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

dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First book took me 4 days to read - this one took 9 months. Couldn’t get into it for some reason.
The constant battles then loosing battles then being captured/finding themselves in trouble again/descriptions of Rin’s latest painful head spinning injury just became exhausting to read about. Yes this was to show the brutality and loss of war but I eventually stopped caring about the outcome or the characters.
 

As a fantasy series it still rates well above average and I’ll be reading the third. Rin is one of the most emotionally complex characters I’ve read about and her relationship with Kitay in this was nice to see. Upon reflection I think I enjoyed the 1st significantly more as there were other things going on aside from just war.
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