Soon after the Third Poppy War ends, Rin and the Cike are captured by the Dragon Warlord, Yin Vaisra, who instructs Rin to destroy Empress Su Daji and unite the empire under one republic.

The war has ended, at long last—but in its wake, another begins. In R. F. Kuang’s sequel to The Poppy War, the citizens of the Nikara Empire’s southern provinces are no longer battling for ...