few chapters. I only insist you read it yourself and discover the horr- I mean, wonders, of Kuang’s mind.
Thank you, Kuang, for writing this book. I do not doubt in my mind that this will be my favorite book of 2023 and most likely for years to come. Review for the Dragon Republic coming soon - just need to mentally prepare myself to write that one because, oh boy.
I don't even know how to start this review because, even though it's been more than a week since I finished this book, I still have so many thoughts that I am untangling in my mind. But anyways, let's start somewhere:
I had a vague idea of what this book was about. I try to avoid spoilers before I read as my imagination runs away from me and I end up disappointed with the book if it doesn't line up with my machinations. But this book? This plot? Did not disappoint. My friend had told me that it was incredibly dark and had mature themes (violence, war, death, etc) and for the first half of the book I was slightly concerned since I had yet to see any of that. The beginning chapters feel like a fantasy YA where the heroine from another world is dropped into strange, new lands and must now prove herself competent. We see the main character Rin, face the challenges of being a peasant with a haphazard education dropped into a school where everyone, besides her, is prepared. This is where the plot fully deviates from your traditional fantasy YA. Rin makes it to Sinegard, and not just with a passing mark. She obtains the highest score in her region. Life seems to breathe itself back into Rin - she has escaped her fate, she can go to the city; be her own person, and seek out greatness. It all quickly comes crashing down for her when she arrives at Sinegard. There, she meets our other main characters like Nezha (may he live a long life, may death not seek him until it has found its satisfaction, may his last breath be as deep as the garden pools in his ancestral home and linger in his lungs) and Kitay (he who holds my heart in his hands). They are the exact opposite of Rin: a poor, brown girl from Tikany. Her classmates are wealthy and white, and they know it - they also make sure to let Rin know it too (some more kindly than others).
We are quickly introduced to systemic colorism, misogyny, and classism - all of which are hurled at our heroine by everyone, including her masters. Following the trials and tribulations that abound, the plot abruptly dives into the war halfway into the book, like a blindfold being pulled from one's eyes, and to put it in layman’s terms, shit gets real. A popular quote that's used when discussing this book is “Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands.” and I wholeheartedly disagree. They don’t cease to be children at all. They become children with swords, children who see their friends and fellow soldiers disemboweled - murdered. Children who wear uniforms that are tugged and pulled like chess pieces across a board.
Fang Runin.
Rin.
Rin is a unique character - one that I haven't seen before. Yes, I've read stories of reckless, spit-fire heroines who act before they think, but she is singular in the way the world interacts with her and she with it. Rin is merely a child when this story begins - and to be frank, she still is one when it ends - if you don't know much about children, then I shall tell you this: they often deal in absolutes. For Rin, her only options were to slave away studying for an exam to join the most highly sought school in Sinegard or to become the wife of a man three times her age. I cannot even try to describe how much I love Rin, and how much sorrow I hold in my heart for her. She is just a girl who was dealt all of the wrong cards and was never told what they meant or how to use them. Her desperation to be successful and to be seen as such is so pathetically strong, and I cannot help but love her for it. She is all that we secretly wish to be: loved, accepted, and to be told we’re doing a good job. Rin is also so incredibly funny and quickwitted and it made me immediately respect her as a character. She would rather die than show weakness, and yet, we do see it. In the quiet corners of the book, where no one else but us and she is, we see her cry and miss home and long for another life. She is so beautifully human and real (never mind the magical fire powers).
There is a specific scene in the book that some people took issue with - the one where Rin begins menstruating and decides that this tangible symptom of femininity is debilitating for someone like her so she decides to… fix the issue. As someone who dearly loves Rin and supports all of her rights and wrongs, I wanted to talk about this a bit. Though I do not believe a period is something to be ashamed of, for Rin, it’s everything she does not want - what she quite literally self-mutilated herself over to avoid it. Her menstrual cycle, aside from the pain she faced - which in battle could mean your death - symbolized her position as nothing more than property to be bred. Even Venka (who we love and support no matter what) acknowledges this. Rin is not a woman, she is a soldier. And soldiers do not show weakness. We also have to acknowledge that she is a CHILD, and as I said earlier, they often deal in absolutes; what other logical choice did she think she had? Why should we hate Rin for her actions and not the physician who admitted to pandering his remedy across the school? Why not hate the institution for making her feel like she had no other option?
Do you know how I was wondering where the trigger warnings were at? Yea, they’re right here. And I don’t mean the chemical hysterectomy performance mentioned in the prior paragraph. The book liberally takes inspiration from real-life events like the Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre, both brutal events in history which are not spoken about or discussed in the U.S. curriculum as often as they should be. As someone who is neither Asian nor has a deep cultural understanding of these events, I do have to say that Kuang has opened a pathway for readers to step away from fantasy and learn about fact. It’s as simple as realizing that the horrific events she wrote of really happened and firing off a quick Google search to learn more. It’s an incredible way of educating a demographic that was not afforded the opportunity to know about these events. I say this as a person living in Florida, where our education is systematically limited and censored. I had not even heard of Nanjing until I had reached university-level education. I know some reviews thought that using these events as loose inspiration is disrespectful and I have no opinion on this matter - nor would I deem myself important enough to have one. I cannot ever fathom the impact that these events have had on a nation, on a culture. What I find upsetting is how these comments seem to attack Kuang for using her cultural history for fiction writing. How many stories have used the backdrop of WWII just to slap a romance plot on it, or a heart-clenching espionage story over it, and have it received well? Why is Kuang receiving so much contempt for doing something similar? Why is one worse than another?
But I digress. I shall not speak more of the plot, as I do not wish to spoil the absolute clusterfuck that is the last few chapters. I only insist you read it yourself and discover the horr- I mean, wonders, of Kuang’s mind.
Thank you, Kuang, for writing this book. I do not doubt in my mind that this will be my favorite book of 2023 and most likely for years to come. Review for the Dragon Republic coming soon - just need to mentally prepare myself to write that one because, oh boy.
tierneyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
millaay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
laurenavery's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0