Poppy War trilogy Kuang's debut novel
The Poppy War, a Chinese military fantasy, was published by
Harper Voyager in 2018 and is the first book in the Poppy War trilogy.
The Poppy War has received mainly favorable reviews, with
Publishers Weekly calling it "a strong and dramatic launch to Kuang's career". In October 2020, the first two books in the
Poppy War trilogy were included in
Time magazine's list of the 100 best fantasy books of all time. In December 2020, Peter Luo's Starlight Media, the U.S. film subsidiary of China-based Starlight Culture Entertainment Group,
optioned the rights to adapt Kuang's Poppy Wars trilogy for television with SA Inc. producing. The TV adaption has been stuck in
development hell since 2020.
The Poppy War The Poppy War, a
grimdark fantasy, draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China, with the conflict in the novel based on the
Second Sino-Japanese War, and an atmosphere inspired by the
Song dynasty.
The Poppy War was nominated for the 2019
World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
The Dragon Republic Released in 2019,
The Dragon Republic is the sequel to
The Poppy War. The Nikan Empire begins to fall apart due to infighting and the Hesperians return. The reviewer for
Fantasy Book Review wrote: "Kuang excels at wreaking emotional havoc while delivering a powerful meditation on war and survival."
Publishers Weekly said that "Kuang brings brilliance to this invigorating and complex military fantasy sequel to
The Poppy War."
The Burning God Released in 2020,
The Burning God is the sequel to
The Dragon Republic and the conclusion to the
Poppy Wars series. Rin fights the forces that have torn her country apart into a civil war. A reviewer for
The Fantasy Hive wrote: "Rebecca Kuang's conclusion to her debut trilogy,
The Poppy War, is testament to her growth as a writer; not only is it a fitting close to an ambitious series." The reviewer for
Publishers Weekly said that "[t]he result is a satisfying if not happy end to the series."
Babel It is an
alternative history novel, set in a fantastical version of
Oxford in 1830s England. In the second week of September 2022,
Babel was placed at the top spot on
The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction, but dropped to the ninth spot the following week before disappearing from the list by the end of the month. Kuang's
Babel was excluded from consideration for the 2023
Hugo Award along with Chinese Canadian author
Xiran Jay Zhao's
Iron Widow. The awards ceremony that year was held in Chengdu, China, and leaked emails later revealed that an administrator had recommended that books whose content might prove controversial in China be excluded from the list of nominees. The screen rights options for this novel were sold in early 2024 to
wiip studios for a television and/or film adaptation with
Temple Hill Entertainment producing.
Yellowface Publisher
William Morrow and Company stated in a press release that Kuang's fifth novel,
Yellowface, follows "a white author who steals an unpublished manuscript, written by a more successful Asian American novelist who died in a freak accident, and publishes it as her own". The title of the novel,
Yellowface, refers to the film industry practice of
yellowface, in which white actors are used to portray Asian characters, analogously to
blackface, in which white actors use makeup to portray black or African characters. Satirical, sharp and cynical (in accordance with a review posted at an online site), this book is Kuang's first foray into the
literary fiction genre. Writing in the "Acknowledgement" section of the book, Kuang considers her book a "horror story about loneliness in a fiercely competitive industry". In the last week of May 2023,
Yellowface debuted at the eighth spot on the
Los Angeles Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction. In the first week of June 2023,
Yellowface debuted at the fifth spot on
The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction. The reviewer for
NPR called the book "a well-executed, gripping, fast-paced novel about the nuances of the publishing world when an author is desperate enough to do anything for success." Writing for the
New York Times, award-winning author
Amal El-Mohtar wrote that the novel is "a breezy and propulsive read, a satirical literary thriller that's enjoyable and uncomfortable in equal measure." The screen rights options were sold to
Lionsgate Television in late 2024 with
Karyn Kusama slated to direct and executive produce a potential limited series based upon this novel with
Constance Wu, Justine Suzanne Jones, and Ben Smith announced as producers.
Katabasis In February 2023, Kuang reported that while working on her doctoral degree at Yale, she was also working on her sixth novel, a fantasy about two PhD students who study magick at Cambridge University. After their adviser is killed in an experiment, the students travel to Hell "to rescue the soul of their [adviser so that he] can write their job recommendation letters". In an interview with
The Guardian, Kuang calls the project "nonsense literature". During a November 2023 book promotion tour at the
Brattle Theatre near Harvard University, Kuang stated that her upcoming book "... started as this cute, silly adventure novel about like, 'Haha, academia is hell.' And then I was writing it and I was like, 'Oh, no, academia is hell.'" The publisher
HarperCollins described the book as a
dark academia fantasy in which "Dante's
Inferno meets Susanna Clarke's
Piranesi".
Book Riot named Kuang's sixth novel as "one of the most anticipated books of 2025". Katabasis was released in August 2025. An
advance reader copy (ARC or EARC) of
Katabasis was highly prized among some readers. Early
EARC reviews were very positive. In an
Elle magazine interview, the author described
Katabasis as "a world of ideas, and [she] liked the freedom to chase a logical paradox or a philosophical puzzle." A week before the book was scheduled to be released, the screen rights options for the novel were sold to
Amazon MGM Studios for development as a television series with
Angela Kang set as writer and showrunner. Kang will also executive produce along with Kuang, Mandy Safavi, Ben Smith, and Jeffrey Weiner.
Taipei Story In April 2023, she also announced that two additional books had been acquired by HarperCollins, a "historical novel and a fantasy," neither of which are
Katabasis. Two years later, she finished the first draft of her seventh novel, titled
Taipei Story, in April 2025. At a November 2024
University College Oxford literary discussion, Kuang described her book as a "love story set in the capital of Taiwan", a story that is unrelated to the
1985 Taiwanese movie of the same name. The novel is a coming-of-age story about a college freshman who is doing a language study abroad program in Taipei. In another interview, Kuang stated that the book is "about language, grief, and coming of age." She also describes it as "a coming-of-age story set in a language school in Taiwan, which will be in the larky style of the American novelists
Elif Batuman and
Patricia Lockwood."
Future works In October 2025, HarperCollins announced that they had signed Kuang to a new four book deal, which included
Taipei Story, until 2030. == Personal life ==