Very late feedback but I have indeed handsold this book many times now, as it is thrilling and interesting, and great for people who are looking for non-European fantasy options.

I requested this book a while ago and was lucky enough to be accepted for it however due to lack of internet at the time it was archived before I could download it however I have since bought the book myself and loved it.

This is a very dark fantasy read that is based off of the Nanking Massacre so please do not go into this blind trigger warnings for for war, torture, off page sexual assault, drug use and addiction, death, racism and colonialism.

However this is also one of the best fantasies I have ever read. It has a really engaging plot that will have you hooked from the get go. I love the characters and writing style and am really excited to see how this will progress in the next two books which I want to pick up immediately.

I gave this 5 out of 5 stars.

Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

I'd heard very good things about The Poppy War, and while I wasn't as blown away as I expected to be, I have high hopes for where this series will go - because that's some good epic fantasy right there. The first half felt very familiar (not in a bad way) of the genre, and then things started to go in their own direction from there into one of the darkest adventures I've read in a long while.

Look, in hindsight, this book is essentially all set up for the rest of the series, but it feels like its own story as you're reading it - things just escalate way out of control by the end and our heroine is faced with a much bigger problem than what she started with. I am honestly looking forward to what's coming slightly more than I would say I enjoyed this book, just because I could kind of tell where we were going until the last quarter. I think the sequels are really going to offer something exciting and unpredictable.

There were points where I wondered if The Poppy War needed to be as gruesome and graphic as it was. The book starts off pretty neutral and slowly descends into dark, and then horrible, and then absolutely abhorrent events. But where the story ends up (and presumably where the series will go) ends up explaining itself. The weight of the atmosphere did need to be established gradually, and Kuang does a good job of setting our perspective up and then throwing us into the deep end along with Rin.

If you've read my reviews before or know my tastes, you'll know I loved stories inspired by mythology - especially Asian mythology - and while Chinese (and potentially some Sino-Japanese in there too?) is not what I'm most familiar with, this was right up my street. And it should be said that you really don't have to have any previous awareness of it; both the historical and mythologyically-inspired aspects are well explained while being naturally integrated into Rin's story.

One of the things I read (I think from the author) about this book was that it was almost like Avatar: The Last Airbender for adults - and there was a point in the middle of this book where I was like that's totally it. The world is rich, the politics are grey and the spirit-world/magic-system is one thing, but the real heart is always the characters. The Poppy War is instrinsically about Rin, but the ensemble that comes in and out around her are what flesh out everything she's up against. And I do have to mention, I thought Rin was a bit morally challenged for a lot of this book, and wasn't fully behind the idea that we as the audience should support everything she did, but Kuang does eventually acknowledge that it's more complicated than that. It's not often you get to see a character you care for but disagree with on a number of fronts take centre stage, and that's super engaging to read.

Harper Voyager have been awesome and approved this whole series for me on NetGalley, so I'm going to be diving back into this world very soon ahead of the final book's release in November. So far, while I'm still waiting to be fully blown away, I am very hopeful and excited about where Rin is going to take her quest now that the stakes are so much more complicated than she first thought.

I'm a history nerd who wants to read more Asian-inspired fantasy, so an Asian-inspired fantasy heavily inspired by 20th century Chinese history sounded right up my street, but for some reason this book and I didn't click.

Now The Poppy War and I didn't always have this relationship. When I started it I was sure I was going to thoroughly enjoy it. After reading The Sword of Kaigen earlier this year I've realised I actually quite enjoy Asian-inspired military fantasy tales, and I was also excited because I'm sure I read somewhere that this novel is a villain origin story inspired by Mao Zedong's rise to power.

A story about a woman in the military who's allowed to be angry? Yes please!

And yet... that wasn't quite the story I got. At least it wasn't what I expected, and I think part of the problem I had with this novel is that it's so hyped I was expecting too much from it to begin with.

