Final Review: The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
I recently finished Burning God, the third and final book in R.F. Kuang’s Poppy War series. This last journey in the book follows Rin as the Nikan Empire plunges into civil war. Driven by her need for vengeance for the previous wrongs committed against her, and a newfound passion to stand up and fight for the common people who have also equally been wronged, Rin must lead the Southern Coalition against her newfound enemies. Her new army must fight the Dragon Republic and the Hesperians. In this book, Rin must navigate complex political landscapes, the psychological toll that comes with endless conflict, and the dangerous power of the Phoenix that runs through veins.
In this final installment we see Rin come into her full self and become the leader she was always supposed to be. At the end of the previous novel the Emperors of the Southern Coalition approached Rin to join their forces and help lead their armies to victory but she declined. After being betrayed by the Dragon Republic and the Hesperians, Rin finally agreed to lead, putting all that she learned during her time at Sinegard to the test. Of course this new appointment was also rife with its own game of politics and misogyny that Rin had to navigate again. I found myself comparing how effective the different leaders were at garnering loyalty from their people and turning that into military power. Rin had to keep jumping through hoops to get the leaders of the Southern Coalition to back her ideas since they were the ones who had the loyal man power that would do as they ordered. R.F. Kuang drew a clear parallel between Rin and Nezha: since the Dragon Republic’s strength was diminished through the civil war, Nexha had to do everything the Hesperians asked to remain in the battle. In this last book we see Rin take the lessons from the previous leaders she has followed to become her own, for better or for worse.
One theme that R.F. Kuang made crystal clear in this book is the nature of war and the cost everyone must face. What made it different this time was the cumulative cost the empire was paying, which threatened its very destruction if the civil war continued. Nikan was in its third year of active warfare, a duration that can break down even the strongest country, and Nikan wasn’t in the best position at the beginning. We see this fatigue towards the end where Rin tries to rally the Southern Coalition for one more battle. But the people are tired, they ask her when it will all end and when they will be able to eat again. This was one moment where it’s obvious that Rin has much more growing to do as a leader as she is unable to understand what her people want. This was the moment where I started to question if it was all worth it. If they were fighting for the freedom of the South, was the immense cost and the destruction of the rest of their country a price worth paying?
My one critique of this novel is the Trifecta storyline that was woven throughout. Desperate for a way to win, Rin embarked on a side quest to awaken and reunite the Trifecta as her hail Mary to win the war. The journey wasn’t easy and there were moments where it looked like it might work. I think it was good for Rin to gain a deeper understanding of the Trifecta’s power, their intertwined nature, the large cost that they consistently paid, and the dark secrets they kept. I wish this understanding could have been accomplished another way or woven more equally through all three books. It felt rushed and disjointed from the overarching narrative of this final act. The one highlight of this sidequest was that it forced Rin to make a decision about building out her army of shamans. Before this moment with the Trifecta she didn’t fully grasp how vast shamanic power could be or know there was a greater price than death to pay for this power.
Overall, I loved this trilogy, and it’s up there among my all-time favorite fantasy novels. I enjoyed that this wasn’t a romantasy or young adult fantasy, but one that felt very real and adult. You could truly see R.F. Kuang’s progression and how much she improved as an author over these three novels. She nailed her writing style, kept building on the world she created, and absolutely mastered her word choice. I highly recommend this trilogy to anybody who loves the historical military fantasy genre and who loves to have their heart ripped out.
