Review: The Poppy War

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first question I had come to mind while reading 'The Poppy War' is if it would be classified as YA. At first, I was thinking that answer to be a soft no. Especially in the beginning, it has elements associated with YA. Lots of training, young female protagonist, a poor oppressive upbringing. There is also the danger of this book simply being classified as YA. The publishing industry tends to put books written by female authors, especially if the main character is young, in YA regardless if it belongs there or not. By the middle of the book, my answer changed to more of a hard no. Then, by the latter third of the book, my answer changed to another question: Why the hell did I ever ask myself that?

The biggest asset to this novel is that gradual change. Not from YAish to full-on adult, but more of the change of the character and the nature of the world around her. Think the first Godfather film. Michael going from a decent guy to the worst of all the mob bosses. I won't say if Rin goes to the dark side or not, but it's more of the comparison of hard decisions and comprises she has to make. The person who you start with isn't the same by the end. I know character development shouldn't sound like a mind-blowing topic, but you'd be surprised by how few books actually have it.

There's also the prose. When I first starting reading, I dug into how well and engaging it was written. And it never really loses momentum. I've been stuck reading a book that had really strong first few chapters but quickly loses its sense of polish. You won't find that here. My only problem writing-wise is the characters aren't as varied as I'd like. They don't all sound the same, but I feel most of them are singing the same song at different notes.

My only criticisms are small nitpicks. It's a little longer than need be and I wasn't as enthused with the book by the end as I was in the beginning. Also, it's written in the third person without me really understanding why. We spend 95% of the narration with Rin and could have easily been told in her first-person. Though this more of a matter of personal style and taste. I still really loved it but felt worn by the closing chapters. So I say read it as soon as possible. You just might want to pack a snack.

View all my reviews