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A review by melele
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
3.0
I think I liked The Poppy War, but there is a lot to unpack. I did not love it, I definitely won't be reading it again any time soon and I am not sure I will continue the series either.
Starting with the reasons why I liked it, this book is undeniably different.
It is clear that the goals the author set for herself were original and the way the world-building, writing, mood and characters combine together under her vision does not feel like anything else I have read. The result is a book that is rough, unapologetic, a far cry from what I thought I was getting myself into when I saw The Poppy War labelled as a historical military fantasy.
However, when thinking of each of the book's components per se, they all feel somewhat underdeveloped.
There is no particular effort put in the world-building: Nikan is clearly China and the Federation is clearly Japan, Hesperia is the West, the only fictional entity is Speer (culturally speaking, geographically it corresponds to Taiwan). I also find that the Academy idea is a bit trite, although effectively executed.
The magic system is cool, but manages to feel at the same time relatively simple and not well explored.
The plot and pacing are a bit all over the place. I got hooked during the chapters that depict Rin at the Academy, but as soon as she graduated the Academy I found the plot started to lack direction and drag or rush forward in a way that felt erratic.
Some of the plot points connected to shamanism, such as the section about the exagrams, how Rin and Altan escape their captors and Rin's 'revenge' were not set up well. I did not understand how or why things happened they way they did, the pure mechanics of it.
Also Rin and Altan being captured came completely out of the blue. There was no hint and I thought it made for a weak twist, which in turn weakened the attempt to present them as chess pieces in someone else's game.
Next stop, the writing. Considering this is a historical military fantasy, I was expecting the writing and dialogue to be formal and refined, instead it is strightforward and casual. There is no show of deference between characters, even though the story takes place in a military environment and not later than the 1930s and 40s if I had to assign a timeline.
The characters are also not fleshed out in a way that felt satisfying.
Rin was reasonably well-rounded but the rest of the characters were quite flat in my opinion, especially the rest of the Cike.
Nehza's U turn was quite disappointing. Apart from bullying Rin, he was depicted as responsible for intentionally and irreparably maiming several other academy students without suffering any consequences and in 5 seconds flat he becomes a saint. The confrontation with Rin does not even begin to account for his viciousness.
Altan's character did feel like a collection of facts and data, I never made sense of him, never connected with him at all, even though I would say he is the second most important character in the book.
Last but not least, I need to approach the main issue I had with the book.
I was expecting The Poppy War to be ruthless and include triggering content and I was fine with every single instance of violence until I got to Chapter 21.
I did not know that this chapter is inspired by a specific historical event, but for some reason while reading the atrocities described there, I just KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that they were taken word for word from historical accounts, that those things listed there had definitely happened somewhere at some point. It's as if a portion of a non-fiction book was copied and pasted in a fiction book.
On the one hand the effect was indeniably powerful, but, as mentioned, it did not blend successfully into the narrative and, more importantly, I am struggling to identify which purpose it served. Althought the book features revenge, the revenge is NOT fueled, as one would expect, by Chapter 21. What happended, although described in plenty of details over paragraphs, felt cast aside. The Speer genocide which is mentioned throughout the book but never feels as real seems to be more of a factor.
I am not after the author for deciding to use historical facts however grim in her story and I did not think at all that those descriptions were there for shock value, but it did NOT feel as if they contributed cohesively to convey a message, raise any worthwhile or well-explored moral dilemma or cause any character development. It's the 21st century and we still need to explicitly point out that de-humanising ones enemies is wrong and dangerous? Can we at least dig a bit deeper rather than just point the finger?
I am also not sure whether it is fair to take something the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2, have the Federation (which is clearly Japan) do the same to Nikan (which is clearly China), describe it in detail, and have it counterbalanced by a horrific but completely fictional and only broadly described revenge on the part of the Nikan protagonist. I understand that the Japanese might not have been held accountable as much as the Germans were held accountable, but is a fantasy novel the place to do so?
