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A review by cheesebagel
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
4.0
Fourth wing schmorth schming. You guys are reading the wrong Rebecca because THIS is how you write high fantasy. This is what it looks like when an up-and-coming writer has the dignity to care what she puts her name on.
I was incredibly impressed with this book. I have to admit, I read the The Poppy War something like six months ago, so there was a fair amount of memory scraping I had to do to work out what was going on in the beginning, but it wasn't long at all before I was absolutely wolfing it down.
Where do I start with this? Every plot detail of this book is so carefully thought through; everything has a reason and clear effect throughout the story. I have to say, there were a few moments, particularly in the first half, where I felt perhaps a bit too much had been edited out because the jump between scenes felt too abrupt (I think I made this critique of the first book, too).
However, this story absolutely bleeds integrity. This is a book that is unconcerned with a gimmicky plot twist. It has no interest in indulging its reader with an empty romance or a clean ending. The events of the story feel important and sincere, and it doesn't suffer in any way from what Kuang herself calls "second-book syndrome."
I think one of the greatest strengths of high fantasy is its ability to walk the line between reality and fiction. In other words, fantasy can explore the political and existential anxieties, as well as the ideals, of a generation by inventing its own background. Tolkien, of course, is the perfect example, but I think Kuang has managed this in her own way. Her engagement with subjects like democracy, colonialism, violence, and addiction is undertaken with elegance and sympathy, and the politics and geopolitical relationships between the provinces of Nikan, Mugen, and Hesperia are balanced and considered.
There's quite an obvious link to Westerners and Western colonialism in the depiction of the Hesperians, which I found both clever and amusing. The caricaturisation of Westerners and their religious system is so funny and also shows enough restraint to be valuable commentary on neocolonial practices today, as well as the roots of colonialism from past centuries.
Rin is one of, if not the most compelling protagonists of a fantasy novel I've ever encountered. Most genre fiction is relatively dependent on tropes, but I believe the best books disregard these in favour of characters who can surprise you and whose reactions to the world feel true. Kuang allows Rin to have real flaws. She makes her a character with whom you don't always agree as a reader, but somehow sympathise with every time regardless.
And it's not just Rin. Although I do wish a couple of the secondary characters (Baji and Suni!!) had been given a bit more depth and personality, I loved Ramsa and Kitay as if they were my own brothers and I felt Rin's rage against Su Daji and desperation for a leader in Vaisra so clearly. You spend the whole book in Rin's mind, trying to work out whom she can trust, how to control her emotions and her impulses, and where her true loyalties should lie, and it's deliciously unpredictable.
Reading this filled me with optimism for the fantasy genre in a time where certain recycled tropes attract the most readers. If there are still books like this being written and publishers eager to publish them, it can't be so bad after all.
I was incredibly impressed with this book. I have to admit, I read the The Poppy War something like six months ago, so there was a fair amount of memory scraping I had to do to work out what was going on in the beginning, but it wasn't long at all before I was absolutely wolfing it down.
Where do I start with this? Every plot detail of this book is so carefully thought through; everything has a reason and clear effect throughout the story. I have to say, there were a few moments, particularly in the first half, where I felt perhaps a bit too much had been edited out because the jump between scenes felt too abrupt (I think I made this critique of the first book, too).
However, this story absolutely bleeds integrity. This is a book that is unconcerned with a gimmicky plot twist. It has no interest in indulging its reader with an empty romance or a clean ending. The events of the story feel important and sincere, and it doesn't suffer in any way from what Kuang herself calls "second-book syndrome."
I think one of the greatest strengths of high fantasy is its ability to walk the line between reality and fiction. In other words, fantasy can explore the political and existential anxieties, as well as the ideals, of a generation by inventing its own background. Tolkien, of course, is the perfect example, but I think Kuang has managed this in her own way. Her engagement with subjects like democracy, colonialism, violence, and addiction is undertaken with elegance and sympathy, and the politics and geopolitical relationships between the provinces of Nikan, Mugen, and Hesperia are balanced and considered.
There's quite an obvious link to Westerners and Western colonialism in the depiction of the Hesperians, which I found both clever and amusing. The caricaturisation of Westerners and their religious system is so funny and also shows enough restraint to be valuable commentary on neocolonial practices today, as well as the roots of colonialism from past centuries.
Rin is one of, if not the most compelling protagonists of a fantasy novel I've ever encountered. Most genre fiction is relatively dependent on tropes, but I believe the best books disregard these in favour of characters who can surprise you and whose reactions to the world feel true. Kuang allows Rin to have real flaws. She makes her a character with whom you don't always agree as a reader, but somehow sympathise with every time regardless.
And it's not just Rin. Although I do wish a couple of the secondary characters (Baji and Suni!!) had been given a bit more depth and personality, I loved Ramsa and Kitay as if they were my own brothers and I felt Rin's rage against Su Daji and desperation for a leader in Vaisra so clearly. You spend the whole book in Rin's mind, trying to work out whom she can trust, how to control her emotions and her impulses, and where her true loyalties should lie, and it's deliciously unpredictable.
Reading this filled me with optimism for the fantasy genre in a time where certain recycled tropes attract the most readers. If there are still books like this being written and publishers eager to publish them, it can't be so bad after all.