A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.
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 …
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.
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.
An orphaned child on the cusp of their teenage years escapes their abusive adoptive parents by gaining admission to an elite school where they learn to channel all sorts of amazing abilities and powers.
So far, so Harry Potter. But this is no derivative work. Firstly, the setting is a fantasy world version of China, with a plethora of cultures and expectations vastly different from many more traditional fantasies.
And although it starts out reading almost like a Young Adult book, as you progress towards the final third of the novel things change. They change a lot, becoming downright brutal in places, and by the time you get to the final pages you realise that this is most definitely a quality addition to the grimdark subgenre of fantasy.
Really well-written, the dialogue flows (in natural modern English with swear words, not a stilted English indicating it's not English), and the epic scope of the story doesn't get in the way of sympathetic characters or diminish the horrors and cruelty of politics and war. In fact, the historical analogies are obvious (read the authors note at the end) but the end tied it all together even more than I expected.
Meh, ik weet het niet. Beetje onevenwichtig, het eerste deel nogal YA chosen one/ kostschool, tikkie stereotiep, maar nog wel aardig. Daarna slaat het om naar nogal bloederig en gewelddadig. De hoofdpersoon neemt ook nogal typische beslissingen, niet bijster sympathiek, mild uitgedrukt. Ik twijfel of ik nog tijd investeert in deel 2 en 3.
A reimagining of China & Japan, with shamans & gods for interest, and war crimes & genocide for a horrifying reality check. Misleadingly begins with standard 'orphan goes to hero school' trope, but turns disturbingly dark without warning.
I kind of liked this (as in I would have given it 3 or 4 stars), then I read the bad reviews on goodreads and... (rest of review in reply because I'm going to need a spoiler warning)
I saw lots of enthusiasm for The Poppy War from other book reviewers and bloggers over the past few years since its publication so put it on my wishlist, but I didn't make any further efforts towards reading this book until it was suggested for February's Readalong and I realised it is actually a perfect My WorldReads fit. I learned that The Poppy War series, while being an imaginative fantasy adventure tale, is also strongly reflective of China's twentieth century history. While I am not knowledgeable enough on that topic to spot all the references, I could recognise significant events such as the Opium Wars themselves of course and also the horrors of Nanking which is retold here in a city called Golyn Niis.
From the early chapters where young Rin is mercilessly driving herself to achieve and then succeed in an education to which many people feel she is …
I saw lots of enthusiasm for The Poppy War from other book reviewers and bloggers over the past few years since its publication so put it on my wishlist, but I didn't make any further efforts towards reading this book until it was suggested for February's Readalong and I realised it is actually a perfect My WorldReads fit. I learned that The Poppy War series, while being an imaginative fantasy adventure tale, is also strongly reflective of China's twentieth century history. While I am not knowledgeable enough on that topic to spot all the references, I could recognise significant events such as the Opium Wars themselves of course and also the horrors of Nanking which is retold here in a city called Golyn Niis.
From the early chapters where young Rin is mercilessly driving herself to achieve and then succeed in an education to which many people feel she is not entitled, I could understand that The Poppy War was not going to be a light tale, but that didn't prepare me for the grim darkness that Kuang takes us to. This is not a novel for the faint-hearted, especially when considering that its most gruesome scenes aren't fantasy at all. That said, I found Rin's story to be a compelling read which has left me eager to plunge into the sequel.
Rin herself is brilliantly complex and, frequently, not someone with whom I could easily sympathise, even though I could always understand why she makes certain choices. Kuang is skilled at making her protagonists utterly believable while giving them jaw-dropping supernatural abilities and incorporating mythological aspects. This combination allowed me to completely suspend my disbelief while I was breathlessly immersed in Rin's reality.
I'm delighted to have finally started to experience The Poppy War series and hope that I won't wait so long before starting on the second novel!
This is a good book. It's well-written with a solid plot and I found the characters interesting (if a bit one-dimensional, but this is the first in a series so I let it slide). I get why people give it praise!
... but I really dislike militaristic narratives. I find them grating. I probably won't be continuing the series. It's not you, it's me.
Engaging military fantasy grounded in Chinese history
4 stars
I enjoyed this book very much, both for its approach to fantasy through Chinese (rather than European) culture and for its basis in real-world history. The last third of this book is filled with the graphic horrors of fascists at war, so I wouldn't recommend this for young readers. (Thinking of my niece, who loves to read.) I particularly like the end of the book, because in the end our hero commits an act of fascist evil herself, and we are forced to think about things like the nature of justice, the cost of vengeance, and the dangers of power. Looking forward to jumping into The Dragon Republic!
Well written with an interesting setting and core idea. I couldn't get past the graphic atrocities about 2/3 of the way in. I know that conflict was brutal in real life, so I don't know how accurate these depictions are, but I don't want to know either. Things like this leave me disturbed for years and nightmare ridden for weeks.
Goodness gracious, what a read. Let me start by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really strong entry into the trilogy as well as a very good story in and of itself. However what stood out to me the most was its very unique structure. Many aspects of this book were solidly YA. The characters were written very YA, the relationships were extremely YA, and the story beats (girl has to prove herself to get into school against all odds, girl has to prove herself at school against all odds, girl has to prove herself in battle against all odds, etc.) This was most prominent in the first third of the book, to the extent that I was convinced that the book had been mislabeled as 'Adult fantasy'. And it was these aspects of the book that were my least favorite. I felt that …
Goodness gracious, what a read. Let me start by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really strong entry into the trilogy as well as a very good story in and of itself. However what stood out to me the most was its very unique structure. Many aspects of this book were solidly YA. The characters were written very YA, the relationships were extremely YA, and the story beats (girl has to prove herself to get into school against all odds, girl has to prove herself at school against all odds, girl has to prove herself in battle against all odds, etc.) This was most prominent in the first third of the book, to the extent that I was convinced that the book had been mislabeled as 'Adult fantasy'. And it was these aspects of the book that were my least favorite. I felt that the characters were fairly flat and the story beats were predictable.
But in the last 2/3rds of the book (mainly the last third) the story took a HEAVY dark turn. I mean a near genre shift to hard grimdark. I really commend the author for her incredibly gritty and realistic depiction of the horrors of war because this was extremely brutal. The lighthearted cast of kid characters we grew to know were put through horrific, cruel encounters and completely traumatized, if not graphically slaughtered outright. The main character's "chosen girl" qualities were quickly overshadowed by her poor childlike decisions. But this was not frustrating because she is literally a child making decisions one would expect a child to make. Again, the author expertly crafted a realistic narrative for how children would act in traumatic circumstances. While I never felt that the characters met the level of 'well-developed' the decisions that they made did feel authentic.
The pacing of the story was okay, often times rapidly moving through story points in a few pages, other times lingering on details for just as long. I'd love to see improvements in character development and pacing in the subsequent books, but I'm really excited to continue this story.
This one started out really slow and I almost gave up before the real sparks began to fly. It ended up being very good and had enough unique qualities make me want to continue reading this series.
