The Poppy War trilogy is truly once in a lifetime and this conclusion was honestly a work of art all itself. This series is a military epic fantasy that is ownvoices and inspired from the authors family history and the stories she learned from them. Heavy themes of war, colonization, racism, colorism, genocide, cycles of abuse, and so many different types of trauma are never shied away from. I’ve read and reviewed many books these last six years of my life, and I’m not sure a series has impacted me more than this one. Every sentence has meaning, every chapter is so well planned, every event conveys layers and layers of thoughts and feelings. History is truly created by the victors mostly with the most blood on their hands, and the stories that get told are mostly through a white and colonized lens. R.F. Kuang has done so much with these three books and they mean so much to so many Asian readers.

Okay, okay, let me try to give you a review now! Also, please check out my dear friend Petrik's review, because he is the reason I requested an ARC of The Poppy War back in early 2018. He is also a Chinese reviewer and his voice means a lot to me! Next, this review is going to be spoiler free for The Burning God, but not for The Poppy War or The Dragon Republic! Please use caution reading this review if you have not read the previous two installments in this series!

"She was capable of such cruelties, even without the Phoenix’s power, and that both delighted and scared her."

Rin and Kitay have had everything in their world turned upside down again at the start of this book, but they are both desperate to reclaim a country that has been taken from them repeatedly. They’ve also both been playing for the winning side for so long, they soon learn that tactics and strategy feel vastly different when you are now the underdogs. Rin has only known destruction for so long, but now she gets to know what it feels like to be a liberator instead of only a tool because of her god.

We really get to see many different sides of shamanism in this book, and I adored that aspect with my whole heart. I feel like I really can’t say a lot here, but the trifecta and the additions were amazing. I will say my only complaint for this book comes from the trifecta, but I still couldn’t get enough of all of the different types of shamanism in this book! Especially with a few new characters who easily made me feel very many emotions while this story progressed!

Speaking of different types of gods, I will say with utmost confidence that The Burning God has the best fight scenes I have ever read. Like, ever, in my whole life. Rin and Nezha just… the imagery, the banter, the emotions, their complicated actions, everything is another tier. Like, the pouring rain and the breathing of fire alone had me burning and drowning in the very same moment. Utter perfection in every combat scene and it was some of the most beautiful words I’ve ever seen strung together. Truly one of my favorite parts of this book, and not to lessen any of the important themes and values, but I don’t think I knew yearning until I read Nezha and Rin on different sides of a war neither want. The buildup of every encounter, every battle, every conversation, I was truly quaking.

"Hate was its own kind of fire and if you had nothing else, it kept you warm."

This book very much centers around trauma and the many different cycles and forms. We get to see so many different kinds of trauma from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, but we also get to constantly see the trauma from xenophobia and the impact of racism and colonization. We also get to see the way that many different characters within the book attempt to heal, live, and cope with their different traumas. And even though it is very heartbreaking, it’s very real, and very honest, and very important. I feel like The Burning God especially puts an emphasis on how abuse and trauma can be more easily hidden because of love, duty, and maybe even vengeance, too.

"You don’t fix hurts by pretending they never happened. You treat them like infected wounds. You dig deep with a burning knife and gouge out the rotten flesh and then, maybe, you have a chance to heal."

And Rin’s trauma is so deep. She always remembers what it felt like the be a war orphan who was looked down upon from the very start. She knows what it feels like to be considered a lesser student because of her skin color and because of where she is from. She is haunted by the betrayal she has endured by the people who she thought she loved. She will never forget all the things she has seen and the price of war. She is realizing all the shit she has been forced to internalize because of the environments she has had to survive in. Rin harness her hate and anger and desire for revenge and keeps it close to her at all times in this book.

"They want to erase us. It’s their divine mandate. They want to make us better, to improve us, by turning us into a mirror of themselves."

I feel like I could write an entire review on the colonization in this book alone. The reader gets to see the threat of this more and more in each book, but when Rin visits “New City” for the first time, it was harrowing in every sense of the word. Yes, this book is about a horrible and terrible civil war, but the Hesperians are the greatest evil of this whole book. How the Hesperians took over this city, took over the name, took over the foundation, took over the imports and exports, took over the military, all the while trying to convince everyone that it’s for the greater good, that it’s the right and better way, that it’s the only way. This might be the Filipino coming out extra hard, but white people love to colonize everything, but especially the people of the land they try to take, while always reminding them they are and never will be truly equal to them. All of the scenes that truly disturbed me were with the Hesperians, and they so horrifically depicted what has happened to so many countries over and over again, and what is still going on unapologetically in 2020. I could feel Rin’s helplessness with everything I am, and I hope people really process who the villain of this story truly is. Magical gods disguised as dragons, power hungry men, and internalized racism are terrifying, but there aren't words for people trying to rip the identity of your culture from you.

