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Most Anticipated Non-Western Fantasy Books of 2019". Den of Geek. 2019-10-10. Archived from the original on 2022-02-03 . Retrieved 2022-04-14. For one thing, the book’s Poppy Wars and their Hesperian relations are reminiscent of the Opium Wars, which were Europe’s early attempts at western colonisation of China during the reign of the Qing dynasty. Not only that, but Kuang also shows the shift in Europe’s attempts at colonisation through history, from forceful penetration in the 19th century to the economical coercion and civilising mission of the following years. The racism and greed inherent in those intervening, invasive hands seeking control of the resources of prosperous eastern lands excused by beliefs in the superiority of the White race is an infuriating and uncomfortable topic to witness for anyone of any ethnicity, and Kuang fearlessly lays its every preposterous audacity bare. Eventually, people got fed up and, with various revolts, the 1911 Revolution succeeded in overthrowing the Qing. After more civil war and unrest, the Beiyang government was established as China’s central authority with Yuan Shikai being the first formal President of the Republic of China. But, seeking more of the ever-alluring power and monopolising the power of the new national government, Yuan made a short-lived attempt to make himself Emperor, died, power struggles ensued, and China ended up with two warring governments: the Communist Party of China ( or CPC, based in North China) and the Nationalist Party of China ( or KMT, based in South China, created by Sun Yat-sen who had previously opposed and then compromised with Yuan). Kitay is horrified at what Rin has done, but Rin thinks she did the right thing by committing genocide.
She wondered if he was going to kiss her now. She didn't know much about being kissed, but if the old stories were anything to judge by, now seemed like a good time. The hero always took his maiden somewhere beautiful and declared his love under the stars. They reach Golyn Niis and it’s a massacre. The Federation have killed and mutilated pretty much everyone in the city. The streets are covered with corpses. Rin is so many things that you don’t want your protagonist to be. She’s hypocritical, contradictory, apathetic, unintelligent and gullible. Her inner-monologue is a never-ending string of non-sensical idiocy and morally devoid ideology. This is getting a bit long but here’s a few key scenes/quotes that really put me off Rin:Despite the changes that brought the fiction to the historical, TDR ultimately maintains the main themes of its inspirations and boldly explores their implications. From fear and eradication of rumours of sorcery, to anti-Christianity and the cold treatment of western ambassadors during the Qing dynasty; from the colourism dividing North and South China with a line of prejudice and privilege, to idealist liberal movements that are in truth hypocritical and blind to the reality of the depth of injustice; from arrogant civilising missions, colonisations, and rapacity of the west, to beliefs in the superiority and chosen status of a race over the lowly and inhumane view of another, Kuang pours heart and soul into ink and parchment to develop each facet of the picture she draws. Liptak, Andrew (2018-12-21). "Our favorite science fiction and fantasy books of 2018". The Verge . Retrieved 2019-12-27.
She will live! I’ve seen the worst! Remember Dolly, she was bumping her head against the wall when she was reading Colleen Hoover novels because they’re so emotional!Yeah… suffice to say that I highly loved the first book. Since then, The Poppy War has also garnered well-deserved praises, nominations, and awards; my high expectations towards its sequel were inevitable and I’m glad to say that after reading this book, my worry was unfounded and Kuang entranced me once again with her newest installment.
Rin, Rin, Mao… I mean Rin! I feel like she may just take the cake as the most insufferable, piece of shit protagonist I’ve ever read. I defended her character in the first book, claiming that she was morally grey and largely unlikeable but well written. Well, I can’t stand by that anymore. She is written inconsistently and despite efforts by Kuang to demonstrate or, on occasion, even justify the way she thinks or acts, it is impossible for me to empathise with somebody who is completely apathetic to others. If I wanted to know how Mao Zedong, a man responsible for the deaths of anywhere between 20-50 million people, became the monster that he was, I’d go read a biography. I don’t want him as the main protagonist in a “Fantasy” book! As of December2022 [update], The Poppy War has been translated into 14 languages in addition to its native English. They’d gotten closer to the grottoes than they had ever been in their lives. The cave mouths were so dark inside that Nezha couldn’t see more than two feet past the entrances, but their walls looked beautifully smooth, glimmering with a million different colors like fish scales.The world is chaotic and war is fundamentally unpredictable and at the end of the day you don’t know who will be the last man standing. You don’t know anything going into a battle. You only know the stakes.” There are infinite connections that can be made but given these main few, we can presume that ‘The Dragon Republic’ covered the time in which the alliance between the Chinese Communist Party (Rin) and the Government of the Republic of China (Vaisra) collapsed. By the end of this book, we are poised for the commencement of hostilities between the 2 parties which I would assume will result in Rin gaining control of the mainland and Vaisra, or whoever is left of his government, being forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan or killed. If I know anything about Kuang, they’ll be killed. the most breathtaking arc by paper-ish)Seeing Nezha try to live his life for his family, for his country, for something within him, and for his immense loss that he is still harboring, is just heartbreaking. Rage and grief can take so many forms, so very differently. Carrying things you didn’t ask for can be the heaviest of all burdens, but the way my heart breaks double for Nezha. I think we all can feel like sometimes something is living inside us, but seeing him and Rin both try to live these lives that they are now forced to live is very harrowing and you can’t help but feel all the empathy in the world for them. (And I can’t help but ship them until my last dying breath!) Nezha hesitated. He, too, wanted to see what lay in the caves around the bend. The grottoes of the Nine Curves River had been mysteries to the Yin children since they were born. They’d grown up with warnings of dark, dormant evils concealed behind the cave mouths; of monsters that lurked inside, eager for foolish children to stumble into their jaws.
Kang, J.C. (2018-05-02). "R. F. Kuang Interview – The Poppy War". Fantasy-Faction . Retrieved 2018-05-12. They believe in a singular and all-powerful deity, which means they cannot accept the truth of other gods. And when nations start to believe that other beliefs lead to damnation, violence becomes inevitable.”The river shouldn’t have been deep. The water had only come up to Nezha’s waist and Mingzha’s shoulders, had only been getting shallower the closer they moved to the grotto. But when Nezha opened his eyes underwater, the surface seemed miles away, and the bottom of the grotto seemed as vast as the palace of Arlong itself.
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