Rin is a war orphan who's grown up with her foster family in the south of the Nikara Empire, which is based on China, but when she aces the military tests to avoid an arranged marriage, she's sent north to Sinegard and the best military school in the empire. For years Nikara has been at war with the Federation of Mugen, based on Japan, and soon enough Rin finds herself caught up in another war.

The first third of this novel I liked! We know from the blurb Rin lands a place in Sinegard, so I'm glad the book didn't spend too long before she arrived at Sinegard. Part of me wonders if I should complain about the 'cliché' of Rin being a poor southerner who's bullied by her northern classmates, all of whom are the children of wealthy families, but I don't think we can rightly complain about an abundance of clichés until all people have been able to see themselves in these stories.

Essentially yes, we have seen this set-up plenty of times before, but not necessarily in an Asian-inspired fantasy, so I don't mind it.

I think the chapters in which Rin was a student at Sinegard were my favourite, but I felt held at a distance and this is something I continued to feel throughout the majority of the novel. It was sometimes hard to know how much time had passed or how old Rin was; I imagined her as a young teenager throughout the entire novel, to be honest, because as soon as she leaves Sinegard she seems to regress into more of a child than she was when she was at school. Imagine my shock when Kuang mentioned, quite near the end of the novel, that she's 19. She does not read like a 19-year-old, and she certainly doesn't read like a 19-year-old who's seen the things she's seen.

I didn't realise until fairly recently that I tend to enjoy boarding school settings; I love watching children develop their own friendships and found families in a space where they're allowed to be away from their parents' watchful eye, and I love being kicked in the feelings when I can follow these characters from childhood to adulthood. And yet we know very few of Rin's fellow students by name, and many of the ones we do know we don't get to learn that much about. Rin herself doesn't feel that different by the end of the novel than she does at the beginning, in all honesty.

Plus, for a military fantasy with a woman at its centre, this book is still such a sausagefest. Rin didn't develop a single strong friendship with any other woman in this book and it felt like a real missed opportunity to me. Not only that, but her obsession with Altan infuriated me.

When she's still a young girl at Sinegard, and Altan is an older, very talented student, I can completely understand why she's so in awe of him. I can even understand her still being awestruck when she meets him again in the big, bad world, before she learns to treat him as a human being rather than an idol, but this is supposed to be a villain origin story and yet Rin spends the majority of the book trying to receive praise from Altan while he treats her like shit.

Also, while I do deeply sympathise with what we learn Altan has been through and he's clearly never received the help he needs and I don't like the way he treats Rin, it bothers me that she's gone to literally the best military school in the country but she doesn't know how to follow basic orders? It doesn't make her a 'strong female character' because she answers back, it makes her a brat whom I can't imagine leading a military campaign.

I don't want to be so harsh on Rin because she is young and she deserves to make mistakes, like any person, but she's warned against doing something, does the thing, and then immediately thinks, 'Oh, turns out that was a bad idea' and that happens more than once! Duh, Rin! Yes that was a bad idea! I was ready to watch someone fall into villainy because they'd been given no other choice, and there were hints of that, but I never quite believed it. I honestly don't know how Rin isn't dead, especially considering the amount of times she was saved by some other dude because she froze during battle.

Again, I know that sounds harsh and I wouldn't fare any better (I'd be so dead), but Rin seems to have so much potential when she's at Sinegard, and yet when she's put into a real battle it's only then that she realises that war sucks? Really?

I'm wondering if it was some kind of point that Kuang was trying to make, that no school can teach the horrors of war, and I would agree with that. However, plenty of people in real life are trained for the military and do what they are trained for when they're put in the field. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but it is a fact. I think I had a similar problem with this novel that I had with Veronica Roth's Chosen Ones in that it's sold as adult, and I don't want to say it isn't when women who write SFF are constantly having their work labelled as YA, but this did feel quite YA to me for the most part. It honestly felt like 500+ pages of Rin trying to impress Altan.

There are, of course, some very violent, gory and harrowing parts of this book that aren't YA at all. As I mentioned above this novel is based on 20th century Chinese history, which I know very little about, but Kuang herself is a historian who specialises in 20th century China.