"There are never any new stories, just old ones told again and again as this universe moves through its cycles of civilization and crumbles into despair."

This book also emphasizes how the victors get to decide how the history is written. They get to create their own villains, their own heroes, their own story. History books are written by the same colonizers who are still trying to take absolutely everything and make it westernized, hence the fact most people (myself included) were not educated on what was going on in China pre WWII, and what happened when Japan marched on Nanjing.

"When you conquered as a totally and completely as he had, you could alter the course of everything. You could determine the stories that people told about you for generations."

I’ve had so many people in my DMs on goodreads and on insta asking about my feelings on how this last book concluded, and I never really know how to answer it, but the answer is heartbreaking perfection. I honestly cannot think of a better conclusion, yet I do think that it won’t be for everyone. But as the events in The Burning God unfold, it becomes more and more clear. And I really do think it is a perfect parallel(s) to how things in our world felt then and how they very much still feel now. Also, war is unspeakably hard, but when you’ve lived your life for battle after battle, trying to live after a war is over can be just as hard, just in a different kind of way.

"Take what you want, it said. I’ll hate you for it. But I’ll love you forever. I can’t help but love you. Ruin me, ruin us, and I’ll let you."

Overall, I’m going to be really honest. I cried while writing this review, and I’m very teary eyed right now with my final thoughts. This series just means so much to Asian readers and reviewers. It was such an honor to read these books, to feel haunted but seen by these themes, to fall in love with Fang Runin over and over again. What a blessing it was to see all three of these characters, walk alongside them, see them change and grow, because of their environments, because of expectations, and because of their damn selves. I truly don’t have the words. From Sinegard, to every battlefield, to the very end. I am rendered speechless. Not only do I think Rebecca is going to redefine so many parts of the book world with her writing (both with this trilogy and all her other endeavors to come), but I think she will inspire and help pave the way for so many Asian authors to come. She truly ended this trilogy perfectly, I’m just not ready to say goodbye, but I am so eternally honored for this series existence, and I truly will sing it’s praises forever.

This book is a tragedy in three acts and has left me thoroughly shattered. I kind of just want to quote the entirety of this book because I’m not quite sure how to do justice to how perfectly R.F. Kuang weaves all of these topics of war, abuse, colonisation, racism, colourism into this one book, this one series.

Rin has joined the Southern Coalition in their fight against the Republic led by Vaisra. She has to deal with her feelings of betrayal, the loss of her right hand and the phantom pains that come with that, and the leaders of the Southern Provinces still treating her as a weapon only. Rin seeks a greater power that could overthrow the Northern and Hesperian armies, to turn the tides for her and the South. She makes her way back to Rooster Province, making new alliances and betting on her own power to chase the occupying forces out of her home and make this country hers, at whatever cost.

In this book we can see Rin’s descent into a bloodlust that is her own and not her god’s. While the other books in the series have already shown what she is capable of, to what extent she is willing to go to win, and the trauma it brings with it, The Burning God shows Rin truly enjoying the act of killing. This war has gotten even more personal than it already was for her, she has nothing to lose, and she relishes in the power she holds on the battlefield, the sense of helplessness she feels in other situations leaving her just for a little bit.

Rin thrives on vengeance, on doing what she feels is right to rectify a history that has constantly put her and everything she represents down. She becomes the living embodiment of the South, of Speer, of their anger and resentment. It is a blood price to the people she belongs to, to reestablish an order where for once they wouldn’t be at the bottom. But she is also seeking revenge for herself; for the life she was handed, the cards she was dealt with, everything that was taken away from her time after time, for the friends she has lost, for her dreams that were crushed.


Rin believes in her righteous path, in the inexorability of a winning destiny for her and the South. She believes the gods of the Pantheon are on her side, if not out of will but with their power. She believes fire and earth will win over water and over technology. It’s a war that takes on bigger proportions than this one cycle of colonialism and oppression, she wants to rewrite a history where for the first time people who look like her will stop being degraded and treated as lesser. She wants to break the cycle, she doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

Rin wants to win because winners get to rewrite history, to erase the narratives that don’t fit in with whatever new world view prevails. History has for too long erased the narratives of her people, of the dark-skinned women associated with pale-skinned men. She is the new iteration of a cyclic pattern of oppression and erasure and maybe she can be the one to dismantle these power dynamics, to tip them in her favour.

In this battle of ideologies, colonisation also implies a complete erasure of the current culture. It’s something insidious where the Hesperians depict themselves as saviours by just wanting to “make things better”, establishing that their ways, and by extension themselves, are superior. This can be seen in the ways they present their religion as the only valid one, dismissing the Nikaran gods as idiotic superstitions, but also in the architecture they’re putting down to raise their own buildings, in the Western clothing style being slowly adopted by the people of Nikan. Colonisation doesn’t stop at having military forces established, it also fundamentally changes and reshapes the daily and cultural lives of the occupied people. More privileged Nikarans are the first ones to adopt this new culture, wanting to portray themselves more like the coloniser, distancing themselves from the rest of their own people. The thing is that they’ll still never be respected by the Hesperians, or be truly considered one of them when it comes down to it. All it does is establish a structured hierarchy where the Hesperians will always be on top.

