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A review by jordankristen
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Overall I like the way the book was broken up into three different parts of Rin’s life.
<Spoiler>
We get to explore a naive young Rin desperate to get out Tikany to avoid being a child bride and leave her life as essentially a drug dealer. Then we see her at the academy where she befriends Kitay, another “outcast” among the class, and watch as her relationship with her odd teacher Jiang grows, mostly out of curiosity. Once she pledges Lore we expect that we will finally understand why Jiang is still allowed to teach, what exactly does he teach, and how it can be applied to war.
We only get some of what we’d hoped, the high level idea of Lore is shared with us but there are obviously layers to it that Rin and the reader don’t understand, which Altan explains later on. When the war comes knocking at their doorstep, Rin is obviously not ready for war. She has a lot of questions that she is still working through with her master, but has been given guidelines of what not to do with little reasoning. Rin abandons this in the second part, exposing that she can call upon the Phoenix god and she sets fire to the federation general in a melee battle. It’s here we start to notice that she is going to disobey her master.
When she’s sent to operate with the Cike after finding out she’s Speerly, it’s confusing to Rin and the reader what her intentions are. She believes and respects Jiang enough to heed his warning about not wanting her to use the gods through her… At first, and to not let those out of chuluu korikh, but then decides to throw caution to the wind to avenge Altan. Then she uses the phoenix to commit a mass genocide, feels next to nothing, and the only person to talk about it is Kitay?
Hoping the second book talks more about this life altering event.
Side note - added in later -
I found it interesting that in the strategy class Rin proposed the flooding solution for winning a battle, but Qara puts a similar plan into action per Altan’s order, and Rin questions her on the outcome and her guilt, almost if trying to rationalize that what she did was for the greater good and what Qara did was inherently evil.
I think this along with Rin being against drug use as a “dealer”, to a user herself help highlight her internal moral conflict and evolution throughout the story as we try to figure out what drives/motivates her.
<Spoiler>
We get to explore a naive young Rin desperate to get out Tikany to avoid being a child bride and leave her life as essentially a drug dealer. Then we see her at the academy where she befriends Kitay, another “outcast” among the class, and watch as her relationship with her odd teacher Jiang grows, mostly out of curiosity. Once she pledges Lore we expect that we will finally understand why Jiang is still allowed to teach, what exactly does he teach, and how it can be applied to war.
We only get some of what we’d hoped, the high level idea of Lore is shared with us but there are obviously layers to it that Rin and the reader don’t understand, which Altan explains later on. When the war comes knocking at their doorstep, Rin is obviously not ready for war. She has a lot of questions that she is still working through with her master, but has been given guidelines of what not to do with little reasoning. Rin abandons this in the second part, exposing that she can call upon the Phoenix god and she sets fire to the federation general in a melee battle. It’s here we start to notice that she is going to disobey her master.
When she’s sent to operate with the Cike after finding out she’s Speerly, it’s confusing to Rin and the reader what her intentions are. She believes and respects Jiang enough to heed his warning about not wanting her to use the gods through her… At first, and to not let those out of chuluu korikh, but then decides to throw caution to the wind to avenge Altan. Then she uses the phoenix to commit a mass genocide, feels next to nothing, and the only person to talk about it is Kitay?
Hoping the second book talks more about this life altering event.
Side note - added in later -
I found it interesting that in the strategy class Rin proposed the flooding solution for winning a battle, but Qara puts a similar plan into action per Altan’s order, and Rin questions her on the outcome and her guilt, almost if trying to rationalize that what she did was for the greater good and what Qara did was inherently evil.
I think this along with Rin being against drug use as a “dealer”, to a user herself help highlight her internal moral conflict and evolution throughout the story as we try to figure out what drives/motivates her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Torture, War