The Dragon Republic: Book Review

I just finished The Dragon Republic, the second book in The Poppy War Trilogy. In the aftermath of the events of the first book, Rin was left traumatized and addicted to opium. She lost Nehza, a close friend of hers, she committed an act of genocide against an entire country, and her friendship with her only remaining friend is consequently on the ropes. Rin is now forced to rely of the help of people who have no regard for her humanity, as she works to take down Su Daji, the Empress who betrayed her country and set the Federation loose on her people.

The book is a fast paced and gripping tale that continually makes you question where the story is headed, and who the real danger is. In true grimdark fashion, the waters are incredibly muddy, and friend and foe are equally susceptible to cruelty and vicious pragmatism.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and consider this to be a very strong follow up to The Poppy War.

Overall (No Spoilers)

The best part about the book is the overall plot progression, especially how it builds off the first book and progresses through to the end. There were no slow points, or any parts that I felt the story was going nowhere. There is a great sequence of events throughout the middle of the story, and then another build-up and explosive pay off at the very end of the story. Both sequences were well done and melded together very well for a whole story.

The main characters are interesting, and I like the complexity that is built up between them as the story progresses. Characters are always the lifeblood of a story, so this is one of the main things that keep me reading.

I also like the continuation of the morally gray—or should I say, the morally black—portrayal of almost all the characters. I'm sick of reading about good characters who do the right thing all the time. Not that I can't ever read about that, but I much prefer people who cross the line, or who are basically the villain of the story.

And if you like stories that can make ballsy decisions, this is very much one of those, just as the last one was.

I think the thing that I enjoyed the least about the book was the prose. I did not think there was all that much to it. Throughout the story, I thought the writing just seemed too blunt and simplistic. In the beginning, we would be told explicitly that Rin was struggling with guilt over what she had done and told about how she was lying to herself, when this could have been done through showing. This is a recurring pattern throughout.

Building off the above point, I thought some of the writing was too quick. Multiple times throughout I thought that the descriptions were not detailed enough, I did not think I had a complete picture of what was happening, and sometimes was left to wonder why Kuang was not dwelling on the scenes a bit longer. But there is a trade-off between what I am talking about and having a book with an exorbitant word count. Some people prefer quicker books, so this is probably just a preference.

Overall, I liked the book. I will give it a 7 out of 10.

Strides (Spoilers)

My favorite section was the climax of the story. I thought that Kuang did an excellent job building up the tension leading up to that final battle. Once I reached that point of the book I had to keep reading until I reached the end. I liked how Kuang incorporated Rin's abilities into the fighting, something that was limited in the beginning, given the lack of control that Rin had; I'm not really sure about the mechanics of the wings that she used, but I didn't care, since the story had always had an element of the fantastical.

I also really enjoyed the confrontation with Daji, which, I suppose, should include the first confrontation, since they really are similar. Particularly, I liked how Kuang portrayed Daji's intentions, showing that she wasn't necessarily a bloodthirsty tyrant (at least a one-dimensional tyrant), but a cold-blooded pragmatist, making calculated decisions. And you wonder who that sounds like!

We did not see Jiang at all in this story, and I doubt we will again, but I still liked how his character was developed in the book. In my head, I imagined seeing Jiang again, after he had learned what Rin had done, and that potential interaction had me going. Obviously, that did not happen, but what did happen was good in its own way. It turns out, Jiang was simply purged of all his memories, particularly the ones associated with his cruelty and malicious nature. He was a monster, right alongside Daji and Riga. His self-imposed internment in the prison was due to his returning memories.

I also liked the complexity of Rin's relationship with Nehza. He is the son of the Dragon Warlord, and his friendship and potential romance with Rin has always been fraught with tension and heightened emotions. I correctly predicted that Nehza would come back, and I was also correct to predict that he had some powers of his own (which I have a theory about), but despite the fact that his fake out death was obvious, I still liked that he was brought back, because it made for some very interesting character dynamics. All I can say is that I cannot wait to see what the future holds in store. I doubt it is all that happy.

