[Book Review] The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War – R. F. Kuang

Book: The Poppy War

Author: R. F. Kuang

Publishing Year: 2018

Series: The Poppy War (trilogy)

Note

If you guys are not familiar with my book review style, just want to let you know that I always type my reviews in past tense because I already read them. I did try to do it in present tense but it felt a little weird for me. With that being said, let's jump right in! 

Synopsis

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.

 

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 colour, 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 about going about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away.

Discussion

As the title itself suggests, this book is about war and its consequences. Despite the main characters being young adults, it is a far cry from the YA genre (as it is not YA). To give a little bit of context, this series is not like Harry Potter in which the writer glossed over the scary and gory bits. This series is brutal, very, VERY graphic and may make you feel uncomfortable. It has a lot of trigger warnings as well so reader discretion is advised.

I made it sound like it’s a very scary book lol. But in all honesty, yes it is. The start of the first book gave me a lot of Mulan vibes. Like Mulan, Fang Runin or Rin set off to marry a total stranger because apparently, that was the only thing a girl could do back in the day. 

So, being desperate not to be married off at such a young age, she was determined to enter this military academy called the Keju. It was an academy for the elites. Only those who passed the Keju test can enter this academy in which students were trained to become soldiers.

For some reason this book makes me want to study harder. Fang Runin was a very smart girl and the students there learnt so many interesting things at the academy on strategic military tactics. It was mind-opening and reading this series will give you a lot of knowledge. Anyways, she studied there for quite some time and all was well until they weren't.  

Honestly, I was expecting the book to drag the military academy bits until the start of the second book – The Dragon Republic – but no. Our lovely author R. F. Kuang had better ideas. Like all the other series relating to kids studying in academies, I thought that the first book would be about the first year of Rin attending the Keju and the second book would be the story of Rin surviving her second year and so on. But no guys. The first few chapters fast-forwarded pretty fast.

Like I said before, this series has a lot of trigger warnings. The first few chapters of The Poppy War were right. Nothing too graphic or out of the ordinary. But around the 10^th chapter, things started to become very dark and gory as the kids were thrown into war almost immediately. Kuang definitely did not hold back in her writing. All the scary consequences of the war were laid out explicitly. The destruction, the loss, the violence.

The kids didn’t get to finish their studies. During their time at the academy (senior year), the third Poppy War broke out and they had to defend their country. I can’t tell you more because the interesting (albeit scary things) happened after the start of the war. THAT is YOUR job to read hahaha!

Anyway, I really, really like the political aspects of this book as well as the discussion of military strategies and logistics. It felt very, very real (I mean, yes, it’s loosely based off of real war events) and honestly, despite being a fantasy book, it was actually the military and realistic bits of the book that kept me going. I literally CANNOT put it down! Mostly because of the dynamic between the characters.

The main characters, Fang Runin, and Chen Kitay, were just *chef's kiss*! These two badass buddies knew everything about everything and honestly, reading about smart people really boosts my serotonin not gonna lie. They motivate me to do better in my life for some reason. 

I especially like Fang Runin as a character. She was very brave, powerful and ruthless. She was THE definition of GIRL POWER. Every time she did something great I was like 'Yeay! Good for her! You go girl!'. Every time she did something stupid I would also be like 'Yeay! Good for her! You go girl!'. Like, she was the type of character that you would want to root for despite her very questionable life choices. 

By the way, this book had a lot of time skips. So basically, at the start of the book, she was like 14 or 15 (I think) and by the end of it, she was 18 or 19. One of the reasons why I like this book is the fact that the time skips made sense to me because we can see how she became who she was and how she grew into this deranged, ambitious and powerful human. 

In conclusion, stan talent stan Fang Runin y'alls! 

Rating

⭐5 out of 5⭐

P/s: Actually I already finished this series like last year tapi sekarang baru nak buat book review hahaha! Dah baca sampai The Burning God dah sebenarnya. Banyak benda nak discuss pasal series ni. Maybe I’ll do a review for The Dragon Republic and The Burning God. Atau maybe I’ll do a review for another book series. Tengoklah acano hihihi!