River of Smoke is the second book in this series by Amitav Ghosh about the opium wars in China. When I say it's about the opium wars, that's a very broad interpretation because it's also about many other things but that's what ties the disparate elements together. Just as in Sea of Poppies, there's a large cast of characters, some are returning from Sea of Poppies, but others are inroduced here. One of the main characters here, Master Barry, is the father of a relatively minor character of Sea of Poppies Master Barry is representative of the Indian merchants who became wealthy from the opium trade but did not occupy the same social position as the British merchants who were involved in the opium trade. Through this character, Ghosh is able to explore that class of people and the foreign enclave they were allowed to have in Canton. The history of this period in very interesting and Ghosh uses real people and their own writings to capture the conflict between the merchants who are smuggling opium, their supporters, and the Chinese government of the Manchus. It made me want to read more about Guangzhou (Canton) because I've been there and we have family ties to Guangzhou.
At the same time, the author explores horticulture and the immense number of plants that were introduced to the world from China. He also describes the intense cultivation of gardens and plants that went on in China at that time and describes Hong Kong when it was just a relatively wild place where ships filled with contraband opium would harbor until they could go up the Pearl River . River of Smoke is both the Pearl River because that's how the opium is coming into China and opium itself because people drift away on a river of opium smoke that releases them from their cares momentarily.
The shipwreck that ends Sea of Poppies is the beginning of River of Smoke but is dropped relatively soon and then picked up again at the end of the book so it's a little confusing and I know that some people were disappointed that this book was not a direct continuation of River of Smoke and we don't find out the fate of many characters but there is another book planned that hopefully ties the loose ends together better. I enjoyed the book particularly the historical aspects of it and recommend it to any general reader.
