I wanted to like the Poppy War but ultimately couldn’t get into it because I felt the writing, dialogue and characters felt too modern and caricature for the historical setting. It completely ruined my story immersion.
However, the concepts and setting intrigue me so I’m looking for suggestions for historical fiction with east asian settings/concepts that have realistic characters and dialogue.
Sidenote: Does anyone know if Babel also has this same style of writing as Poppy War? I’m intrigued by it but am afraid of the same disappointment.
by doiella
6 Comments
“The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu” ?
ETA: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee maybe
try The Green Bone series. Ive just finished the first book Jade City, it’s been good so far.
Btw, Babel’s writing is more crafted, and doesnt sound YAish at all like some parts of the poppy war imo. But honestly im not sure u would like it since your impression of the poppy war is not that good 😅
I have read the poppy war but i hear babel was 1000x better tha TPW. Its amazing, the charters feel real and like the could exist in their world, the magic concepts were fleshed out and well explained. The writing its self just feels so real so right there.
Im sure youll love babel even though you didnt like TPW
(esp if you listen to the audiobook)
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan? It has fantasy elements, but more realism than Poppy War.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee also covers the time period of the Sino-Japanese War, but from the perspective of Koreans living in Japan
The Dandelion Dynasty books by Ken Liu might work for you – it’s a series of 4 that starts with *The Grace of Kings*