A collection of the year's best science fiction and fantasy writing selected by New York Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang and series editor John Joseph Adams. R. K. Kuang, New York Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy and Babel, selects twenty pieces that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year and explores the ever-expanding and changing world of science fiction and fantasy today.
What's the harm in a pseudonym? Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she claims to be—she didn't write the book attributed to her and is not Asian American. In this chilling yet humorous novel, authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were once poised as twin rising stars from Yale, but their paths diverged dramatically. Athena became a literary darling while June struggled for recognition. After witnessing Athena's tragic death, June impulsively steals her completed manuscript, an experimental novel highlighting the contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. June edits and submits the work as her own, rebranding herself as Juniper Song with an ambiguously ethnic author photo. She rationalizes that the story deserves to be told, regardless of the teller, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to validate her actions. However, as evidence of her deception emerges, June finds herself trapped in Athena's shadow, racing to protect her secret. The narrative explores the depths to which June will go to claim what she believes is hers while addressing critical issues of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation in the publishing industry. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, sharp, and engaging, delving into the erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western society.
The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R.F. Kuang's acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect. After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn't given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much - the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges - and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix's voice, urging her to burn the world and everything in it?
Rin’s story continues in this acclaimed sequel to The Poppy War—an epic fantasy combining the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters. The war is over. The war has just begun. Three times throughout its history, Nikan has fought for its survival in the bloody Poppy Wars. Though the third battle has just ended, shaman and warrior Rin cannot forget the atrocity she committed to save her people. Now she is on the run from her guilt, the opium addiction that holds her like a vice, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix—the vengeful god who has blessed Rin with her fearsome power. Though she does not want to live, she refuses to die until she avenges the traitorous Empress who betrayed Rin’s homeland to its enemies. Her only hope is to join forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who plots to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new republic. But neither the Empress nor the Dragon Warlord are what they seem. The more Rin witnesses, the more she fears her love for Nikan will force her to use the Phoenix’s deadly power once more. Because there is nothing Rin won’t sacrifice to save her country . . . and exact her vengeance.
A war orphan rises from her humble beginnings to become a powerful military commander, and perhaps her country's only hope for survival