The Dragon Republic
Ratings386
Average rating4.1
“But eventually, you'll have to ask yourself precisely what you're fighting for. And you'll have to find a reason to live past vengeance.”
Usually, I am nervous when it comes to sequels to fantastic books and The Poppy War? Beyond fantastic. So, yeah, I was anxious to go into this in case it didn't live up to the first book.
I was so wrong.
Somehow, it got even better.
I'm not sure what R.F. Kuang puts in their books but whatever it is, it's addictive and I can't get enough of it. I wanted to read The Dragon Republic in one sitting and I found myself angry when I couldn't do just that. That's how you know it's a great book.
The Dragon Republic had all the fantastic things that the first book had but elevated.
It's not often that you read a series that makes you angry that you took so long to pick it up.
The found family that is Cike is so special to me. I love each one of these characters. I feel like I laughed, cried, mourned and felt betrayed along with them with everything that was thrown at them. This was an emotional roller coaster that I didn't want to get off.
4,5/5⭐️
Dit boek was cool! Er is zo veel gebeurd in dit boek. Eerst dat Rin zichzelf niet onder controle had en toen naar de dragon warlord ging. Toen wist ik al dat dit een heel vet boek ging worden. Daarna tegen Daji en nog veel meer. Ook Feylen die aan de kant van Daij staat en dus tegen Rin vecht. Rin die ineens vleugels heeft
Book Trigger warning. Book involves brutal wars based on racism and genocides.
I received this book as a Giveaway and needed to read the Poppy Wars one first. Incredible weaving of history and shamans together in a character driven story. The main character is actually unlikable, but actually grows or hardens like young adults (children) would actually be like. She responds differently and thinks differently as books progress, which is rare to see. Usually only shallow cosmetic changes in other books. Already starting the 3rd!
I am absolutely reeling from the end of this book. I never thought I would like military fantasy quite so much as I've loved the Poppy War trilogy so far, but as the stakes keep rising for characters I've grown to...not exactly “love” so much as know as if they were real people since book 1, this entry is setting the stage for something equal parts epic and horrible in the conclusion.
That said, shit, I need a breather before continuing. This one was exhausting.
“Fire and water looked so lovely together. It was a pity they destroyed each other by nature.”
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGG THAT WAS SO MUCH I AM SO DISTRAUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Dragon Republic
CAWPILE SCORE
C-7
A-7
W-8
P-7
I-6
L-7
E-6
TOTAL-6.86/10
CAWPILECharacters.Kuang's characters still seem fully realized and like individual people. The relationships that are built and destroyed follow the way most relationships go. The relationship between Nezha and Rin felt very organic and real.Rin was very realistic, from wanting to forget her past decisions to just doing whatever the person in charge of her tells her to do, to absolve her own guilt.AtmosphereThe Atmosphere that Kuang has written is all pervasive. The dirty, the depression, the want for release. The very realistic depiction of war and what happens to all the people in war. WritingThe writing in this book is great. Her skill at prose is obvious.PlotThe plot makes sense. Rin wants revenge on the Vipress for betraying their country. So she goes through/with several people to get it. However it felt a bit repetitive. Work for—Betrayal--- Work for---Betrayal. It felt like all that happened it this book was a series of Betrayals over and over again.InvestmentMy Investment of this book varied widely there were lots of parts I didn't care about at all, and other parts where I just wanted more. LogicThe only thing that really felt crazy to me was how much betrayal is in this book. Everybody betrays everybody else all the time. Rin is usually the one being betrayed. The competence of certain leaders (Jinzha) felt very real EnjoymentThis book was good, but I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed it. This definitely isn't in my normal go to for Fantasy books.MiscLearning that Nezha is a Shaman/Half-Shaman. So cool.The Ketreyids and Naimeds was cool, wish we could've learned moreSeeing the Trifecta in their Peak was cool. Wish we knew more about Daji (Vipress) final plan, since she escaped at the endNezha's Betrayal the very end. End of the Cike
I will be talking about it on Libromancy https://libromancy.podbean.com/
I honestly had to force myself to get through this one. While I thought the first one was original, engaging, and had me hooked, I admit that I was losing interest by the end of it. And this one is just an extension of the first, nonstop battle jargon, Rin being completely immature and ridiculous, and too many descriptions of irrelevant things. I won't be reading the third.
Stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this one and it was so worth it!!!!
