I have no idea why the instance seems to have selected the German version of this book for me, and equally no idea how to change it. For the sake of avoidance of doubt I'm reading this in English!
User Profile
I live in north west England and particularly enjoy speculative fiction, although am happy to try most well-written books.
You can also find me elsewhere on the Fediverse using the profile @losttourist@social.chatty.monster
This link opens in a pop-up window
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader's books
2025 Reading Goal
8% complete! Flippin' 'Eck, Reader has read 2 of 25 books.
User Activity
RSS feed Back
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader finished reading The Burning God by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #3)
The Burning God by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #3)
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader commented on Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader started reading Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader wants to read Gogmagog by Jeff Noon
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader wants to read Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (Mickey7)
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Simon Saito (Mickey7)
Mickey hat einen einfachen Job. Er hilft einer Expeditionscrew, den Eisplaneten Niflheim zu kolonisieren, und dabei übernimmt er alle gefährlichen …
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader started reading Ferryman by Justin Cronin
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader set a goal to read 25 books in 2025
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader started reading The Burning God by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #3)
The Burning God by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #3)
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader finished reading The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #2)
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #2)
Rin’s story continues in this acclaimed sequel to The Poppy War—an epic fantasy combining the history of twentieth-century China with …
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader finished reading Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Save one world. Doom her own.
From the acclaimed author of The Deep Sky comes a thrilling anti-colonial space heist …
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader started reading Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Save one world. Doom her own.
From the acclaimed author of The Deep Sky comes a thrilling anti-colonial space heist …
Marek reviewed The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
A dark, grim tale of violence, injustice, and the horror of revenge
3 stars
Content warning Spoilery review. Dark, striking, fantasy.
R.F. Kuang's debut won quite a few awards and deservedly made her a name much discussed. This is the first of her works that I've looked at, and was really looking forward to it. It's great to have a new voice, one with a background, writing about a world, quite different to the default medieval Western one.
The settings has the general roughness you'd expect from a medieval-ish fantasy. The characters are generally well drawn and the world has a range of interesting aspects to it that are gradually unfolded over the course of the book. Underneath it all, slowly rising to the surface, is a history of prejudice, injustice, deceit and violence that becomes evermore grim and overwhelming.
By the end, I personally found it a bit much, and here the spoilers kick in. While we can somewhat understand the main character, Rin's, journey, it is ultimately one of almost continuous violence, defeat, and destruction, culminating in her engaging in acts almost as evil and depraved as those on whom she seeks revenge.
Having dug in and bent the world to her will in the first half of the book, during which she overcomes the various obstacles put in her way, in the second half she is borne along by events, with no agency, a constant victim, as the world tears itself apart around her. She repays it by tearing it apart much worse (as do the squad of others she ends up with).
Generally well told, it feels unnecessarily grim to me - that's probably just a taste thing. There are important tales to be told about how humanity gets crushed by the violence of injustice. I think Octavia Butler or N.K. Jemisin might have clearer voices on that, but for Kuang to be working her way toward that kind of thing, particularly as young as she was writing this, is damned impressive.
The writing style got me by times. This is a quasi-medieval setting, but terms like 'genetics', 'cognitive dissonance', and 'suspended animation' get bandied around as though perfectly natural. They use hypodermic needles, and heroin, but refer to volcanoes as 'fire mountains' (which nonetheless spew 'volcanic gas'). These should just be trifling frustrations, but were just a little to frequent and kept knocking me out of the story, which is a shame.
So, glad I read this one, but I'm not too interested in reading the follow up. These are not pleasant characters, and I don't really wish them well, however much I sympathise with what has happened to them.
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader reviewed The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #1)
Darker than I expected
4 stars
An orphaned child on the cusp of their teenage years escapes their abusive adoptive parents by gaining admission to an elite school where they learn to channel all sorts of amazing abilities and powers.
So far, so Harry Potter. But this is no derivative work. Firstly, the setting is a fantasy world version of China, with a plethora of cultures and expectations vastly different from many more traditional fantasies.
And although it starts out reading almost like a Young Adult book, as you progress towards the final third of the novel things change. They change a lot, becoming downright brutal in places, and by the time you get to the final pages you realise that this is most definitely a quality addition to the grimdark subgenre of fantasy.
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader started reading The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #2)
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #2)
Rin’s story continues in this acclaimed sequel to The Poppy War—an epic fantasy combining the history of twentieth-century China with …