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527 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2018
“If there is a divine creator, some ultimate moral authority, then why do bad things happen to good people? And why would this deity create people at all, since people are such imperfect beings?”
“Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.”
“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains.”To be honest, summing up the plot of The Poppy War does it a huge disservice. For one thing, it unfurls into at least three books' worth of plot, but without ever feeling rushed or anything less than sure-footed and scrupulous in its exploration of character and setting. This is a dazzling debut painted by an inventive hand that takes hold and doesn’t let go. It’s full of imaginative flair, mad entombed gods, truths too heavy for the hearts, and a high-stakes quest for revenge—blending magical elements with a culturally vibrant cast of characters and creating a shadowy world dripping with blood and revenge, in which our fierce, head-strong heroine must claw her way to the top of a deadly pecking order. The author also created secondary characters that were just as richly crafted and multidimensional so that each one gives you a tinge of pain when they go.
“Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.”Rin’s character radiated such an extraordinary vitality and her arc was nothing short of astounding—the years that stretched between the book’s beginning and its ending feeling impossibly vast. Everything Rin was, everything she’s become, grew out of the carnage of her people. Anger and indignation carved away everything else inside her—doubt, fear, embarrassment—leaving room for nothing else, and her will was a blade forged by the sight of her country being whittled down one small piece of itself at a time, despised and taken advantage of.
“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”Equal parts heartbreaking, and thoroughly satisfying, The Poppy War is the fantasy novel I feel I've been waiting two lifetimes and a half for. So clear your schedule before picking it up—you won't want to put it down!
“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”
If she went with him, she would help him to unleash monsters. Monsters worse than the chimei. Monsters worse than anything in the Emperor's Menagerie-- because these monsters were not beasts, mindless things that could be leashed and controlled, but warriors. Shamans. The gods walking in humans, with no regard for the mortal world.
The Nikara believed in strictly defined social roles, a rigid hierarchy that all were locked into at birth. Everything had its own place under heaven. Princelings became Warlords, cadets became soldiers, and orphan shopgirls from Tikany should be content with remaining orphan shopgirls from Tikany.Epic. Spectacular. Breathtaking. This is the one of the best books I have ever read in my adult life. I literally could not put it down. I'm gushing, I know, but it is THAT. GOOD. Holy shit this book is brutal. The author is an expert on military strategy and I believe it. If you guys have a weak stomach, this is not for you, but holy shit this is good.
Well, fuck the heavenly order of things.
Her name was at the very top of the scroll. She hadn’t placed in the top ten. She’d placed at the top of the entire village. The entire province.There's no magical induction ceremony here. Life is hard and Rin is hopelessly behind. Her peers are the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful, who have trained for this their whole life. Rin came from nothing and she quickly discovers that she is nothing. It is unimaginably harder than she could have envisioned.
She had bribed a teacher. She had stolen opium. She had burned herself, lied to her foster parents, abandoned her responsibilities at the store, and broken a marriage deal.
And she was going to Sinegard.
She had made it all the way across the country to a place she had spent years dreaming of, only to discover a hostile, confusing city that despised southerners. She had no home in Tikany or Sinegard. Everywhere she traveled, everywhere she escaped to, she was just a war orphan who was not supposed to be there.Her peers hate her. Her teachers hate her. The school is supposed to be based on a system of merit. It's not. Life is full of prejudice, especially for a peasant girl, and people let her know of their contempt.
She felt so terribly alone.
“Every year we get someone like you, some country bumpkin who thinks that just because they were good at taking some test, they deserve my time and attention. Understand this, southerner. The exam proves nothing. Discipline and competence—those are the only things that matter at this school. That boy”—Jun jerked his thumb in the direction Nezha had gone—“may be an ass, but he has the makings of a commander in him. You, on the other hand, are just peasant trash.”Enemies abound. Rin will fail many times before she succeeds.