Parts of The Poppy War are based on the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731. If you don't know what either of those are then I suggest you look them up, but please be warned it's horrific. It did happen, though, and I think it's important for the victims of both that we educate ourselves and remember.

I do appreciate that Kuang, through this novel, is teaching a lot of readers (like myself!) about these parts of history we might not know anything about already. Speaking for myself I know I never learned any Chinese history in school. That said, I also felt very held at a distance during these scenes—particularly during the scenes based on the Nanjing Massacre.

Rin sees the aftermath of the massacre, she isn't there when it's happening, and it sounds awful to say 'I'd've preferred to see it happening' because I don't know that I would at all, but I'm also not sure I felt the full emotional impact because we learned everything in hindsight. Even the scenes based on Unit 731 didn't feel as horrific as they should have to me, mainly because Dr. Shiro felt a little like a villain you might encounter in a Marvel movie.

I hate saying that. I feel like I'm being so disrespectful, especially when Kuang knows so much more about this subject than me and, as a Chinese-American woman, she also knows the horror of this history far more than I ever could as a British woman. It was upsetting to read and it made my heart ache for all the people who actually suffered what some of Kuang's fictional characters suffered, but it almost felt a little too close to the real history for it to hit me where it should have.

I know that probably sounds bizarre, but because we know so much of this story is based on Chinese history I found myself thinking 'I can't believe China and its people experienced something like this, it must have been awful' instead of thinking 'I can't believe Rin's seeing all of this, it must be awful' while I was reading. In a way the history took me out of the story, so while I'm very glad I now know about this history it felt a little like parts of a history textbook had been slipped into a fantasy novel. I'd happily read a non-fiction book about China's history written by Kuang, but I can't say I'm interested in reading more of this series.

I was unable to read and review this digital galley of The Poppy War in time for its official publication. Since its release, I have managed to purchase a physical copy (hardback) for myself, and I have decided to read and review the finished product itself.

I hope you understand where I'm coming from. Nonetheless, thank you for the lovely opportunity!

The Poppy War was a book that I never knew, I was craving for. I finished, nay I gobbled up this powerful, epic coming-of-age story set amidst a disastrous war that follows the destiny of this young girl from rural south in a kingdom ravaged by war, whose every step to success is drenched in blood and suffering - all this in just a few sittings. And as I finished it, my first thought was that this....was absolute magic. Such compelling heady stuff that it is hard is believe it's the debut work of Rebecca F Kuang.

The Poppy War is an epic adult fantasy that follows Rin, a war orphan, rise above her expected destiny by joining the elite ranks of the illustrious Sinegard military training academy. Here, Rin will learn about the sacrifices that must be made to gain power beyond her wildest dreams, and the terrible price that must be paid. However, when a new war looms with old enemies, revenge can become a powerful conduit to temptation - regardless of the cost.

To say I enjoyed this may be to use the wrong turn of phrase. At times this was a deeply difficult read, with brutal depictions of war and violence that never tried to shy away from the realities of conflict and the atrocities of human nature. It throws out some heavy, powerful commentary on the dehumanisation of war victims and what it takes to behave in a certain way during the decimation and eradication of an entire race of people, again and again. It certainly opened my mind to comparisons within our own world and how we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes. It certainly made me feel uncomfortable, but in a thought provoking way.

I also found the world building to be extremely well developed, steeped in recognisable traditional culture with added mythical elements. The magic system, in particular, is wonderfully unique and interesting - incorporating shaman ideas and the concept of being closer to the Gods and taking it up a gear into the ‘otherworldly’. When this system is coupled with complex politics, scheming and a rich historical backstory for the Nikara people, it creates a highly descriptive, fully formed environment brimming with life that feels very real.

