Review - "The Poppy War"

The Poppy War, The Poppy War #1
by R. F. Kuang
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 3rd May 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

She was no victim of destiny. She was the last Speerly, commander of the Cike, and a shaman who called the gods to do her bidding.

And she would call the gods to do such terrible things.

Galley provided by publisher

TW: graphic descriptions of rape, violence, gore, torture; self harm; substance abuse; war related violence and gore (descriptions of desecrated corpses in particular)

You know those books where you finish them and you're absolutely speechless, like gobsmacked speechless (in a good way)? This is one of those. So, apologies if parts of this review are an incoherent mess. That's just what this book has made me.

The Poppy War tells the story of Rin, an orphan living in the Rooster Province, who shocks everyone when she comes first in her district in the Keju, a test to find the best and brightest to send to the Academies of the Empire. Rin ends up at Sinegard, an elite military school, where she discovers she possesses a talent for shamanism.

First off, this book is intense. And it only gets more so as you read along. Part one follows Rin from taking the test to the start of the war between the Federation and Nikara. One thing I really liked about this was that, while she was at school, and initially there were some detailed descriptions of lessons to set the scene, it wasn't like a lot of first books in series where not a lot happens until right at the end. The first part was gripping and moved quickly too. Based on the first part alone, I'd have probably rated this 4 stars. But then part two happened. Part two ups the ante considerably. Suddenly, they're at war, and it's brutal, and you think this book cannot possibly get more intense than this. But it does. It got so intense I needed to take a break just to calm down. It got so intense I am absolutely terrified at the thought of how the second book is going to go. Especially given that ending.

If the best thing about this book was the plot, then the characters and relationships came in close second. There's an excellent enemies to friends (to lovers? I can live in hope) relationship as well as a wonderful found family, some of whose scenes had me laughing out loud. I really don't know how to describe how I felt about all the characters, because I loved each and every one of them (or at least, each and every one of the ones I was supposed to, and the ones who grew on me). The characters in this book, particularly Rin, Kitay, Chaghan and Nezha, are probably some of my favourites I've read this year.

The one teeny tiny problem I had with this book (and it's a problem that's personal more than anything) was that occasionally the writing seemed a little clunky, particularly in the lulls between action scenes, and some things felt a little underdeveloped, like Nezha's character development (but that's probably because it mostly happened off page). But like I said, it's more personal feelings than anything major, and likely it's just because this is a debut. Anyway, the intensity of the plot more than made up for it.