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The Poppy War
R. F. Kuang
2018 · Fantasy
How it reads
The Poppy War is fantasy (historical fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in several locations, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are war, power and politics and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It opens a series. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's a long book, and a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
- you need a happy ending
- you want something you can finish this weekend
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- debut
- Setting: place
- multiple locations
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- long
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- war, power and politics, identity
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The Burning GodR. F. KuangShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, fast paced
The mirror empireKameron HurleyShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, dark ending
City of StairsRobert Jackson BennettShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, set in multiple locations- Prince of ThornsMark LawrenceShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, fast paced
Half a KingJoe AbercrombieShares: fantasy, dark mood, fast paced, historical setting- The Traitor Baru CormorantSeth DickinsonShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, dark ending
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