Colourism is a topic people are uncomfortable talking about in any depth because they are uncomfortable checking their privilege, R.F. Kuang does not shy away from it. It is a quintessential part of this book series and Rin’s character. The treatment she’s received all her life has been anchored in colourism, the way she’s been seen as lesser, as automatically angrier, less intelligent and less competent. Arguing that the Hesperians are racially superior due to their technology advancements, as pointed out in one of the conversations, implies that everything Rin has been told about being lesser is also true. It’s the cascading effect of racism and colourism: the white Westerners are superior to the Nikarans, and in turn the pale-skinned Northerners are superior to the dark-skinned Southerners and Speerly. This book also showcases that privilege in light of the Hesperian occupation and how it only enhances this divide, how some features make a whole people more palatable to Westerners while others will only continue to suffer. It’s pretty heartbreaking to have publishing being so obviously colourist by pushing cover art with Rin as a light-skinned girl and ironic to see a whole community rallying up behind Rin while ignoring the racism and blatant colourism blatantly present in the bookish sphere. These issues are not fictional.

Another running theme present in this book is one of survival. The survival of a country at war and how that can come from collaboration. Rin struggles with this notion and can only look at others making themselves more subservients as traitors. She has always been the underdog and it’s against her very own nature to consider a path where bending the knee, or pretending to for a while, as worthy. It’s a slow journey to understanding but she starts seeing the impact her uncompromising decisions have on the country and civilians.


While the sheer repetition of the atrocities occurring make it easier to get used to them, to seem outwardly composed in the face of the agony of a country, Rin is still dealing with her trauma and her guilt, trying to lock away the horror and the memories that haunt her. As with the previous books in the series, we see the impact and trauma war brings on, and how it manifests itself differently with each person. In a powerful scene with Venka, Rin realises that they are linked by the trauma they both went through but that it is still different and their coping mechanisms are different too. They are all survivors, looking for some control, some power, and this is what Rin is looking for in new recruits, what the gods are looking for in their vessels.

This instalment explores the cycle of abuse Rin is stuck in; the abuse she has suffered from as well as the abuse she has inflicted on others. More than ever she comes to terms with the abuse she has suffered from people she loved but she also becomes aware of the abuse others are suffering or have suffered from. She understands the patterns better and is able to recognise them in the Trifecta’s dynamic, in other dynamics of people in her life and in history. She sees them all around her and correlates them more easily to her relationship with Altan. It all slowly builds up to her understanding she is perpetuating this cycle, she has become the abuser instead of the victim. It was so powerfully done as she reflects on her different actions, and while some of them can be passed off as necessary acts to win this war, others run deeper as they extend to the people she loves. It’s heartbreaking and one of the many layers of her character arc, another part of her willingness to do anything it takes.


Rin is finding new powers and is learning how to yield something that isn’t magical but is, in the bigger scheme of things, infinitely more useful. She is finally taking leadership and bigger political and military power, the power that has been denied to her time and time again by older men, even though she was their strongest weapon, all they could never bear to see someone they saw as lesser hold any power. She has become a figurehead for their side of the war and she leans on that to bolster her troops and strengthen her authority.


The relationship between Rin and Nezha is one that had me suffering endlessly. Theirs wasn’t a fight of ideologies necessarily but a fight between two people of extreme loyalty to their own people. And it was personal. The rage Rin feels towards Nezha is immense and yet, she still also feels that pull, that attraction, and finds it hard to want to kill him when she gets the opportunity. Their fight scenes in this book were exceptional as we finally see how fire and water fare against one another. It makes for breathtaking and cinematic scenes that are easy to visualise and be immersed in. Even when their shamanic powers become irrelevant, the shorter range fighting feels even more personal and intense. I think that their individual character arcs and how they impacted their relationship and dynamic were so well executed and I never doubted for one second that whatever happened to them would break my heart.

This instalment also lets us see some more from the Trifecta and their dynamic. The Trifecta are monsters and legends, and we see that aspect explored here, seeing them as weapons, as well as more of their vulnerabilities. The bond they share runs deep and intensely, not only from the magic but from the years they’ve spent together, and it all comes at a price. We see more of the abusive nature of their relationship and what brought on their downfall from power.

One of the things I couldn’t help noticing throughout the book was every instance of a person being buried alive and/or having that sensation. I truly didn’t know it was something I’d be sensitive to until this book and I had my eyes wide open to this recurring theme. While Shoutheners are constantly compared to dirt and linked to the earth and this definitely highlights the sheer power of numbers they have, I think this can also be seen as an allegory for oppression, of the burying of a country, a people, and a culture under colonisation.


