![]() The future of Rin in this world may appear quite dark, but that of the series seems bright indeed. Frankly, it's also just wonderful to have more genre stories told through an Asian cultural tableau. ![]() ![]() Where the children's "Avatar" animated-series ultimately is about optimism in the face of unending warfare, "The Poppy War" delivers a tale more fatalistic, but still relatable. The Poppy War, a grimdark fantasy, draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China, 1 2 3 with the conflict in the novel based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, and an atmosphere inspired by the Song dynasty. Kuang ambitiously begins a trilogy that doesn't shy away from the darkest sides of her characters, wrapped in a confectionery of high-fantasy pulp. A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of Chinas twentieth. Despite the sometimes disturbing paths that we follow down with Rin and her allies, there is debate and nuance. More "Hunger Games," less "Sorcerer's Stone." A larger world of war atrocities, mad gods and demented scientists ups the stakes for the peasant girl of iron will, but despite the terrible violence that Kuang describes in excruciating detail, there is a gallows humor at work and the principle characters never entirely lose their charm enough to disconnect from the reader. ![]() ![]() The ensuing campaigns, trials and adventures go from quaintly Potter-esque to drama of historic scale. ![]()
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