The Poppy War
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 and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. 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. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers 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 a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
Stats for nerds
6recommend
8mentions
8people
2021–2026years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Here are a few of my favorite reads from 2024.
If I were to just pick one favorite, it is not even a contest. Heck, challenge me to pick one favorite in a decade, it would still be this. Charlie Munger! Charlie Munger: Poor Charlie’s Almanack I even wrote about 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 would be over if I read it.
R. F. Kuang: Yellowface
I can't wait for what R.F. Kuang's going to come up with next.
This is an old classic -- my son recommended this to me. I enjoyed it.
Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
What an amazing biography. Very very inspiring.
Robin Marantz Henig: Monk in the Garden: Life of Gregor Mendel
I had gotten her "Ember in the Ashes" in 2016 or so but never got to it - but this story snipper caught my attention. What a lovely book. It is set in a Motel in a Sierra Nevada town in California. Loved the book. Promptly went back to read "Ember in the ashes". This book (all my rage) won the National Book Award for Young Readers.
Sabhaa Tahir: All my Rage
Everyone's bound to get on this train sooner or later (I think this is being made into a movie) -- 440,000+ reviews on amazon. I got curious and got this book. Liked it.
Freida McFadden: The Housemaid
I am keeping the recommendations to a general audience and hence skipping my Vedanta books (which I thoroughly relish/read and read again many times). Oh, there are a bunch of business books too, a bunch more fiction this year (than my usual ratio) including a few LitRPG and of course, some running related. As always, you can see the full list here:
Here's to a happy prosperous fulfilling 2025!
Happy reading!
This post is available at: https://krishna2.com/2024 Post on Jan 1, 2024 (2023 reading): https://krishna2.com/2023 Post on Jan 1, 2023 (2022 reading): https://krishna2.com/2022
- hmm, I know people brag about books they haven't actually read, but Book #3 of the 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.
- 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 to my friends as "nothing happens" by which I mean all character stuff.
- 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.
- Here they are for easier reference:
* Worlds To Get Lost In
- The Imperial Radch Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ann-leckie/the-impe...
- The Dead Djinn Universe (series) https://publishing.tor.com/amasterofdjinn-dbtmp1230658/97812...
- The Age of Madness Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joe-abercrombie/a-l...
- The Green Bone Saga https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/fonda-lee/jade-city...
- The Expanse (series) https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/james-s-a-corey/lev...
- The Daevabad Trilogy https://www.harpervoyagerbooks.com/book/9780062678126/the-ci...
- Teixcalaan (series) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250186430
- The Thessaly Trilogy https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250811837
- Shades of Magic Trilogy https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765376466
- The Divine Cities Trilogy https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228171/city-of-stai...
- The Wormwood Trilogy https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tade-thompson/rosew...
- Black Sun (series) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Black-Sun/Rebecca-Roa...
* Words To Get Lost In
- Piranesi https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/piranesi-9781635575637
- Circe https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/madeline-miller/circe/978...
- Mexican Gothic https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577068/mexican-goth...
- The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Paper-Menagerie-a...
- Spinning Silver https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554775/spinning-sil...
- Exhalation: Stories https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538034/exhalation-b...
- Olondria (series) https://smallbeerpress.com/books/2013/04/30/a-stranger-in-ol...
- Her Body And Other Parties: Stories https://graywolfpress.org/books/her-body-and-other-parties
- The Buried Giant https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/85613/the-buried-gi...
- Radiance https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765335302
* Will Take You On A Journey
- The Changeling https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/234343/the-changeli...
- Wayfarers (series) https://www.harpervoyagerbooks.com/book/9780062444134/the-lo...
- Binti (series) https://publishing.tor.com/binti-nnediokorafor/9781250203427...
- Lady Astronaut (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/ladyastronaut/
- Children of Time (duology) https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/adrian-tchaikovsky/chil...
- Wayward Children (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/waywardchildren/
- The Space Between Worlds https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610612/the-space-be...
* Will Mess With Your Head
- Black Leopard, Red Wolf https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561305/black-leopar...
- Southern Reach (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/thesouthernreachtrilogy/
- The Echo Wife https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250174666
- The Locked Tomb (series) https://publishing.tor.com/gideontheninth-dbtmp1127517/97812...
- Remembrance of Earth's Past (series) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765382030
- Machineries of Empire (series) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ninefox-Gambit/Yoon-H...
* Will Mess With Your Heart
- The Broken Earth (series) 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/
- The Bird King https://groveatlantic.com/book/the-bird-king/
- American War https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/543957/american-war...
- Riot Baby https://publishing.tor.com/riotbaby-dbtmp1144773/97812502147...
- On Fragile Waves https://www.workman.com/products/on-fragile-waves#:~:text=On...
* Will Make You Feel Good
- The Goblin Emperor https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765365682
- Murderbot (series) https://publishing.tor.com/themurderbotdiaries-marthawells/9...
- The Interdependency (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/theinterdependency/
- The Martian https://www.broadwaybooks.net/book/9780553418026
- Sorcerer to the Crown/The True Queen https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/761/a-sorcerer-to-...
- 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.
