The Burning God (The Poppy War) (Book 3)

I’m devastated and heartbroken and very much dislike this ending 😭 it felt rush and out of nowhere. I refused this ending! 😔even with that, this series was amazing and I’ll go to war for this. I take no criticism from anyone 😤

I hope Kuang will write more books, just for me to read! I truly enjoyed reading this series and the one-off, Babel too.

I am so glad I read this trilogy. It easily made its way into my favorite books. The world building is amazing, the characters have depth and aren’t always likeable, which makes them feel more real. The main character is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read. She made mistakes, she was fierce, she was relentless, she was a monster, and she was also just a girl doing whatever it took to save her country. This one tore my heart out and stomped on it and then set it on fire.

This will be a review of The Burning God and the trilogy overall...The trilogy overall is 5 stars because I've never read anything like it before. It is a military fantasy with very dark, very cinematic moments that are worthy of being on the big screen. The first book depicts Rin as already a hard worker and a determined young girl of age 14-15 years. She gets into the toughest military school by bribing her tutor to teach her and scoring high on the exam; there, she encounters bullying for her dark skin and other heartaches and backaches too. This sets the stage for her mentality later on because it shifts a bit into darker terrains.The Dragon Republic(Book 2) takes us deeper into the Dragon region and there is more politics involved, and more importantly, Rin learns more about the powerful Trifecta. It is during this point that I realize Rin, Nezha, Venka, and my favorite- Kitay, are having to grow up really fast. The third Poppy War literally happened as they were studying in school-- so as the reader, I offer grace to their errors because I must remember they are so young. But by the final book, I am worried for Rin...and her friends.In The Burning God(Book 3) Rin becomes something broken. She is fragmented mentally, and spiritually she is all over the place. Her decisions seems to come from more of the Phoenix inside her rather than her. Nezha(her former bully and on again off again foe/friend) is even more complex. I truly love how no one is the innocent here, but also are people you care deeply for.While reading, I realized a few things about Rin:-She's impulsive-Magnificent-Smart-Deadly-Monstrous-DedicatedAll of this, for her people. Yeah, there were times in the book I wanted to put my fist through the page. Rin is constantly betrayed- also, there were several pages where it was so bleak and hopeless, I wanted everyone put out of their misery. There seemed to be NO silver lining in the plot, or there were false ones.The saving grace (and why the book earns five stars) is the final cataclysmic chapters and bonus short story at the end called, "Drowning Faith"- It is wonderful, a tear jerker and this trilogy will live in my heart forever. I hope R.F. Kuang continues to write more books. I just purchased Babel, also written by her.

update: lowered my review. Much of my thoughts remain the same; for me I felt compelled to lower it because I originally was giving it 4 stars more out of obligation to the characters that I loved rather than being honest about my frustrations and it’s shortcomings.-Phew! How do I even begin to order my thoughts? R.F. Kuang, you have truly destroyed all of our peace of mind (in the best way possible) with these series and characters, and I thank you tremendously for it.For now, I'm rating TBG 4 stars out of my love and appreciation for the characters and certain arcs that were seen through in this finale. However, in total honesty, I may end up bumping the review down, as I struggled a bit with some of the characterizations/ pacing of TBG.Firstly, I have said this before and must say it again, while I understand and can appreciate that Rin is not a trustworthy or objective narrator, I found the continued character assasination and villification of Altan to be gratuitious and completley unnessecary. We ended The Dragon Republic with Rin beginning to believe and come into her own power, and yet a lot of her internal monolouge and perspective in the first half of The Burning God felt lifted word for word from her in the first and second books. So to that end, it just felt like Rin's never ending obsession with and fear of Altan was tiring and frustrating, especially as we as the reader understand the person she imagines and characterizes isn't actually who he was.Going off of that, while I actually was not outraged by the ending and felt it made perfect sense, I did struggle personally with Rin's descent into power hungry madness and tunnel vision regarding violence and waging wars. This is honestly a compliment to R.F. Kuang, as she characterized it and Rin's loss of sense of reality so sickeningly well.The last comment I'll make is that as a finale, TBG felt a little bit like it bit off more than it could chew. You have the Southern Coalition, the Hesperians, the Trifecta plotline, all overlapping and yet at the same time, none feel focused enough on. I LOVED seeing Daji and Jiang banter and was a bit frustrated at how quickly- and vaguely-that storyline was resolved. I had so many more questions! I also think that the characters themselves suffered due to how much goes on in the book in terms of plotlines. Venka's arc and ending felt really unsatisfactory to me, and at times it seemed as though Kitay would appear to chastise Rin's nature and then be gone again.All in all, the ending was beautifully- and PAINFULLY- crafted. R.F. Kuang has done an absolutely stellar job at writing a series that forces questions about human nature, about the true cost of war, and the characters of leaders; who they believe themselves to be, and who they are. Historically, culturally, this series is important. Am a better, more critically thinking person for having read it!

This series and this book especially was one surprise after another. Absolutely fantastic! The ending broke my heart but it’s a necessary ending to the book. Unforgettable.

Son duda un final digno y esperado de la trilogía, nos muestra la crueldad y brutalidad de la guerra y sus efectos en las personas.Rin en su descenso a la locura se vuelve un personaje único que nunca antes había leído en un libro, me gustó como demuestran el lado maníaco y oscuro que pueden tener las personajes principales sin la necesidad de redimirse al final.Una maravilla de libro de principio a fin y una trilogía que quizá no pueda ser para todo el público pero sin duda es una obra de arte.

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This is an incredibly well-written book! It's terrifying at times, and sometimes even hard to read because of the things that happen in it, but it's absolutely worth it.

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