One last much happier note: this doesn’t have to do with this book directly but r.f. Kuang has confirmed during a liveshow that Rin is bisexual and it makes my heart happy, and let’s be real the way Rin constantly talked about Su Daji makes all the sense in the world now :]

This series has easily become one of my favourite of all times. It is rare to find a book that explores war, racism, abuse, colourism and oppression so thoroughly and so blatantly. This book series makes you look at some of the fucked up shit that has happened in this world and keeps your gaze fixed on it, forces you to take it all in. It isn’t an easy read, it is visceral and all-encompassing, it doesn’t shy away from the hard topics, it isn’t scared to call out the trauma colonialism has brought to the world. This is a series I will reread without a doubt and seeing how much better rf kuang has gotten as an author within the course of these three books I can’t wait to see where she will take the rest of her writing career and I will await every book with a lot of excitement.

Absolutely PHENOMENAL. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I honestly didn't really doubt Kuang's ability to wrap up this series, despite loving TPW & TDR so, so much (the pressure was ON), because I doubted anything could top TPW (sorryyyyy) and then Kuang blew me away with TDR. STILL, I find myself amazed, in awe, heartbroken, shocked, and just... a huge mix of emotions that seem contradictory. There were such funny moments in The Burning God, mixed right in with the sadness and horror and devastation of war.

I'm really struggling over how to say much about the book without spoilers. (And because everything about it is SO WOW that it's hard to know where to begin with the praise.) So, I'll keep everything in general terms. Rin's character arc? Totally perfect. KITAY? Remained one of my favorite characters in all of the fictionverse. I LOVE HIM SO SO MUCH. Nezha? Oh, Nezha. I love you (and hate you a little) and feel sad and just... wish. I wish so many things.

GAH, the THEMES. Imperialism, the feeling of not being good enough... oh my this book had me feeling teary. At some point Kitay had a question for Rin that just... shattered my heart into tiny little pieces. This series is the epitome of what do you do when all of the choices are horrible?

Okay, this was a terrible review that jumped all over the place, but there's just so much amazingness in the story and I can't encompass it in a few paragraphs AND I'm also really afraid to accidentally spoil you all. SO I'm just going to say: if you are on the fence about this series, DON'T BE! It's incredible and different from everything else out there and absolutely deserving of all the awards it's won! And I know some people had a tough time with the switch in TPW from school to war, but if you read on in the series, you'll see just why it was necessary. Everything in the series builds on what began at Sinegard, and the relationships that formed there. Brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT!

I've said this many times on my bookstagram (@anovelescape), but I'll reiterate here that this series means so, so much to me. I grew up loving epic fantasy and never knew what kinds of worlds I was missing until more recently, when Chinese diaspora women (like myself) have finally started being given the chance to publish their books. So so so incredibly grateful for series like The Poppy War and the Greenbone Saga (book 1 is Jade City).

ALL THE STARS FOR THIS MASTERPIECE. (Also, highly recommend R.F. Kuang's appearance on V.E. Schwab's No Write Way -- you can watch the replay of Schwab interviewing Kuang on YouTube!)

Please note that as with TPW & TDR, this book is FULL of triggers of pretty much every kind. If you can think of it, it's probably in this series somewhere.

Huge huge HUGE thank you to Harper Voyager for a free advanced e-copy of the book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic ending to a roller coaster of a series. Rin is a beautifully flawed person. Looking back at who she was at the start of this series, and seeing who she became. She started as this tiny angry child with a bit of a chip on her shoulder and grew into a powerful woman with years of battles, and hardships that make what she saw as a hardship as a child feel meaningless.
She still has a good measure of rage that fuels the Phoenix, but she also burns with a lust for power. As one of the last remaining Shamen, and the last Speerly. She feels that she deserves to be their ruler, she came from nothing and fought her way to the top, she knows what it's like to live in squaller and doesn't want anyone else to feel that again. And even with Kitay holding her grounded, she still struggles.
There are a lot of things in this book that was both unexpected and inevitable. The ending especially. I was anxious for the ending the moment I started this book. I hoped for some kind of happy ending, what we got... not sure what to call it.

This the third book of a series (The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic). I got the first as an e-book and the second as an audio-book from my local library. I recommend reading these in order (although you can just read the last one which is the better of the three).

This story is a fantastic re-imaging of Chinese history from around the time of the Sino-Japanese War (Book 1) onward. It was pretty fun trying to match up parts of the book with what little I know of the real history. That alone made this a good read ... and the unique system of magic made it even better.

