A review by bibliophilecats
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

What I was looking for: I liked Yellowface and wanted to read more books by R.F. Kuang. 

What I liked: I liked that the phoenix made it extremely clear that everything was her decision and is her decision. There is no destiny or godly intervention.
 This book very clearly shows the horrors of war. 

What I did not like: Despite the book’s length, some of the interactions and relationships felt superficial and could have been developed more. 
 The historical inspirations was already extremely horrible and in several instances, I felt that R.F. Kuang increased the horrors – maybe she felt that it was necessary to make Rin’s final decision more belieable but I would have been fine with the atrocities from history without the additions, it is already beyond my understanding what people do to other people. 

Conclusion:  R. F. Kuang’s writing flows easily despite the heavy topics. She is an author whose books I want to continue despite the main character being far from likeable. 

A content warning on the book or inside would be very welcome – at least the fact that some of it is based on the Nanjing massacre should have been mentioned on/in the book (not everybody reads background on a book before starting to read it). 


 


Various thoughts (SPOILERS) 

- Rin is naive for a 19-year-old, rash and easily impressed – however, she also grew up basically as a house maid for her foster parents, then went to the academy where she only had four days off per year and a strict curriculum every day, then got sent to the war. She never had time to see and learn what living a life and making one’s own decisions is like. 

- The way the pupils are learn for the test, how the entrance exam is set up and the way they are taught at the academy (learning by heart but no critical engagement with texts, following orders to the T, no doubts and no questioning) helps to understand Rin’s character and decisions – she is hardly ever taught to think for herself and even if she is asked to think, make up her own mind, it is still within very strict limits and her thoughts are often still classified as “correct” or “wrong”. 

- Rin hero-worships Altan and thus accepts abuse (physical and verbal) from him,;this is probably also due to her life so far where „a firm hand“ and physical and mental abuse were abundant. SPOiLER However I still found it a bit difficult to understand why she choses Altan instead of her master when they are under the mountain. 

- SPOILER:
the scene of the massacre (first chapter of part III) was very graphic and bordered on violence porn (especially the part about the treatment of the women). It could have been shorter and still have the same effect.


- On the other hand, I understand how this was necessary to make her final decision in this book more believable 

- SPOILER:
I did not get why she calls the Cike her friends as we hardly see any interactions that friends would do/lead to friendship; on the other hands, she never had friends except for one person and had always been mostly alone, and they are under severe strain all the time. This could explain why she thinks they are friends.


- SPOILER:
What I could believe was the development of her relationship with Nezhra: deadly rivals in their first year, then hardly any contact for two years, then saving each other’s lives in the fighting, then the only other person she knew from her past when they were stationed at the harbour town – if you are in dire straits and meet just one person you know among strangers and horrible strain, you are inclined to latch onto each other. And both are still very young, not even graduated their academy (despite being 19 years old).


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