A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the …
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .
Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.
Good but not great. The book started off just being average using a school setting to instruct our protagonist (and reader) about society, magic and such. I don't mind this method of world building but the delivery here was unexciting.
Each Part of the book escalated drastically and the Young Adult school setting from the start is a distant memory once the grim and horrific bodies start to pile up. There was enough to keep me entertained but I never felt fully invested in character or story either.
The final Part of the book was very gory and dark that it was equally disturbing and entertaining to read. With the enemy known and our hero aware of her powers I am intrigued to push on to Poppy War #2 but am not sold on the series as a whole so will see how I feel after the next instalment.
This is hard book to rate: I liked much of the world building but the other reviews commenting on the uneven characterization and jarring increase in darkness certainly weren’t wrong. I’m not sure how to feel about the use of real historical atrocities, either: the book lacking the developed history left that part feeling unexplained — we have a generic explanation for the conflict but it didn’t feel real enough to explain the intensity without relying on your knowledge of real-world Chinese-Japanese history. Having one minor character return briefly solely to be motivational felt heavy-handed.
I don’t know what it was. Maybe just too long-winded. Anyway, at some point i got bored with this. In the middle of an action scene, no less. It started out OK. Basically, you are not supposed to pass the kējǔ as a poor person, and when you do, the rich folks will look down on you. But then there wasn’t really all that much else.
A great fantasy with Chinese inspired elements, written by a Chinese author we love to see it ! Also the author wrote this at 19, and won many awards for this debut novel, the talent^^
Rin, a poor war orphan, gets into this elite military school and will face many difficulties and ennemies..and that's it for now! Just keep in mind that this is adult, and it contains hard topics related to war times. Also I started this because I thought the final book was coming out in May, turns out it was pushed back to November, lol..
Spoilers! Underdog self harming orphan girl is the Chosen One, joins X-Men assassin squad of child drug addicts, proceeds to turn to the Dark Side and genocide Nazis and civilian support cities with lava, in alternate universe historical China where gods granting magic is a thing. Problematical. Books 1 and 2 great, 3 goes off the rails. Strong female lead, not for kids. TW: drug use, self harm, violence, rape, atrocities
This book started off as something I couldn't put down, and threw me for a loop a dozen times. It transforms from a fish-out-of-water university story to a spiritual pantheon epic, back around to a speculative-fiction take on the Japanese Imperial occupation of main-land China, back around to the internalized trauma of war, all while centering itself on the notion of choice(and lack-there-of in some cases), with compelling(but always flawed) characters pulling you through.
Political theory, modern Sino-Japanese history and genocide interwoven with fantasy - this book was written keeping me in mind. So very good.
The pacing is very good overall, but it flags at the 60% mark. I think that's a deliberate choice - Rin lacks agency in this stretch of the book, being more of an observer, and that's reflected in the writing. Altan's character and the portrayal of the gods serves as a good canvas to reflect on how we ascribe external justifications for our violence, and the enduring effects of this violence.
It gets brutal and violently graphic later in the book; I had to stop reading for a bit. But I guess that's the point when you're talking about the unforgivable horrors of war. This particular portrayal will stay with me.
Pick up this book if you're a history buff and love the competitive school fantasy trope. This …
Political theory, modern Sino-Japanese history and genocide interwoven with fantasy - this book was written keeping me in mind. So very good.
The pacing is very good overall, but it flags at the 60% mark. I think that's a deliberate choice - Rin lacks agency in this stretch of the book, being more of an observer, and that's reflected in the writing. Altan's character and the portrayal of the gods serves as a good canvas to reflect on how we ascribe external justifications for our violence, and the enduring effects of this violence.
It gets brutal and violently graphic later in the book; I had to stop reading for a bit. But I guess that's the point when you're talking about the unforgivable horrors of war. This particular portrayal will stay with me.
Pick up this book if you're a history buff and love the competitive school fantasy trope. This series holds great promise.
Hugely ambitious epic fantasy set in an alt-universe China. Starts out light and familiar for fantasy (smart plucky girl goes to magic school) but then makes a abrupt left turn into a war novel that is unrelentingly violent and grim. Uneven pacing, thin supporting cast, protagonist makes baffling decisions, and very hard to read in the last third. I was impressed with the ambition but conflicted about the craft. The author is very young and this is her first novel. I'll give #2 a chance.