Rin, the avatar of the Burning Phoenix god, is back in the south to take care of business if only the flaming warlords/bureaucrats would let her. With the Republic fighting to consolidate in the North with the help of the foreign Hesperians (Euros), now seems like the best time for the Southern Coalition to wrest control from the remnants of the failed Muganese invasion and secure their own position. The problem is ... the warlords are right. Rin is a stubborn, privileged (I am Sinegard trained you moron) idiot unwilling to actually use her own experts until they beat her about the head and shoulders with her mistakes (and she has made enough of them that she should realize some of the people in the room are actually smarter than she is). Yeah ... as much as I want to like the MC ... I don't. At least that is how I felt for the first half of the book and we get back to the action (bring back some old 'friends'). It seems like Rin is just not enough to carry the story; and when it primarily focuses on her I quickly lose interest. Frankly I am almost more sympathetic to the anti-hero 'Trifecta' (well 2 of the 3 at any rate) than Rin and her side kick.

There is a good story here, but it is almost exclusively in the second half of the book when things really start happening quickly. Rin is in control and actually seems competent now (fewer strategic mistakes). Her army, once on the brink of extinction, now stands on its own and starts to gain momentum. The end is so close you can feel it rushing toward you ... then you need to brace yourself; because the story drones on after that ... and the self-flagellation continues. From the very beginning, it was clear how this would end ...

#TheBurningGod #NetGalley

Thank you so much HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC.

R.F. Kuang is a great writer, so this book was still "great" on a technical level, but for me, the ending to a 2000 page trilogy fell a little flat and that warrants its 4 star rating. In addition, I felt that [SPOILER] Rin's acts of genocide were never truly reckoned with. [SPOILER] But this is Kuang's first series and I think things will be cleaner next time around. THE POPPY WAR #1 still remains one of my favorite books, however.

It was truly an intense journey through this series, and I can't wait to see what Kuang does next!

War didn't end, not so cleanly - it just kept building up in little hurts that piled on each other until they exploded afresh into raw new wounds.



The Burning God - this whole trilogy, really, but none more so than this particular installment - is about cycles of war and oppression. In the first two books, the scenes of violence and suffering were somewhat more contained, balanced out by more lighthearted moments, which may have led you to thinking that they were isolated incidents. Not so in The Burning God, which seems to want to brand the suffering of war into your brain. This is very much intentional, but it does make for a startlingly bleak read.

Rin is struggling to regain the south from occupation by scattered Mugenese soldiers while simultaneously trying to work with the southern warlords. From the onset, she is desperate, swimming upstream, and things only go from bad to worse. The country is in tatters, suffering cruel violence at the hands of the Mugenese (and each other), mass displacement and homelessness, and seemingly endless starvation. And still, war goes on, as Rin goes up against the House of Yin for control of Nikara.

There is a lot of focus not only on the suffering that results from war, but also on the logistics of fighting a rebellion and ruling a nation. Perhaps it is this close attention to detail that caused the pacing of this book to suffer, or perhaps it was an intentional choice, to demonstrate the tediousness of the things Rin is trying to accomplish. The overall plot felt very scattered, like it was bringing together multiple subplots rather than addressing one overarching plot. This is not to say that the book was ever boring, per se, but it lacked the compelling, propulsive quality that the first two books had. I would re-read The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, but I would not re-read The Burning God. That may, in part, be due to just how unrelentingly bleak this novel is. While I read this relatively quickly, I still needed to take breaks in between, and part of me almost dreaded returning to it because everything was so utterly depressing.

The point of revenge wasn't to heal. The point was that the exhilaration, however temporary, drowned out the hurt.



As the narrative grows darker, so does Rin. It would be easy to read her as the villain of the story. There is a cruelty to her here that was not present in the first two books, a cruelty born of frustration and betrayal, and it is almost understandable, but it makes it difficult to be in her head. Kuang has said that Rin is loosely based off Mao Zedong, and that the books are attempting to interrogate why a person ostensibly committed to the betterment of their country would still continue to commit atrocities. We get to see Rin contemplating the balance of lives, whether ordinary morality even applies to her anymore now that she's become so powerful. We see her weighing one life against another, a few hundred lives against a few million. We see her doling out harsh justice. We see her grow into a leader, and it is somewhat gratifying to think that that young, clueless girl from Sinegard has attained such power, but it is sad too.

Personally, I think the book suffered from the lack of compelling character dynamics that made the first two books so wonderful. (view spoiler)

There are also certain subplots that seemed to serve only to match certain beats to Chinese history that I felt ultimately benefited very little to the plot. Similarly, there is a subplot involving the Trifecta that, while necessary, was executed in such a way that made it seem almost like a waste of time. (view spoiler)

The ending definitely elevates this book - and this trilogy - to god tier, and frankly I think that Joe Abercrombie ought to relinquish his title of Lord Grimdark and hand it over to Rebecca Kuang, because damn. (view spoiler)

