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Fang Runin (Rin), a unexpected student who enrolled Military Academy—located in Sinegard, the capital of Nikan—that she didn't belong because in history there's no students who from outskirts like Rin. She bullied. But Rin is not a girl who would be shut up upon it, she fight back in order to belong.
Several years ahead war broken between Nikan and Federation, it is involved the students, included Rin. Along the war secret revealed about who Rin really are, and they afraid, scare, of her. Not why. But who are they, you should ask.
The Poppy War is written by R. F. Kuang who is asian and studies Chinese history—yup, there's history in it—Opium War. I called The Poppy War as historical fantasy. The Poppy War draws how war are fucked up, terrible, inhumane, and insanity. More you get into the story, more it get worse and worse. How Rin desperated about the war, she saw something that she didn't believe that war is like hell, truly hell. Very chaotic and destructive. A lot of innocent people involved.
I don't know why I enjoyed this book but I like it, totally captivating. The world building. The characters development. The fantasy. And the shamanism. All are fantastic. Even if it took me long time to finish because The Poppy War—thick book with long chapter—really intimidated me.
What a dark fantasy! This is such a masterpiece, someone managed to combine history and fantasy to be in one, in The Poppy War. Kuang really great author for this.
The Poppy War is not appropriated for young readers because has dark, explicit, and gruesome scenes of warfare and the aftermath. I wouldn't recommend for readers who under fifteen.
Last but not least, kalo kalian udah punya KTP dan masih ragu buat baca The Poppy War. Well, I will sit for you and talk to you why you have to read The Poppy War. Let's convince you to put this dark fantasy to your next TBR.
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Torture, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Colonisation
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Medical trauma
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Karena buku ini buku pertama, kita dapat pengenalan dunia The Poppy War pelan-pelan, ga langsung seabrek jadi meskipun bikin penasaran maksudnya percakapan si A ini apa, pembaca ga bakal kebingungan dengan banyaknya informasi karena ntar juga dijelasin di bab-bab selanjutnya.
Seperti buku-buku R.F. Kuang yang lain, meskipun buku ini buku terjemahan, bahasanya mudah dipahami dan engaging banget. Sebagai pembaca yang suka masukin 3-4 buku dalam current read, aku ga bisa berpaling dari buku ini buat nyari buku selingan. Deskripsi yang digunakan untuk segala hal di buku ini juga pas porsinya sesuai dibutuhkan, jadi pembaca ga sampai bosan.
Seperti yang disebutkan di blurb, buku ini terinspirasi dari chinese history yang bikin aku mengira-ngira wilayah ini di dunia nyata sebenarnya apa ya atau negara ini kayaknya negara anu deh di dunia nyata. Selain itu jenis bahasa yang digunakan para karakternya (meskipun R.F. Kuang ga menciptakan bahasa baru) juga aku pikir juga berasal dari bahasa dunia nyata, kayak logat Sinegard mungkin kayak American English, sedangkan logat orang-orang Tikany kayak British English.
Di buku ini kita bisa melihat perkembangan karakter Rin sebagai tokoh utama dan gimana pembaca bisa terus mengikuti kisahnya meskipun Rin sudah memiliki pendapat yang jauh berbeda dari awal dia muncul. Aku suka semua karakter yang dimunculkan di buku ini terlepas mereka baik atau jahat, menurutku mereka sudah melakukan tugas mereka sebagai karakter tertentu dengan menggunakan potensi mereka. Yang kejam yaudah kejam banget, yang masih bingung dibikin makin bingung, dan yang sudah merasa punya pandangan tertentu tentang peperangan bakal terus mengeksplorasi karakternya seputar peperangan.
Beberapa hal sudah bisa ditebak, tapi emang buku ini bukan buku mystery atau detektif juga jadi pembaca yang bisa menebak pun kayaknya juga bukan sesuatu yang wow.
Banyak banget trigger warning, hampir semua daftar di trigger warning di storygraph aku pakai semua, meskipun buku ini kayaknya YA.
Aku jadi ingin baca buku yang menceritakan POV Nezha karena aku penasaran apa yang dia lakukan selama dia tidak berada di sekitar Rin, dan kenapa dia tau-tau muncul lagi terus menghilang lagi.