I also loved our main protagonist Rin. She’s hot headed and at times she doesn’t make the best choices, with questionable results, but at all times I felt I could understand her reasonings behind these decisions - even if I didn’t agree with them. She’s also incredibly hard working, determined and takes nothing for granted. Everything she gets, she earns through pushing herself and working to her limit. I also enjoyed her interactions with her fellow pupils and masters during the first half of the book (which has a much lighter tone than the latter half). Jiang, Lore master, is a personal favourite and welcome light relief with his eccentric behaviour. I also liked his more tender moments with Rin, which helped to expose her more vulnerable side. He’s the eye to her storm, the ice to her fire, and deeply wise. The other secondary characters are just as fully fleshed out and multi layered, from brooding Altan, to naive Kitay and stuck up Nezra. They all help to show Rin how utterly ordinary she is, yet also extraordinary, and I loved them all. This love for the characters only made the second half of the novel all the more brutal to watch unfold. Casualties of war don’t stop at the dead

I also found the plot fast paced and tightly packed together considering the novels length. Just when I thought the plot may be winding down for a quieter moment a curveball would be thrown in with more supernatural elements to keep me surprised - which it constantly did. There were a lot of twists and turns here, with shock revelations galore to keep me enthralled right until the bitter, brutal end.

I cannot recommend this enough to anyone looking for a highly ambitious and thought provoking epic fantasy full of realistic yet brutal realties of war. And from a debut author too. Easily one of my favourites of the year.

Pretty much everyone I know has read and loved The Poppy War. I must admit to being a bit nervous going in, I wasn’t entirely sure it would live up to the expectations I had set with so many people giving it five star reviews. I’m so happy to say that I absolutely adored this book, it is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year and I can’t wait to read more from R. F. Kuang.

The story follows Rin, a young war orphan who passes the Keju, a test given to every child in the Empire to determine if they should be admitted to the prestigious military schools. The country might be at peace whilst Rin is learning tactics and war, but unease is brewing with old enemies across the sea. Rin also discovers she can yield a shamanic power, but will it help save her people – or destroy them?

I honestly couldn’t put this book down. It’s quite a hefty book but I raced through this, finishing it in only a couple of days. I completely fell in love with the characters, they were so well fleshed out and there was plenty of character development. There were so many characters that I loved, Rin was fantastic and I loved Kitay and Nehza so much. I’m already scared to find out what will happen to them in the next instalment.

I recently went to see R. F. Kuang talk in my local Waterstones and it was fascinating to hear her explain how the story draws real life parallels with Chinese history. It really brought a whole new dimension to the story, and is definitely something I want to know more about.

The Poppy War is a grimdark tale and is therefore full of dark and gory scenes. It contains quite a high number of trigger warnings too so that is definitely something to consider before reading. All in all I found this book fast paced with a tense, exciting plot and a brilliant cast of characters. I’ve already picked up a copy of The Dragon Republic because I’m dying to know what happens next!

The Poppy War is a story centered around war and the gruesome politics, violence, and dark themes that come along with it. Set during the Second Sino-Japanese War, it takes opium as a source to possess shamanic powers to consequently, destroy in order to save. The themes of lost humanity, gore violence, calling Gods, and doing too many wrong things while aiming for what's right can quickly turn dark, but I'm all here for such exploration so this is easily one of my favourite fantasy books ever!

✔ Magic intertwined with religion
✔ Pure friendships without a hint of romance
✔ Spirit realm meets Mortal realm
✔ Geopolitical strategies during war
✔ Militia training & preparation
✔ Raw, angry need for vengeance
✔ Honest tranformation of a bully (enemies to friends)
✔ Squad of uniquely powerful misfits
✔ Found family and heartbreaking sacrifices
✔ MC grows through free will and hard decisions
✔ Aspiring mentor-mentee relationship

This review is difficult to write because this is one of those books that has so many appreciable and amazing themes that if all of them are mentioned in this review, it'll turn into a massive load of spoilers (and pure fangirling). If you're not a fan of long reviews, here's my one-line take on this book: it's perfect and you should totally pick it up right now! However, there are various scenes and themes in this book that can be potential triggers so if you're not comfortable reading about some things, quickly scroll down to see clear trigger warnings.