Despite my issues with this final book of the trilogy, and some various minor issues with the first two installments, this series has quite easily become one of my favorites of all time. On so many levels, this trilogy is an astonishing accomplishment, one that manages to be an action-packed high fantasy while interrogating modern Chinese history. I can easily see this becoming a classic of the fantasy genre in the years to come.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What the fuck. What the fuck? What even just happened. This book made me cry too many times. The Poppy War was good. The Dragon Republic was better. This book took both of those and blew them out of the water. This is decidedly the best book that RF Kuang has ever written, and while I’m super optimistic to read her next work, I’m also nervous because I don’t know if anything can top this. It was a fantastic and fitting end to a series that I picked up on a whim and it gripped me from the beginning. This book absolutely refused to let me go. I get sad and scared when the final book in a series comes out because rarely do I feel like the ending is good enough, or deserved, or anything like that. But for what this series was, there was not a better ending to it. The characters, the plot, the dynamics are all crushing. If anything, this book gets a little strategy and war-heavy, but like, if you don’t enjoy that, why are you reading this series, dude? I sincerely doubt that I’ll ever get over this book. It’ll stay with me for a very long time, and I’ll be yelling about it for as long as I possibly can.

I absolutely loved this one and can’t wait to read more of her books. The writing was amazing and the story was heartbreaking

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The conclusion of The Poppy War trilogy is as gruesome, graphic, and merciless as the first two books in the series. Rin's previous rejection and even fear of her powers is gone, and she's fully embracing everything the Phoenix has to offer her. With each justification of genocide, with every rationale for the constant warfare brought on the people, Rin's actions and cause becomes harder to condone. I think every reader will come to a point in the book where they'll stop seeing Rin as a hero and start seeing her as an anti-hero.

The quote "war is hell" couldn't be more appropriate for this book. With the power of the Gods, as well as one side having weapons technology far superior to the other, it goes without saying that those on the battlefield suffer greatly. With all the death and destruction that war can cause, does it matter if it's Gods being channeled to cause genocide or if it's people who have decided to become Gods of their own and creating their own technology that can cause genocide?

Off the battle field, the constant paranoia, the constant fear, the constant feeling of dread of what is to come - there's no escaping these feelings. Both sides use psychological warfare to the greatest extant possible. And it's effective. Because the leaders of both sides know each other, they're constantly second guessing their own actions while trying to mind fuck the other side.

For those not involved in the battles themselves, what is left of the lives they knew before war came and tore through? And then the after effects of war - after the razing of the crops, after the salting of the fields, after people spend so much time running they have no time to tend to the fields, what happens then? For most of the people affected, there is no victory and there will never be victory.

Aside from all the thoughts about war that this book brings up, the book also brings up the topic of colonization. The Hesperians bring to Nikan technology that seems hundreds of years more advanced than anything in Nikan itself. They can seemingly eradicate famine with new farming technology, they have medicines that can cure diseases that were previously death sentences, they have vehicles that can move without the necessity of animals, they have airships that allow them to travel vast distances in short amounts of time. All the people have to do to have access to this technology is willingly become secondary citizens in their own country and give up their own culture and beliefs. How willing would, could, should - a population be? Is it a sacrifice worth making? How far is too far?

If the first book in the series mirrored Sino-Japanese history, and the second book dealt with the civil war between the Communist and Nationalist, then the third book deals with Mao and his battles between Westerners and their conspirators. Obviously things are not lock-step with history, after all, last time I checked there weren't super-humans with the power of the Gods at their disposal. To quote Gundam Wing, "History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever." That's kind of what this book and this entire series seems to be saying as well.

Though this review does make this book sound a little depressing, heavy, dark, grim...and it is, the book also has moments of levity that are unexpected. This book could also come off as extremely plot-heavy with characters just going along for the ride, but [author:R.F. Kuang|16820001] manages to make this book as character drive as it is plot driven. The characters and their relationships end up being as strong as the general plot itself. It's a delicate balance and Kuang pulls it off masterfully.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The final book of The Poppy War trilogy is the exact opposite of the first. Where Rin makes all the right decisions in the Poppy War, with writing the Keju/Getting rid of her uterus/Accepting the Phoenix… in The Burning God she continues her descent into what I’d call villainy?

I guess this is a really good representation of what war does, and this whole trilogy which started off like ‘Poor girl goes to rich academy and gets pulled into war’ into the shitty realities of war and that the only people that suffer the most in these power struggles are the innocent civilians. And how Rin started off resenting Warlords and how they thought civilians expendable, but turned out to be the exact same in the end because “the circumstances called for it.” So, Kuang did an amazing job of that and created the most bleak story I’ve read in a long time (I MEAN THIS IN A GOOD WAY).

