The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

“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.”

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang is the sequel to The Poppy War, one of my favorite books of last year. I can confidently say that it did not disappoint. The Dragon War was so much more than I was expecting going into it, when I thought I knew where it was going, R.F. Kuang laughed in my face and took the story in a completely different direction. Before the actual review begins, I would like to remind everyone to check trigger warnings. Some of the major triggers include: violence, gore, mentions of sexual assault, and drug use.

Synopsis (Spoilers)

The Dragon Republic takes place a little after The Poppy War. With Altan dead, Rin is left in a position of power she cannot handle and a god messing with her head. She spends most of her days below deck, getting high out of her mind to cope. Coping with murdering an entire country in a night and with the memories of a war she can never truly escape. The only thing she will allow herself to think about is revenge, revenge against the queen that killed her mentor and sold her to the enemy as an experiment. After being screwed over by the pirate queen, she is roped into a coup by an unlikely source, given the perfect opportunity to finally get her revenge.

Characters (Spoilers)

I had to take a long break between this and The Poppy War, both are books you really need to sit with. I was worried about how jaded Rin was at the end of the first book and how it would affect the narrative, but R.F. Kuang never disappoints. Rin was very jaded in this book, which she had every right to be, but it was handled in a way that I felt still allowed us to emotionally connect with her. I never thought that I would get that feeling I got when reading Rin going through military training, but even after all our main characters are scarred and twisted by war, we still get those moments where we see them underneath it all. That is what truly made this book special, the characters.

There were multiple times during this book that I had to put it down and stare at a wall because I was angry, scared for characters, or overwhelmed. Almost all of these characters felt very human and had some attribute to them that gave you something to sympathize with. Which made it all the harder to watch as they do inhumane things to themselves and others simply to survive. You can feel the care and detail R.F. Kuang put into this novel, it is one of the most special fantasy series on the market right now.

The Story (Spoilers)

I believe that the characters are the biggest selling point for this book, but they couldn’t shine without a meticulously built world to move about in. This fantasy China setting is incredible, with its strong connection to real history and a magic system that has actual consequences, I was in love. I will admit that it took me a little bit to fully get back into the story, mostly my fault because it had been so long between reads. Though when it clicked for me, I sat on my couch and finished the rest of the book in one sitting, roughly 400 pages. I even struggled to force myself to sit and think about the book and its implications because I wanted so badly to grab the next book and dive right back in.

The Magic System

The magic system is by far my favorite, using yourself as a conduit for a god is itself an amazing premise, but the consequences are where it shines. Most times when we are exploring the magic system it is through consequences, the gods are ruthless and lack empathy for others or the user its granting powers too. Even when we see Rin gain the ability to control her powers better, the problem does not completely go away and the solution comes with a variety of consequences itself. Magic systems that include gods are typically not my favorite because I believe it’s hard to explain why a god would grant a human such power. The god tends to be too benevolent and just gives the character crazy amounts of power for very little risk. If anything, the magic in this world is so dangerous to the user that I would never personally want to experience it myself. This makes Rin’s use of this power all the more impactful and it gives this grimdark tale the intensity that it needs.

Final Thoughts

I loved The Poppy War, though I remember having slight issues that impacted my overall enjoyment. None of those were present in The Dragon Republic. The struggle to connect back into the story in the beginning was again largely my fault, so I would recommend reading the books closer together than I did. But overall, this book was amazing from start to finish. It has been a while since I was able to just sit down and read so much in one sitting, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off the page. This book blew me out of the water and The Burning God has moved up to the top of my TBR.