“I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.”
R.F. Kuang
As a reader, I know that determining how good a book is can be a difficult task. Some books aren’t objectively good, yet they impact the reader so strongly that they provide a one-of-a-kind experience that only a few special types of books can elicit. For me, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang was the epitome of “this type of book.”
Firstly, this book is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a very grotesque, gritty historical military fantasy grounded in the violent history of China’s 20th century, highly inspired by the Sino-Japanese War, better known as the Rape of Nanking. The contrast between the book’s school/training arc with the scenes and crimes of war and underhanded tactics is jarring and somewhat sobering at times. Even during the former arc, however, are themes such as self-mutilation, drugs, and the threats of rape.
The story follows a country girl named Rin, who, under the motivation of avoiding being married off to an old man, bribes her way into studying for the Keju–the Empire-wide test that determines who’ll be placed at the Academies. When she ends up acing the Keju, she’s sent to the Sinegard, the empire’s top military school, where she’s immediately outcast for her impoverished country origins, gender, and dark skin. There, she discovers that she possesses an aptitude for shamanism, which allows her to interact with and bring forth the power of gods. The story picks up from there, tumulting headfirst into violent scenes of war and Rin’s growing thirst for power.
Getting through the first third of this book was downright difficult for me. The writing was scant, and our main character Rin read like a caricature of a YA protagonist rather than an individual. With her singularly focused ambition of becoming powerful and somehow being able to rise above the ranks of the country’s topmost military academy despite her humble salesgirl background, the story felt flat and somewhat contrived. That, paired with her rivalry with the other best student in her year, along with the appearance of the extraordinarily overpowered, coincidentally white-haired, and aloof (think Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen and Kakashi from Naruto) teacher who chooses her as his sole apprentice, contributed to the almost cliche, YA-esque essence of the book.
Throughout the book, I also felt somewhat detached from Rin’s motivations in general. The writing never delves deep into her emotions and the like while only providing the surface-level ambition of her growing obsession with Altan, the one person whom she seems to idolize for holding the key to her identity, and the promise of power that gave her a sense of importance that she had no chance of getting before, had she never gotten a taste of Sinegard. The weird thing about being kept at arm-length, however, is how it leaves so much room for personal interpretation and therefore has the potential to become more intimate or increasingly contrived. The details aren’t handed to the reader; instead, it allows them to judge for themselves. For me, the volatility and seeming incomprehensibility of Rin’s actions and emotions at times just made her infinitely more human. She’s a deeply flawed character, she refuses to look at herself objectively, and she creates destruction wherever she goes, for good or for evil.
I’ve read books five times more well-written than this, but none has provided the experience of emptiness that this had on me. It’s the limbo between sobriety and the slight disturbance in what you’ve just read. It’s the realization that you won’t experience anything like this for a long time, now that you’ve finished the book.
And if there’s one other thing I’ve taken after reading the book, it’s that I appreciate the characters a lot more after they’re dead. If anything, R.F. Kuang has a penchant for clarifying the almost convoluted storylines and motives after delivering an absolutely heartrending, gut-wrenching typhoon of emotional shock. The Poppy War is something that needs time to grow on you.
~3.5 stars.
