A review by ghostluvr2000
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
5.0
FUCKKK no matter how many times i read this book i think it's just always going to send me crazy its SO fucking good. rin .... rin rin rin. and ALTAN !!! the rin/altan relationship will always reset my fucking brain its so so good. can't even call them narrative foils of one another because they're not they're so closely interwoven with one another, both being the last of the speerlies and having to carry that intergenerational trauma and (especially altan) literally live every day with the massacre of yr people on your backs. i wish r.f. kuang would drop her reading list for this course even through i guess that's just the oxford history degree
'she found altan in the other realm. she felt him. she knew the pattern of him as well as she knew her own. she had not always known the shape of him. she had loved the version of him she'd constructed for herself. she had admired him. she had idolized him. she had adored an idea of him, an archetype, a version of him that was invulnerable. but now she knew the truth, she knew the realness of altan and his vulnerabilities and most of all his pain... and she still loved him. she had mirrored herself against him, molded herself after him; one speerly after another. she had emulated his cruelty, his hatred, and his vulnerability. she knew him, finally knew all of him, and that was how she found him.'
'but with altan... altan did not feel even like a separate presence. rather, he and she made two parts of a much greater whole. they were two small instances of the grand, ancient entity that was speer, hurtling through the world of spirit to rejoin their kind.'
'"it will be so much harder for you," altan said. "you'll have to live with the consequences. but you're brave... you're the bravest person i've ever met." "don't leave me," she begged. he leaned forward and grasped her face in both hands. she thought for a bizarre moment that he was going to kiss her. he didn't. he pressed his forehead against hers for a long time. she closed her eyes. she drank in the sensation of her skin against his. she seared it into her memory. "you're so much stronger than i am," said altan. then he let her go.'
literally his story and their relationship (and eventually rin's) are one of the most well-written tragedies ever. and now altan's about to commit one of the most heartbreaking examples of haunting the narrative.... '"you are going to paint the world in altan's blopd, aren't you?" "i'm going to find and kill everyone response. you cannot stop me." "oh, i'm not going to try stop you."'
'she found altan in the other realm. she felt him. she knew the pattern of him as well as she knew her own. she had not always known the shape of him. she had loved the version of him she'd constructed for herself. she had admired him. she had idolized him. she had adored an idea of him, an archetype, a version of him that was invulnerable. but now she knew the truth, she knew the realness of altan and his vulnerabilities and most of all his pain... and she still loved him. she had mirrored herself against him, molded herself after him; one speerly after another. she had emulated his cruelty, his hatred, and his vulnerability. she knew him, finally knew all of him, and that was how she found him.'
'but with altan... altan did not feel even like a separate presence. rather, he and she made two parts of a much greater whole. they were two small instances of the grand, ancient entity that was speer, hurtling through the world of spirit to rejoin their kind.'
'"it will be so much harder for you," altan said. "you'll have to live with the consequences. but you're brave... you're the bravest person i've ever met." "don't leave me," she begged. he leaned forward and grasped her face in both hands. she thought for a bizarre moment that he was going to kiss her. he didn't. he pressed his forehead against hers for a long time. she closed her eyes. she drank in the sensation of her skin against his. she seared it into her memory. "you're so much stronger than i am," said altan. then he let her go.'
literally his story and their relationship (and eventually rin's) are one of the most well-written tragedies ever. and now altan's about to commit one of the most heartbreaking examples of haunting the narrative.... '"you are going to paint the world in altan's blopd, aren't you?" "i'm going to find and kill everyone response. you cannot stop me." "oh, i'm not going to try stop you."'