The Poppy War

The Poppy War was my first fantasy book. Unfortunately it starts off extremely slow. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great as far as world and character building, but still really slow. The book lacked action. I waited and waited. Somewhere near the 200th page it picked up, but quickly slowed back down. I still enjoyed it but to be honest, it was kind of a let down. I buddy read it and my buddy DNF. Since I’m invested, I will be completing the series. Maybe the other two books are full of action. I’m giving it four stars for the world building, some of the fighting scenes, and the graphic depictions of what war looks like. Those parts were really satisfying 🤷🏾‍♂️

This book was really well-written, and deeply detailed, almost to the point where it was exhausting. The military fantasy was well done, I loved how the world was created, but I didn't really want to root for the main character for a lot of the book. Some of it was so graphic that I had to skip ahead. I don't think I'll read future ones in the series, but it really was well done for those who might like the genre.

The Poppy war combines a bunch of different popular sci fi/fantasy tropes in one story. There's an orphan plucked from obscurity, a school for special people, political battles, a complicated war in the past and a difficult one in the present. I like how fast paced the story was - setting the stage then advancing forward to keep the story going. I'll definitely pick up the 2nd book when it's released later this year.

I really tried with this one, but it lacked anything for me to hook onto as a reader. I found the protagonist deeply unlikable and while I understand that's the Point™ (I support women's wrongs, etc. etc. etc.), it wasn't in a compelling or interesting way for me. I found no joy or catharsis in watching Rin get the shit kicked out of her, and there were no other characters for her to build a rapport because the premise demands she be an isolated underdog. Pretty much the only parts I felt invested in were her interactions with Jiang and the philosophical discussions they had, but those were too far and few between to feel worth it. The setting and worldbuilding felt haphazardly stitched together and that made the dialogue feel like such a slog, vacillating between jarringly modern speech that felt straight out of a high school YA novel and brick-subtle exposition dumps.

I worry about what's going to happen when Shit Gets Real given that this is supposed to take a lot of inspiration from real-world historical atrocities. I simply don't trust in Kuang's ability to handle these subjects with the sensitivity they deserve, at least in this stage of her career. I do plan on checking out her more recent work, but this was a miss for me and I feel ready to put this one to bed as Not My Cuppa Tea.

I wanted to enjoy this but signing up for 3 books of Kuang's dense, academic writing is a lot. I got so far and I dread the thought of picking it back up. this book is very “everything is awful” and unfortunately I just don't want to dedicate my headspace to that. what I read was interesting, but not enough to go back unfortunately.

Military Fantasy meets Asian lore! This is probably one of my favorite books that I have read so far for 2021. The characters are rich in development, and the main character makes you question morality. If you have a chance, definitely pick up this read. What more could you want from a book than a magical school, opium, wars, and a lost race?