Love Qara, hated the petty arguments, spoiled The Burning God for myself on accident.....
holy moly this series is nuts. the worst part of it is knowing that it's inspired by real life events.
rin is such a badass character, but at the same time should we like her?! she committed genocide. but only after it was committed on her people first!? you know what they say about an eye for an eye; the whole world goes blind!
pretty bummed about the rest of the cike, and nezha. things haven't been pretty, and definitely won't be in the conclusion of this trilogy.
I usually don't like politics and don't like naval battle stories... But I love every little part of this book. You can tell the amount of care and the attention to detail the author put into it.
Stunning 2nd entry to this series.
And Kitay is the best character of this series, hands down.
Wow, this book improved upon The Poppy War in every way! Kuang's prose, sense of tone, plotting, and characterizations went way up. I was riveted the entire time by Rin's journey, the plot, the supporting characters, and the worldbuilding. I am a huge sucker for “people find out about more technologically advanced societies”, and watching Rin discover more about Hesperian culture was great.
Lots of dark things happen in this series and Kuang displays such a maturity in dealing with them. Another thing I love about this series is the male/female friendship is done very well. It's so rare for m/f friends in media to admit to loving each other and actually saying it out loud to each and risking their lives for one another without there being some sort of “bUt oNe oF thEM is aKUALLY in LUV”.
Rin is such a well-written character, one of my favorites ever. I absolutely hate almost every decision she has ever made, and yet, I root for her to get justice, to get revenge, to save the nation. This is so hard to pull off because if I was around Rin for more than 11 seconds, I would probably kick her in the shins.
That said, I do have one minor problem with this book, involving characterization. I'll mask the issue so that people who haven't read it aren't spoiled but people who have read it will know what I'm talking about:
Character A is incredibly upset at Character B. Character B did something unforgivable. Character A spends a portion of the novel not speaking to Character B. They have a brief chat discussing their reactions to trauma, and then they are friends again. Not long after, Character A has to make an INCREDIBLY LIFE ALTERING SACRIFICE to help Character B. Character A does it immediately, without hesitation, without knowing the risks/rewards, and with Character B protesting that they do it at all.
This just didnt work for me at all. As great as Kuang is at characters and dealing with their trauma, this definitely felt like “I need X to happen, so they're just gonna forgive each other immediately” and I hate that. I understand that for the story to go where Kuang needed it to, event X had to happen. But the journey of forgiveness or maybe the decision to make the sacrifice should have been done over a longer time/with more depth. It was such a series-altering and life-altering decision and I couldn't believe character A would do this so quickly.
But that said- I thoroughly enjoyed everything else. I cannot WAIT to dive into book 3.
Deel één deed even denken dat het Harry Potter In China-maar-dan-niet-écht-China zou worden, maar het werd redelijk snel duidelijk dat het niet dát soort boek was. Dat het een hervertelling van de Tweede Chinees-Japanse Oorlog, maar dan alsof het honderd jaar eerder was in een andere wereld, met ook magie en sjamanen en alles.
Deel twee gaat op datzelfde elan verder. Het hoofdpersonage is een tiener, en dus verwacht een mens ergens dat er toch iéts van romance zou in de lucht hangen. Er zijn twee mogelijke kandidaten voor een relatie met Rin: één persoon die eigenlijk al dood is (maar dat belet niet noodzakelijk iets in boeken zoals dit) en één persoon die in boek één haar aartsvijand is (maar ook dat belet niet noodzakelijk iets).
Niets van: Rin is diep getraumatiseerd (zoals iemand die uit verdriet en woede een massamoordenaar werd wel eens kan worden), is totaal verslaafd aan opium, en sluit een pact met (de vader van) haar voormalige aartsvijand. Die man heeft het plan opgevat om de Keizerin van haar troon te stoten en het land om te vormen naar een soort democratie.
Hij hoopt daarbij hulp te krijgen van de Westerlingen.
Ik verklap niet veel als ik zegt dat ook dit boek niet zo goed afloopt. Maar ik vond het wél veel beter dan het eerste boek. Volwassener, en zonder dat mossel-noch-vis-begin: het is meteen duidelijk dat het menens is, en dat het niet om sprookjes gaat.
Too good. The first book was good, this was better and when the buzz is true, the next one will be fantastic! I can't wait to jump to it!
I'm hurting and I'm not okay.
Not sure if I'll ever update this review, but this book hurt me more than my parents' separation.
