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    The Poppy War
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    The Poppy War
    Unavailable
    The Poppy War
    Audiobook18 hours

    The Poppy War

    Written by R. F. Kuang

    Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    Winner of the Reddit Fantasy Award for Best Debut 2018

    ‘The best fantasy debut of 2018’ – WIRED

    A brilliantly imaginative epic fantasy debut, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

    When Rin aced the Keju – the test to find the most talented students in the Empire – 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 had hoped to get rich by marrying her off; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free from a life of servitude. That she got into Sinegard – the most elite military school in Nikan – was even more surprising.

    But surprises aren’t always good.

    Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Fighting the prejudice of rival classmates, Rin discovers that she possesses a lethal, unearthly power – an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of psychoactive substances and a seemingly insane teacher, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive – and that mastering these powers could mean more than just surviving school.

    For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most people calmly go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 3, 2018
    ISBN9780008239831
    Unavailable
    The Poppy War
    Author

    R. F. Kuang

    Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.

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    Reviews for The Poppy War

    4/5

    1,376 ratings66 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I wasn’t the biggest fan of the story. I liked the first part at school but once the war started I checked out a bit.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great story, great characters, great narration.

      Dark and honest depiction of wartime devastation through the eyes of a young girl going though her own inner war for power and recognition.

      Perfect if you love a story arc when the character learns of their abilities as you do whilst exploring the greater world of the author.
    • 4/5
      First thing I should mention is that I don't do spoilers if I can help it. Therefore I don't delve into tropes or development, nor do I comment on plot unless I cannot prevent it.

      The Poppy War came highly recommended to me, and I can certainly appreciate why. That being said, it is not flawless. There are numerous triggers that may upset listeners, and there are at times some very grim scenes. With that said, I would also recommend it to certain people, but not everyone. If grim books with triggers excite you, then you are probably in the category I'd recommend to the most. If you're unsure, maybe read other reviews.

      The playback was quite heavy due to the complexity of the piece, so I did not find the speed to be particularly adjustable. The narration was clear, but I could not listen to this book in one sitting. It felt too condensed, as in I had to take breaks to avoid information overload. I don't think this could have been avoided, as there was a lot to convey. Nevertheless, this was a solid four stars. I'm looking forward to the sequel, and I may revisit this in future.
    • 4/5
      Really interesting story. Very dark and gory. I want to know what happens next.
    • 5/5
      It was a good one. Keep the listener interested from the beginning till the end.
    • 3/5
      Good book but not great. The book feels like a copy of The Name of the Wind, almost exactly the same story.. tough childhood, university, same professor character, same uni rivalry etc. Just wished there was more to it all, the end was very very anticlimactic.
    • 4/5
      Damn. Onto the next one I guess. This was seriously good and I'm curious to see how this story continues
    • 5/5
      Sensational, soul-stirring, magnificent, magical, heart wrenching, guttural, insatiable, crimson, divine
    • 4/5
      i loved it so much and i miss altan trengsin
    • 5/5
      I'm so freaking impressed. Amazing work for lovers of folklore, shamanism and real badass heroine
    • 4/5
      Excruciating in its violence and yet not absurd or over the top in its imagining. Such a powerful story and one that was so reminiscent of the atrocities of colonisation and slavery in some ways and also reflective of the burdens placed on survivors to overcome what many have tried to destroy in them.

      There were times I just wanted to love Rin and give her hope and times where I stood with her in righteous indignation. A character that resonated with me in so many ways.

      Written with a breathtaking vividness - this book transported me completely and immersed me in its world. I felt the pain and the horror, the determination and fight of it all. Magnificent.
    • 5/5
      what a ride!!! and Great narration too. Now unto the next book!
    • 5/5
      If you like a riveting roller-coaster of fantasy, action with more twists than a boa constrictor and more grey areas than an overcast day. This novel is worth your time, it begins slowly but when it begins to convey its tale it keeps on giving to the reader until the very last page.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. It is unique and riviting.
    • 5/5
      Amazing story. If you have a liking for asian mythology/folklore, you'll adore it even more. Fresh, something different from your casual fantasy reading
    • 5/5
      Inspiring, intense and interesting. I really love the nuances of the story and the incredible characters development
    • 5/5
      Fun YA dystopia X fantasy book. I could not relate to the main character too well(due to her impulsive behaviour) but that is not to say the book was poorly written. The story hooks were great and while the story was clearly ended at a point that would allow for a full sequel, it is a coherent story within itself with only a couple of potentially loose threads.
    • 3/5
      I was really excited getting into an Asian-inspired Fantasy debut. And I also like the fact that it was based on history.
      The intro sounded very promising and was really fast-paced which is not so very common in fantasy. However, after a few pages into it I felt that the character was very Mary Sue and I found it really hard to connect with her.
      After a 100 pages or so, I was really drawn into the school setting. That was the most fun part besides being Info-dumpy which I did not mind as I was learning more about the world which was really fascinating. The magic system was the hard part. It was different and vividly explained but I didn't find it mind-blowing.
      The main character felt realistic only after 3/4th part of the whole narrative. Surprisingly, the secondary characters felt more realistic than Rin.
      This book was definitely a chosen one trope which it attempts to deny but clearly fails. And that bugged me in the last half of the book.