⇾ Ill-treatment toward orphan
⇾ Drug smuggling & offering
⇾ Self-harm (like burn scars)
⇾ Physical & mental abuse to oneself by overworking
⇾ Colorism (toward brown skin)
⇾ Racism
⇾ Bullying (verbal & physical)
⇾ Confined wrestling
⇾ Discrimination by teachers
⇾ Raging fire burning everything
⇾ Graphic descriptions of killing or torturing
⇾ Drug intake/inhalation
⇾ Drug addiction
⇾ Painful drug weaning effects
⇾ Heightened genocide
⇾ Gore descriptions of dead bodies
⇾ Violent attack by a dog
⇾ Detailed retelling of rape & sexual abuse
⇾ Deaths due to bombing
⇾ Deaths due to suffocation
⇾ Drowning for a split-second
⇾ Constant pressure & abuse by superior
⇾ W A R

The main character, Fang Runin Rin is worth mentioning first because she's such a central part of this story that it's amusing how every event influences her but is also, in a way, influenced by her. She starts off as a war orphan who needs to be admitted to Sinegard, the topmost institution that doesn't charge for its militia education, in order to escape the brutality of her foster parents and the plausibility of her getting married to a man who was far older than her. And her hardwork pays off. But that's not the end of her struggle. She gets even more stronger while making a place for herself at the academy where elites line up every class. The growth is stunning, amazing and subtly aspirational. Even after the academic setting is left and the war required her, she discovers even more about herself, takes tough decisions and uses her free will to reach wherever she reaches in the story.

If you thought Rin's character was great, you're in for a surprise because not just the main character but literally EVERYONE are carrying a story as moving and a personality as impressive as her. Though the book focuses a lot on Rin, it doesn't shy away from making you fall in love with so many of the side characters, you'll keep praying for them to stay. Just stay. And breathe. But your prayers won't always be answered, thanks to Kuang.

✹ Jiang : Lore professor who teaches balance of life and clears Rin's head; believes in 'ki' and meditation; Rin's opium-smoking mentor; has powers he prefers to hide; is hard on keeping the fabric between the two realms intact; is adorable.
✹ Altan : Last of the Speerlies (an island's inahbitants who were wiped away), has red irises, connected to the Pheonix god; strong, brave, and commander of the Cike; broken yet powerful; Rin's fire-yielding mentor.
✹ Nezha : Rin's bully; annoying, uptight elite at the academy; thinks everyone should worship him; fights like he's born to; you will surprisingly like him afterward.
✹ Kitay : Rin's true friend at the academy; the one who knows everything about everything; says he only reads about the interesting things; intelligent, smart, someone who probably quizzes you during quizzes.
✹ Qara : From Hinterlands, part of the Cike, has an eagle and an anchor bond with her twin; the mother of the squad; can shoot with a bow like no other.
✹ Chaghan : From Hinterlands, part of the Cike, Altan's lieutanat, a seer; has no irises or pupils; the judgemental one of the squad; demands respect because powers you want to read to find out; Qara's twin.
✹ Ramsa : The precious bean of the Cike; science is his power, uses faeces to make explosions; needs to be protected at all costs.
✹ Baji : Thickly built mercenary type; has a rake with nine prongs as his weapon.
✹ Aratsha : The Friar, can disguise himself as water; will receive gasps everytime he's introduced to someone new.
✹ Unegen : The shape-shifter, usually turns into a fox.
✹ Suni : Giant man with a boyish face; channels the Monkey God.

The plot of this book is complex and if you really want to enjoy it, I would honestly suggest you to go in blind. It'll help to not have any expectations because the themes can be so subjective, it's better to experience them without another's opinion about it. But if you want a gist of what it's about, I would say: it follows a war orphan who finds her identity through the Militia academy and then through a journey that's filled with war and herd truths. It lays down the concepts of shamnism and religion and magical powers and the prize you pay for it all. The subtle themes of humanity against violence is commendable because it's not easy to use a morally grey protagonist to easily show what's actually right and wrong. Friendships and relationships that one forges without any romantic element is one of the strongest aspects. There are twists and revelations that will shock you but in a wider viewpoint, you'll be able to understand everything. Oh, and you might cry.

