Smashbomb

"This novel, a linked series of strange and acid and darkly comic vignettes on life in Naples at the end of World War II, gets at the material reality of a liberator (the American military) as occupier and at the contradictory and surreal world of Naples. In sum, no one is innocent, not even Malaparte."

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Montrose

John Buchan

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John Buchan describes Graham, Marquis of Montrose’s command of the royalist forces during the 1644...

The Eyes of Asia

Charles Allen and Rudyard Kipling

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Kipling's The Eyes of Asia takes the reader on a remarkable journey of discovery into the heart and...

Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1) in Books

Oct 9, 2018

The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1)

R.F. Kuang | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

9.3

(6 Ratings)

Book Rating

Have you ever read a book that is so good you don't know what to say about it? It's taken me almost two weeks to even attempt this review because I just don't know what to write. The Poppy War is your typical story of downtrodden, disadvantaged girl testing into the highest school in the land and gaining the opportunities and privileges that come with that, but then the book takes a sharp twist into war. Rin doesn't exactly get the most typical of educations, even before war breaks out. And when war breaks out, the school is disbanded, the students getting flung all over the land to where the government thinks they will help the most. For Rin, that's joining The Cike. The Bizarre Children. The division of people who can do....things. Things the rest of the military isn't comfortable with. The Cike can call on the powers of gods, and doing so makes them not-quite-untouchables. Rin, who was never short on resentment before this, grows ever more resentful.

Rin is an interesting character; she's been hard done by, yes, but she makes decisions that only make things harder on herself. So I feel for her a little, but at the same time, girl. Check yourself. What's been done to you doesn't justify what you plan to do to others. I am hoping she comes to see that in the next book, because her rage and need for vengeance definitely gets the best of her in this one.

The Poppy War is an excellently written blend of military fantasy, epic fantasy, and coming-of-age novel. Unlike some books, where the military aspect far overshadows the characters, leaving them flat, Poppy War doesn't ignore the characters to focus on the bigger picture. It's a very good mix of both close-up focus on characters, fights, battles, and zoomed-out strategy and war. It's probably the best military fantasy I've read, and the Asian aspect of it makes it even better. So much military fantasy is western European, or Steampunk, or both. I've been finding more and more Asian and African fantasy, and I am SO HERE FOR IT. I need to try to find more South American fantasy. I know it's out there.

I will definitely be watching for the next book in this series, because it's awesome.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com