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

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I still enjoyed this book, but it was a little more difficult to have motivation to get through this book. It's not because it was bad, but because the story felt like it was going nowhere in like the first 2/3 of the book. The first book followed Rin's journey to Sinegard and her discovering her Speerly powers. But in the second book, it doesn't feel like much happens. I understand Rin is recovering from using her powers and grieving over Altan, but the events that happen during their time at sea wasn't very interesting. And on top of that, Su Daji blocks Rin's access to her powers, so a lot of the book is just Rin sad about not having her powers. It's not until the last third of the book when she can use her powers again and the story actually picks up. Rin finally has closure with Altan's death and so much gets revealed in the end that I finally got interested in the book again. Another thing I liked was seeing Rin's relationships with Kitay, Venka, and especially Nezha. Overall, I think this is still a great book, especially if you like reading more about the political side of wars, but I liked the first book more. I am excited to read the third book but I am also worried about who else is going to die lol
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