Overall, this is a historical fantasy fiction that will impress you with its complex concepts, theme exploration, reality's depiction, dark setting, and characters that come alive very easily.

DNF got too icky and complex for my students. I was under the impression it was a YA book but most definitely is not. Probably a good fantasy all in if that’s what your looking for.

Who doesnt love a kick-ass heroine, huh? This book has amazing world building and back story that just makes you feel immersed completely within the book. I did not want it to end. You feel as though you are right alongside the protagonist, facing the trials she faces and for me that is a must in any fantasy! Absolutely loved it!

Genius a fantasy with a complex and beautiful history. I like how the main character didn't just arrive at her destination and struggled to get where she needed to be. I love a strong female protagonist which this story definitely offers.

My review:

I received an e-book copy of The Poppy War from Harper Voyager via Netgalley, but ended up listening to the audiobook and reading from a library copy because the book is chunky and reading it as an ebook hurt my eyes. But all my thoughts and opinions are my own. 

THINGS I LIKED:

- The world building is intricate and complex. We learn much about Nikan's history and culture in the first chapter, and in the following chapters, we learn more about the country's history and the first two Poppy Wars. 
- The first chapter had me hooked and engaged, the writing is easy to understand and is always engaging. The book is very descriptive but it's description are not boring but provide context and colour to the story, helping to build the world more visually in my mind.
- It was also fun learning about the Poppy Wars through Rin's classes and studies. 
- I liked Rin's determination and stubbornness, and those traits help her to succeed in her dreams and to survive and thrive in the academy as well as after her days in the academy.
- I actually enjoyed meeting and getting to know all the characters. They were all unique and complex and not at all 2-dimenionsal like some supporting characters ahah.
- Dialogue is witty and humorous and it made me smile and laugh, especially whilst listening to the banter. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

- Because of the length of the book, I put it down last year and it took me half a year to pick it back up again. I decided to listen to it as an audiobook to help motivate me to actually finish it.
- Sometimes the story would make me lose interest, especially near the beginning but it picks right up in the middle of the book so I guess it's okay. 
- It's very bloody and gory and sometimes graphic, which I expected but didn't realise how much it would be. I think it's good that the book doesn't shy away from it, but it would be nice to have trigger warnings at the start of the book so people are aware so they can skip the chapter. 

Overall, The Poppy War is a dark fantasy book based on historical events that had me engaged in its story. It was a little too chunky for me and I struggled to finish reading it. However, I would highly recommend picking this one up because it has intricate world building. kick-ass characters and constant plot twists that leave you shocked and wanting more.

I got so distracted this past few months that i just didn't have enough time to write a review.

I've heard so many great things about this book and wanted to see for myself.

It did not disappoint.

I loved the way it was written and the strong female protagonist rep.

Amazing story and when I had 100 pages left i just started wishing that it wouldn't end

I appreciate the work that goes into writing such an epic tale, but I did not connect to the characters or enjoy the story.

The Poppy War is a ridiculously intense, brutal and nerve-wracking work with so many twists and turns and moments that made you gasp and wince. It is immersive, completely absorbing and succeeds in keeping you hooked from beginning to end.

I had heard so much about this book before I picked it up. It had been circulating online – Instagram, booktube, other book blogs – and the more I read about it, the more desperate I was to get my hands on it. A fantasy based on Japanese and Chinese history? Yes please! Incredibly luckily, I managed to find an ARC copy to download on NetGalley.

And boy, was it worth the wait!