No—they couldn’t just do this to her. They might think they could sweep her away like rubbish, but she didn’t have to lie down and take it. She had come from nothing. She wasn’t going back to nothing.The world building is unbelievably intricate. It is based on Ancient China, and it does a great job of portraying an alternate history. I would compare it to Guy Gavriel's Under Heaven in that it is loosely based on it, and completely believable, while having elements that distinguishes it from being an actual historical retelling. My only complaint is the names. They're Western or Middle-Eastern based names of sort, and I would have preferred Chinese names too.
But if the Keju had taught her anything, it was that pain was the price of success.
And she hadn’t burned herself in a long time.
Success required sacrifice. Sacrifice meant pain. Pain meant success.
Jiang was an effective if unconventional combat instructor. He made her hold her kicks up in the air for long minutes until her leg trembled. He made her duck as he hurled projectiles at her off the weapons rack. He made her do the same exercise blindfolded, and then admitted later that he just thought it would be funny.I am left utterly astonished by the scale and depth of this book. Bravo. Fucking bravo. This is a masterpiece.
“You’re a real asshole,” she said. “You know that, right?”
// buddy reread with rain!!
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.
"'They were monsters!' Rin shrieked. 'They were not human!'
Kitay opened his mouth. No sound came out. He closed it. When he finally spoke again, it sounded as if he was close to tears.
'Have you ever considered,' he said slowly, 'that that was exactly what they thought of us?'"
“Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.”
“Those weren’t lives.
They were numbers.
They were a necessary subtraction.”
“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”
“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains”
“Well, fuck the heavenly order of things. If getting married to a gross old man was her preordained role on this earth, then Rin was determined to rewrite it.”
“You’re a war orphan. You’re a southerner. You weren’t supposed to pass the Keju. The Warlords like to claim that the Keju makes Nikan a meritocracy, but the system is designed to keep the poor and illiterate in their place. You’re offending them with your very presence.”
“The nature of this god is to destroy. The nature of this god is to be greedy, to never be satisfied with what he has consumed.”
“Because I can,” she said. “Because he thought he could get rid of me. Because I want to break his stupid face.”
☆ You write a pungent review, crushed beneath the waves of disappointment.
✯ You write a loving criticism, pleased that it was good but displeased that it was not that good.
★ You write a gushing piece, declaring your heart stolen and your soul sold.
Credit: Jhoca
“You will be offered power beyond your imagination. But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”
“The fish does not attempt to fly. The polecat does not attempt to swim. Only when each being respects the heavenly order may there be peace.”
Well, fuck the heavenly order of things.
Credit: Jhoca
CW ➾ racism, colourism, colonisation, abuse, bullying, misogyny, use of psychedelics, drug addiction, self-harm, animal cruelty, nonconsensual human experimentations, torture, rape, burning, massacre, genocide, mutilation
Which Is It: Grimdark or Wuxia Fantasy?
“I am a mortal who has woken up, and there is power in awareness.”
“You’ll die.”
“Then I will die on my feet,” she said. “I will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart. I will die fighting for the legacy of my people.”
Asian Influences: Historical & Mythological
Credit: Ashley Hankins
Characters: Development & Relationships
Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.
Credit: Nan Fe
But Time For Criticism: Why Not Five Stars?
Companions: Playlist & Related Reviews
I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible.
Was she now a goddess or a monster?
Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.
“But what had he (Jiang) ever promised her? Only wisdom. Only understanding. Enlightenment. But those meant only further warnings, petty excuses to hold her back from exercising a power that she knew she could access…
“I taught you better than this.” Jiang put a hand on her shoulder. He sounded as if he were pleading. “Didn’t I? Rin?”
He could have helped them. He could have stopped the massacre at Golyn Niis. He could have saved Nehza.
But Jiang had hidden. His country had needed him, and he had fled to ensconce himself here, without any regard for those he left behind.
He had abandoned her.
He hadn’t even said goodbye.
But Altan…Altan had not given up on her.
Altan had verbally abused her and hit her, but he had faith in her power. Altan had only ever wanted to make her stronger.”