I embarked on The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang after seeing it on some “best new fantasy series” list or another, and I decided to read through all three books despite finding it a rocky go occasionally. Ultimately, I’m very happy to have read these books and I’m impressed by Kuang’s fearlessness as a storyteller – but I don’t think I’m likely to add these to my “re-read” pile any time soon!
I don’t know how to review this whole series without including quite a few spoilers across the various books, so from here on out read your own risk:
Book 1: The Poppy War
Rin, a poor war orphan living in the poorest province in Nikan, fights tooth and claw to win a spot in the most elite military academy in the Empire. Once she
arrives to begin her education, she learns that she’s even more of an underdog there than she was at home, now that she’s surrounded by the wealthy offspring of powerful politicians. Throughout her training, the threat of war hangs over Rin and her classmates – the Empire’s ancient enemy, the Federation of Mugen, is on a crescent-shaped island just across a narrow sea. As the stakes rise higher and higher, Rin discovers that she has an important – and potentially horrific – role to play in the battles to come.
It’s hard to say that you exactly…enjoy…a fantasy novel that purposely follows so closely to the actual 20th-century history of conflict in China. In the afterword of the book, R.F. Kuang mentions that in one particularly harrowing scene, she did not include a single occurrence that did actually happen during the Nanjing Massacre. The book delves into incredibly complex questions around the toll of continual trauma on the human psyche, and the line between righteous judgment and vicious revenge. Ultimately, I found it quite bleak and depressing – but I don’t think that this was the wrong reaction to have to this subject matter! Most importantly, despite Rin throwing herself face-first into a horribly downward spiral of decisions, I was interested in her and rooted for her right up to The Poppy War’s conclusion.
Book Two: The Dragon Republic
The Dragon Republic picks up a few months after the end of The Poppy War, and Rin is in rough shape. She’s haunted by her actions during the war, there’s a literal vengeful god screaming inside her brain (this is a fantasy series, remember!), and she’s on the run from a wide variety of enemies. When the powerful Dragon Warlord takes Rin under his wing, promising her both a brighter future and revenge against her enemies, Rin is more than happy to go back to following orders without questioning. However, Rin may find that her attempt to choose the lesser of two evils has driven her even further down a path of destruction.
The Dragon Republic was probably my favorite book of the series. While Rin continues to be transparently manipulated by other characters, there are moments where she at least feels like she’s making good choices – and even some romantic intrigue! The moments of hope gave the book more balance than the previous book (and scads more than the next book in the series!), and even if The Dragon Republic ultimately ends on just as bleak a note as The Poppy War did, at least we have some nice moments to look back on.
Book Three: The Burning God
Again, we pick up with Rin a few months after the conclusion of the previous book, with Rin back in her native southern provinces, now engaged in battle against her previous allies in the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and the remnants of the invading Muganese army. Still reeling from the betrayals of her past, Rin must build an army out of the peasants of her homeland, while also figuring out who amongst her new allies are worthy of her trust – and even whether some of her most loyal companions remain on her side. As enemies close in on every side, Rin walks a tightrope between vengeance and total destruction.
It’s been clear since the end of book one that the road for redemption for Rin is narrow, if it exists at all. The Burning God continues R.F. Kuang’s exploration of the horrors of war on the psyche, and the dangers of dehumanizing an enemy force (even when they have committed unspeakable atrocities against your own people). In this final book, Rin spirals, seemingly inevitably, to become a totally unlikable character. As a reader, I hated it and I raged against her ultimate fate and the fate of the Nikara people. However, knowing how much of the plot was pulled from history, and the hopelessness that generations of colonialism bring to a war-torn culture – it’s hard to argue that the series could have ended any other way. Whether or not Rin’s final actions in The Burning God bring her some level of redemption is a question that I think each reader will need to answer for themselves.
So, do I recommend the series? That’s a tough question. If you read fantasy novels for escapism, this ain’t it. If you’d like to ponder uncomfortable questions about Western colonialism and the human thirst for revenge, all while watching a character get battered over and over again by the forces of history – this series is for you! Seriously though, this series does the “hold a mirror up to the reality of the human condition” part of fantasy very, very well and very, very brutally. Please look up trigger warnings before proceeding.
On a separate note, while I found this series to sometimes be a chore to read through due to its heavy nature, it has prompted me to move R.F. Kuang’s book Babel even higher up in my TBR pile!