One of the main reasons that The Poppy War is so entertaining is the multitude of engaging characters that can be found on every page. Rin, as the main character, definitely steals the show. Her voice is so strong and consistent, growing in depths with her journey throughout the course of the book. You understand her struggles and confusions, her anger and her happiness which all add to making the difficult decision at the end of the book all the more powerful.

All the characters managed to have this strength, the good and the bad. The motives and reasoning for each character’s actions are interesting whether you agree with them or not. It was especially interesting to read about how they grew and changed over the course of the book, making it feel incredibly organic and real. This was reflected in the relationships between characters too, friendships growing and enemies being made in one moment and then quickly changing within pages. This also helps keep the pace as it is quite a hefty book.

Another strength is the worldbuilding. This land is so well described from its physical appearance to its history and its people – no piece of information is missed out and really makes these seem like a real place. This is definitely one of the places where Kuang’s research into Japanese and Chinese history has paid off!

But despite the amount of detail, it doesn’t seem overwhelming or affects the pace, which is a real benefit to the writing. In particular, most of the information is given to you in the training chapters, when Rin herself is learning and growing and becoming more aware of the world outside of the tiny town she grew up in.

Kuang’s descriptions are incredibly visceral – which is both a strength and a weakness. Most of the book is about war and with war comes atrocities. Kuang does not shy away from them. This book is not for the faint-hearted or easily squeamish. As someone who doesn’t usually react to such grotesque imagery in books, I did have to stop in one particular section (and if you’ve read this book, you know what I’m talking about) just because the harsh reality of what was being described was so horrific that I needed a few moments to settle myself.

Overall, I adored The Poppy War. I have been in a massive reading and reviewing slump recently, and this was the book that dragged me out of it. If you like South East Asian history, if you like fantasy and magical worlds, if you like epics and character growth, this is definitely the book for you. At the moment, it seems to be shaping to be a fantastic story with at least one more book already announced and I cannot wait to read it!

Compelling, from the expected scrappy underdog makes good through to a whole different place as the characters are fired in the chaos of war. Gripping, brilliant

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang, a high fantasy inspired by Chinese history, was a book I was hugely looking forward to, but one I, sadly, didn't enjoy. My lack of enjoyment isn't down to the book being a bad book. It is undeniably incredible; well-researched, unflinching in it's honesty of the brutality of war, and it definitely punches you in the gut. It's more of a case of, it's not the book, it's me.

At first, the pacing felt a little odd to me; before you're even half way through the book, three years have gone by, with most of those years brushed over. We only get the highlights of Rin's training at Sinegard. Her relationships with her fellow students - all pretty bad as she's bullied by all except Kitay, but especially Nezha, because she is poor, from the south, is dark skinned, and not unskilled. We see how she is loathed by some some teachers and praised by others, how she is trained in shamanism by Master Jiang, my favourite character of them all, a little out there, quite eccentric, dismissed as useless by all other teachers, but overall, probably the most sane person in this whole book. It just felt really odd to me this YA-feel school training felt quite rushed through, but then it became clear why. This book is not about Rin's training. It is about, as the title suggests, war, and Rin's part in it.

While the first half of the book spans three years, the next half spans months. Months of war when the Federation of Mugen invades Nikara for the third Poppy War. And it is terrible. Because of her training in shamanism, and her connection to one of the gods, Rin is put into a very tiny division of fellow shamans; a rag-tag group of teenagers and young adults, all with various magical abilities, all who are viewed by all other divisions as dangerous and no help at all. Because being a shaman, having a connection with a god, means you will eventually become mentally ill. They're not trusted. But Rin is part of this division, and it's helping two other division try and hold Khurdalain, on the east side of Nikan, which the Federation are targeting. Months are spent in this important city that Nikan can't lose without losing the war. And the Federation are brutal and unrelenting.

