The Dragon Republic

R. F. Kuang

Aug 2019 · The Poppy War Book 2 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

War is ugly and cruel, …and it makes monsters of people who might have been something better in another life. The second book in the Poppy War Trilogy is very good, but also almost entirely devoid of light. That, in my opinion, makes this an excellent military fantasy. Too many other stories in the genre glorify war—or, at least, the heroes who fight in war. The Dragon Republic doesn't do that. Our hero is a terrible weapon of war burdened with trauma after trauma, and she is never given the opportunity of a good choice. It's all brutal and awful, and it feels so real. Don't look to this story to give you the kind of feel-good battle of good versus evil that you'll find in the likes of Harry Potter. That sort of thing is for children; this story is for adults who know that the world of humankind is often anything but kind.

Ok Google if a book is art of a series please make that clear. I bought this book when I ment to buy the first one. You need a system in place where if you don't have the first book installed it asks you if you're sure you want it. I'm legily blind and I feel like you should make the playstore mo acsesable to us

A blood- and magic-drenched sequel worthy of The Poppy War! I haven't read a book of this length so quickly since I was in my teens. The Dragon Republic, R.F. Kuang's brilliant addition to The Poppy War series, certainly isn't for children, but it held the same thrill as all my childhood favorites with the added perspective of an adult take on war and the accompanying subtler types of violence. This book is heavy and dark, but absolutely impossible to put down. Rin begins the book shaken by the death of Altan Trengsin, who was commander, teacher, and abuser in one messy package. She's also heavily dependent on opium to maintain control of her shamanic powers—and to deaden her memories of the atrocities she saw and committed in the Third Poppy War. The Dragon Republic is a story of military strategy, tyranny, colonial influence, and magic, but it still centers Rin's character as its driving force. This is her story; not of redemption, but of self-discovery and gaining intimate familiarity with her own strengths and weaknesses. If you can handle dark themes and content, I highly recommend this series! (Fans of Game of Thrones, this one's for you!)

About the author

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.