10-05-2022, 10:53 AM
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
It's book two of The Poppy War Trilogy. It still feels like I'm doing homework reading this. And, yet, the books have won rave reviews and two Hugos. And I finally stumbled on to the fact the books are a thinly disguised retelling of Chinese history in the 20th century. In the first book, we saw the end of the empire. Book 2, The Dragon Republic shows the rise of the short lived republic era. And our hero Rin is supposed to be modeled on Mao Zedong.
In this book, Rin joins forces with Vinearys who is Nyzha father (I'm getting the spellings wrong but I don't feel like looking them up) her schoolmate. V's plan is to bring democracy to the land. He wants Rin to help him defeat the remaining forces of the empire. There are big battles and more shaman magic and eventually, Rin learns it is all a lie. V just wants power.
My biggest problem is that Rin isn't very sympathetic. She's not a very good hero and I don't see why people follow her or think she is doing a good job. And there is the constant battle to control her power which includes a lot of drug addiction.
And in this book, we get to meet the representatives of the Western Powers in the Hesperians. They have guns and technology and a feeling of superiority over Rin's people. They seem very British.
Because it is such a slog, I contemplated not reading the third book. But I'm sucking it up and plowing into The Burning God.
It's book two of The Poppy War Trilogy. It still feels like I'm doing homework reading this. And, yet, the books have won rave reviews and two Hugos. And I finally stumbled on to the fact the books are a thinly disguised retelling of Chinese history in the 20th century. In the first book, we saw the end of the empire. Book 2, The Dragon Republic shows the rise of the short lived republic era. And our hero Rin is supposed to be modeled on Mao Zedong.
In this book, Rin joins forces with Vinearys who is Nyzha father (I'm getting the spellings wrong but I don't feel like looking them up) her schoolmate. V's plan is to bring democracy to the land. He wants Rin to help him defeat the remaining forces of the empire. There are big battles and more shaman magic and eventually, Rin learns it is all a lie. V just wants power.
My biggest problem is that Rin isn't very sympathetic. She's not a very good hero and I don't see why people follow her or think she is doing a good job. And there is the constant battle to control her power which includes a lot of drug addiction.
And in this book, we get to meet the representatives of the Western Powers in the Hesperians. They have guns and technology and a feeling of superiority over Rin's people. They seem very British.
Because it is such a slog, I contemplated not reading the third book. But I'm sucking it up and plowing into The Burning God.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm