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  • The Poppy War

  • The Poppy War, Book 1
  • By: R. F. Kuang
  • Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
  • Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (453 ratings)

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The Poppy War cover art

The Poppy War

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of the Reddit Fantasy Award for Best Debut 2018.   

A brilliantly imaginative epic fantasy debut, inspired by the bloody history of 20th-century China 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 realised 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....

©2018 R. F. Kuang (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"A blistering, powerful epic of war and revenge that will captivate you to the bitter end." (Kameron Hurley, author of The Stars Are Legion)

"A thrilling, action-packed fantasy of gods and mythology...The ambitious heroine’s rise from poverty to ruthless military commander makes for a gripping read, and I eagerly await the next installment." (Julie C. Dao, author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

"In The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang draws on history and myth to tell a relentlessly unforgiving story of war, vengeance, power and madness, with larger-than-life characters that evoke sympathy and rouse terror. Brace yourself." (Fonda Lee, award-winning author of The Green Bone Saga)

What listeners say about The Poppy War

Average Customer Ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible!

I am so glad I decided to listen to this book on audiobook instead of physically reading it, because Emily Woo Zeller's performance was phenomenal. She is, without a doubt, one of the best narrators I've heard. Her voices for each character was very distinct and even the male characters genuinely sounded like men.

The Poppy War was a wild ride of a novel, it never lets up and will keep you listening. I found myself doing more and more chores just so I could keep listening. Highly recommend! But also please be aware of the heavy content in this novel (it was inspired by the Nanking Massacre), which includes: genocide, drug use, addiction, racism, self-harm, bullying, abuse, animal cruelty and death, torture, rape (off-page but described in detail), mutilation, graphic depiction of the murder of children and adults, and experimentation on children. Please take care when listening to this book.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Immersive and brilliant historical fantasy

I absolutely loved this book, I alternated between reading the Kindle copy and the audiobook for my first read and it was a great experience. This is a historical fantasy based on China's complex modern history, particularly the Second Sino-Japanese war and the lead up to the Cultural Revolution. R. F. Kuang majored in International History, with a focus on modern Chinese military history, and it really shows in this book.

The Poppy War reaches the perfect balance between inspiration from historical facts and reinventing a world all its own. If you love anti-heroes and morally ambiguous characters, you will find Rin utterly fascinating. The audio performance by Emily Woo Zeller is also brilliant, I am a long-time fan of her narration and I think her voice is very emotive.

The book does get very dark, especially towards the last third. A lot of the events shown actually parallel real-life horrors, which made it all the more confronting. Content warning for genocide, rapes, murder, torture, human experimentation, self-harm, and a lot of violence. The content never felt gratuitous, but do take note that the last third of book is quite graphic before you read or listen to it.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Clumsy yet an engaging story

Obviously a first novel - clumsy and heavy handed in many ways, with shallow and inconsistent characterisation. Read like a young adult novel right up to the point that it got traumatically gruesome. I was on the brink of giving up and returning this book many times, yet kept listening to the end so I shouldn't be too harsh. The story was engaging (after a while at least) and some great creative world building.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

YA writing with very adult content

I really struggled to enjoy this. It's written in an overly dramatic 'young adult' way, but with very adult concepts (extremely graphic depictions of violencr and torture, raping children). It also has racist tropes. I hate leaving a book unfinished, but I had to with this one.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Struggled to finish

A bit cliche. Well used premise. Boring characters. Poor decision making. I made it within 2 minutes of the end. Just a bit too painful.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Stunning narration! But…

Brilliant idea and a unique setting, but the pacing was off at times, and the fantastical elements felt underbaked overall. Also, Altan is beyond insufferable from the start, and Rin becomes more so in the later parts of the book; I won't be reading the rest of the series.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Solid Book, Great Narration

I found the story of the book to be a very odd mix between the magic school trope and ASOIAF, except it only took the violence from Martin and none of the plot or characterisation. This created a break in tone toward the end that made all of the YA elements seem suddenly trite, yet they kept on coming. Still a very solid debut by Kuang.

As for Zeller, she did a fantastic job with the narration and did a big part of the work of keeping me engaged. She's clear enough that you can still understand her well at 1.75x speed which is important for me!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Story reads like fanfiction

This story started out great but quickly turned into toilet paper. The main character went from a fierce independant girl into a boring whingy crying Mary Sue. I cannot believe how angry this made me to listen to. Barely any of the characters decisions made sense, the dialogue was crap most of the time. The author had them saying things that they wouldn't realistically be saying or doing. The main character cries too much too, and she can ever make her own mind up she needs a big strong man to do it for her.

Overall this story sucked. I'd rather reread all the twilight novels. The narration was fantastic though, and the only saving grave for this dog vomit of a story. What a waste of money and time.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Dissapointing

Somewhat difficult to believe why characters did what they did. The ending could have been much better than it was, philosophically the book confused alot of what the main character was supposed to have known.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Pornography of sexual violence

Reader was good.
Story endless violence
Rape reports foul. Read Amin Gosh on the Opium wars

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