The Poppy War

Rin is a poor war orphan who lives with opium seller foster parents. To avoid an arranged marriage, she secretely studies for a national test, the Keju, as an escape. Much to her surprise and the villagers' Rin places first and is sent off to a Sinegard, the imperial military academy in the north. Although the students mock the color of her skin and her southern accent, Rin excels in her studies. She becomes friends with Kitay, the son of a minister, and enemies with Nezha, the son of warlord, and looks up to Altan, the school's star student. At the end of her first year she discovers her talent for shamanism and spends the next year studying with the batty Master Jiang, who teaches her how to access the magic of the gods via the use of meditation and more importantly psychedelic drugs.

When the country is attacked by the Mugen Federation, Rin and Nezha fight together to defend the gates, where Master Jiang reveals the depth of his shamanic powers. Rin is then sent south to the front to Kurdalain. There she finds she's been attached to the Cike, imperial assassins, who are a company of so-called misfits – all of whom have shamanistic abilities – commanded by Altan. He is from the island of Speer and is able access and control fire through his god. When they realize the battles in the area are a feint, they travel to Golyn Niis to find that city destroyed. Sifting through the wreckage they discover Kitay, who has survived hidden behind a wall. Rin wants revenge against the Mugenese and works to access her god, the Phoenix of Speer. When Rin and Altan are captured by the Mugenese they are subjected to science experiments and made into heroin addicts. When they escape Altan gives his life in a suicidal attack as a diversion for Rin to escape the mainland to go to Speer. There she finds the fire Phoenix's temple, channels the god's unlimited fire, and destroys the islands that are the Mugenese homeland.

Kuang wrote The Poppy War while teaching debate in China and graduated with a degree in Chinese History from Georgetown University a few days after its release.[1] Her studies in Chinese military strategy and collective trauma inspired her to write the novel.[7][8] She said, "I chose to write a fantasy reinterpretation of China's twentieth century, because that was the kind of story I wasn't finding on bookshelves".[7] Kuang said Rin's life is meant to parallel the trajectory of Mao Zedong.[9] Grounded in the real-world history of Chinese wars and adding a fantasy drug element inspired by the Opium Wars,[4] The Poppy War is a dark and fatalistic tale of warfare.[10] Rin must decide whether to make a deal with the gods to unleash her shamanic powers. Her decision may change the war but result in the loss of her humanity. The war between Rin's country of Nikan and Mugen mirrors the Second Sino-Japanese War with its horrors at the Nanjing Massacre.[6]

The Poppy War was a 2018 Nebula Award nominee,[11] and was named one of the best books of the year by several publications and organizations, including The Washington Post,[12] Time,[13] The Guardian,[14] Paste,[15][16] Vulture,[17] Bustle,[18] and The Verge.[19] It has received endorsements from authors Fonda Lee, Julie C. Dao, and Kameron Hurley.[20] It was also nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.[21]

Publishers Weekly called the book "a strong and dramatic launch to Kuang's career,"[22] while Michael Nam, writing in New York Daily News, referred to The Poppy War as an ambitious start to a trilogy.[23]

Lila Garrott in Locus gave the novel a more critical review: "It's well executed for what it does, but it's a shame that Kuang chose to downplay the more original elements in favor of material that has been seen before. All of the novel's ambition seems to have gone into the worldbuilding and magic system and then not been allowed to affect the actual plot."[24] In his Wired commentary on fantasy tropes, Jason Kehe agreed that the material did not represent a "revolution" in the genre, but said that "Kuang manages to pierce through."[25]

As of December 2022, The Poppy War has been translated into 14 languages in addition to its native English.

• Kidd, James (2018-07-25). "China's bloody history and Game of Thrones-style fantasy unite in author R.F. Kuang's debut novel". South China Morning Post.
• Excerpt on Tor.com