(A quick aside: a vague theory that occurred to me is that there is some connection between Nehza and Riga, the Dragon Emperor. They apparently are very similar in appearance, Nehza got his powers from a Dragon, and apparently Riga is still alive and missing. I have no idea how the specifics will play out, but I suspect that Riga did something to Nehza to keep himself alive, or to extend his abilities in a way that will become relevant later in the story.)

Kitay and Rin have another interesting relationship. Their relationship is more explicitly platonic, but their bond is far deeper than with Nehza. They start out in complicated territory because of Kitay's horror in response to Rin's willful massacre of the Mugin, but their bond proves to be too strong, and Kitay is slowly drawn back in and begins to follow his own corruption arc. The Twinning bond that happens in the second half is an interesting turn, emphasizing just how tied together these two have become.

Related to that, there was an interesting worldbuilding development regarding Twinning, with the introduction of the Hinterlanders (or one specific tribe with a complicated name that I don't remember). I like how Kuang tied Nikara history in with other countries, showing how those past interactions reverberate into today. This also makes the story world feel more developed and real.

Another way in which the world was developed was with the Hesperians, who are inspired by the West, much in the same way that Mugin is inspired by Japan. They are an extremely powerful country with advanced technology (notably guns), with a strong adherence to religion, and a desire to colonize the world for their own benefit. Vaisra's alliance with them was like playing with fire, as they obviously had their own interests in mind, and when they essentially set up a colonial state at the very end, it seems like a crushing inevitability. I also liked how they were described in the story, where Rin was horrified by their appearance, as she had never seen anyone like that before (they were white, not Asian).

Another good part regarding the plot was the middle portion, where Jingza was leading the assault north. The way the sequence is set up, they are facing increasingly dire circumstances, further heightening what they must overcome, and when everything comes crashing down in horrific fashion, it was both surprising and inevitable. I imagined they might win at the halfway point and then fail later, but the reverse was the case.

Stumbles (Spoilers)

Aside from the things I mentioned in the non-spoiler section, I have a few things that I did not like:

I mentioned above that I enjoyed the confrontation with Daji. One problem I had was the logistics behind Daji showing up during that final battle. I guess the implication was that she was with the fleet when it attacked. I don't know why, though. I assumed she would sit back and let the fireworks happen, but apparently, she felt the need to go there. I get that there had to be a confrontation, but I would have liked a better reason for her to show up.

I also don't know how I feel about the portrayal of injury in the story. Daji had her face burned off, but she seemed to be completely unfazed. Now, maybe I forgot an in-world explanation for why this is, but the exaggeration can only go so far. This isn't a major complaint, either, because there still is death and real consequences. It's just something that occurred to me.

Something else that I liked overall but am conflicted about with regards to the execution would be the introduction of the Hinterland schemes and back story. I thought the plotline came completely out of nowhere, with not enough build up. One moment, we are part of an assault on the Empire, and the next, we are learning about something else entirely.

There is also the portrayal of the Cyke. Basically, I don't really care about any of them. They are all dead now, and I still don't really know any of them. When Aratsha died, Rin comments on how little she knew about the man, and I laughed because it felt like a meta commentary on how little he had been developed.

Another thing was a lot of the dialogue. Much of the time, it just felt so juvenile, especially when the adults engaged in this style of banter. There were points where Kuang explicitly mentioned that the behavior was juvenile, but that didn't really assuage my concerns. It reminds me of when I wrote my first (unpublished) novel. I would write something cringy, recognize it as so, but instead of changing it, I would half-ass some acknowledgement in the story itself, as if that addressed the problem.

Finally, I thought the portrayal of cynicism was a bit simplistic. This seems to be a pattern among a lot of grimdark stories, where they have a dark and cynical view of people and life, but they are too on the nose about humanity's selfish nature. People are not only selfish and cynical, but we are also experts at self-delusion. People are willing sell out friends and hurt people, but we also don't want to admit that, instead constructing elaborate narratives that justify why it's okay for us to do these things. Kuang does this to a certain degree, she is nowhere near as bad as some examples, but I don't think she goes far enough.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I will read the third to see how things end. I will give the story a 7 out of 10.