Meskipun buku ini penuh kekejaman perang dan trigger warning, aku sempet ngerasa ngeri dan ngilu, tapi ga sampe membekas terlalu lama. Buku Uprooted yang aku baca tahun lalu cukup bikin mual dan sakit kepala, entah kenapa, padahal buku ini lebih brutal, which is something I admire from R.F. Kuang. Bisa bikin buku yang menunjukkan gimana parahnya peperangan,tapi ga sampe bikin trauma, karena sebenarnya aku jenis pembaca yang selalu menghindari topik peperangan dalam sebuah buku.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
4th book of January 2023 and 4th of the year:
“War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.” - R.F. Kuang.
A military epic fantasy novel inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking, this book was engaging, hard to put down, and very dark and harrowing, showing how absolutely horrid war is and the trauma, horror, and destruction that comes out of it. It had absolutely amazing writing and world-building, relevant commentary, intricate, brutal, and well-written fight and battle scenes, a beautiful cover, a great audiobook, and fleshed-out/well-developed and complex characters. I love reading about complex characters who make mistakes, aren’t perfect, and/or are forced to make big and hard decisions. I especially love consuming content with angry characters in it. Characters who see or experience injustice and are fueled by their rage. Many times, I find it very cathartic because everybody reacts to trauma differently, with there being no such thing as the ‘perfect’ victim that the media/world expects and wants when horrible things happen. And anger is an essential part of healing and can be very useful when channeled toward good, and, while there are more now, I don’t see as many books/movies/shows that have a main character who expresses this understandable anger, and Rin does, so I really appreciated that. I highly recommend this. Just please be aware of all of the TWs(which I started listing alphabetically to make it easier for people) because there are many heavy things in this, and it was very hard to read at times due to them. TWs for abandonment, ableism, abuse(child, domestic, physical, and sexual), addiction, alcoholism, animal cruelty/death, blood, body horror, body shaming, bullying, child death, classism, colonization, confinement, cursing, death, drugs/drug use, excrement, fatphobia, fire/fire injury, forced institutionalization, gaslighting, genocide, gore, grief, gun violence, hate crime, infertility, injuries/injury detail, kidnapping, medical content/trauma, menstruation, mental illness, mention of forced marriage and prostitution, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, pedophilia, police brutality, pregnancy, PTSD, racism, rape(mentioned a few times throughout and described in detail by a survivor toward the end of chapter 21(80% through the book and at around 14:57:35 to around 15:03:58 in the audiobook)), religious bigotry, self-harm, sexism, sexual assault/violence, slavery, slurs, stalking, suicidal thoughts, suicide, torture, trafficking, violence, vomit, war, and xenophobia.🎧⚔️🏹
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
There were a number of parts that got me. I was often on the edge of immersion and the inconsistency of the dialogue pulled me back out.
I really really really wish I liked this book more. genuinely and whole heartedly I do. But it didn’t hit.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol
Even though the first half of the book takes place in an elite military school, Run suffers ostracization for everything that she is, but she doesn't let that deter her from achieving her goals. She does that by breaking rules, but hey - whatever makes you great, right? Rin's character development was amazing. You see her struggle through the consequences of being different both in school and outside of it. You see her try to fit herself into molds she thinks she has to fill to achieve what she wants. You see her realize who she is and what she wants to be. Rin's growth was amazing and I loved reading it.
R. F. Kuang did not pull punches when it came to pain, though. Her characters suffer, and in turn so does the reader. There are very gruesome scenes of death and torture, and it made it difficult to read at times. It is a dark war fantasy, so it isn't like I wasn't expecting some depictions of death, but it does hit you hard when you actually get to that point in the book. It doesn't last for very long, maybe 2 chapters, 3 at the most, but it's enough to turn some people off. Especially with how detailed the scenes are.
This was an amazing start to both a series and a war. I'm so excited to read the other two installments, although I don't think my heart can take much more pain. This book was a rough, painful read, but I couldn't find the strength to put it down, the hold it had over me was that strong.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Torture, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization