''The Poppy War'' is a 2018 novel by R. F. Kuang, published by

Harper Voyager HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Co ...

. ''The Poppy War'', a

grimdark Grimdark is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent. The term is inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game ''Warhammer 40,000'': "In the grim darkness of ...

fantasy, draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China, with the conflict in the novel based on the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, and an atmosphere inspired by the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. A sequel, '' The Dragon Republic,'' was released in August 2019, and a third book, '' The Burning God'' was released November 2020.

's editorial director David Pomerico acquired the novel after a heated auction on Kuang's 20th birthday.

Plot

The novel centers on a poor orphan, Rin, who studies in secret to test into the elite Sinegard Academy. Kuang said Rin's life is meant to parallel the trajectory of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

. Grounded in the real-world history of Chinese wars and adding a fantasy drug element inspired by the

Opium Wars The Opium Wars () were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century. The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and the United Kingdom, and was triggered by the Chinese government's c ...

, ''The Poppy War'' is a dark and fatalistic tale of warfare. When a conflict surfaces between the Nikara Empire and their neighboring nation, the Federation of Mugen, Rin is called to the front lines. She must decide whether to make a deal with the gods to unleash her

shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

powers. Her decision may change the war but result in the loss of her humanity.

Inspiration

Kuang wrote ''The Poppy War'' while teaching debate in China and graduated with a degree in Chinese History from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

a few days after its release. Her studies in Chinese military strategy and collective trauma inspired her to write the novel. 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".

Reception

''The Poppy War'' was a 2018 Nebula Award nominee, and was named one of the best books of the year by several publications and organizations, including ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', '' Paste'', ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'', ''

Bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. ...

,'' and ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...

''. It has received endorsements from authors

Fonda Lee Fonda Lee (born March 10, 1979) is a Canadian-American author of speculative fiction. She is best known for writing ''The Green Bone Saga'', the first of which, ''Jade City (novel), Jade City'', won the 2018 World Fantasy Award—Novel, World Fa ...

, Julie C. Dao, and

Kameron Hurley Kameron Hurley is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Biography Hurley was born in Washington state and has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, Durban, South Africa, and Chicago. She currently resides in Dayton, Ohio. Hurley has been publ ...

. It was also nominated for the

World Fantasy Award for Best Novel In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

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

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'' 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." 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."

Translations

, ''The Poppy War'' has been translated into 14 languages in addition to its native English.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poppy War, The 2018 American novels Dark fantasy novels HarperCollins books Books by R.F. Kuang