The Complete Poppy War Trilogy

The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God

By: R. F. Kuang

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

From R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Babel, this collection features the novels in her historical military fantasy trilogy—The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God—a complete epic inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

The Poppy War

A war orphan, Rin earned her place in Nikan’s most elite military school. There, she discovers her lethal, unearthly power of shamanism—and learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive. When an inevitable conflict arises between longtime enemies the Nikara Empire and the Federation of Mugen, Rin realizes her shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity. . .

The Dragon Republic

After committing an atrocity in battle, shamanic warrior Rin is consumed with guilt, an opium addiction, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix god. Channeling her anger against the Empress who betrayed Rin’s homeland, she chooses to join forces with the Empress’s enemy, the Dragon Warlord. But as Rin discovers the true natures of the Empress and the Dragon Warlord, the temptation to unleash the Phoenix’s fearsome power grows—and so does her vengeance. . .

The Burning God

After saving Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress in a brutal civil war, Rin realizes that her homeland’s real power lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Vowing to defeat all who threaten the shamanic arts, Rin’s power and influence grows—but so does the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it. . .

“Mixing historical parallels of Chinese history, the themes of war, politics, and colonialism are balanced with terrific, flawed characters and amazing worldbuilding.”—Library Journal (starred review)

©2023 R. F. Kuang (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Wasted Potential

“War is bad very bad, did you know, let me repeat that for 30 chapters in 2 full novels” - the author
This book is garbage, so much potential wasted! an amazing start in the first half of book 1 and then the author abandons every thing that makes a story good.
You’ve heard of character development? This book does the reverse somehow for every single character.
The author, talks like she writes too i watched some of her speeches. it’s pure disdain for people that consume fantasy which makes you wonder why she wrote this.
Like we know war is bad, stop beating us over the head with this.
it’s not the violence that is the issue im a dark fantasy person but there is no reason for the stuff she writes. it’s apparently historically accurate but that is bs because i can actually stand reading asian history books but this was garbage.

Painfully Good, But Not For Everyone

This is an absolutely fantastic series which I would basically never recommend to anyone.

This series has an intriguing magic system and world-building, moments of genuine friendship and love, and borderline excessive amounts of violence - but the primary focus of this story is in exploring themes of vengeance, fear, and trust while grinding the reader’s face into the gritty, banal cruelty of a preindustrial civil war.

If you want an emotionally grueling Shakespearean tragedy about the transformation of an ambitious young protagonist into a ruthless, egomaniacal leader as a result of the constant hardships and betrayals she endures, all against the backdrop of the senseless cruelty and human suffering ripped straight from the pages of real-world history, then this series is for you.

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The narrator, despite straining slightly on the rare side-characters with exceptionally high or deep voices, does a damn solid job with great consistency and decent pacing. Overall, based on what I’ve heard here, I would happily listen to one their performances again in the future.

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As an additional cautionary note, I personally struggled to finish this series - I love extremely long books, but the protagonist’s character arc in the final third was genuinely difficult to stomach, if only because, after a certain point, it seems impossible to imagine her earning any sort of satisfying narrative redemption after what all the things she has personally done and put her friends through.

If you are like me, the final ten hours will be the most difficult, but the final thirty minutes serve as the essential capstone which holds the series up as a work of storytelling art.

I will look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next…

I hated this series so much

The main character was such a self indulged egomaniac it made the story insufferable. She lacked common sense but yet thought she was the smartest person in the room. Ugh it was 66 hours I’ll never get back. I wish I could have stopped listening but I can’t leave things unfinished.

the worst main character, but that's the point

hard to review without spoilers, but I really like this series. I'm not sure if I ever want to read them again but I'm glad I did

the world building and atrocities

hated the main character the whole time but a very cool world and interesting themes about war and colonialism

Sign-ne-gard???

One criticism from me is how the narrator all of a sudden changed the pronunciation of Sinegard to "Sign"-ne-gard in The Dragon Republic.
I know it's minor but every time I hear it, it throws me off, especially after just finishing the Poppy War.

Why the change, Emily Woo Zeller?

amazing story

the path you follow the main character on is wild. Strong themes of pain, trauma, imperialism, rage, and egoism. This story beautifully incorporates Chinese history into it's fantasy setting and does a great job of succinctly setting the stakes for each character while still leaving you wondering how their story will end. Some of the interpersonal relationships felt a bit hollow, but none of the characters motivations felt forced and fake.

Narration was amazing, but the story was Meh...

overall I loved the story. I couldn't stand the MC. literally years of time pass, and the MC has next to zero development other than super god powers. definitely glad I didn't waste 3 whole credits!

Best Fantasy Series Since The Hunger Games

I LOVED this series and could not stop reading. It begins with a poor girl, who is an orphan and destined to get married off to some old guy, who will help her adopted family gain more power for their opium business. But Rin has other ideas and at the moment we are on a roller coaster of emotions that is both terrifying and sometimes painful. The characters are incredible and you will love to hate them. Read this series if you’re having a book hangover or need some excitement in your life!

Difficult Read, but incredible

The story is not a happy one- it’s violent and brutal, but it sucks you into the world. I thought the narrator was amazing. She really makes you feel the anger and desperation of the characters