The perfect ending – a review of the book “The Burning God”

Rebecca F. Kuang has taken the literary market by storm and is not going to leave it now. The first two parts of the Poppy Wars trilogy she created immediately gained a lot of fans, and the critics showered the author with numerous awards. And if the previous two parts were phenomenal, there is no word that can describe the third, which is The Burning God.

Rin doesn’t give up!

The main character of the Poppy Wars trilogy is Fang Runin, also known as Rin. She is a strong woman who, against all odds, becomes an army commander and tries to make a revolution. Dragon Republic, the second part of the cycle, ended with a clash between Rin and Lady Vipers. Since then, the girl has had a hard time. She was cursed and almost lost her ability to summon the Phoenix. Her former enemies decide to take advantage of this fact and destroy her. The allies, in turn, turn away from it in a moment of weakness and thus almost condemn them to death. The only way out is to return to his native Tikana. The perverse fate, however, means that it is there that Rin finds a new source of strength, as well as allies who will stand by her and go into battle. And there is something to fight for. The future of the worlds – the human and the divine – is at stake.

There will be no shortage of praise

As I have already mentioned, the previous parts of the Poppy Wars were appreciated by both readers and critics, and the author was recognized as one of the best debutants of 2018 in the literary world. She also quickly gained a large group of fans who adored Rin. But Rebecca F. Kuang has just shown that she can jump the bar that she set herself very high. First of all, from the very first pages you can see that the young writer has gained experience and her workshop has changed. And although a bad word cannot be said about the style used in the Poppy Wars and Dragon Republic , in The Burning God you can see much greater professionalism. She is no longer an amateur who is just starting her adventure with writing, but a real “master of the pen”.

The Burning God this, in turn, is a novel slightly different from the previous ones, although just as unpredictable and having numerous twists and turns. Again, we see a war in it, but this time Rin fights it primarily with himself. The protagonist struggles with her own weaknesses, past nightmares, fear or breakdown. As a result, it is more human and closer to the recipient. Anyway, the whole trilogy, although it definitely belongs to the fantasy genre, is quite realistic. Kuang does not give us a candy world, where the heroes use the magic of friendship to defeat the “bad guy” and live happily ever after. Here we are dealing with betrayals, political pacts, a ruthless struggle for power, a desire for revenge. The wars depicted in the novel are not only bloody, but also leave their mark on the characters and stay with them for a long time. The writer is not afraid to even tackle topics such as racism or genocide.

The pros must be placed for the way Kuang runs the story, for example. With each new page, we sink deeper and deeper into the world she creates and it’s hard for us to escape from it, even after we put the book back on the shelf. The author also does not omit any thread she has started, and yet each title is nearly 800 pages long, so we have a lot of topics as well. It is also amazing how the writer shows us the relations between the characters. There are friendships, betrayals, love and hatred here. Everything built almost from scratch and so authentic. On the other hand, there are battle scenes beyond the pages. You don’t need a movie to see the clashes with your imagination and hear the clash of a weapon. And then this ending. At the very beginning, Kuang says to us:

“I hope you guys have prepared an armful of handkerchiefs.”

And guess what? You better listen to her.

As if there weren’t enough words for someone

The Polish publisher of The Burning God is Fabryka Słów. Well, thank them that the novel has hit our market, and we can enjoy it. The appropriate graphics have been taken care of here, matching the entire series, and inside you will find, among others maps of the world created by Kuang (prepared by Paweł Zaręba), as well as information about the author herself and the awards and nominations won by the series. However, the illustrations woven between the text look best. Their author is Przemysław Truściński. The artist uses black and white to show the scenes presented in the novel. All of them were created in an Asian style and perfectly harmonize with the entire plot.

Masterpiece?

If someone tells you that fantasy is shallow and good for children, and the only thing we can find in them are cute elves riding unicorns and fighting the enemy with love, show him the Poppy Wars trilogy . This is an extraordinary series, the culmination of which is brilliant. You can be sure that Rin and her adventures will stay with you long after you put the book on the shelf. And you will certainly want to come back to it. The burning God itself is the crowning achievement of Rebecca F. Kuang’s work and proves that the last part is not always the worst and forceful. The author knew from the very beginning what she wanted to tell us and where her heroine was going. And you should go with her on an amazing and dangerous adventure!