The Poppy War

“What’s the worst that could happen?” “You’re so young,” he said softly. “You have no idea.”

“Great danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take the risk.”

(Poppy War 1) The Poppy War by Rebecca F. Kuang

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Basic Info: Epub via PocketBook Android App: 39 Chapters, 274 Pages - Audiobook by Brickshop Audio Inc. 09:33:57. Review approximately 1,000 words.

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My Rating:

The Poppy War was highly recommended to me. I liked it. I recommend it, and think you'd enjoy this fantastic coming of age, heroic journey novel based in a multicultural-mythologies set in a historic China type setting.

The Poppy War fictionalizes historic conflicts between Japan and China. It throws in Greek and other mythologies into the fantastic theological beliefs portrayed in this story. Most of the names have been changed to protect historic mythology and historic accuracy.

Best of all, to me, The Poppy War is a character driven fantasy. You'll care about the characters more than the fantasy or mythology, which is also entertaining.

Generally:
Rin, Fang Runin is our primary protagonist. You can find other characters on this webpage as well.

We open with Rin being marketed for marriage by a criminal aunt and uncle who had been forced to adopt her. She was a war orphan and the Emperor mandated the adoption. Rin keenly dislikes the prospect of marriage. To her, it will just be a change with additional contemptuous conditions.

As an abandoned war orphan turned indentured servant, Rin loathes the idea of remaining a slave a second longer than she must.

Despite her Cinderella-like abusive circumstances, or perhaps because of them, Rin learns quick and becomes "street-wise". She works hard to make herself valuable. She runs Fang's village shop and is compelled to deliver and collect the Fang's illegal opium trade. Furthermore, she learns the virtues of black market ethics and how to run an honest village shop. She understands clearly the benefit of both survival tactics.

Rin's escape plan from an indentured marriage to benefit her aunt and uncle is the town's teacher, Tutor Feyrik, the only person Rin trusts in Tikany, her village in Rooster Province.

She wants to take the Keju. Tests that may be her escape ticket if she can pass them!

The Keju tests for a deep knowledge of history, advanced mathematics, logic, and the Classics...” Something Rin well knows she's not qualified to take with any chance of success. The type of people who benefit from this test are royals, or rich merchant children, who study their whole lives to take the test.

How can she obtain twelve years of education in under two years when she can't even afford brief tutoring once a week? Tutor Feyrik thinks the odds are remote at best. She'd be a waste of his time and effort, despite knowing Rin is a very bright girl. Rin devises a plan that will appeal to Tutor Feyrik's needs and his greed to obtain his aid in her escape.

This is the bare-bones outline of the first section of The Poppy War.

My Notable Notes:
I DID take notes. Often I don't. Most my notes are irrelevant or terrible spoilers for parts two and three.

At different times this book "felt like" both The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King and Gateway by Pohl Anderson. Why "this reminds me of that" comes up is often confusing to me when I actually stop and try to determine why or what the similarities are.

I cried at the end of part two over Rin's final decision in that section. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I struggled with names (again). I mentioned this regarding the character "8 Seagrass" and others in "A Memory Called Empire" review. This time hearing Jiang Ziya and reading Jiang Ziya produced a disconnect. Seeing the character names was different from the hearing character names. I know this is about me and not the book. It was not Jiang Ziya in particular, that's just the name that was in front of me when it occurred to me.

I'm glad book two, The Dragon Republic has a "Dramatis Personae" to aid my feeble memory.

Likes and Dislikes:
I enjoy these kinds of stories where downtrodden folks rise from the proverbial ashes like a Phoenix aspiring to their greater potential. 😉

I noticed the similarity to actual historic events of China, which I enjoyed. I also thought the mixed mythology of Greek and other cultural deities was an interesting twist.

The Technical: About the writing critique? In some ways this is a rags-to-riches type story and a coming of age type story steeped in mythological historic China. Because this book is uniquely a 3 part book it also contains a heroic journey type plot.

I was impressed that the three different parts of this novel were actually quite different in nature. Too often I find novels divided into parts or sections for no obvious reason.

This is a classic character growth novel story with Rin climbing out of indenture, living through a variety of challenges, each causing her to grow: discovering, for example, her judgment of a person had been hasty, revising her beliefs, then moving forward, a slightly more enlightened character.

Conclusion:
This is an exciting and action packed novel. My review doesn't do parts two and three justice. The foreshadowing from early in the novel that Rin was destined for greater things compelled interest in wanting to know more. Ergo, "page turner" or "set time to sleep" alarms.

If you like fantasy, historic or cultural mythology, I believe you'll enjoy this book. When I was trying to briefly say what kind of plot or genre The Poppy War is, I realized it would fit in several categories of plots. Clearly it is historic China. Clearly it's fantasy with culturally mixed mythological gods. It's fantasy with some supernatural elements or magic. It also combines multiple thematic plots including "heroic journey" and "coming of age".

Read on: Feb 5, 8, 9, 19, & 20
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Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Where to buy: The Poppy War!