Fantasy · Similar reads
Books like The Poppy War
The best books like The Poppy War are Blood Meridian, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Things They Carried. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is about war and atrocity, colonialism and power, trauma and survival. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Blood Meridian
01
Cormac McCarthy · Literary fiction
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West is set along the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840s and loosely follows a teenage runaway known only as the kid, who falls in with the Glanton gang — a historical band of scalp hunters hired by the Mexican government to kill Apache raiders.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - All Quiet on the Western Front
02
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque · History
All Quiet on the Western Front follows Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier who enlists with his classmates during the First World War after being swept up in patriotic speeches.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - The Things They Carried
03
Tim O'Brien · Memoir
Tim O'Brien served as a foot soldier in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
04
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Peter Frankopan · History
Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads proposes a radical recentering of world history.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
05
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - A Darker Shade of Magic
06
V.E. Schwab · Fantasy
A Darker Shade of Magic is set across four parallel versions of London — Red, Grey, White, and the long-destroyed Black — each existing in the same location but separated by the barriers between worlds.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Candide
07
Voltaire · Classics
Candide is a young man raised in a Westphalian castle on the philosophy of his tutor Pangloss: that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
Both dig into war and atrocity.
Read the summary → - Dark Places
08
Gillian Flynn · Thriller
Libby Day survived the Kansas farmhouse massacre that killed her mother and two sisters when she was seven.
Both dig into trauma and survival.
Read the summary → - Exit West
09
Mohsin Hamid · Literary fiction
Exit West follows Saeed and Nadia, two young people who meet and fall in love in an unnamed city beginning to fracture under the pressure of civil conflict.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Little Fires Everywhere
10
Celeste Ng · Contemporary fiction
In Shaker Heights, Ohio — a meticulously planned, deliberately integrated suburb — two families collide.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Oliver Twist
11
Charles Dickens · Classics
Oliver Twist is the story of an orphan born in a workhouse who runs away from an abusive apprenticeship, falls in with a gang of thieves in London, and — in Dickens's scheme — is eventually rescued and restored to his rightful identity.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Pachinko
12
Min Jin Lee · Historical fiction
Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean family from a small fishing village in early twentieth-century Korea to Osaka and Yokohama in postwar Japan.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary →
Books like The Poppy War: quick answers
What are the best books like The Poppy War?
The best books like The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang are Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Poppy War, such as war and atrocity, colonialism and power, trauma and survival.
What should I read after The Poppy War?
A natural next read after The Poppy War is Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. A kindred fantasy read. Other strong choices are All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan.
What books are similar to The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang?
The Poppy War centers on war and atrocity, colonialism and power, trauma and survival. Books with a similar feel include Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
