[book post] The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Jan. 26th, 2021 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenluaTremendously promising, as far as debut novels go, but also I've got like zero interest in reading the rest of the trilogy?
It's a weird book, in that the first half feels like stilted YA, so much so I almost put it down—Rin is so smart and works so hard and everyone at the big fancy school is so mean and snobby even though she is so talented, etc—but uh, then it flips a switch like whoa and suddenly there's a fucking war on and everyone is drafted to fight and shit gets extremely real.
This Locus review probably captures most my thoughts from there on out. It's a fine page-turner and a fine romp; I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the druggie-magic stuff; and it really could go in a few wildly different directions for the rest of the trilogy, depending on what the author chooses. (I'm told Rin's overall arc is modeled on Mao's life story, which is a really interesting choice!) But—ultimately it felt a little too familiar and tropey for me to want to pick up the next one.
I believe the author's now working on a new trilogy, though, something set at Oxbridge and going for a dark academia vibe and some kind of critique of the colonialist-education-complex? and I'll be very eager to read that, when it comes out—Kuang's got a very deft touch, prosewise, and knows how to keep a story moving; I'd love to see those talents applied to something more quiet and broody and such.
It's a weird book, in that the first half feels like stilted YA, so much so I almost put it down—Rin is so smart and works so hard and everyone at the big fancy school is so mean and snobby even though she is so talented, etc—but uh, then it flips a switch like whoa and suddenly there's a fucking war on and everyone is drafted to fight and shit gets extremely real.
This Locus review probably captures most my thoughts from there on out. It's a fine page-turner and a fine romp; I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the druggie-magic stuff; and it really could go in a few wildly different directions for the rest of the trilogy, depending on what the author chooses. (I'm told Rin's overall arc is modeled on Mao's life story, which is a really interesting choice!) But—ultimately it felt a little too familiar and tropey for me to want to pick up the next one.
I believe the author's now working on a new trilogy, though, something set at Oxbridge and going for a dark academia vibe and some kind of critique of the colonialist-education-complex? and I'll be very eager to read that, when it comes out—Kuang's got a very deft touch, prosewise, and knows how to keep a story moving; I'd love to see those talents applied to something more quiet and broody and such.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-27 03:47 am (UTC)Definitely curious to check out more of her work, though!
no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 10:20 pm (UTC)