I think something that this series has done well was being consistent - with the brutality, the writing quality, the imagery. I was not at all ready for this finale but also the hints and foreshadowing throughout was stellar. This was a satisfying ending to a powerful and captivating series.

Well. I can't say I didn't see something like that finale coming, but I was still not entirely prepared for it.

This series has been so consistently strong. And consistently brutal. God, some of the stuff is just GNARLY. Content warnings for mentions of rape, sexual assault, gore, body horror, violence, and CANNIBALISM. Lord.

But what an incredible look at violence and politics and the machinations of war. As harsh as Rin's conclusion is, it's the natural end of her character arc. Kuang has wrapped this up brilliantly. This series has become an all-time favorite.

"You don't know who you're dealing with." She leaned down close until her lips brushed his skin, until her breath scorched the side of his face. "I’m not Sinegardian elite. I’m that savage, mud-skinned Speerly bitch that wiped a country off the map. And sometimes when I get a little too angry, I snap."

Oh, Rin... What a ride it has been. The Burning God was well worth the wait. R.F. Kuang certainly delivered. The conclusion to The Poppy War Trilogy was well written and action packed. Kuang’s depiction of war continues to be some of her strongest writing.

Rin has come a long way from the girl we knew in the beginning of The Poppy War. She has clawed her way to the very top and not without sacrifice. Her ruthlessness to achieve her single-minded goal of ruling becomes even more present in The Burning God, and Kuang does a really great job of showing Rin’s continued, if not, losing battle with her conscience and her desire to win at whatever cost. Her character arc was very well developed, and I enjoyed every horrifying step of the way. Nezha and Kitay are further fleshed out as well, and I really missed the comradery in The Dragon Republic with Rin’s old classmates. After Nezha's betrayal, I knew it would be unlikely, but I was sad that they shared very little time on the page together.

The ending was satisfying—if not heartbreaking—conclusion to this series. Rin’s story has always been that of an antihero so I had a feeling where her story was headed, but I still couldn’t help but feel a bit upset at her fate regardless. There were some aspects in the book that seemed a bit rushed or not fully explained, but I still loved it nevertheless. I’m going to miss this world and the characters. I can’t wait to see what Kuang writes next!

Enjoy your Republic, she thought, fingers curling against the cold armrest. Enjoy it while it lasts, Young Marshal. Take a good look at your splendor and remember well how it feels. Because I’m coming to burn it all down beneath you

Thanks to Harper Voyager for providing an e-arc. This review will contain spoilers for The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, but it will not contain spoilers for The Burning God.

I appreciate that Kuang never shies away from showing us reality of war and the costs on human beings. The Burning God opens with Rin and Kitay working with the Southern Coalition and attempting to fight back against Nezha and his father's force that has combined with the Hesperians. Throughout this series we've seen Rin grapple with her roots, and how she has been treated by northerners. At the beginning of The Burning God we are introduced to the consequences of Rin's choices to stay in the northern provinces in The Dragon Republic.

Kitay continues to act as Rin's conscience, which is furthered by the anchoring Rin and Kitay completed at the end of The Dragon Republic. Even when Rin is falling into a spiral of bad choices, you still root for her and hope for her to find a way out of everything. The ending of this book was incredibly well done, showing how far Rin has come without shying away from acknowledging Rin's mistakes along the way.

This final installment is just as strong as the first two, and I'm still thinking about the ending and all of its implications within the book's world. Kuang has once again created a true masterpiece. This is one fo the best books I've read all year.

I had to take a few days to fully form my thoughts on this book because so much happens and I read it so quickly that I needed more time to process everything. I adore this series and The Dragon Republic was one of my favorite releases this year, so I was unbelievably excited for the finale. Fast-paced and unapologetic, The Burning God brings a thrilling end to Rin’s story.

This review will have spoilers for the first two books; please do not read this if you have not read the rest of the series!

After the events of book two, Rin has returned home to the south, joining their army and ready to fight for their independence from Vaisra’s rule. She’s hurt and angry from Nezha’s betrayal, and she’s ready for revenge. It’s hard to summarize even just the beginning of the book without spoiling a lot of things, so I’ll just leave it at that.

This series very much marks the origin story of an antiheroine. Rin has always been able to do whatever it takes to win, whatever your definition of winning may be. She doesn’t care about the repercussions; she just wants to be the one to come out on top. Her character arc was always one of my favorite things about this series, and I’ll just say that I was not disappointed by her path in this book.

Frankly, I’m not sure what I can say about the plot other than: a lot happens. A vague statement, yes, but genuinely so much happens that you forget another big even just happened. I never knew what was coming; this book took so many twists and turns and I was just along for the ride honestly. The pacing is so relentless. I stayed up till 2 AM reading the first half because I couldn’t put it down.

We see the return of some beloved characters. Kitay and Venka help Rin plot and strategize throughout their war against Nezha. There are so many betrayals, but at least Rin has a few people she can depend on. Nezha is…there, I guess; I mean, it’s a war against him so. Fortunately we don’t have to see as much of the Hesperians in this book although their presence is still felt. We also get to uncover a few secrets along the way about the past that’s been hinted at.

I think the first two books struggled to find an equilibrium between focusing on the gods and the war, and the war eventually won. I’m not saying this is a bad thing; Rin is finally more comfortable with her powers and her anchor bond with Kitay. There’s also a whole plot line or two focusing on shamans! I just found that there was a lot less of Rin’s personal struggle with her power than the other books. She’s finally mastered it, so as a consequence, we focus on more pressing issues, namely beating Nezha.

