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kiwiilicious 's review for:
The Poppy War
by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a challenging read. I overall appreciated the story in the end, but you need to be in the right mood and understand that it will be a pretty unpleasant experience reading through most of the book. I would not recommend it to many people. Me and everyone else in my book club seriously considered DNF-ing this book several times, and I’ve read many other reviews from people who just couldn’t finish it. There are many reasons for that - I will try not to give too much away and will block out any direct spoilers, but some story details will be included in the rest of this review.
Almost all the characters felt unlikable and generally hard to root for, and they did not feel well fleshed-out enough despite the length of the book. Whether or not this is intentional, it makes it very hard to go through a 500+ page book full of characters you don’t like. (spoilers ahead here!) In particular Rin seems intended to be unlikable, confusing, a little repulsive in her decisions, and ultimately monstrous. The ending makes her unlikability throughout the rest of the book make sense, but the problem is that you do need to get through 500 pages of feeling confused and frustrated with the character before you finally realize in the very end that this was actually the point. You’re essentially reading a villain’s origin story. It all makes sense once you get to the end, but I’m not surprised a lot of people DNF because it’s just very un-fun to follow Rin along the way.
Ultimately this is a story about war - and this is important to know going in. Sometimes this book is described as just another YA fantasy novel just with an East Asian setting and some fun mythology-themed magic. That is absolutely 100% not what this book is. As the back cover of the book mentions, this book pulls from extremely brutal events from real East Asian history. This book is not for the light of heart, and I would not recommend reading it if you’re just looking for a fun fantasy series. This is not fun. But it successfully tells a painful and thought-provoking story about the cycle of violence, human’s willingness to commit horrific atrocities in the face of war, and the making of a monster.
One last thing I’ll note is that one of the primary reasons I docked stars is that there are a few historical references that are blended together in a way that feels imprecise or inaccurate, or perhaps just distracting, if you actually know the history in question. And as someone who is Asian myself (though not from the particular countries whose histories are invoked in this book - China, Japan, Taiwan), I personally found some of the historical references to be insensitively deployed in the story. I’ve seen some debate on this though and there are different opinions about it, so this is just mine.
Overall I am glad I read it, but I did not like reading it and there were some notable flaws. But those flaws sparked a lot of thought and discussion for me and my book club, so that’s worth something!
One last thing I’ll note is that one of the primary reasons I docked stars is that there are a few historical references that are blended together in a way that feels imprecise or inaccurate, or perhaps just distracting, if you actually know the history in question. And as someone who is Asian myself (though not from the particular countries whose histories are invoked in this book - China, Japan, Taiwan), I personally found some of the historical references to be insensitively deployed in the story. I’ve seen some debate on this though and there are different opinions about it, so this is just mine.
Overall I am glad I read it, but I did not like reading it and there were some notable flaws. But those flaws sparked a lot of thought and discussion for me and my book club, so that’s worth something!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War
Moderate: Drug use, Trafficking
Minor: Infertility
There are extremely graphic depictions of rape, sexual violence, and body horror in this book, particularly in the following part: Chapter 21 . If you'd like to avoid the most graphic parts, I would recommend reading up until this point: they arrive at the city in Chapter 21. After a sentence or two of them arriving, you get the point and can skip to the next chapter .