Plenty of food for thought!
Starting with the reasons why I liked it, this book is undeniably different.
It is clear that the goals the author set for herself were original and the way the world-building, writing, mood and characters combine together under her vision does not feel like anything else I have read. The result is a book that is rough, unapologetic, a far cry from what I thought I was getting myself into when I saw The Poppy War labelled as a historical military fantasy.
However, when thinking of each of the book's components per se, they all feel somewhat underdeveloped.
There is no particular effort put in the world-building: Nikan is clearly China and the Federation is clearly Japan, Hesperia is the West, the only fictional entity is Speer (culturally speaking, geographically it corresponds to Taiwan). I also find that the Academy idea is a bit trite, although effectively executed.
The magic system is cool, but manages to feel at the same time relatively simple and not well explored.
The plot and pacing are a bit all over the place. I got hooked during the chapters that depict Rin at the Academy, but as soon as she graduated the Academy I found the plot started to lack direction and drag or rush forward in a way that felt erratic.
Some of the plot points connected to shamanism, such as the section about the exagrams, how Rin and Altan escape their captors and Rin's 'revenge' were not set up well. I did not understand how or why things happened they way they did, the pure mechanics of it.
Also Rin and Altan being captured came completely out of the blue. There was no hint and I thought it made for a weak twist, which in turn weakened the attempt to present them as chess pieces in someone else's game.
Next stop, the writing. Considering this is a historical military fantasy, I was expecting the writing and dialogue to be formal and refined, instead it is strightforward and casual. There is no show of deference between characters, even though the story takes place in a military environment and not later than the 1930s and 40s if I had to assign a timeline.
The characters are also not fleshed out in a way that felt satisfying.
Rin was reasonably well-rounded but the rest of the characters were quite flat in my opinion, especially the rest of the Cike.
Nehza's U turn was quite disappointing. Apart from bullying Rin, he was depicted as responsible for intentionally and irreparably maiming several other academy students without suffering any consequences and in 5 seconds flat he becomes a saint. The confrontation with Rin does not even begin to account for his viciousness.
Altan's character did feel like a collection of facts and data, I never made sense of him, never connected with him at all, even though I would say he is the second most important character in the book.
Last but not least, I need to approach the main issue I had with the book.
I was expecting The Poppy War to be ruthless and include triggering content and I was fine with every single instance of violence until I got to Chapter 21.
I did not know that this chapter is inspired by a specific historical event, but for some reason while reading the atrocities described there, I just KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that they were taken word for word from historical accounts, that those things listed there had definitely happened somewhere at some point. It's as if a portion of a non-fiction book was copied and pasted in a fiction book.
On the one hand the effect was indeniably powerful, but, as mentioned, it did not blend successfully into the narrative and, more importantly, I am struggling to identify which purpose it served. Althought the book features revenge, the revenge is NOT fueled, as one would expect, by Chapter 21. What happended, although described in plenty of details over paragraphs, felt cast aside. The Speer genocide which is mentioned throughout the book but never feels as real seems to be more of a factor.
I am not after the author for deciding to use historical facts however grim in her story and I did not think at all that those descriptions were there for shock value, but it did NOT feel as if they contributed cohesively to convey a message, raise any worthwhile or well-explored moral dilemma or cause any character development. It's the 21st century and we still need to explicitly point out that de-humanising ones enemies is wrong and dangerous? Can we at least dig a bit deeper rather than just point the finger?
I am also not sure whether it is fair to take something the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2, have the Federation (which is clearly Japan) do the same to Nikan (which is clearly China), describe it in detail, and have it counterbalanced by a horrific but completely fictional and only broadly described revenge on the part of the Nikan protagonist. I understand that the Japanese might not have been held accountable as much as the Germans were held accountable, but is a fantasy novel the place to do so?