Again, unfortunately I really can’t say much more without accidentally spoiling something.

Although I very much enjoyed this book and rated it highly, I did have some issues with it. I said earlier that the pacing is relentless, and I mean that in both a good and a bad way. The book is split up into three acts and I thought everything flowed very smoothly while I read. Thinking back, though, I realized how unbalanced the pacing was. However, I think the issue lies not in the sequence of events but the sheer amount of them.

Like I said before, so much happens, but so much happens that you become almost numb to certain events. There were two fairly important scenes that occur, but afterwards, they are simply not brought up ever again. I just think these two scenes in particular should have had more repercussions than they did; instead, we just moved onto the next thing.

Also, in the past year, I’ve read some thought on the nuances of this book that I hadn’t previously thought of, so I went into this book thinking more critically. The series is rooted in Chinese history, specifically the the rise of communist China and Japanese Imperialism. I don’t know much about this history, so I was able to read and enjoy the books at a very surface level.

However, having learned a bit more, I grow a little uncomfortable at how starkly some of the events are approached, especially how the countries other than Nikan are portrayed very flatly. Mugen and Hesperia have maybe a handful of traits between them, and while I understand artistic license, sometimes you have to remember that this was actual history and actual people. It’s not necessarily horrible, and I know the author is a scholar of Chinese history, but I just felt that there could have been a little more complexity to it.

Again, I do love this book and this series! You can like something and still critique it.

Overall, The Burning God was an incredible finale to this series. While I might not agree with everything that happened, I did think the way the book plays out makes sense. I liked Rin’s character arc as well. Much like its protagonist, The Burning God is unflinching and unapologetic; it’s a ending that you won’t see coming.

As anticipated, a complete five writing and story-telling.
I have to admit, this one I probably my less favorite part of the story, compared to the first two books, but it still holds very strong.
A further detailed review will be provided as we approach to release date, spoiler review after release, however, this work of fiction presented in such a beautiful and poetic manner the beautiful and yet breaking ideas of progress, development, war and peace, distraction and creation at the same time, ideas of supernatural and far more developed, ideas of physically needs being so much superior to spiritual ones when not satisfied, ideas of control and responsibility, ideas of strategy and desire, time and eternity...
At times, it seemed a bit rushed, but I truly enjoyed the story and all the thinking it gave me for the future and I can say for sure, the story and master story-telling are going to occupy my mind for a very long time.

Let me start with appreciation of some theories, that were presented to us in books one and two, that were confirmed in the finale, regarding relations: Runin questioning why Jiang is kept in Sinegyard, knowing that he is not really performing academic activities and trying to figure out why is Empress still keeping him, her and Kitay speculating on Daji being Vipress… these were beautifully escalated. I really appreciate the idea of formal power and strategies being referenced to academic textbook of “The principles of war”, as well as having Daji being a perfect manifestation of soft power and her references throughout the books on skills of control and soft power. At times, the author was presenting really morally gray characters in a light, that we can sympathize. Also, great, amazing escalation of ideas of mono and polytheism and the conflict of rational and irrational and transition feeling and thoughts one may have in the transition period and true domination of physical needs upon higher, spiritual needs. The work done on presenting religion combined with science as a true force for immense progress is astonishing, and I appreciate author’s amazing work on it.
The final book of the trilogy seemed a bit more rushed, especially war and victory scenes:
1- Trifecta defeat would need to be a bit more elaborated and escalated, in my opinion, it was described a bit in a rush, I believe several details and an escalation of Runin’s thoughts and actions, as well as defeat of Trifecta was way too fast. Maybe some final thoughts or words/confessions prior killing Trifecta would be great.
2- Rin’s initial defeat of Nezha could have been elaborated a little bit more.

I would appreciate if we could have an acceptance of theory of Runin’s relations with Jiang and Tseveri, we got a reference that she has some theories, however if we would have a proof or a reference, it may have been a bit more dramatic, of her killing her father.
Also, it is really interesting to bring up youth and inexperience in the plots of removing womb, though Runin was the last Speerly, as well as her pushing Nazha to his God, without thinking about consequences and basically causing all the chaos we see in all books.

There is only one critique for all 3 books, that is the use of slur and F-word, which was bothering me and cutting reading delight. Even without the use of F-words, the author does an amazing work in presenting emotions and feelings at the moment and without F-words we would still be able to fully consume the dramatization. Unfortunately, for me this trilogy can considered modern classic with no issues at all, but the F-bombing just gives this work not to say cheap undertone but breaks the complexity which author did great job building. Maybe it is just my personal opinion, but I truly enjoyed the first part of “The Poppy war” where the author was not using any F-words and the writing was still bringing an amazing world. However, I do understand that for broader masses the use of F-work may allure.

I’ll admit that after reading this series I’m done with war stories for a while, but the depth and detail of this fantasy world made my own personal discomfort well worth it. Highly recommend the whole series.

There are going to be words to describe how I feel about this book! It's epic and devastating and violent and heartbreaking.... and I loved it so much. I immediately wanted to start reading it again as soon as I finished, but my heart can't take that. I'm surprised by how invested I am in Rin - I don't like everything she does; sometimes I really hate the choices she makes, and there are times when I really don't like her - but I care so much. She has sacrificed and lost so much throughout this trilogy; it's not hard to understand her burning rage.
The ending completely gutted me - this entire trilogy is perfect.

This is the final book in the 'Poppy War' series, full of explosions, battles, shifting loyalties, all-consuming gods, and the toll that war takes both on the country and on the individual.