After what Rebecca F. Kuang presented in The Poppy War , the first part of the trilogy, she immediately gained a large group of fans. At the same time, expectations for the second volume also increased. Is the Dragon Republic up to the level of its predecessor?
Fang hits!
In the Poppy War, we met Fang Runin, also known as Rin. She is a young, strong and independent woman who does not care about adversities and goes after her own. Instead of becoming a meek wife, he enters an elite military school to become an army commander. And even if he loses friends along the way, he is not discouraged by it and pursues his goal.
The Republic of the Dragon is a continuation of the adventures of the aforementioned heroine. After she has been betrayed by Empress Su Daji, she plans to retaliate against her. And he has a pretty good opportunity to do so. Together with the remnants of her squad, she is captured by soldiers from the Dragon Province. The local ruler also had no love for the Lady of the Viper. Moreover, he intends to overthrow her and take her place. Rin is faced with a choice – either to support Yin Vaisra in his activities or to die in his court. For Squad Leader Cike, the choice is simple.
A debut that everyone dreams of
Author of the Wars trilogyMakowych, published in Poland by Fabryka Słów, is Rebecca F. Kuang for whom the series is a literary debut. This writer, only 24, could not have asked for a better start to her career. The first volume was received very warmly by the readers, and the critics appreciated the young artist as well. The novel was nominated for several awards, including the Locus and the World Fantasy Award, received the Crawford Award, and Time and Guardian placed it on the list of the best novels of 2018. In this way, Kuang set the bar for herself very high. The rapidly growing group of fans hoped that the second part would be as good as the first. I can tell you right away that they will not be disappointed, although there are a few shortcomings that need to be mentioned. First things first. If you like Rin and her unusual character, it’s in the Dragon Republicyou’ll get an almost unchanged heroine. By losing her best friend, she succumbs to despair, which makes her commit a lot of mistakes, leading to numerous misfortunes, but also twists and turns. The girl, however, still has a steadfast character and despite her failures, she does not give up and fights for hers. Her determination to pursue the goal of vengeance on the empress is admirable. The author of course focuses the main plot around Fang Runin, but she also skillfully presents other characters. And these are getting smaller with each new chapter. In the second volume we will meet everyone who survived in the first part, but we cannot get attached to them. We are dealing with a cruel world ruled by war, and not all of them return from the battlefield. The writer shows it very clearly and I praise her for it.
Or maybe we could move?
Dragon Republic is an extremely extensive novel. It has nearly 780 pages. I’m not saying it’s bad. After all, we know examples of much longer titles, and even the first volume was not much shorter (636 pages). Unfortunately, in this case, the author overdid it a bit. While it is interesting most of the time, and the action can slow down and speed up properly, and thus keep the reader in suspense, a few fragments seem to be completely unnecessary. Sometimes too much space is devoted to Kuang descriptions of places. When we would like Rin to go into battle again, we must first go through checking the terrain around her. Besides, our heroine, regretting the loss of Altan Trengsin, reflects on death and her own being. The writer wanted to expose her sadness after the death of her friend, but she could summarize it a bit more, and even so, the recipient would feel the same grief that Fang is experiencing. Fortunately, this is the only downtime that unnecessarily slows down the plot. They make the story less dynamic than the one presented inPoppy war , but generally don’t fare badly. By the way, these are the only things I can complain about in the second part of the trilogy.
Blanket, tea and Rin
The Dragon Republic is a novel perfect for long autumn or winter evenings. It is very pleasant to read, and Rebecca F. Kuang manages to keep us tense and (most of the time) not boring. We visit an extremely dangerous world plunged in war, full of betrayal and hatred, and in its very center we see Fang Runin fighting against adversities. Due to the fact that she makes a lot of mistakes for which she pays dearly, it is impossible not to cheer for her. The writer herself focuses on realism, so be prepared that you will not meet heroes from The Lord of the Rings herewho will defeat thousands of enemies without getting scratched. They will die sooner as soon as you become a little attached to them. This gives the second volume of the trilogy something that makes it impossible to tear yourself away from reading. Finally, it is worth adding that inside the book you will also find a few pictures created by Przemysław Truściński, which introduce us even more to the atmosphere of the novel. So it remains to decide which cover variant you choose and sit down to read!
