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A review by greatlibraryofalexandra
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
WOOF. Can you rate something 5 stars and 2 stars simultaneously? I'm rating it four, I think, for the ending (spectacular) and the overall oeuvre, because I would be fine with living (figuratively) in this world and read more and more stories in it. I think Kuang's trilogy is a masterpiece and her mind is a marvel.
But man, were there times when I wanted to beat this book against a wall. Hoo BOY was it a mess to get to the ugly-beautiful ending that it gave us.
This series could have been five books - less rushed, more time for the tapestry to artfully unravel. This final book somehow crammed too much in, and obliterated storylines without ending them in any remotely satisfying way.
Almost all of the things I want to rail about are spoilers so -
The trifecta, so powerful and impossible defeat, all get killed by page 400 (this is a 600 page book) and in a mundane buried-under-a-mountain way that felt anti-climactic and bewildering. I felt like Kuang just got bored or overwhelmed with that storyline, and needed to douse it quickly - much like she did when she killed all the Cike in Book 2.
Then there are about 50 pages when Rin is training a handful of shamans to be powerful and able to control themselves - a process that took an entire book and two years of a vague time jump in Book 1 to come to fruition.
I do also want to petulantly note that at the end, during a heavy, poignant moment that was written so well, Nezha looks down at Rin's lifeless body and thinks only "you bitch, you fucking bitch" and it ruins the scene entirely - crass, immature, and edge-lord unnecessary.
Venka was also done really dirty in this book -- after everything, for Kuang to have Rin turn on her, and then never confirm for the reader if she was a traitor or not (she wasn't, Rin was just a wildly paranoid train wreck at that point, you will not convince me otherwise) - its a disservice to a character who was already used and abused as a monolithic punching bag for male violence while Rin was able to remain "pure" from both sexual assault and sexual activity.
Things I fucking loved: that Rin's parentage, though strongly alluded to, is never confirmed or revisited as significant; it's frustrating, but also drives home that it's not the point - this book isn't about inheritance and destiny, it's about ruthlessly obliterating the legacy you've been handed regardless of what tradition would have you do. Also, the different kinds of love that threaded throughout the trilogy subtly without explicitly naming or confirmation were great - platonic, manipulative, romantic, familial, etc. Despite what I said above about Venka existing so Rin can remain "unsullied", I liked that Rin got to "come of age" without sex/sexual initiation being a part of it - it pushes back against the tired narrative that loss of virginity is a key step towards becoming an adult. This is a victory for all of us out there who were late bloomers, and who were bombarded with teen media that constantly informed us that having sex was the right of passage to the horizon of adulthood. Neither does Rin ever second guess or lament her decision to sterilize herself in her early teens - I'm so glad Kuang never subjected us to long musings on 'whether she'd done the right thing'.
A vast majority of this book was sluggish retread of what we've already been through - Rin shooting off at the mouth, acting grown up, and then being promptly spanked and sat right down in her place by literally anyone near her who takes half a second to think. While I am enamored Rin as a wildly flawed, prickly, and off-putting female lead, by the end of this book I was fascinated that she'd managed to have a coming of age story that routinely confirmed she was a dumber bitch than when we started (and I promise I am saying that affectionately).
The lore we delved into further in this book was GREAT, and I'd sink my teeth into more content detailing it. Though I do think the last 100 pages just devolved into Kuang's thesis on socio-political systems and the results of civil war, it raises good questions, refuses to give easy answers, and then culminates in a grotesque but realistic ending that nobody wants, but everyone has to accept is the reality. Don't read grimdark fiction if you don't want this.
I agree with all the critiques of this series and absolutely fucking love it anyway. This book, in particular, was like watching a hundred iterations of "Revenge of the Sith" unfold over and over again in a multiverse, none of them with a happy ending. I mean, right down to the letter, because at one point I was like, listen, this is going to end like Anakin Skywalker's return to the light did - she has to die. . I expected it to end the way it did, and I was a bit surprised that part of it caught me off guard.