Plenty of food for thought!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, and Self harm
I think I liked The Poppy War, but there is a lot to unpack. I did not love it, I definitely won't be reading it again any time soon and I am not sure I will continue the series either.
Starting with the reasons why I liked it, this book is undeniably different.
It is clear that the goals the author set for herself were original and the way the world-building, writing, mood and characters combine together under her vision does not feel like anything else I have read. The result is a book that is rough, unapologetic, a far cry from what I thought I was getting myself into when I saw The Poppy War labelled as a historical military fantasy.
However, when thinking of each of the book's components per se, they all feel somewhat underdeveloped.
There is no particular effort put in the world-building: Nikan is clearly China and the Federation is clearly Japan, Hesperia is the West, the only fictional entity is Speer (culturally speaking, geographically it corresponds to Taiwan). I also find that the Academy idea is a bit trite, although effectively executed.
The magic system is cool, but manages to feel at the same time relatively simple and not well explored.
The plot and pacing are a bit all over the place. I got hooked during the chapters that depict Rin at the Academy, but as soon as she graduated the Academy I found the plot started to lack direction and drag or rush forward in a way that felt erratic.
Some of the plot points connected to shamanism, such as the section about the exagrams, how Rin and Altan escape their captors and Rin's 'revenge' were not set up well. I did not understand how or why things happened they way they did, the pure mechanics of it.
Also Rin and Altan being captured came completely out of the blue. There was no hint and I thought it made for a weak twist, which in turn weakened the attempt to present them as chess pieces in someone else's game.
Next stop, the writing. Considering this is a historical military fantasy, I was expecting the writing and dialogue to be formal and refined, instead it is strightforward and casual. There is no show of deference between characters, even though the story takes place in a military environment and not earlier than the 1930s and 40s if I had to assign a timeline.
The characters are also not fleshed out in a way that felt satisfying.
Rin was reasonably well-rounded but the rest of the characters were quite flat in my opinion, especially the rest of the Cike.
Nehza's U turn was quite disappointing. Apart from bullying Rin, he was depicted as responsible for intentionally and irreparably maiming several other academy students without suffering any consequences and in 5 seconds flat he becomes a saint. The confrontation with Rin does not even begin to account for his viciousness.
Altan's character did feel like a collection of facts and data, I never made sense of him, never connected with him at all, even though I would say he is the second most important character in the book.
Last but not least, I need to approach the main issue I had with the book.
I was expecting The Poppy War to be ruthless and include triggering content and I was fine with every single instance of violence until I got to Chapter 21.
I did not know that this chapter is inspired by a specific historical event, but for some reason while reading the atrocities described there, I just KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that they were taken word for word from historical accounts, that those things listed there had definitely happened somewhere at some point. It's as if a portion of a non-fiction book was copied and pasted in a fiction book.
On the one hand the effect was indeniably powerful, but, as mentioned, it did not blend successfully into the narrative and, more importantly, I am struggling to identify which purpose it served. Althought the book features revenge, the revenge is NOT fueled, as one would expect, by Chapter 21. What happended, although described in plenty of details over paragraphs, felt cast aside. The Speer genocide which is mentioned throughout the book but never feels as real seems to be more of a factor.
I am not after the author for deciding to use historical facts however grim in her story and I did not think at all that those descriptions were there for shock value, but it did NOT feel as if they contributed cohesively to convey a message, raise any worthwhile or well-explored moral dilemma or cause any character development. It's the 21st century and we still need to explicitly point out that de-humanising ones enemies is wrong and dangerous? Can we at least dig a bit deeper rather than just point the finger?
I am also not sure whether it is fair to take something the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2, have the Federation (which is clearly Japan) do the same to Nikan (which is clearly China), describe it in detail, and have it counterbalanced by a horrific but completely fictional and only broadly described revenge on the part of the Nikan protagonist. I understand that the Japanese might not have been held accountable as much as the Germans were held accountable, but is a fantasy novel the place to do so?