The Poppy War
core novel 2018 The Poppy War
Record
| First published | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.15 (550,064 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 545 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780062662569 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Fang Runin, known as Rin, is a war orphan from the Nikara Empire raised by foster parents who involve her in opium smuggling and plan to marry her off against her will. To escape that fate, she sits the empire-wide Keju examination and unexpectedly places first in her province, earning a place at Sinegard, the empire's most prestigious military academy. There, mocked by wealthier classmates for her poor southern origins, she discovers she possesses shamanic ability and comes under the guidance of the eccentric Master Jiang, who begins teaching her to call on the power of the Phoenix god. As Rin's third year at the academy approaches, the Federation of Mugen invades Nikan and marches on Sinegard itself, thrusting her newfound and still poorly understood powers into a war she is not prepared for.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Poppy War
- Series: The Poppy War core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: R.F. Kuang
Awards (verified)
- Compton Crook Award, 2019: won
- Crawford Award, 2019: won
- BookNest Fantasy Awards (Debut Novel), 2018: finalist; Finalist among ten nominees; not a win, correcting an earlier secondary-source 'won' claim.
- Locus Award (First Novel), 2019: finalist; Locus reader-poll finalist; not to be confused with Best Fantasy Novel (a different category).
- The Kitschies (Golden Tentacle (Best Debut)), 2019: finalist
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2018: nominated
- World Fantasy Award (Novel), 2019: nominated
- British Fantasy Award (Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer), 2019: nominated
Notes
- From the series record (The Poppy War): Closed trilogy (2018-2020). No published short fiction or novellas exist in this universe; teased prequel material (working title involving Jiang Ziya's backstory) remains unpublished and isn't counted here yet.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Poppy War: position 1 of 3: next The Dragon Republic (2019)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poppy_War
- https://rfkuang.com
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_Crook_Award
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Crawford_Award
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Fantasy_Award
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_Award
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Fantasy_Award
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