Maková válka

This book is hard. Don't read it if you want some fun fantasy because it's very much so not that. I knew that going in because I read Wikipedia article (and I read Babel lol), but I still didn't expect it to be this heavy immediately.

The fact that the events in the book are based on things that actually happened is disheartening. Not because of the book, but because it's horrifying that people could commit such atrocities--n fact, they still do and it's never less horrifying.

Rin is a fool of a girl and the world is cruel. I'm frusrated and upset. I'm marveling at the nuance R.F. Kuang manages to convey. It's complicated.

Read up on Nanjing, read up on Unit 731. I don't think you can properly see this novel for what it is if you don't.

I enjoyed this book very much, both for its approach to fantasy through Chinese (rather than European) culture and for its basis in real-world history. The last third of this book is filled with the graphic horrors of fascists at war, so I wouldn't recommend this for young readers. (Thinking of my niece, who loves to read.) I particularly like the end of the book, because in the end our hero commits an act of fascist evil herself, and we are forced to think about things like the nature of justice, the cost of vengeance, and the dangers of power. Looking forward to jumping into The Dragon Republic!