The Poppy War

R.F. Kuang’s debut novel announced her as a writer to watch when it came out, and rereading The Poppy War now you can see why. The book starts in something close to a coming-of-age fantasy. Rin, an orphan from the south of the empire, tests into Sinegard, an elite military academy. The first third has a lot of academy beats that fans of Name of the Wind or The Magicians will recognize.

Then the war starts, and the book shifts hard. Kuang draws explicitly on the Second Sino-Japanese War, including episodes like the Rape of Nanking, and the violence in the second half is meant to land like a punch.

This is not comfortable fantasy. It’s the first in a trilogy, and the later books pull no punches either.

If you’ve read N.K. Jemisin or want grimdark with real historical weight, start here.