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A review by sclark99
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
3.75
Diclaimer -- for reasons I outline below I'm rating based on prose only.
Okay, so for me this was a little underwhelming. Or, weirdly unsatisfying. It feels too close to history to suspend my disbelief, maybe? Kuang uses historical moments as pivot points but they just don't quite land, for me. The only part of the prose itself that I found engaging were the horrific descriptions of war crimes. And sure, that should be a major point in this book, but compared to the blandness of most of the writing it came across almost exploitative. The shamanistic powers are sort of interesting but the directness of interacting with the gods cheapened the psychedelic spirituality that the first half of the book was leaning into. Also making opium part of what gives (most) shamans their powers complicates the real-world analogs. The conflict itself it clearly the second sino-japanese war, but it seems like in this world, the "Japanese" are also taking the role of the English in the Opium wars? I don't want to get too into it because it's not a subject I'm very familiar with, but it's disconcerting to be in a world with extremely direct inspiration but that doesn't line up in some ways.
I'm going to do some more research about this -- one thing that I can say is that it really got me keyed up and interested in this part of WWII. I feel like Americans (at least in my generation) didn't get the education that would make this book hit more powerfully.
As far as characterization... I feel like there were very few characters that were compelling. Jiang and Nezha are the standouts for me. Altan is reasonably effective for his role. Rin is... fine. There are some great character moments (the burning/pain -> success), but for most of the book she just felt really generic. I think this book leaned into the school too much, which made the contrast between the two halves of the book feel very disjointed.
Overall, nothing is written badly, it just doesn't quite stick the landing for me. Especially after reading Babel not long ago. The first half feels almost like the exact same story. If I hadn't read Babel first maybe I'd be more into it? Babel does what this book does, but better. Which is to be expected from an author with an additional 4 years experience.
Not sure if I'll continue with the series. I'm going to let it marinate in my head for a while.
Okay, so for me this was a little underwhelming. Or, weirdly unsatisfying. It feels too close to history to suspend my disbelief, maybe? Kuang uses historical moments as pivot points but they just don't quite land, for me. The only part of the prose itself that I found engaging were the horrific descriptions of war crimes. And sure, that should be a major point in this book, but compared to the blandness of most of the writing it came across almost exploitative. The shamanistic powers are sort of interesting but the directness of interacting with the gods cheapened the psychedelic spirituality that the first half of the book was leaning into. Also making opium part of what gives (most) shamans their powers complicates the real-world analogs. The conflict itself it clearly the second sino-japanese war, but it seems like in this world, the "Japanese" are also taking the role of the English in the Opium wars? I don't want to get too into it because it's not a subject I'm very familiar with, but it's disconcerting to be in a world with extremely direct inspiration but that doesn't line up in some ways.
I'm going to do some more research about this -- one thing that I can say is that it really got me keyed up and interested in this part of WWII. I feel like Americans (at least in my generation) didn't get the education that would make this book hit more powerfully.
As far as characterization... I feel like there were very few characters that were compelling. Jiang and Nezha are the standouts for me. Altan is reasonably effective for his role. Rin is... fine. There are some great character moments (the burning/pain -> success), but for most of the book she just felt really generic. I think this book leaned into the school too much, which made the contrast between the two halves of the book feel very disjointed.
Overall, nothing is written badly, it just doesn't quite stick the landing for me. Especially after reading Babel not long ago. The first half feels almost like the exact same story. If I hadn't read Babel first maybe I'd be more into it? Babel does what this book does, but better. Which is to be expected from an author with an additional 4 years experience.
Not sure if I'll continue with the series. I'm going to let it marinate in my head for a while.