A review by sierraclimbs
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did not enjoy the first half of this book. It was just the same thing over, and over, and over. War, war, war. I was honestly confused a few times wondering “how could we possibly have moved on so fast to battle just to have the same conflict in a slightly different context” 
But for a second book, overall it was quite good. I’m feeling more & more attached to these flawed characters. Again, very Game of Thrones esque.

You also need to be careful getting attached to characters… like in Game of Thrones

There was also a kinda sorta enemies to lovers thing going on that I loved! It’s refreshing to read something where romance isn’t the primary focus, not even the secondary focus, but is still acknowledged.
I’m so interested to see how this story ends…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Death, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Hate crime, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Slavery, Alcohol, and Vomit

If you’re here, presumably you’ve read the first book. I would say this second book has moments where it is harsher than the first… more graphic. But if you were able to handle the first book, you should be fine.