REVIEW: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Release Date: May 1, 2018

My Rating: 5 stars

Summary: When Rin aced the Keju, the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies, it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard, the most elite military school in Nikan, was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

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War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.

Happy one year anniversary of the release of this amazing work of art! Since it's been a full year since The Poppy War and since I've now read The Dragon Republic (my review for that book will be up closer to the release date!), I decided it was finally time to write my review. I've now read this book three times in less than a year, and I am still so, so stunned by it. The Poppy War is a striking read, heavily inspired by and paralleling Chinese history in a brilliant fantasy.

There are just so many aspects of this book that are just so well-done. We delve into a rich fantasy world that deals with colorism, morality during wartime, colonialism, spirituality, and so much more. And now that I've read The Dragon Republic, I can tell you that there's so much foreshadowing and connecting threads. R.F. Kuang's mind!!

Rin is from the South of Nikan, and when she attends Sinegard Academy, many people look down on her for this. She has much browner skin than the people in the north (who have "porcelain skin"), and she speaks a more drawling dialect to their fast, short one. However, this doesn't deter her, and she works even harder to beat her so-called "betters."

A large part of this book deals with morality during wartime. Nikan has dealt with many occupations, namely by Hesperians and the Mugenese. For twenty years, Nikan has held a loose peace with Mugen, but the tension is at an all-time high. Because of these occupations, the Nikara are not fond of foreigners, to say the least. Because Mugen is the current enemy, the narrative presents them as the villains, to the point where they're not seen as humans. This is for good reason, as we are presented with the horrible war crimes the Mugenese soldiers carry out. (side note: major tw's for this book.) However, is it right to dehumanize them even though they've dehumanized Nikan?

This is based on Japanese occupations throughout Asia, and I must say that it's very thought out. Kuang is a scholar of modern Chinese history, and you can definitely tell how much her research has influenced this story. Although this is a high fantasy, the themes relate to the world today. Wartime is horrendous and leads to horrible crimes, but how much can it be blamed on the circumstances? How far is too far?

“They were monsters!" Rin shrieked. "They were not human!""Have you ever considered," he said slowly, "that that was exactly what they thought of us?”

Along the same lines is the colonialism aspect. The Second Poppy War (i.e. the war before this current one) only truly ended because of the genocide of Speer, an island tributary of Nikan. The Speerlies were treated as lesser because of their darker skin, their strange (to the Nikara) culture, their religion. Yet this is how Mugen views the Nikara, and thus we see how circular this worldview is.

The Poppy War also explores spirituality with the Nikara's gods and shamans in a way that's both difficult to wrap your head around yet also easy to comprehend. Shamanism is a entrancing aspect of the book that adds to the already stunning worldbuilding. I'm excited to go deeper into this in the future books!

Rin is a morally gray character, and it's fascinating to follow her negative character development. As she grows closer to Altan, she has a front-row seat to his rapidly declining rationale as he gives into his intense anger. As Rin grows into her powers, she increasingly makes more and more morally gray decisions until the question becomes, again, how far is too far?

I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible.Was she now a goddess or a monster?Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.

This review turned out to be more of an analysis of the themes, but it's difficult to capture how magnificent this book is into words. It's astounding, really, that this is Kuang's debut; I'm both intrigued and scared to see where she will go next (actually I have, and it's very, very painful). I would like to remind you again that this book deals with very serious, intense topics; please view the list of trigger warnings again before reading. If you haven't read The Poppy War yet, I definitely recommend it, so you'll be ready for the next book in August.

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About the Author: R.F. Kuang immigrated to the United States from Guangzhou, China, in 2000. She currently resides in the United Kingdom, where she is pursuing a graduate degree in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge on a Marshall Scholarship. Her two great loves are corgis and port.

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