The Poppy War
by R. F. Kuang · first published 2018
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Fantasy grounded in history, with a dark, society-focused take on war and power. It works as a strong opener to a series and offers a fresh lens on the genre.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off an
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If we’re recommending series in general, I recommend the Broken Earth Trilogy be NK Jemisin and The Poppy War series by RF Kuang. These series have a completely different approach to fantasy as a lens of society that I really adore. I’m also a big fan of the Daevabod Series by SA Chakraborty. That is also hella.
on “The Animal Is Tired” ↗I read a lot, usually history but I've been getting back into fiction I really liked The Three Body Problem, I've over a thousand pages in the last month in this series. I also enjoyed The Poppy War and Dune. The best nonfiction I read recently was Blackshirts and Reds and A People's History of the Supreme Court. It's not quite HN material, but I also absolutely loved The Nix. It's a book I described…
on “Ask HN: What should I read next?” ↗…Atlas Series is not out until January. (kidding, I assume it's a typo) Not actually on Booktok myself, but if it's pushing people towards R.F. Kuang and Susanna Clark then it's a-ok by me - read the Poppy War series while you wait for The Atlas Complex.
on “TikTok is changing the way books are recommended and sold” ↗…https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/n-k-jemisin/the-fif... - Station Eleven https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239452/station-elev... - This Is How You Lose the Time War https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Is-How-You-Lose-... - The Poppy War Trilogy https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-poppy-war-r-f-kua... - The Masquerade (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/themasquerade - An Unkindness of Ghosts http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/an-unkindness-of-ghosts/…
on “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade” ↗I just popped over there and the second entry was "Poppy War influences". So I wanted to thank you for reminding me that I really enjoyed the first book and need to get around to the others in the series.
on “Ask HN: Why haven't bookmarks been re-invented?” ↗…this: https://krishna2.com/munger Just like countless others, I too grew up bewildered by Jackie Chan's movies and his stunts. And I liked his autobiography. Jackie Chan: Never Grow Up I read "The Poppy War" - even though I liked it, I didn't want to go down a full-fledged series. I read "Yellowface" and loved it so much. I have "Babel" on my shelf - but (irrationally) I am not reading it thinking that it…
on “Books I Loved Reading in 2024” ↗…looked up something from a list of, say, AAPI sci-fi/fantasy novels that I've never heard of, only to find out adaptations are being worked on for them. (examples include Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, The Poppy War by R.F. Huang, and Jade City by Fonda Lee). Who are you to suggest that the authors behind these works are doing it out of some misprioritization of what the market is looking for? As far as the literary…
on “The Uprising of Mesopunk Books: A Subgenre Guide” ↗Seriously. Why would "A blue Ford just parked in front of the door. Jim still hasn't truly fully woken up but he was already making breakfast..." incite me to read the book? Compare that to The Poppy War which I just discovered: "Take your clothes off. Rin blinked. What? Cheating prevention protocol."
on “Judge a book by its first pages” ↗