The Poppy War (Book One) by R.F. Kuang: A Book Review

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The main reason why I picked up this book was because I fell in love with Babel, so I thought "This year is going to be my time to read other R.F. Kuang's works". I was also delighted by the fact that my school library had the complete trilogy of this book, and here I go, finished the book on March 29th after three months drowning into the story. I wasn't a fan of fantasy novel at first, until I found that Kuang's works (Babel and The Poppy War) combined historical fiction and fantasy, I could say that I have a new favorite genre and a new favorite author as well. 

This book told us a story about a Tikany girl named Fang Runin, or Rin. One thing that I love about this books was how intense the main character's effort in achieving everything she wanted in life. At first, she studied really really hard to get into a prestigious military school, Sinegard. Even though it was a merit-based school, normally, only children from powerful families could afford studying with all their privileges. Rin secured her position in Sinegard after getting the highest score of Keju (national exam). One line that hit hard was "You're a war orphan... You weren't supposed to pass Keju. The Warlords like to claim that the Keju makes Nikan a meritocracy, but the system is designed to keep the poor and illiterate in their place. You're offending them with your very presence." And that was just the beginning of Rin's journey.

Another thing I needed to highlight from this book was that it introduced me to the history of China's War against Japan. I noticed from the very beginning how similar the map of Nikara and Federation of Mugen to China and Japan. We could also read from the author's note on the last pages, Kuang provided us with lists of reading to comprehend more about China and Japan War. The most intense and horrible scenes, I must say, was on Chapter 21. Kuang described the cruelty the Federation soldiers did to civilians, the mass murder using the most inhumane techniques that far from human could ever think of.

I would give this book a 5/5, this made me definitely want to continue with book 2 "Dragon Republic". See you in my next book review!

Nestya
South Tangerang, 29th March 2026

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