# The Poppy War

The Poppy War is a 2018 fantasy novel by American author R. F. Kuang, published by Harper Voyager. A grimdark fantasy, it draws plot points and politics from mid-20th-century China, with the conflict in the novel based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, and an atmosphere inspired by the Song dynasty. A sequel, The Dragon Republic, was released in August 2019, and a third book, The Burning God, was released November 2020.
Harper Voyager's editorial director David Pomerico acquired the novel after a heated auction on Kuang's 20th birthday.

## Plot

Fang Runin ("Rin") is a war orphan in the Nikan Empire whose foster parents employ her in their opium smuggling. She secretly studies for a national test to escape an arranged marriage and places first, which sends her north to Sinegard, the imperial capital and home of the military academy.
Mocked for being a poor southerner, Rin excels in her studies. She becomes friends with Kitay, the son of a minister and enemies with Nezha, the son of one of the twelve regional warlords. She also looks up to the school's star student, Altan, who is from the island of Speer. Speerly soldiers served the empire by wielding shamanic fire powers from their god, the Phoenix, until being massacred by the Mugen Federation in a previous war. Rin attracts the attention of Master Jiang, who develops her talent for shamanism. She wins the first year tournament over Nezha, is enthralled by the appearance of the empress at a festival, and is taught by Jiang how to access the magic of the gods via meditation and psychedelic drugs.
In her third year, the Mugen Federation invades Nikan and seeks to capture Sinegard. Master Jiang disappears after using shamanistic powers to summon monsters to bring down the gate that Rin and Nezha were defending on the Mugenese army. In the aftermath, Rin faints after using the power of the Phoenix to immolate an enemy general who impaled Nezha, which prompts a Mugenese retreat. Rin learns she is a Speerly and to avoid the warlords fighting over her, is selected to join the Cike, a misfit unit of mostly-shaman imperial assassins now led by Altan.
The Cike are sent to the southern port city of Kurdalain, where despite a successful strike on Mugenese reinforcements, Rin struggles to access the Phoenix. She reunites with Nezha who apologises to her for his treatment of her in Sinegard, and they kill one of the monsters released by Jiang. After prolonged street fighting, Altan become disillusioned and Nezha is lost during a Mugenese chemical attack. The Cike realize that the Kurdalain siege is a feint and travel to the wartime capital of Golyn Niis to find the city destroyed and its inhabitants massacred by the Mugenese. Sifting through the wreckage, they discover Kitay, who informs them that the empress had fled the city before the massacre, and Venka, Rin's former roommate, who was raped and begs Rin to avenge her.
Altan decides that the only way to win the war is to unleash former members of the Cike who are entombed alive after going mad in a mountain prison where their powers are suppressed. Having gotten approval from the empress, Altan sets off with Rin. There, they find Jiang who had imprisoned himself after losing control of his power. He refuses to help them and accuses Altan of only wanting revenge for his people. After releasing Feylen, a former Cike with wind powers, nearly results in Altan's death, the pair decide to leave but are captured by a Mugenese ambush.
Rin and Altan are taken to a Mugenese science facility and experimented on with opium. They learn that the empress had sold out Nikan and betrayed their mission for her own life. The opium helps Rin awaken her power and Altan sacrifices himself as a diversion for Rin to escape the mainland to go to Speer. There she finds the Phoenix's temple, channels the god's unlimited fire, and destroys the primary island of the Mugenese homeland. In the aftermath, Rin awakens on a ship crewed by the Cike and Kitay, who is horrified by what she has done. She learns that Altan named her Cike commander and vows to use her newfound powers to take revenge on the empress for her treachery.

## Inspiration

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. 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". Kuang said Rin's life is meant to parallel the trajectory of Mao Zedong. Grounded in the real-world history of Chinese wars and adding a fantasy drug element inspired by the Opium Wars, the war between Rin's country of Nikan and Mugen mirrors the Second Sino-Japanese War with its horrors at the Nanjing Massacre.
Kuang has cited Avatar: The Last Airbender as a major influence on her work; particularly the character of Azula, and the relationship between Zuko and Katara. Ender's Game, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Grace of Kings, and Game of Thrones were other influences.

## 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, Time, The Guardian, Paste, Vulture, Bustle, and The Verge. It has received endorsements from authors Fonda Lee, Julie C. Dao, and Kameron Hurley. It was also nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. According to Book Marks, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on seven critic reviews: one "rave" and six "positive".
Publishers Weekly 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. He further described the book as a dark and fatalistic tale of warfare.
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." 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

As of November 2024, The Poppy War has been translated into 15 languages: Bulgarian, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian.