Title: The Poppy War (Book One of The Poppy War Trilogy)
Author: R.F. Kuang
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Publication Date: 2018
Page count: 527

Rating:

The Poppy War is a book that has been on my TBR list for quite some time. I was first introduced to R.F. Kuang last year when I picked up Babel, a book that was immediately one of my favourite reads of 2022. I’ve had a few friends recommend The Poppy War series as exceptionally good fantasy and now that I’ve finished the first book I find myself wishing I’d picked up the series sooner.

R.F. Kuang is an incredible writer. She’s someone who is able to weave complex, flawed characters that you really care about through difficult but important narratives that encompass topics like racism, colonialism, and discrimination. While The Poppy War is certainly fantasy and contains interesting and unique magic elements, her use of historical context for inspiration for much of the plot brings a realness to the events that makes them even harder to swallow. This book had me simultaneously rooting for the main character, and then immediately wishing I hadn’t. It evoked a lot of feeling and meaning and even though it’s only my second book of the year, I’m quite confident it’ll remain one of my favourite reads of 2023.

Fair warning: spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read this book.

Book Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War begins with the introduction of protagonist Fang Runin (Rin), a war orphan and peasant who is desperately seeking a way out of the arranged marriage her smuggling foster parents have set up. As a foster child and a young woman with no social standing, Rin is considered nothing more than a financial burden, one that the Fang’s are keen to sell off to the highest bidder.

To avoid this fate, Rin begs her foster parents and a tutor to allow her to study for the Keju, a national testing exam that places children across the empire at prestigious schools. The Keju is typically limited to children of the elite, as studying requires access to tutors and materials that the average impoverished citizen cannot afford, but Rin is persistent and manages to strike a deal with both a tutor and with the Fangs that will allow her to write the Keju. After considerable studying and suffering, Rin passes at the top of her class and obtains a spot at the nation’s foremost military academy in Sinegard.

From here, the plot begins to shift to encompass both Rin’s story and the story of the Nikan empire. As Rin struggles to maintain her place at the academy and prove her worth despite her peasant status, we learn about how Nikan was formed through centuries of war and political strife. Rin is taught lessons in martial arts and defense, but also in strategy and history, which help to paint a picture of the brutality of the Poppy Wars that formed the basis of the empire she belongs to. Her country is rich in oppression, discrimination, racism, and political turmoil, and she’s being taught how to capitalize on these elements for military gain.

During her fight to maintain her place at the Sinegard Academy, Rin stumbles upon a shamanic ability to summon the gods of her people. The taste of the power afforded by these gods is so strong that Rin is willing to throw away all of her career plans to train with an instructor who is knowledgeable in the lore of the gods. She spends the next two years entirely focused on trying to access her power, while her instructor tries desperately to teach her restraint and respect, until war suddenly falls on the Nikan empire and Rin and her classmates are thrust into battles that even seasoned military professionals would find overwhelming. From here, Rin experiences a series of battles, traumas, and defeats that serve as the basis for the fall of an empire and the rise of an extraordinary and horrifying series of events and character transformations.

As the book is unfolding, you think that you’re going to see Rin transform into this heroic, noble warrior. Her determination and dedication towards her studies shows she has an aptitude for war, and her ability to tap into her Speerly ancestral power provides her with strength beyond measure. The whole set up makes you feel like you’ll see her rise above the condescension and racism that she experiences every day and prove her peers wrong. In a way she does do this, but not in the way you expect.

Rin sees and experiences things that fundamentally change her. The horrors of war, of colonialism, of racism and hate and degradation, they all produce enough trauma that any human under those pressures would break. Kuang methodically builds up your hopes that Rin will altruistically choose the path of ultimate good, but also lays a clear and concise foundation of why she wouldn’t. She brings the themes of pervasive racism and oppression to life in such an impactful way that it’s clear why Rin would ultimately choose a path of violence for herself. You understand why she’d want to burn everything to the ground for revenge, even if you wish she wouldn’t. You simultaneously want to see Rin rise above and see the cataclysmic consequences her actions would have,  and also understand why she might choose a vengeful approach instead.

The whole book was packed with politics, classism, action, and a unique blend of magic. It’s an exceptionally poignant look at motives and how people and societies are driven to commit truly heinous and evil acts. While the universe is fictional, there are clear parallels to major historical events that give you the opportunity to reflect on how the themes in the book can be applied to real-world conflicts.

I’m really looking forward to reading the next book and seeing where Rin goes from here. There are so many different directions she could head in depending on which elements of her experience she chooses to lean towards and I can’t wait to see her next chapter unfold. As a whole, this was an exceptionally good fantasy novel that I would highly recommend.