  This is a book I've been excited to read for a bit now.  I heard about it a couple of years ago but didn't decide to give it a try until I read Babel, Kuang's most recent book.  I think Babel is an absolute masterpiece.  Not only did I think it was a masterpiece, it felt like a very intentional masterpiece created by someone who is a master of her craft.  Kuang made so many smart writing decisions throughout Babel that I felt I had to check out her other books to see if she was always this good.  As it turns it, she hasn't always been quite that good, but she's always been incredibly talented.  The Poppy War is seriously excellent.    I love pretty much everything about this book so I'm just going to go ahead and lavish a whole lot of praise before I get into the very small critiques that I have.  Kuang is a master at subtle worldbuilding.  While there are many fantastical elements in her stories, she always keeps her settings quite grounded in reality.  It's so easy to imagine yourself in one of her worlds sitting on one of her characters' shoulders.  This ease allows the reader to be immediately invested in her stories and I find that this is an underrated aspect of good fantasy.  You can have the most elaborate world with maps that rival an actual atlas, but if I can't imagine what it's like to be there, the corresponding story will inevitably fall flat.  Kuang does not make any of these mistakes.  She feeds the reader a little bit of info at a time, enough to make the reader feel like they're learning something, but never too much as to make them feel overwhelmed.  This attribute also contributes to the fact that her books are an absolute blast to read.  For me, reading good fantasy feels like riding a roller-coaster: yes the author has total control of the story, but the ride they take me on is so exhilarating that I feel unbounded within their creation.  Kuang delivers that feeling so many times throughout this book and each time it's more fun than the last.     I also want to give Kuang credit for how she balances the fun aspects of the book with the very dark realities of her world.  The Poppy War takes place in a country called Nikan, which is clearly based on World War II China.  Nikan gets invaded by a country called Mugen, the Japan to Nikan's China.  Kuang does not pull any punches when describing the wartime atrocities Mugen commits, some of which seem to be word-for-word descriptions about the Rape of Nanking.  These are some of the most disturbing passages I've ever read, but they are absolutely necessary to understand the motivations of The Poppy War's protagonist Rin as she allows herself to become more vengeful by the page.  Rin is a wonderful character who changes considerably throughout the book but never in a way that feels forced.  We see what she sees and feel what she feels so that by the time the book ends, we understand her decisions even if we don't agree with them.  Once again I will give props to Kuang for making her main character in her debut novel one that is conflicting.  There were many times throughout the book that I had to remind myself that this is Kuang's first novel and that she wrote it in her early 20s.  She clearly has some excellent innate writing instincts.    With all that said, there are points in the novel where Kuang's inexperience shows.  Here I'm mostly referring to her handling of Altan.  For me at least, Altan's character shift between his time at Sinegard and his time as leader of the Cike feels very awkward.  Altan post-Sinegard is great and I don't think Kuang does anything wrong with his progression from that point on, but he straight up does not feel like the same person he was before then.  This would be excusable except for the fact that it's mentioned that he's always been like this.  The whole thing just feels so jarring and it really stands out when put against Rin's very smooth character transformation.  This is a pretty small nitpick but with a book this good all critiques are nitpicky.    I love this book dearly and can't wait to check out its sequel. 

So this one is going to be kind of a 2-for-1 review and I'll try to keep it short! I absolutely ADORED Poppy War; the character development, the world-building (some of the best I've seen!), and the magic system all worked to create a GORGEOUS and unique world. The plot in the Dragon Republic expands on this world-building even more, introducing more complex political groups and some crazy twists! The books are full of action and it feels like every chapter there's another fight scene. The only negative that I saw, which became significantly more apparent in Dragon Republic, was the interpersonal character development. Sure, each character had such a nuanced and beautiful storyline, but I felt that the actual dynamics BETWEEN characters really suffered. The friendship between Rin and Kitty seemed forced, which made it difficult for me to empathize when they would fight (which happens often). It felt like Kuang relied heavily on her amazing action-writing skills and didn't do as much relationship-building as she could have done. Along the same vein, I felt that Rin's romantic interests were INCREDIBLY hard to believe. Rin seems to be infatuated with her leader, Atlan, for almost no reason? Then again, that honestly might have been purposeful on Kuang's part and the reader is SUPPOSED to question Rin's infatuation for Atlan.

R. F. Kuang's writing is a min-maxed D&D character with all the points dumped into world building. This is the second book by Kuang I've read (the first was Babel). I started each book hooked on the world, and ended each book annoyed with the plot and tired of the characters. I think the world is so good that The Poppy War was worth the read, although I don't plan on picking up the rest of the trilogy.

To me, The Poppy War feels like an early work of an author you love, written before they really hit their stride. Almost amazing, but it feels like some of the ingredients are missing. I hope Kuang's writing evolves with future works, and can't wait to read what happens if it does.

This felt like two different books. One half is Naruto meets dark academia and one half is hyper violent historical fiction. Both probably would've been worth reading on their own but together they're less than the sum of their parts. I've seen people talk about this like it's a feature and intentionally jarring but it completely took me out of the story. I'd note that knowing too much of the real history that this story is largely based on was a big part of what took me out of it. It made immersion difficult with so many obvious parallels to our world, it also made it very heavy and sad which is how war crimes and atrocities should make you feel, but not what I'm typically looking for in a fantasy novel. I thought the protagonist was interesting but everyone else felt flat, as if they were just fulfilling a narrative purpose rather than having any goals or purpose of their own. I liked it? It felt like this book wanted to say something and then forgot what that was. Could've just been over my head.

The best way to describe this book is just lame. It's lame. It's boring, plain, and unoriginal.

I found out it was inspired by Chinese history, which I found interesting and cool. But then I realized the author was a Chinese American who was born in America. This directly coincided with the very warped depiction of China throughout this book. These issues aside, I think the book just simply does not bring anything to the table.

