When she aces the Keju, an Empire-wide academic exam, she finds herself enrolled in Sinegard Academy, an elite military school in one of the wealthiest areas of the Empire. The story follows Fang Runin (known simply as Rin), an orphaned girl from a small farming province in the Nikara Empire, who is desperate to escape the path set out for her. Set in a world inspired by 20th century China, The Poppy War is a brilliant and brutal tale of war and magic, one that builds a world both mesmerizingly different and unsettlingly similar to our own. The 2018 novel has been one of the most popular to break the typical fantasy mold and has brought something new and refreshing to the genre. Though it’s a trope that has worked well for the genre in the past, it’s never quite resonated with me or introduced me to new perspectives in the way that more recent fantasy novels have. I have been an avid fantasy reader for years, but I started growing weary of stories about small-town farm boys turned heroes, prophesied to save the world from a great and somewhat nebulous evil. Entrenched in tales set in Western medieval worlds, the fantasy genre can often feel like a monolith for those who have not actively sought out more diverse stories. However, this has started to shift in recent years, as both the industry and the genre have started to devote more attention to new and varied voices.
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