Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The Poppy War

Holy. Fucking. Shit. I have not read a book that has made my heart pound like this in a very, very long time. I recommend going in blind, and then re-reading after you do some historical research. And for the love of God, READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. It’s graphic. It’s sickening. And it is incredible.

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caelinsullivan's review

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Delighted that I finally read this book. It's absorbing and worth the read and I loved immersing myself in it - R. F. Kuang pays homage to the classic tenants of fantasy while infusing it with Eastern influence and fresh real-world inspiration that diversifies and and accentuates a genre that is often stale with Medieval European re-tellings.

I'm invested in where this is going, I'm very interested in continuing to unravel the lore, and hopefully more of Rin's origins - I genuinely expect the following two books to be infinitely better, and I found this one really good to begin with. I love that it is YA, but it is bloody, brutal, unafraid to use vulgar language, and not entirely sexless - the only YA I ever read that came close to this sort of trust in its young readers to understand/cope with the realities of a dystopian landscape was The Hunger Games, and Kuang trusts her readers even more. YA should be more understanding that teenagers swear and curse and experience sexuality and violence and mature themes, while still holding space for the coming of agent narrative that makes it YA - Kuang does this so well - it was done well in Babel, too.

One thing I really adored: Rin immediately sterilizing herself. While I think its ridiculous that the narrative leaned towards implying women who are on their periods can't function/can't work, I do want to see more fiction in which young women firmly take charge of a child free life early, ruthlessly, and without hemming and hawing.

It's a wildly violent book that takes inspo directly from the Rape of Nanking and the atrocities of Unit 731, historical events that no one should be learning about f or the first time from this book -- but if they do, then Kuang gets kudos for leading readers to fill that gap in their education. On par with Red Rising, I actually do think some of the violence included here is gratuitous.

I do think the pacing of this story was choppy and difficult to adjust to. The three parts felt like three separate books; I wanted more political foundation on why the war was breaking out, and I felt jerked around by how fast Rin went through the Academy -- two years felt glossed over in a handful of paragraphs. Then immediately Rin was on the front lines.

I also felt like the relationships could have been fleshed out more - I felt little emotional impact when Nezha died, because the "resolution" of several years of intense sociopathic bullying happened so quickly I was unconvinced they were actually friends. Since Rin interacts with Atlan maybe once at the Academy, and then essentially builds up her "ideal" of him, I never bought into any sort of close relationship between the true - it felt like Kuang was relying on a) that they were from the same clan and b) she'd informed us they were close / Rin loved him - but Rin never knew Atlan, and time was not spent much on their relationship.

Right now I'm thinking I'd happily spend 7 books in this world, so I'm not sure why the first was so essentially rushed along - even for YA, its a little absurd how quickly all the adults/mentors disappeared and left a pack of like 20 brand new teenagers in charge (especially since several of the students survive despite all the veteran generals being immediately killed).

I've grown fond of Kuang's fearless reflection on violence, its effects, and its uses, though; the work is evident here, and possibly more mature in Babel, but I'd have to finish this trilogy to compare with any seriousness.

One odd thing I noticed in some critiques of this book - accusations that Kuang "stole" things in her book from Chinese war theorists or sino history, but that's a weird thing to comment on. Kuang is obviously - and even states bluntly - inspired by Eastern history, but the paragons of the fantasy genre (Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, even newer works like The Stormlight Archives_ are all expected re-imaginings of feudal Western Europe with magical twists. Kuang has ever right to use the same metric to produce representative fantasy - it makes it new, it makes it innovative, and it makes it inclusive and unique and interesting. Unless you're going to critique Tolkien by sniffing "he just stole this from World War One Era Europe" ... you're not really coming from a genuine point of view.

Additionally, several comparisons to Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind" - I read "The Name of the Wind" in January, and the first part of this book reads like a female, Eastern parallell of it - I wouldn't argue that. Right down to an eccentric, Yoda-in-Empire-mentor to a insta-rivalry with an elitist asshole. However, while I read Rothfuss' book, I was pleasantly interested but not invested; the stories were appealing, but it was also just another white male fantasy story with a Mary Sue main man who needed to be taken down a notch, and even after hundreds of pages I didn't know what its thesis was or where it was going - and I have that book 4 stars, too! Even with similarities, Kuang's book is more nuanced, fresher, comes from a more varied and complex perspective, etc. and to just compare it to "The Name of the Wind" as a derivative work is reductive...because at the end of the day, all fantasy work is derivative of something, and any work that includes a "chosen" main character, a magical school, an orphan, and a great destiny is arguably a rip off of Harry Potter. I don't agree with anyone brushing this book off as derivative; this book is a first of its kind type of Eastern influenced provocative fantasy.

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