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A review by isabellarobinson7
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
5.0
Rating: 5 stars
Ah. Ahhhhhhhh. AHHHHHHHHHH.
The Dragon Republic was just incredible. It well and truly topped The Poppy War for me, and it makes me even more excited to pick up The Burning God when it hopefully becomes available at my library. (Please library! You have next to nothing in my favourite genres, but please do this for me!)
All the characters exploded in The Dragon Republic (because of the nature of this series I need to classify that they all exploded in the figurative sense, in that they grew exponentially as characters, while only few were physically blown apart). They all became so much more layered, and for this reason evoked more emotion out of me. Especially this particular character who I cannot even simply name for spoilery reasons.
Unlike The Poppy War, the violence in The Dragon Republic is constant throughout. The Poppy War starts in the popular school-type setting, then drastically shifts tone come part two. The Dragon Republic starts with violence, and there are almost no periods of relaxation. And the violence in this second book is more... (this is kind of a weird thing to say) creative than the first. It's just as bloody and descriptive, but it's more... out of the box (man, I'm really trying hard to describe this). All I'll say is this: human dumplings. Yep, you heard me. Human. Dumplings. (At least I think that's what was happening. I may have misinterpreted it, which is far from new.)
I loved the addiction side of The Dragon Republic, and the withdrawal Rin was experiencing was handled masterfully. The way that she found comfort and support during her struggles was beautiful to read, and the place all those relationships were in by the end (non-specific for spoilery reasons) was so emotionally taxing.
Also, white people suck. Man, we really do. The European-type characters in The Dragon Republic were so bloody stupid and so effing slappable for the way they treated the Chinese-type people, and yet, it was so historically accurate. Dammit historic white people! You make all of us modern white people feel ashamed.
But that ending. That ending! Injewjnsoksnhubewbdskxdwkjwxdi! (A keyboard smash is the only way I can describe it.) I have not felt this way about the ending of a book for a while. I am awestruck. If you haven't picked up this series yet, what are you doing???
Ah. Ahhhhhhhh. AHHHHHHHHHH.
The Dragon Republic was just incredible. It well and truly topped The Poppy War for me, and it makes me even more excited to pick up The Burning God when it hopefully becomes available at my library. (Please library! You have next to nothing in my favourite genres, but please do this for me!)
All the characters exploded in The Dragon Republic (because of the nature of this series I need to classify that they all exploded in the figurative sense, in that they grew exponentially as characters, while only few were physically blown apart). They all became so much more layered, and for this reason evoked more emotion out of me. Especially this particular character who I cannot even simply name for spoilery reasons.
Unlike The Poppy War, the violence in The Dragon Republic is constant throughout. The Poppy War starts in the popular school-type setting, then drastically shifts tone come part two. The Dragon Republic starts with violence, and there are almost no periods of relaxation. And the violence in this second book is more... (this is kind of a weird thing to say) creative than the first. It's just as bloody and descriptive, but it's more... out of the box (man, I'm really trying hard to describe this). All I'll say is this: human dumplings. Yep, you heard me. Human. Dumplings. (At least I think that's what was happening. I may have misinterpreted it, which is far from new.)
I loved the addiction side of The Dragon Republic, and the withdrawal Rin was experiencing was handled masterfully. The way that she found comfort and support during her struggles was beautiful to read, and the place all those relationships were in by the end (non-specific for spoilery reasons) was so emotionally taxing.
Also, white people suck. Man, we really do. The European-type characters in The Dragon Republic were so bloody stupid and so effing slappable for the way they treated the Chinese-type people, and yet, it was so historically accurate. Dammit historic white people! You make all of us modern white people feel ashamed.
But that ending. That ending! Injewjnsoksnhubewbdskxdwkjwxdi! (A keyboard smash is the only way I can describe it.) I have not felt this way about the ending of a book for a while. I am awestruck. If you haven't picked up this series yet, what are you doing???