Was disappointed to see how characters such as Chaghan/Jiang who I thought would play a bigger role in the final book became inconsequential, which alright makes sense since Rin is the MC but would’ve been nice if there were other consistent side characters other than Venka and Kitay - WHO has been my favourite throughout the Trilogy and the ending I guess was acceptable. Both he and Rin needed to chill out and Kuang really took the “I’ll only sleep when I’m dead” to heart. But I did find it really interesting how Kuang like broke apart the whole trope of legendary saviours from the past by making The Trifecta fucked up and twisted in the WORST way (Hanelai is Rin’s mom and why I feel like Jiang the dad…. ANYWAYS).

Also, I know colorism is a big thing and looking down on dark-skinned characters in the story, but like… it’s presented.... and that’s it… Like constantly just hearing about Rin and her shit/dirt-coloured skin was like alright thank you for highlighting the colorism that reflects ancient and modern society but after a while I was like hmmm reading dirt-colored skin after a while it gets grating you know… having ‘dirt-colored’ skin myself

Overall, I knew by the end of The Dragon Republic that there would never be a peaceful ending. The further you get into The Burning God the more you realize that… there will never be an end… either Nikan would tear itself apart or the Hesperians would completely colonize. Also, the Hesperian’s solution for Shamans being just to shock them to momentar2ily block off their access to the Gods…. wild… But the ending was expected and I’m happy with how it ended because yes leave Nezha to deal with the fallout it’s what his ass deserves.

3/5
- Logical conclusion to the story
- Child war criminals all around
- This line by Jiang at Daji: “Darling, fucking what?”
- Felt like something was missing the whole time honestly, and I think it had to do with the side-characters and sometimes being inside of Rin’s head and seeing all the bad decisions she made was frustrattingggg
- Rin’s Nezha obsession and Nezha’s Rin obsession really never clicked with me, romance or relationships outside of Rin-Kitay weren’t fleshed out which I get wasn’t the focus of this series but for me it kinda fell flat because whatever development there is happens over months on page as in we’re told they train together over months but we don’t see them interact that much so that whole thing I was like shrug Nezha to me was a cockroach that Rin had gotten too fond of

I really liked The Poppy War and liked The Dragon Republic. This one was ok. It at times seemed so bleak and hopeless. The journey of Rin is long and she faces such difficult times and decisions. I struggled to find that Altan still effects her so much. I had trouble relating to her in this book. Understanding her choices.

I received an ARC on Netgalley of The Burning God. I thoroughly enjoyed this book despite the chaos that ensued. The main character Rin brought me so much happiness throughout the trilogy because she's always fought for what she's believed in regardless of who's sides shes on. Watching Rin transform from a child into a fearless General was amazing. I saw Rin at her worst and her best depending on who you asked in the book. Rin's story captivated me from the moment I began reading The Burning God. The struggles she faced and the momentum of the army she led set the book up for success. Nothing could prepare me for the exciting end to the trilogy and I even shed tears once the book had ended. Characters like Nezha, Kitay, Venka made this book an emotional rollercoaster. I have always rooted for Rin to come out victorious and the ending solidified the reason why Rin is my favorite book character. This series is definitely the best adult fantasy I have read. R.F Kuang is an excellent author and I enjoy her writing tremendously. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Adult Fantasy and can handle the serious events of this story that have trigger warnings.

The Poppy War trilogy changed my life. I love every word, every character, every description. A raw and heartrending depiction of war and the fight for justice.

Wow wow wow! Wow!!

This was one of my most anticipated books for the whole year and wow!!! And it delivered. It was non stop incredible ride the whole way thru.

This author goes there. With everything. This book is raw and brutal and things are real. So real. It’s the horror of war. It’s the ruin left behind. It’s the people picking up pieces. It’s the people rising to fight back. It’s all the aftermath with no food and desperation. It’s just so so real.

And this book was also amazing and uplifting too because nothing stops Rin. She is amazing. And cruel and just a complicated and wonderfully human character.

I did not want this to end and I couldn’t put this down and it was amazing end to a series. It really did turn out to be the best part of a whole amazing series and I will always always be down to read anything and everything by this author. Definitely best of 2020!!!

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

An ending so obvious that it has been laid out for us since the start, and I have loved traveling along this path with Rin until the very end.

"Ruin me, ruin us, and I'll let you."

Thank you to both HarperVoyager and NetGalley for providing me with access to an advanced e-copy of this book. I had purposely waited to start THE POPPY WAR because I knew Kuang would absolutely destroy me from the start, so being able to read the entire series from beginning to end was a wonderful (and painful) experience.

I thought I was going to compose my thoughts and sleep on them before I wrote this review, but I think it's better if the wounds are fresh.

This series is unlike anything I've ever read. I have never been so simultaneously enthralled and terrified by a main character before than I was with Rin, who was truly a feat of her own; a goddess and a monster. After a horrible betrayal at the end of THE DRAGON REPUBLIC, Rin is reeling and ready to take back what should have been hers with a vengeance and a cruelty that we have never seen from her before.