And this is where I found myself not enjoying the book. Because there is absolutely no let up. It shows the everyday realities of war - with some shamanism thrown in - and it was goddamned bloody awful. In other high fantasies I've read that feature war, the main characters are normally royals or related to royals; they take part in the war, but they're also planning and strategising. We don't spend time with the ordinary people who are fighting the war, except for when the royals are fighting along with them. With The Poppy War, every character is a soldier - if varying rank, sure, but still the ones fighting every day. And when I say there was no let up, I mean there was no let up. Things go from bad to worse, and it continues down that path. The Federation absolutely devastate Khurdalain time and again. At first, I was shocked and disgusted, my jaw hanging open. But it kept getting worse and worse, that I almost became immune to it all. Not completely, I was still blown away by the extent of the Federation's brutality, but I was also getting pretty tired of it, and wanted something else to happen. It just goes on and on and on. Don't get me wrong, we need to see the atrocities of war, we need to see what humans are capable of, what they have done in the past, the war crimes that are committed. We need to see it, and we need to face it, and look it all in the eye. But this was for almost half a book, and I started to lose interest. I knew what was going to happen: the Federation would pull something else about the bag, do something horrific that would have massive consequences, and then they would up the ante again. And again. In the end I was reading just to get the book finished, because it was just too much for me. Not too much in that it went too far, but too much in that it was endless.

And when other things did happen, they happened so late on, and by then I was already past it. And the things that did happen were just terrible too - a different kind of awful, but just as bad. I liked most of the characters in this book, and I really liked Rin. But my god, does she make some really awful decisions. And I don't mean she makes them by mistake. She knows her choices, she knows what the possible consequences are, and she does them anyway. Despite all the warnings. Because she's greedy and wants power, because she wants to impress, because she is so affected by what she's seen that she can't even fathom doing anything else. The story would absolutely not be the same story if Rin didn't make those decisions - there would be no story if she didn't make those decisions. But still, as much as I liked her, I thought she was a fool. Such a bloody idiot. And also, such a hypocrite. And that's really putting it lightly. But I do think that's part of why I liked her, because she's so human, and she's flawed, and her emotions do play a part in her decisions, and in that sense it's realistic. But my god, the consequences!

As I've said, there's no denying that this book is incredible, but I really didn't enjoy the experience of reading it. It was a hard slog to get through, because I wasn't enjoying it. But it really is down to the fact that I am the wrong reader for this book. So many people have loved The Poppy War, so do read other reviews before deciding whether or not you'll read it.

I have purchased a copy of this book and will be reading and reviewing that in 2019. I anticipate enjoying it though from the first couple of chapters.

Oh dear gods above I was not ready.

The first half of The Poppy War is familiar tropes in a gloriously Chinese setting: a re-imagination of early twentieth century China, weaving fact and fantasy in a way this hopelessly English reader can't possible unpick and can only enjoy. A plucky, stubborn protagonist faces sexism and class prejudice at an elite school, with all the school story trappings you would expect.

But The Poppy War subverts expectation from the start. Rin isn't just an unloved orphan determined to make good, or a disregarded common girl succeeding in the face of noble sneering. She self-harms to succeed, forces herself to overcome obstacles because the alternatives are worse, is given to despair without external affirmation, and has a vengeful short temper that sets up her harrowing arc in the second half of the book.

In short, she's glorious. This is no regular teen girl ascending to supernatural power story. Likeable or not, she's utterly compelling, and the text gives you all the context to understand her motivations even when you can't agree with them.

When the Mugenese Federation invade - a reworking of the invasion of China by Japan in WWII, about which little gets taught in Western history classes - Kuang's narrative is unflinching. The war is the crucible which burns away all of Rin's qualms to forge her into a single-minded weapon. There's so much clever foreshadowing in retrospect - Rin's tactics lessons at Sinegard set up her approach to fighting the invaders; just as her dependence on her teachers' praise cues up her relationship with her unit commander. It makes her arc feel inevitable, but - for a fantasy novel - it's wildly unconventional, and I appreciated it all the more for it.

Not a book for the faint-hearted: between the hideous details of the invaders' actions and the shattering decisions made by the 'good guys' in defence of their homelands, this is hard reading. But it's very rewarding, and I can't wait for the sequel.