I'm glad I read this after Babel, and my thoughts on that are complicated...overall, I think Babel is a vastly more mature book in which Kuang tackles huge issues with the same (overly dense) academic surgical precision and articulates the gruesome realities better. The Poppy War series, though, has more hearty, more faith, and more flayed-open imperfection.
Adding it to my bookshelf among Red Rising, The Hunger Games, and The Stormlight Archives as a hallowed tome.
But man, were there times when I wanted to beat this book against a wall. Hoo BOY was it a mess to get to the ugly-beautiful ending that it gave us.
This series could have been five books - less rushed, more time for the tapestry to artfully unravel. This final book somehow crammed too much in, and obliterated storylines without ending them in any remotely satisfying way.
Almost all of the things I want to rail about are spoilers so -
Then there are about 50 pages when Rin is training a handful of shamans to be powerful and able to control themselves - a process that took an entire book and two years of a vague time jump in Book 1 to come to fruition.
I do also want to petulantly note that at the end, during a heavy, poignant moment that was written so well, Nezha looks down at Rin's lifeless body and thinks only "you bitch, you fucking bitch" and it ruins the scene entirely - crass, immature, and edge-lord unnecessary.
Venka was also done really dirty in this book -- after everything, for Kuang to have Rin turn on her, and then never confirm for the reader if she was a traitor or not (she wasn't, Rin was just a wildly paranoid train wreck at that point, you will not convince me otherwise) - its a disservice to a character who was already used and abused as a monolithic punching bag for male violence while Rin was able to remain "pure" from both sexual assault and sexual activity.
Things I fucking loved: that Rin's parentage, though strongly alluded to, is never confirmed or revisited as significant; it's frustrating, but also drives home that it's not the point - this book isn't about inheritance and destiny, it's about ruthlessly obliterating the legacy you've been handed regardless of what tradition would have you do. Also, the different kinds of love that threaded throughout the trilogy subtly without explicitly naming or confirmation were great - platonic, manipulative, romantic, familial, etc. Despite what I said above about Venka existing so Rin can remain "unsullied", I liked that Rin got to "come of age" without sex/sexual initiation being a part of it - it pushes back against the tired narrative that loss of virginity is a key step towards becoming an adult. This is a victory for all of us out there who were late bloomers, and who were bombarded with teen media that constantly informed us that having sex was the right of passage to the horizon of adulthood. Neither does Rin ever second guess or lament her decision to sterilize herself in her early teens - I'm so glad Kuang never subjected us to long musings on 'whether she'd done the right thing'.
A vast majority of this book was sluggish retread of what we've already been through - Rin shooting off at the mouth, acting grown up, and then being promptly spanked and sat right down in her place by literally anyone near her who takes half a second to think. While I am enamored Rin as a wildly flawed, prickly, and off-putting female lead, by the end of this book I was fascinated that she'd managed to have a coming of age story that routinely confirmed she was a dumber bitch than when we started (and I promise I am saying that affectionately).
The lore we delved into further in this book was GREAT, and I'd sink my teeth into more content detailing it. Though I do think the last 100 pages just devolved into Kuang's thesis on socio-political systems and the results of civil war, it raises good questions, refuses to give easy answers, and then culminates in a grotesque but realistic ending that nobody wants, but everyone has to accept is the reality. Don't read grimdark fiction if you don't want this.
I agree with all the critiques of this series and absolutely fucking love it anyway. This book, in particular, was like watching a hundred iterations of "Revenge of the Sith" unfold over and over again in a multiverse, none of them with a happy ending.
I'm glad I read this after Babel, and my thoughts on that are complicated...overall, I think Babel is a vastly more mature book in which Kuang tackles huge issues with the same (overly dense) academic surgical precision and articulates the gruesome realities better. The Poppy War series, though, has more hearty, more faith, and more flayed-open imperfection.
Adding it to my bookshelf among Red Rising, The Hunger Games, and The Stormlight Archives as a hallowed tome.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War