ok but now i want to make a "things you should know before starting the poppy war" video featuring a mini crash course on east asian history

for those starting, book 1 is a parallel to the second sino-japanese war (1937-1945) while the setting is ancient china.

this book confronts the brutality of war, and scenes of violence are taken directly from history books. this is not a romance story. https://twitter.com/subtleasianbook/status/1288210173949956096

nika = china, mugen = japan, hesperia = the west, speer = most direct parallels to taiwan. there are even character parallels to political figures.

this series is not an attempt to vilify any specific country or glorify violence but to shed light on history through fantasy

r.f. kuang has referred to tpw as the "prologue" for the BIG EVENTS in books 2 and 3 which follow the chinese civil war between the republic (pro-democracy) and the communist party

we also look at the influence of western countries in geopolitical affairs through hesperians