The Poppy War

The war escalates into full-blown catastrophe. After the Cike discover the wartime capital of Golyn Niis destroyed and its people massacred by the Federation of Mugen, Altan Trengsin becomes convinced that the only way to turn the tide is to free the deranged former Cike members who have been entombed alive in a remote mountain prison, their powers suppressed. He takes Rin with him. There they find Master Jiang, who imprisoned himself after losing control of his own power; he refuses to help and accuses Altan of pursuing revenge rather than victory. Releasing Feylen, a wind-shaman driven mad by his power, nearly gets Altan killed, and the two are then ambushed and captured by Mugenese soldiers.

Rin and Altan are taken to a Mugenese research facility, where they are experimented on and drugged with opium. Under interrogation they learn that Empress Su Daji betrayed the mission and sold out Nikan to save herself. The forced opium exposure paradoxically helps Rin fully awaken her connection to the Phoenix. Altan sacrifices himself, creating a diversion so Rin can escape the facility and make her way to the island of Speer, homeland of her massacred people.

At Speer, Rin reaches the ruined temple of the Phoenix and opens herself completely to the god's fire. She unleashes it without restraint, obliterating the primary island of the Mugenese homeland in an act of total, genocidal destruction, ending the immediate military threat but at horrific human cost.

In the epilogue, Rin wakes aboard a ship crewed by the surviving members of the Cike, along with her friend Kitay, who is horrified by what she has done and by the person she has become. She learns that before his death, Altan named her the new commander of the Cike. Grieving him and hardened by what she has learned of the empress's betrayal, Rin vows to use her devastating new power to take revenge on Su Daji for selling out their country.

Rin (Fang Runin) is a dark-skinned war orphan from the impoverished south who tested into Sinegard, the Nikara Empire's elite military academy, to escape an arranged marriage forced on her by her foster family. At Sinegard she faced prejudice for her class, region, and color, but proved a gifted student. She became close friends with Chen Kitay, the son of a minister, and developed a bitter rivalry with Yin Nezha, son of a regional warlord, which eventually thawed into mutual respect. Under the guidance of the eccentric Master Jiang, Rin discovered she had shamanic ability — the power to call on gods, particularly the vengeful Phoenix, using meditation and psychoactive drugs.

Rin idolized Altan Trengsin, Sinegard's star student, one of the last known Speerlies — a people whose shaman-warriors once served the empire with fire powers from the Phoenix until they were massacred by the Federation of Mugen in a prior war. When the Federation invaded Nikan during Rin's third year and attacked Sinegard, Master Jiang vanished after summoning monstrous force to hold a gate against the invaders. In the chaos, Rin unleashed the Phoenix's fire for the first time, immolating an enemy general to save a mortally endangered Nezha, and collapsed from the effort. In the aftermath she learned she herself was a Speerly, and to keep the warlords from fighting over her, she was placed in the Cike, an elite unit of shaman-assassins commanded by Altan.

The Cike were deployed to the port city of Kurdalain, where Rin struggled to reliably summon the Phoenix's power. She reconciled with Nezha, who apologized for his past cruelty, and they fought together against a monster before Nezha was lost in a Mugenese chemical attack. Realizing the Kurdalain siege was a diversion, the Cike traveled to the wartime capital, Golyn Niis, and found it destroyed, its population massacred by the Mugenese. There they recovered Kitay, and found Venka, Rin's former roommate, who had been raped and begged Rin for vengeance.

Determined to change the war's course, Altan led Rin to a mountain prison holding former Cike members driven mad and entombed alive, hoping to unleash their powers against Mugen. There they found Master Jiang, self-imprisoned after losing control of his own abilities; he refused to help and accused Altan of seeking personal revenge rather than a real strategy. Freeing Feylen, a wind-shaman, went badly and nearly killed Altan. The two were then captured by a Mugenese ambush and taken to a science facility, where forced opium experimentation revealed that Empress Su Daji had betrayed the war effort and abandoned Nikan to protect herself. Altan sacrificed himself to let Rin escape to the island of Speer, where she fully embraced the Phoenix's power and destroyed the main island of the Mugenese homeland.

The book ends with Rin waking aboard a ship among the surviving Cike and Kitay, who is horrified by the massacre she caused. She learns Altan named her his successor as Cike commander before he died. Grieving and radicalized by Altan's death and the empress's betrayal, Rin vows to hunt down and take revenge on Su Daji. Going into the next book, open threads include: Rin's uneasy new command of the Cike, her fractured friendship with Kitay, the fate of Nezha (last seen lost in a chemical attack at Kurdalain), the unresolved threat of Feylen and other unleashed mad shamans, and Rin's planned pursuit of vengeance against the empress.