I think my disappointment stems from the overhype that this novel had. They said it was the next best fantasy debut, the best fantasy of the modern era. But I found that to be completely untrue. You can't just reforge ideas made in the past, copy them but make no apparent change or own originality and call it a day.

Let's start with the world. Every fantasy novel the first thing you want to do is open the map and take a look. But what I saw before me was some lame ass place with just a few labels and provinces. That's when I knew this novel was gonna be lame...

Our story is about a peasant girl who somehow aces the exam to go to the best school in the country or whatever. This is a concept that I have seen so many times, but I have never been so flabbergasted at the way the author decides to depict the girls struggles. Sometimes I have an issue with characters having something known as main char syndrome, where for some reason everything is shaped around the main char. Now this isn't particularly true in this book as the war showing the main char's uselessness in the grand scheme of things is quite interesting (there are many issues with this tho that Ill go into later). However, the fact that Rin can just burn herself and ace an exam that you are supposed to study for your entire life for? Also what even is this exam. If you do the best you go to military school... Please. How does a practical exam even prepare you for that.

Now let's actually talk about the school. So we are told that at this school you learn strategies and implement super interesting tactics to war. So how come, during the fighting that happens in the books later basically none of this happens? It feels so cast to the side, like half the book was just for nothing. Instead of using tactics and strategies that we learn about in the school, they just use some kind of suicide squad with powers. And also these powers are honestly so so lazy.

The most unique part of this novel is the mentor mentee relationship between the gatekeeper and Rin. But the things learned during this are just thrown away. Like ok your supposed to go through all these steps to channel to god, but these suicide squad kiddos can just do it like that? And then we have my biggest annoyance. How useless Rin is. It doesn't feel that she's useless because this is a big war and she's swept in it. No it's because she is so lame when it comes to her power. Like bro u have the Phoenix or whatever but that Atlan guy has it too so what's the point of Rin even existing.

Let me just say right now, I freaking hate Rin so much. I think she is the reason I disliked this book so much. She's so narcissistic and annoying and honestly just so like bratty. Also we are supposed to have this strong female character, but this girl is so infatuated with these random guys like bro I don't careeee about ur dumb romance subplots. She cares so much about what these guys think of her it's honestly kinda just concerning how weak willed her supposed strong female character is.

I can't even remember half the things that happen in this book because it was just so lame and forgettable. The school was done half assed. The world building half assed. The fight scenes are honestly so lame. Even the war part, the part that is supposed to be the highlight of this novel was just not it.

I think one of my favourite stories is Magus of the Library. This novel reminds me a lot about that novel, it it honestly lacks so much in comparison that I found this one to be so so so lame.

Solidly young adult. It's dark, but still YA. If this hadn't been labeled as adult on Goodreads and pushed as such on TikTok I might not have wasted my time with it. Probably should have stopped reading when I was slogging through the second part. I'm not at all motivated to keep reading this series, which is a bummer because the first part was very good. Impressive premise and scope from the author but this needed more editing and shaping. As it is this is somewhat over-hyped.

Wow, what an incredible read. The Poppy War absolutely blew me away. From the very beginning, I was hooked by the story and completely drawn into R.F. Kuang’s intense, brutal, and beautifully crafted world.

Rin is one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve ever read. You don’t just read about her, you experience her journey. Watching her grow from a desperate student into a powerful (and sometimes terrifying) warrior was both thrilling and heartbreaking. She’s flawed, fierce, and painfully human, which makes her transformation all the more powerful.

This book doesn't shy away from tough topics such as war, trauma, addiction, power, and sacrifice . The world-building is fantastic, the magic system is unique, and the stakes feel real. Every moment, every choice, has weight.

I’m honestly still thinking about some of the scenes days after finishing. I can’t wait to dive into the next book and see where Rin’s path takes her. If you’re into epic fantasy with deep character development, political intrigue, and real emotional stakes, The Poppy War is a must-read.

Why did I pick up this book? Idk! I was not thinking clearly and didn't google properly. War is huge trigger, I don't enjoy politics in my books, so only school time period was the part I liked. Then I soon understood that probably this is not for me.

I did enjoy Poppy War but I do feel that there are some flaws with Rin's character and this could be a “me” issue or the fact that the author is trying to remind the reader that she is a young woman. I say this because there are a few times that I felt that Rin acted rather reactive towards many situations/conflicts that logically doesn't make sense for military personnel (comes from experience).
The writing style is simple but engaging.
Atlan is trash
Overall rating 3.75 but round up to a 4.

