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savaging 's review for:
Sea of Poppies
by Amitav Ghosh
This is the first book of a trilogy about the Opium Wars. That's when China attempted to end opium imports and Britain (guided by big corporations) straight-up went to war with them to violently force opium onto their people. Britain called it a war for 'free trade.'
It's a story about all the bad bedfellows: corporations, empire, white supremacy, slavery, free trade, addiction, and war. And all of that could feel very preachy and masculine in someone else's hands. But Ghosh tells a rollicking, swashbuckling, playful and heartfelt story -- that also passes the Bechdel test right away.
I love this kind of novel, where you get to nestle in with a huge cast of characters living through wild, meticulously-researched historical events which are also deeply relevant to today's problems. I'm excited to read the rest of the trilogy.
p.s. Imperialists are Skeksis.
It's a story about all the bad bedfellows: corporations, empire, white supremacy, slavery, free trade, addiction, and war. And all of that could feel very preachy and masculine in someone else's hands. But Ghosh tells a rollicking, swashbuckling, playful and heartfelt story -- that also passes the Bechdel test right away.
I love this kind of novel, where you get to nestle in with a huge cast of characters living through wild, meticulously-researched historical events which are also deeply relevant to today's problems. I'm excited to read the rest of the trilogy.
p.s. Imperialists are Skeksis.