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A review by ghostluvr2000
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
'"let nezha come for us," she said. "i'm going to burn his heart out of his chest." woooooooo!!!!! book two down.
this book is so crazy i remember the first time i read it is was such a rapid shift from the first book esp in terms of pace but its still such a strong book. rin's internal struggle wrt to shamanism, altan (coming back to this dw), the south, vaisra. everything. so interesting and compelling. i do think the shift in the last few pages to realizing that the ultimate divide here was northerners vs southerners and that the war had to be fought on provincial terms was a bit out of left-field for someone who just said that she'd completely forgotten kesegi existed until he stood right in front of her and who had completely dismissed all the southern leaders a few chapters before, but. you know. that's where the plot had to go lol. also ok i'll get critiques out of the way quickly: the cike is completely underdeveloped and by the time theyre executed i barely remember whose who and even ramsa who we spend the most time with i barely have a connection to, same w. qara whose death was very obvious as soon as rin/kitay's soul bond was set up. also i hate all the nezha/altan parralels lol. its NOT the same
BUT. this book gives us sooooo much rin nezha content its crazy. they're crazy. pov: you have an ambiguous dream about maybe probably marrying him but you can't even take him seriously when he says you look nice and you need to kill him and he needs to kill you and LOVE him but you need to kill him more than you love him. 'she wanted him tortured, diminished, weakened, powerless, and begging on his knees'. and of course the classic: '"don't try to speak," nezha murmured, and he brushed his lips against her forehead as he drove the knife deeper into his back.'
more importantly though... my favourite topic :D :D ALTAN! he's sooo crazy living embodiment of 'the boy is dead stop killing him'. like ... 'of course it was altan. it was /always/ altan, lurking behind every corner of her mind, haunting every decision she made.' thesis statement for the book! 'altan was awful. altan was beautiful. and as she looked into his eyes she realized the feeling that overcame her was not love; this was a total, paralyizing fear. this was the terror of a moth drawn to the flame.' rin is so haunted by this ghost of altan she's manifested to prove her guilt and its genuinely HORRIFIC. the warping of his legacy when all he wants is to be left alone... '"does it ever bother you that all you'll ever be is a pale imitation of altan trengsin?"' / '"he did," feylen acknowledged, "but you're a far cry from altan trengsin'" STOP IT!!! leave his name ALONE.
this book is so crazy i remember the first time i read it is was such a rapid shift from the first book esp in terms of pace but its still such a strong book. rin's internal struggle wrt to shamanism, altan (coming back to this dw), the south, vaisra. everything. so interesting and compelling. i do think the shift in the last few pages to realizing that the ultimate divide here was northerners vs southerners and that the war had to be fought on provincial terms was a bit out of left-field for someone who just said that she'd completely forgotten kesegi existed until he stood right in front of her and who had completely dismissed all the southern leaders a few chapters before, but. you know. that's where the plot had to go lol. also ok i'll get critiques out of the way quickly: the cike is completely underdeveloped and by the time theyre executed i barely remember whose who and even ramsa who we spend the most time with i barely have a connection to, same w. qara whose death was very obvious as soon as rin/kitay's soul bond was set up. also i hate all the nezha/altan parralels lol. its NOT the same
BUT. this book gives us sooooo much rin nezha content its crazy. they're crazy. pov: you have an ambiguous dream about maybe probably marrying him but you can't even take him seriously when he says you look nice and you need to kill him and he needs to kill you and LOVE him but you need to kill him more than you love him. 'she wanted him tortured, diminished, weakened, powerless, and begging on his knees'. and of course the classic: '"don't try to speak," nezha murmured, and he brushed his lips against her forehead as he drove the knife deeper into his back.'
more importantly though... my favourite topic :D :D ALTAN! he's sooo crazy living embodiment of 'the boy is dead stop killing him'. like ... 'of course it was altan. it was /always/ altan, lurking behind every corner of her mind, haunting every decision she made.' thesis statement for the book! 'altan was awful. altan was beautiful. and as she looked into his eyes she realized the feeling that overcame her was not love; this was a total, paralyizing fear. this was the terror of a moth drawn to the flame.' rin is so haunted by this ghost of altan she's manifested to prove her guilt and its genuinely HORRIFIC. the warping of his legacy when all he wants is to be left alone... '"does it ever bother you that all you'll ever be is a pale imitation of altan trengsin?"' / '"he did," feylen acknowledged, "but you're a far cry from altan trengsin'" STOP IT!!! leave his name ALONE.