Interesting story following Rin and her journey from avoiding a horrible fate by her aunt, going to school to then fighting on the battlefeild

I really liked Rin's growth at the academy and the focus on morality and loyalty and struggles in war. I knew to expect the horror of chapter 21 and the details of the massacre so I could wait and read that when somewhat ready. 

I was not prepared for Rin to seemingly be 90% motivated by sudden lurv and grief and revenge specifically for Altan when she decided she wanted to destroy the federation - Golyn Niis didn't matter, the rest of her people didn't matter, just Altan mattered - as if her characterization in the rest of the book was just “this is her, but she'll forget because of sudden desperate love for him I've not shown before, she's fine with accepting this terrifying power upgrade and shrugging off the consequences (and the understandably appalled reactions from the other people who know her) for a boy.” 

I'll have to decide if I want to read the rest of the trilogy - and I'd definitely planned to go straight on, before the last two chapters twisted her into a sudden boy-inspired genocidal revenge fit. 

My dearest Rin. I haven't rooted for characters like the ones in this book in a long time. Almost every character has their build and everything was fast phased, even their time in school was a good time to be a reader. I love everything about how Rin was never chosen and was never in the right place at the right time. All that happened to her was due to hard work and was solely her choice ( although I think at her age, she should have been presented with an option that was meant for someone who understands that subject matter, iykyk).

2024 is the year of high fantasy for me. Almost every book in that genre hit.

[A mild spoiler ahead]

Absolutely loved Part 1.

Part 2 started to lose me as the focus came off the main character a bit, and the story really changed by taking a new turn.

Then came [here comes mild spoiler]...









....a torture scene.

I should say I generally dislike such scenes. This is partly because of the kind of violence it portrays disturbs me. However, if it fits into the story and are done well, I can accept it and move forward.

However, I also partly dislike such scenes often because of how they are usually portrayed. That is, objectively wrongly and irresponsibly. Unfortunately, the one I'm referring to in this book does just that...and then some.

When I say wrongly and irresponsibly I mean: by suggesting that critical information is usually able to be extracted from someone through the torture (when in reality the opposite is true). Such portrayal perpetuates misconceptions and mistaken beliefs about torture, which has real world implications. (How many have suffered because we tolerate torture based on wrongheaded notions?) I find this irresponsible portrayal – in whatever media – as disturbing, grotesque, unnecessary, and frankly, unethical. So I chose not to engage with media that do so.

To make it worse, not only does this novel in a particular scene do so, but it makes it worse because the hero present – who we are supposed to empathize with, who (generally) does the right thing, who we are rooting for – does not condemn the torture (either outwardly or in their thoughts), or frankly seem to have much concern about the ethical implications of the torture. I found myself then having a difficult time rooted for and empathizing with this hero afterwards (as well as the character that committed the heinous act, who was also a “good guy”).

Now, if torture doesn't bother you, or the potential ethical implications of how it is portrayed in the context of the story doesn't matter to you, or you don't find issues with empathizing with heroes that are not “good” in terms of their actions ethically and morally, or real world horrid implications of perpetuating misconceptions doesn't bother you, then this novel may not be problematic for you. It is for me. Which is why I didn't finish it after that.

It's unfortunate, because I was really liking the story, and I really wanted to follow it to the end. It just lost me at that point.

I hope to find a similar novel without this unfortunate issue (and open to suggestions, please!)

I hate that I hated this because I love Kuang's other stuff and I was so interested, in theory, with the historical aspect of this. I went into this already on the wrong foot: I forced myself to reread the first 60 pages after DNFing it a few months ago. And it just pains me to reread stuff, so I was trudging through it. But I really expected things to pick up. It certainly did. 400 pages in.

I enjoyed the interpersonal relationships and internal stuff here. Meaning, I loved getting to know the characters, how they spoke and acted, and interacted with one another. Their dialogue, their banter and arguments, their habits and movements, were all very well done. In fact, the only dynamic I was attached to here was Atlan and Rin. It felt like when you're 10 and on vacation and think that you, a small child, are attracting the 23 year old lifeguard by doing handstands in the pool. I mean, that painful secondhand embarrassment of watching a crush that could never come to fruition. Mostly because I wasn't sure their age gap (I can't imagine it was more than 1-3 years), but also because it was painfully obvious to me that Rin thought they were friends (was she so deluded to think so?). His death was surprising to me because she set up the perfect romance arc. But I can see why it wouldn't go there. Once we'd gotten to Altan and Rin alone (going to the prison) their relationship was the only thing really keeping me going.