THE BURNING GOD is the bloodiest installment of this trilogy, and I would not have had it any other way. So many loose ends were tied up among the gruesome battles, calculated assassinations, and the fury brought down by the gods themselves. And all the while, the political machinations were always lingering in the background leaving Rin, Kitay, Nezha, and most importantly, the reader, questioning every step, wondering if it would be their last.

This book had the same dry wit and strong character relationships that had been built in the first two books, and they only got stronger and more fluid with the turn of every page. But of course, as we have come to know and love from R.F. Kuang, those characters are only safe in our hearts.

There is so much more to say, but I feel like any reference to the text would give away spoilers on a massive scale... so I will leave you with this: this book burned me to the ground in every possible way, but it ended in the only way it could and should have - and I loved every second of it.



The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

BOY did Kuang deliver on this one. It’s like she took all of the best bits of the Poppy War and The Dragon Republic (two of my faves btw) and got rid of 90% of their weaknesses to create this incredible, POWERHOUSE of a finale!!!! That being said, The Burning God is definitely not without flaws (as all books are). Still I recommend to all fantasy lovers!

Ok to start, literally Rin is icon queen of badass magic and god-like power and all around fierce opponent. One of my favorite parts about this series is how Kuang writes Rin as an anti-hero, or as a flawed character in general. Like, Rin is genuinely scary at times, but still you kind of want to root for her? Without giving to o much away I feel like Burning God did an incredible job of toying that line between rooting for Rin and genuinely second-guessing whether she is the leadership that her people need. So— incredible anti-hero who is bordering on villain status (in a good way).

The plot was so clear and intentional in this the Burning God, which was something I definitely felt was missing in Dragon Republic. Whereas DR really felt like a filler book (no shade), it was obvious that the Burning God had a really clear, defined plot. The motivation of each character was apparent, and all of it checked out logically (to me). Another improvement on Dragon Republic was that Kuang got rid of a lot of the fluff. The Burning God is just straight up action, character development, and story building. She got rid of a lot of the randomness that seemed to pop up in Dragon Republic and kept the focus on a really clear path forward.

The fight scenes, as usual, were SPECTACULAR. Every fireball, every weapon, every war tactic, was so easy to imagine that I was completely immersed in the story. The god powers are magnified like, by 100% in this book and just, wow.

This book shattered me. During the entire last chapter I was sobbing, yelling at my book, just absolutely losing it. Kuang ties up every loose end but also shocks and dismays (in a good way). This is absolutely, 100 percent, the best book of the trilogy. The Poppy War is incredible and lays the foundation so well, but this one you just reap all the benefits of being with these characters for so long. I thought the The Dragon Republic was really good but didn't have a pleasant reading experience, if I'm being honest. It was always hard to pick back up. The Burning God was just as unsettling and dark, but I kept flipping pages because I just had to know what happens. Every single step of Rin's journey is devastating and heartbreaking but Kuang is so gifted, technically precise in her craft that she never ever loses the heart of the story and knows exactly where to aim for the kill shot. This trilogy is an accomplishment. It's rich, it's complex, it's a character study, an examination of war, politics, religion and myth. Also I have to give a shout out to my baby Venka. I feel like she's underrated so I wanted to give her a little love.

I was given a copy of the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Burning God is the final installment of the Poppy War trilogy, the gritty epic of Runin 'Rin' Fang. Betrayed now by the two countries she's served and haunted by the metaphorical (and possibly literal) ghosts of the many tragedies in her life, Rin now tries to forge her way to the inevitable conflict between the country of Nikara's bloody past and the threats facing its future.

One of the things I've always loved about this series is that it does not treat Rin like a perfect character. There is something venal about her drives that make 'Ambition' and 'Hunger' too clean cut. This book sees her finally step away from being the tool of the various warlords and embrace the role of a leader...to varying degrees of success.

As the final installment of the trilogy, I always look to see how a series ties itself off and many fantasy series have a hard time in nailing the landing. I feel like the Burning God nails the landing, and does it in the way where a lot of the story is tied off while making you feel like it could continue in some form.

I have been recommending The Poppy War for customers since it first came out. I can now recommend the entire trilogy as a complete and satisfying epic.

4.5 stars... This is my favorite of the trilogy and an incredibly satisfying ending to the overall story. Knowing the source material, this story ends in one of the only 2 options I really saw open, but I really loved the journey to get there. This is the third book in a series, so... don't start here :). BUT, in terms of what I can say without getting into spoilers: a) watching this last leg of Rin's character growth broke me up inside- I cried so many times, especially when I thought about where we started with her; b) the pacing in this one was markedly better than the previous two books, which is exciting to see in terms of the author's overall trajectory for future stories, and c) thematically, I thought the underlying idea that violence begets violence was communicated so effectively throughout. The only things that I didn't enjoy as much was some of the military strategy bits, but that's just a "me" thing. Overall, this series is one where the sum is greater than its parts, and I would consider the series an all time favorite of high fantasy.