Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Dragon Republic

This book took me a couple tries to finally get through, but I’m so glad I did. This is the second book in the poppy war series, and while it doesn’t hit quite as hard with the brutality of war as the first book, so much happens and I felt so many emotions.

I have so many mixed feelings about the main character, Rin. In the first book, she wanted to get out of her rural village and attend Sinegard, the foremost military academy in the Empire. Her ability to push her mind and body to its limits scared me, and it was foreshadowing for the amount of grief and anger she felt, and ultimately for the war crimes she committed.

This book explores a bit more of the mythology of the world, and how shamans call upon the gods to access their power, but the gods are chaotic and view this world as a plaything. Any mortal who calls on them knows that it only ends in their death or in their body becoming a vessel of chaos. Rin was still reeling from her choice at the end of the previous book, and turned to smoking opium every day just to function and not burn everyone around her with the phoenix god’s destructive will.

I really like how the story weaves a fantasy world full of shamans and chaotic neutral gods with the history of 20th century China. The wars happening in the empire are also treated as a curiosity by the Hesperians, who are a stand-in for western allied powers in world war 2. Their treatment of the main characters as savages who need salvation was angering and sickening, but it also parallels what happened in real life. I’m excited and utterly terrified to read the final book.

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imds's review

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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vb10's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sharkbate's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

"Rin was so tired of having to prove her humanity."

This fucking book! I laughed, I screamed, I cried. THIS is what middle books of trilogies should always be. Zero downtime, lots of character development (and deconstruction), and at least one heel turn.

There are so many amazing quotes I could pick, but the one above really demonstrates the underlying message of the whole series to this point. Throughout every interaction in this book, Kuang demonstrated the reality of life for people born on the bottom rungs of any society. It's subtle in a way a lot of stories with themes of socioeconomic or racial inequality aren't these days, but it's so much more powerful for that subtlety.

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thjelmar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Beautifully written, continues on a magnificent story. I will be rereading this again.

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