Scan barcode
A review by katrod
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5… I wanted to love this book so much… all of the ideas were there, but I just really didn’t like some of the ways Kuang told this story.
First, it read like all 3 books of a trilogy. It was just wayyyyy too much for one book, without getting some of the human relationship details I love. It was literally just war. I felt like our main character had 3 almost fleshed out relationships, but besides that, she kind of lived in a vacuum.
Second, the amount of real history that Kuang used as inspiration for the book was extremely graphic and detailed and felt wrong in the context of a fantasy book (that starts off with her innocently taking a test to get into school at the age of 16… it goes from 0-100 real quick). I didn’t know about the Massacre of Nanking and other details from the second Sino-Japanese war in the early 20th century. Kuang drew heavily from these events in her writing of The Poppy War. I can see why she wanted to write about it and bring awareness to such a heinous part of human history. I just really felt uncomfortable reading about it through the lens of a fantasy novel. And there was nothing about the book or descriptions that prepared me for that or for how absolutely horrifying and disturbing some of the things she describes are. Seriously… just google trigger warnings and this book. It’s like every trigger you could ever think of.
Third, I had no one to root for. I’m all for writing about flawed characters, but I felt like I truly had no one I could get behind. And Rin, our main character, kind of flip flopped a lot. Sometimes she behaved in a way that made her seem really sensitive and scared, and other times she was this unflinching, unyielding, fearless radical. It was confusing. I felt like I never really understood who she was at her core… and why she cared so much about a country that really didn’t give a rat’s ass about her.
I really reeeeally wanted to love this, but I almost put it down so many times, I really didn’t like it.
Love Kuang’s other stuff though (Yellowface and Babel). I won’t be reading the rest of this series but I still look forward to whatever she does next!
First, it read like all 3 books of a trilogy. It was just wayyyyy too much for one book, without getting some of the human relationship details I love. It was literally just war. I felt like our main character had 3 almost fleshed out relationships, but besides that, she kind of lived in a vacuum.
Second, the amount of real history that Kuang used as inspiration for the book was extremely graphic and detailed and felt wrong in the context of a fantasy book (that starts off with her innocently taking a test to get into school at the age of 16… it goes from 0-100 real quick). I didn’t know about the Massacre of Nanking and other details from the second Sino-Japanese war in the early 20th century. Kuang drew heavily from these events in her writing of The Poppy War. I can see why she wanted to write about it and bring awareness to such a heinous part of human history. I just really felt uncomfortable reading about it through the lens of a fantasy novel. And there was nothing about the book or descriptions that prepared me for that or for how absolutely horrifying and disturbing some of the things she describes are. Seriously… just google trigger warnings and this book. It’s like every trigger you could ever think of.
Third, I had no one to root for. I’m all for writing about flawed characters, but I felt like I truly had no one I could get behind. And Rin, our main character, kind of flip flopped a lot. Sometimes she behaved in a way that made her seem really sensitive and scared, and other times she was this unflinching, unyielding, fearless radical. It was confusing. I felt like I never really understood who she was at her core… and why she cared so much about a country that really didn’t give a rat’s ass about her.
I really reeeeally wanted to love this, but I almost put it down so many times, I really didn’t like it.
Love Kuang’s other stuff though (Yellowface and Babel). I won’t be reading the rest of this series but I still look forward to whatever she does next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Classism, Gore, Addiction, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Torture