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A review by butchriarchy
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
2.0
It was just absolutely ridiculous for the entire first half. So many times the literal children would be talking back to powerful warlords and they would get away with it. This time the abundance of F-bombs also frustrated me, even from elders and also warlords. To me it felt very clumsy and cliche. It was still very entertaining, I'll give it that.
My problem with the first book resurfaced with this one as well--the villains are too cartoonish, not given any plausible reason for being evil--you're just supposed to accept that they are. Some things I will give it credit for--the renunciation of an abuser, for one.
Real-world parallels abound as well as should have been expected, but it struck me as very Animal Farm-ish in that it feels as though no real effort was made to make them into their own entities. The textbook racism, white supremacy, and eugenics were very disturbing here, which should be a warning to people of color reading this book.
Rin came to some realizations that, while I could see the inklings of from the beginning, were discovered in a way that felt really abrupt. That's how many of the epiphanies and climaxes read to me, too, especially Feylen's end. They feared so much yet there wasn't enough detail or action to make their conclusions feel satisfying.
Another complaint would be how Daji is a walking stereotype, an extremely common misogynistic one that applies to a lot of female villains.It's also laughable how easily she's disposed of. That's an extension of an earlier criticism, that the resolutions of these conflicts are too easy and aren't satisfying at all.
I had a lot of expectations for this book and now I just want to get the last book over with honestly. I'm still curious as to how it will end.
My problem with the first book resurfaced with this one as well--the villains are too cartoonish, not given any plausible reason for being evil--you're just supposed to accept that they are. Some things I will give it credit for--the renunciation of an abuser, for one.
Real-world parallels abound as well as should have been expected, but it struck me as very Animal Farm-ish in that it feels as though no real effort was made to make them into their own entities. The textbook racism, white supremacy, and eugenics were very disturbing here, which should be a warning to people of color reading this book.
Rin came to some realizations that, while I could see the inklings of from the beginning, were discovered in a way that felt really abrupt. That's how many of the epiphanies and climaxes read to me, too, especially Feylen's end. They feared so much yet there wasn't enough detail or action to make their conclusions feel satisfying.
Another complaint would be how Daji is a walking stereotype, an extremely common misogynistic one that applies to a lot of female villains.
I had a lot of expectations for this book and now I just want to get the last book over with honestly. I'm still curious as to how it will end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Abortion, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry