Book Review #62: The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

Hello Dear Reader!

Welcome to my book review of the sequel of The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. This book was over 100 pages longer than its prequel, and I enjoyed every single second of it! Just like with The Poppy War’s review, I will preface this one by saying there are a PLETHORA of trigger warnings including, but not limited to, violence, murder, substance addiction, trauma, mentions of abortion, rape, body mutilations, racism, and so on and so forth. It’s still definitely NOT for a YA audience because of the rather detailed descriptions of the above subjects. Was it as mind-numbing as the first book? No, but it was still pretty bad.

ANYWAY! Still following the story of the young Fang Runin, or Rin for short, The Dragon Republic picks up several months after the previous book ended, with Rin and the Cike fighting to stay alive and gather resources while accomplishing a mission given to them by Moag, the pirate queen. Things take a quick turn when a ship of theirs is hijacked. Fortunately, they end up in friendly hands, and Rin finds herself to be one of the centerpieces to achieving the over throw of the empire and creation of the Dragon Republic.

But before I get deeper into that, here’s the back-cover summary (from Goodreads):

In the aftermath of the Third Poppy War, shaman and warrior Rin is on the run: haunted by the atrocity she committed to end the war, addicted to opium, and hiding from the murderous commands of her vengeful god, the fiery Phoenix. Her only reason for living is to get revenge on the traitorous Empress who sold out Nikan to their enemies.

With no other options, Rin joins forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who has a plan to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new Republic. Rin throws herself into his war. After all, making war is all she knows how to do.

But the Empress is a more powerful foe than she appears, and the Dragon Warlord’s motivations are not as democratic as they seem. The more Rin learns, the more she fears her love for Nikan will drive her away from every ally and lead her to rely more and more on the Phoenix’s deadly power. Because there is nothing she won’t sacrifice for her country and her vengeance.

Time for the review!

Just like its prequel, The Dragon Republic has so much to it that this book review is going to be structured differently. And like the first book’s review, I’m starting with a brief paragraph on the book’s world and magic system.

The second book of this trilogy gradually builds on what had been introduced of the world in book one. People and cultures that were mentioned make an appearance, such as the Hinterlanders and the Hesperians, and the way in which they appear smooth and very closely tied to the plot. With the appearances of these groups come the great diversity of their cultures, with the Hinterlanders bringing another element of magic to the power system of the world and the Hesperians bringing in a whole different religious system that frowns upon shamanic powers and features one overarching god. There are big physical differences as well, with the people of Nikara, the Federation, the Hinterlanders and so on and so forth having appearances that would bring to mind Asian people and the Hesperians described like Caucasian people.

And as a quick note before getting into the story, this provides a pretty solid base for the racism featured in this book.

As for the story and its plot, there’s so much to it that I’m only going to give a general overview of my thoughts and opinions. Otherwise, this review would be a full-fledged essay.

This book has so many subplots and twists I can’t possibly list them all. From overcoming drug addition to battling trauma to a literal backstab from a rather special friend, The Dragon Republic takes Rin and the rest of its characters and humanizes them to the finest of details. Betrayals, manipulations, the changing of sides, the gradual understanding between friends and even enemies are features in this book, and they’re all done so beautifully. Even the main villain, the empress, has her entire character flipped onto its head by the end of the story. There’s such a huge shift on who the true enemies are, and it’s magnificently done.

And all of the above are encompassed within a brilliant war story. The strategies and reasoning behind the decisions made in this book were interestingly complex, but very well-explained. You can say there’s quite a bit of exposition because of the numerous “montages” scattered throughout the book explaining preparations for war and the reasoning behind certain plans and decisions, but I found all of them to be so fascinating. In my opinion, these sections were very well-timed throughout the story, and it didn’t hinder my eagerness to keep on reading one bit.

Just like The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic does a great job of exploring the moralities of characters and their own personal reasons for making certain decisions throughout the book. I personally saw this the most with Rin, and it was fascinating seeing her grow and mature from the broken character she became at the end of book one. Her thoughts are well-documented throughout the book as she’s exposed to the religion and culture of the Hesperians, the ways of the Hinterlanders, and of course her own people as they become involved in the civil war. This book is like the personification of the phrase, “there are always two sides to every story”, and with the many complexities surrounding this civil war and the many events leading up to it, it’s very hard to concretely choose a side to root for because everything is so morally gray.

Before I give my final rating, I just want to randomly say that Kitay and Rin’s friendship gives me absolute joy, Venka and Rin becoming friends has me cheering for them, and I have no words for Nezha and Rin’s relationship. I just have hope.

So, The Dragon Republic rating:

5/5 and highly recommend! I think it was a fantastic sequel to the first book and built upon it superbly! It pulled in events and tied a few loose ends from the previous book while setting up the third and final book of the trilogy masterfully. I’m super excited to read the finale! And, of course, I really do caution reading this if you want to avoid any of the above trigger warnings. Just like its prequel, this book shows no mercy when it comes to their depictions.

Thanks for reading!