Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Adult Fantasy
Length: 672 pages
Author: R.F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyage
Release Date: July 14th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
Rin’s story continues in this acclaimed sequel to The Poppy War—an epic fantasy combining the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters.
The war is over.
The war has just begun.
Three times throughout its history, Nikan has fought for its survival in the bloody Poppy Wars. Though the third battle has just ended, shaman and warrior Rin cannot forget the atrocity she committed to save her people. Now she is on the run from her guilt, the opium addiction that holds her like a vice, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix—the vengeful god who has blessed Rin with her fearsome power.
Though she does not want to live, she refuses to die until she avenges the traitorous Empress who betrayed Rin’s homeland to its enemies. Her only hope is to join forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who plots to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new republic.
But neither the Empress nor the Dragon Warlord are what they seem. The more Rin witnesses, the more she fears her love for Nikan will force her to use the Phoenix’s deadly power once more.
Because there is nothing Rin won’t sacrifice to save her country . . . and exact her vengeance.
WHO’S SIDE AM I ON?
This book got me FEELIN’ over that ending. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW. I have THOUGHTS and I need resolutions in the last book or we might be seeing a book throwing scenario. I can’t trust anything in this series and I hate [read: LOVE] that. By the time I’m feeling settled in one scene and its movement I am twisted around by the next chapter trying to find my footing again. The intense action and politics are continuing on and I can’t even begin to tell you which side I actually stand on.
Rin annoyed me on and off this go around. Many many decisions were made for her and I wish that she would have listened or been more open about those in her life. It did move the story along, but it did leave me wondering what hill our main character is going to stand on. I did however, enjoy seeing Rin develop a lot of relationships (platonic, and maybe something else?!?). That was a big part of this read and I think is going to play an even bigger role in the last book.
I love the audio version and how well everything is narrated. I am easily swept away by the story and it helped pass the slower middle area quicker by listening rather than physically reading this go around. I am anxious to get my hands on book three to see how this all ends. WHO SURVIVES.
Overall audience notes:
- Adult fantasy
- Language: some strong throughout
- Trigger/Content Warnings: rape, sexual assault, attempted assault and rape, extreme gore and violence; extreme blood and physical altercations; dismemberment, loss of loved ones, war scenes, racism, genocide, colonization, substance abuse and addiction, PTSD, suicide, self-harm, suicide ideation, forced medical examinations, animal death/torture
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