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A review by thewordsdevourer
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
my first military fantasy, and hands down the most violent, brutal, blood-soaked book ive ever read, as it should be. i like stories that make me feel things, and the poppy war def succeeded in that regard (heck, i even dreamed abt it), thought it also comes w/ countless tws.
the writing, like the story, was done w/ military precision: no needless prose but impactful all the same, w/ kuang wholly embracing the show-not-tell mantra. perhaps benefiting from its parallels w/ chinese history, the worldbuilding is rich and steeped in culture, beliefs, and lore, and i particularly liked the almost dizzying array of myths, gods and legends, as well as its critique of the west.
the book's jam packed w/ events, and it was a lil dreadful to see rin go from a shopgirl to a full-fledged soldier in a brutal war, entangled w/ gods, tho many of the plot points were predictable (jiang, empress, tearza, for example). the vast array of characters were a delight, whether from sinegard or the cike, and it was gripping to delve deep into many of them (esp altan, very complex, tragic, vengeful altan..). i also liked how there's a price to the magic in nikara, as it rly raised the stakes, tho i wish there were more detailed explanation for why rin shouldnt wield it.
and ofc, the blood-soaked brutality and savagery of war in this book shouldnt go unnoted. it was of a horrible, horrific scale, made even more sickening by the fact that they actually happened, they were fact-based. and i certainly couldnt help reflect on the legacy of their real life counterpart, and how it all still plays out in chinese geopolitics and conflicts today. also still cant get over the fact that kuang's basically the same age and she wrote this in college like wtf am i doing w/ my life...the poppy war wasnt a perfect book but it was one that made me feel a lot of things, and that rly rly counts for sth.
the writing, like the story, was done w/ military precision: no needless prose but impactful all the same, w/ kuang wholly embracing the show-not-tell mantra. perhaps benefiting from its parallels w/ chinese history, the worldbuilding is rich and steeped in culture, beliefs, and lore, and i particularly liked the almost dizzying array of myths, gods and legends, as well as its critique of the west.
the book's jam packed w/ events, and it was a lil dreadful to see rin go from a shopgirl to a full-fledged soldier in a brutal war, entangled w/ gods, tho many of the plot points were predictable (jiang, empress, tearza, for example). the vast array of characters were a delight, whether from sinegard or the cike, and it was gripping to delve deep into many of them (esp altan, very complex, tragic, vengeful altan..). i also liked how there's a price to the magic in nikara, as it rly raised the stakes, tho i wish there were more detailed explanation for why rin shouldnt wield it.
and ofc, the blood-soaked brutality and savagery of war in this book shouldnt go unnoted. it was of a horrible, horrific scale, made even more sickening by the fact that they actually happened, they were fact-based. and i certainly couldnt help reflect on the legacy of their real life counterpart, and how it all still plays out in chinese geopolitics and conflicts today. also still cant get over the fact that kuang's basically the same age and she wrote this in college like wtf am i doing w/ my life...the poppy war wasnt a perfect book but it was one that made me feel a lot of things, and that rly rly counts for sth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Murder, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Torture
Moderate: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Mental illness, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Rape
Minor: Child death