      Overall, I did not hate the book. It will always be the book that introduced me to the diverse section of Fantasy with history weaved into it. It's just that there were some parts of it which I liked, some I've loved(strategy classes) and some I was not a fan of.
    • 3/5
      After hearing so much hype I was left disappointed. The plot was all over the place, jumping through events and regions so I have a feeling that a lot was left unfinished, the characters were coming and going and with so many of them I honestly couldn't keep up. Liked the main character and some of the supporting characters. Also, I found certain word choices were not really appropriate for the world the author has created (for example, I can't really picture anyone saying they want to f*** someone up in historical China) which pulled me out of the story. As far as the audiobook goes, the narrator did a good job as I would've DNFed the book had I had to read it physically.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Absolutely incredible. A new all-time favourite. Dark and brutal but my god... I have no words to describe this masterpiece.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Brilliant and oh so painfully fcked up. Masterful set out but also quite quick paced. I got so addicted I finished it within 4 days

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wonderful book with vivid descriptions of the most horrible things that a human cruelty can come up with. A book that definitely made me tear up and follow the story with it’s fascinating chapters.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Holy fucking shit what a fucking book! Check your trigger warnings! Kuang did not hold back. This was brutal. This was horrific. This was amazing.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The narration was really well done. I liked the characters and the morality (or lack their of) behind their choices. They were complex and flawed– as such, there were times where it was a bit difficult to follow their development.

      Overall, when I wasn’t listening to is, I was thinking about it.

      [MILD SPOILER] There were things that were foreshadowed in the beginning of the book that comes back towards the end in a spectacular way.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The book starts off feeling kind of like a YA fiction novel but certainly doesn't stay that way for long. This gets really dark and brutal, especially when you consider that much of it is lifted straight from real world history. Excellent job of bringing together a lot of the nuance of the build-up to the Second Sino-Japanese war and then the brutality of that war, while bringing in heavy fantasy elements. Blended really well. My biggest issue is there are several parts where things feel like they accelerate way too quickly. I feel like this would have been better as two books.
    • 1/5

      The author is adept at her craft - I found it very hard to put down. But it was vile, senselessly violent. I found its allegories clumsy, and the themes of sexism and colorism seemed to be presented without challenge. I will not be reading the rest of the series.

    • 5/5
      2021 Winter (February);
      ~ Content Warning ~

      How do I even begin to talk about this debut novel written by a 19-year-old on her gap year? About this book that 80% of my friends and favorite authors have all marked down as 5 stars? About a book so loudly hyped for the last 2-3 years that it's never left my radar? That it was grim and absolutely worth your time, but likely not a reread type book?

      They. Were. Absolutely. 100%. Right.

      This book is stunning as a first novel and I'm all heart-eyes about the continued promise from all these people that she only gets better and better from here as she grows. The voice of this story is refreshingly crisp, in-depth, well-founded, and new. The historical placement/retelling of so many things in this is both heart-swelling and stomach-churningly heart-breaking.
    • 3/5
      Stopped reading with 100 pages left. Too much graphic, horrific violence
    • 4/5
      Rin is great character, head strong and fearless. I loved the weaving of history and mythology.
    • 2/5
      How do I even start this review... Well, first off, I did like the first half of this book. It was action-packed, full of strange-but funny-relationships, and there was some interesting character development. However, after the war started, my interest level tanked. I do not like war stories that have no spirit, and this was definitely one of them. Well, I guess there WAS spirit, but it was the wrong kind of spirit. I didn't like how Rin and Altan dropped off the deep end, fueling themselves with rage. I felt a wall steadily building between me and Rin the longer the story went on; I couldn't put myself in her shoes. I didn't WANT to put myself in her shoes because she had turned into someone I didn't like. When she couldn't see anything past her vengeance, I couldn't support her anymore. All in all, I was greatly disappointed with the ending of this story. I really wanted to love this book, but my expectations were, I suppose, too high. I may, out of pure curiosity's sake, read the second book, but it is highly unlikely that I will force myself to. I'm sure there are many others who love-or perhaps will love-this story, but I was not one of them.