By R. F. Kuang
“War doesn't determine who's right. War determine who wins. War determines who remains.”
October 31st, 2024
The Poppy War is the first novel in a trilogy by Rebecca F. Kuang. It tells the story of Fang Runin, or Rin, an orphaned girl who follows an unlikely path to greatness—through suffering, destruction, and power.
Raised by unloving foster parents in a remote village, Rin seizes an opportunity to escape an arranged marriage designed to expand her foster family’s local dominion over the illegal opium trade. She decides to take the state’s Keju test, applying to the most prestigious academy in the Nikan Empire, Sinegard. To everyone’s surprise, Rin passes. But little does she know that passing the Keju was the easiest challenge she would face.
What is The Poppy War about?
With little time on my hands and a touch of fever, I’ll jump right in to what I think this novel is truly about. Be warned, spoilers are ahead!
At first glance, and really, for the first few chapters, The Poppy War feels like a story about a teenager determined to prove her worth through sheer willpower, intelligence, and endurance. One might think Rin is the typical underdog, bound for greatness despite her humble origins. A young woman who will, through her achievements, show her peers that those of low birth can make a difference and change the world for the better.
But that’s not what this story is really about.
“I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible. Was she now a goddess or a monster? Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.”
I discussed The Poppy War with other readers and have seen some feedback, including several rather disgruntled reactions to the dark turns the story takes. Towards end of the book, you might wonder whether you’re reading about a heroic rise to war—or witnessing the making of a villain shaped by desperation, suffering, and revenge.
At Sinegard Academy, Rin’s darker skin, southern accent, low birth, and lack of family connections place her at a disadvantage. Through a mixture of trial, error, and frequent trouble stirred by prejudice and her own fiery temper, she ends up apprenticed to Jiang Ziya, the Lore master. In her first-year finals, she battles Nezha, the best student in her class and the high-born elite of her peers. During the fight, Rin taps into powers she can’t control or understand, defeating Nezha but losing her mind in the process, nearly killing him and lashing out at the Academy masters. Her only hope of salvation was the fortunate intervention of the Lore Master.
Jiang takes her as his only apprentice in years, guiding her into a realm of knowledge and powers beyond imagination. Lore, Rin discovers, involves understanding the gods and their powers. Eager to learn and even more eager to please, Rin dives in to commune with them—yet Jiang keeps his teachings strictly pacifist and tries to steer her away from using divine powers directly, offering a path to wisdom rather than destruction.
In her third year, however, a war breaks out and Rin's studies are cut short. This new war between the Nikan Empire and the Mugen Federation rekindles the horrific conflict that left Rin a war orphan and decimated the Speerly race. Before Rin and the students in the Academy could fully understand what was at stake, the Mugen forces breached Sinegard’s city walls, laying waste to soldiers and students alike. Amid the chaos of battle, Rin loses many of her school mates and her own master. In a final desperate act, Rin unleashes the fearsome powers of the Phoenix to save herself and the remnants of the city, with its defenders and inhabitants. In doing so, she awakens to her true heritage as a descendant of the Speerlies—a people the previous war all but erased. Now feared by most of her masters and all the warlords, Rin is conscripted by the Empress herself into the Cike, the thirteenth division of the empire’s twelve kingdoms.
Under the command of Altan Trengsin, a former classmate, and alongside others like her, Rin discovers the camaraderie among the equally feared shamans of the Empire. But even her closest ties in the Cike are forged in the crucible of war. Every step forward thrusts her company of misfits deeper into destruction, fear, and a growing sense of helplessness. Together, Altan and Rin descend an increasingly violent path, seeking power at any cost to crush their enemies.
This is the core of The Poppy War novel: the inevitable corruption of power.
“Nothing is written," said the Phoenix. "You humans always think you're destinied for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose. You chose to take the exam. You chose to come to Sinegard. You chose to pledge Lore, you chose to study the paths of the gods, and you chose to follow your commander's demands over your master's warnings. At every critical juncture you were given an option; you were given a way out. Yet you picked precisely the roads that led you here. You are at this temple, kneeling before me, only because you wanted to be.”
Rin’s journey begins with the drive of a young girl looking to escape poverty and earn the respect of her peers. But war tears away any promising future for Rin and those around her. Her life—and the lives of those close to her—are shattered by the sheer scale of loss and destruction that large conflicts bring. In this, we watch Rin transform, constantly facing a choice between surrendering to the enemies who annihilate her friends and family or walking an ever-darkening path in the pursuit of greater power.
The “Poppy War” refers to past conflicts in which the Nikaran people were subjugated by opium, used to control the population under Mugen rule and, later, to subdue the Speerlies. Victory in the last Poppy War left Nikan ruled by greedy warlords and an Empress who consolidates her power with ruthless abandon. Through Rin’s experiences, we see how power plays out on every level, from petty village authorities to the highest realms of empires.
The opium from the poppy, alongside other hallucinogenic drugs, had also been the secret behind the abilities of shamans, the man and woman capable of calling upon the gods and wielding their powers for death and destruction. It had been an essential tool for all the Cike, the Empress squad of assassins, to do her bidding. A task they did with ultmost loyalty, until their minds were completely broken and their bodies taken by the undying madness of the gods. The destiny of every shaman under the Cike's command was to be killed or imprisoned.
Towards the end, Rin acquires great power and even greater victory through the Phoenix's intervention. Her ultmost desire is granted, along with the genocide of an entire island and the full command of the Cike.
“I command the Cike.” Chaghan looked sideways at her. His expression was grim. “You are going to paint the world in Altan’s blood, aren’t you?” “I’m going to find and kill everyone responsible,” said Rin. “You cannot stop me.” Chaghan laughed a dry, cutting laugh. “Oh, I’m not going to stop you.” He held out his hand. She grasped it, and the drowned land and the ash-choked sky bore witness to the pact between Seer and Speerly.”
Above all, lays the inhuman powers bestowed by the gods. Powers that were proven to be unbeatable, yet uncontrollable and capable of the greatest acts of destructions in the hands of even the most well-meaning of humans.
Among them, the Phoenix—the god Rin called to aid in her ever-maddening quest for revenge and whom she cannot hope to control. The Poppy War is a tale of a heroine who in her quest to save the world, ends by destroying it.
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