I honestly just felt really disconnected from the history and god element of this. It's obvious that Kuang was trying to give us all the keys to understanding the war (we get an ACTUAL history lesson) but I just kept getting lost. There are so many characters and they started to blend together. I am really interested in the story of Nanking though. I actually own The Rape of Nanking and didn't even know it.

The war going on in the book though, was kind of foggy in my head. I think I just am not interested in reading about war, especially in a fiction sense? Or maybe I'm just a little slow and need it spelled out for me even slower. I thought the beginning was very slow paced and the spiritual moments where Rin meets with the gods were so abstract that there was nothing tangible to them (for me). In other words, I found it very difficult to visualize. I was ready to hunker down and tackle this entire series but I think I'm good. In place of that, I might just reread Babel....basically my favorite book of all time

Personal Rating System:
5 stars: Exceptional - I was hooked from beginning to end, and this book stayed with me after putting it down.
4 stars: Thoroughly enjoyed it, a great read with minor flaws.
3 stars: Literal definition of OK. 3 stars is NOT a bad book. It is also not a good book.
2 stars: Didn't enjoy it. Honestly probably should not have finished it.
1 star: Hated it, a terrible book that I couldn't finish.
“War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains”
Overall Impression: It might be an odd way to start this review, but I felt like I should have liked this book more. On the surface it has all the things I look for in a good book. Political intrigue is everywhere. Action is well written and compelling. It even had a school trope (I love a good school trope). But for whatever reason I enjoyed this a bit less than the 4 star rating would have you believe.
Feel: The vibe for this book was pretty dry. I don't think describing Rin as an inaccessible heroine is fair, but overall this felt like a book that had been poorly translated. When I found out the author was 19 when she wrote this book it made a little more sense.
Strengths: The world for this book is incredible. R.F. Kuang created a giant sweeping landscape full of villains, heroes, and various other poi's that captured my imagination. The magic system is very compelling. The tragedies in the book are very well written, and kept me engaged.
Weaknesses: I honestly don't know. This book just didn't connect with me. It isn't the fault of the author, the book, or the subject. I think if I was a different reader this book would be an easy 5 star rating.
Recommendation: Do you like a bit of military violence immediately after graduation? Do you like a flawed protagonist grasping with her own mortality? Do you like enigmatic teachers that don't say anything while teaching, but say everything in between the words spoken? This book is very very good! Don't let my lukewarm review keep you from picking this one up!

Якщо чесно то чекав чогось кращого. Моя оцінка - 5/10. Багато рекомендувало цю книгу і говорили про неї з захопленням, але по факту щось дуже середнє. Пантеон Богів незрозумілий, головні герої не яскраві, багато моментів нелогічних. Не знаю чи наважуся читати наступні частини, адже розумію що там може бути ще гірше. Читати варто якщо маєте ту книжку або можете в когось взяти почитати. Купувати змісту не бачу.

Wow. WOW. This was insane the worldbuilding the lore the HISTORY???? It's insane how fully fleshed out this book was AND AS A DEBUT???? I love love love Rins character and the arc she goes through and the absolute SHIT she goes through!! It's so cool to see a character that you're rooting for make bad decisions /srs!!! A lotttt of the war stuff reminds me of modern day current events too, and made me reflect a lot on the world rn. I could definitely see the Chinese/japanese/general east asia Influence in the culture which was so cool but also I loved that this world was still fully its own. Like if I didn't know about east asia I would still see this as a beautiful world with its own history and stuff but it's cool to understand the undertones and Influences too. Can't wait to read the next oneeeee

An adult version of Harry Potter but ofcourse more devastating and...adulty

A lot of different tropes mixed into the military fantasy. A story of an orphan's rise from obscurity.. actions having consequences. Well detailed. Sometimes there were parts of the story that I just wanted to skip over but it wasn't necessarily huge sections. A few paragraphs over the details that made my eyes glaze over.

Overall, it was a decent read and I may even give the rest of the series a chance. An enjoyable read.