In The Poppy War Series, R.F. Kuang Asks: 'What If Mao Was A Teenage Girl?'
Rebecca Kuang once described her Poppy War fantasy series as "what if Mao Zedong was a teenage girl?"
The Poppy War is the story of passionate yet ruthless Fang Runin, also known as Rin, who grows up poor, orphaned by a previous war. But she studies and gets into an elite military academy, and develops a gift for shamanism that lets her call upon the fire powers of a vengeful Phoenix god. She wins a war, and joins a civil war for a new republic — only to face enemies from her own country, a former invader, and a colonial power with guns, airships, and other superior technology. The third book in the trilogy, The Burning God, has just been released.
"I was? How can (Mao) be so gravitational, that the fate of millions hinges on offhand comments that he makes?"
