Review: The Dragon Republic

R.F. Kuang is really very good at hurting other people's feelings. Also at writing gripping wonderful narratives that I become obsessed with.

The Dragon Republic is the sequel to The Poppy War, an epic fantasy narrative following southerner Rin as she escapes poverty through the elite military academy; we follow her throughout her time at the academy and afterward when war breaks out. It is top-notch, and you should read it if you haven't (and if you haven't, you should not be reading this).

The thing I was most impressed with is the way Kuang distracts the reader from what they really should be paying attention to. The whole time I was reading, I was worried about the intentions of everyone around Rin, and I was so confused by whose side I wanted Rin to be on, yet I was able to be distracted from the betrayal that was very well established in foreshadowing. Kuang did all the tells that someone was about to die, and I missed it even though I had been talking about those tells earlier that very day. She is truly a master at 'look over here, not over there,' and I was absolutely distracted in exactly the way she wanted me to be. Which is excellent; once you know genre conventions and start to read while actively thinking about how the story is structured and what is about to come, it is delightful when someone is able to completely distract you and make it work in a way that is sudden but inevitable.

So much happens in this book I almost don't know what to write about. I just truly was obsessed with this book while I read. I read the first book, and this one, I went back and forth between reading it and listening to it; I think I will read the next one, but I really liked listening because it showed me the names I had been saying incorrectly (very Nezha).

And speaking of Nezha, the character development of his character through the course of this book is so excellently done. The scene where they fight together in The Poppy War was one of my very favorites from the book (that and when she spends the holidays with Kitay), and I really enjoyed watching the way their very precarious relationship constantly shifted throughout this book. Kuang has written this push and pull so incredibly well. I really loved every time these two were on the page together.

I could not talk about this book without talking about Kitay. He is probably my favorite character in this series, and he really shines in this book. He is not super present in the first half of the book, but once he is more present, I was hooked. Kitay is such a well-written character. I love the way he disagrees with Rin, the way he listens to her and understands her. Every moment spent with Kitay is so excellent to read.

Obviously, Rin is so interesting. I really loved reading her journey in this book. Especially the way Kaung wrote Rin grappling with her confidence and motivation as well as her loyalties and ambition. It was really excellently written. You can see how everything that has happened in the past two books leads completely to her mindset at the very end of the book. How her loyalties and alliances have been assembled and disassembled in so many different ways and how this has led to where she is at the conclusion. I really absolutely loved it.

Venka was also a character I was so happy to see. I really think that this is one of my favorite versions of a female friendship that is absolute hate to a strong alliance. It really was excellent to read about and contrasts other relationships from her past so well.

The expansion of the world-building and the magic system, the political maneuvering, the battle, and fight scenes, there are so many things I could talk about for this book. Basically, I just really loved reading Kuang's books; I am so excited to finish this story and continue life as an R.K. Kuang fan.

I gave this book five stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.