The Burning God

The Poppy War, Book 3

By: R. F. Kuang

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 23 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R.F. Kuang's acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead.

Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much – the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges – and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation.

Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners.

As her power and influence grows, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s voice, urging her to burn the world and everything in it?

©2020 R. F. Kuang (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Gut wrenching twists and turns

Kept me on my mental toes right through and I found myself pining and wishing for a sequel the closer I got to the end.

This series has more potential for expansion/exploration, quite a fascinating world.

Full circle

I enjoyed the experience, the ending was appropriate for this trilogy, I received a full story!

kinda disappointing ending to a strong first book

Struggled to finish it, the Main character was so useless and annoying, no character development at all from the first book. The only good thing she did was at the end

Devastating, Courageous and Bloody

As a third act of the Poppy Wars, the stakes couldn't get higher. Betrayal, fortitude, violence and paranoia feed the opposing forces at play and there is no force like Rin. Joined by familiar and new companions, Rin takes her shot to disrupt and seek vengeance on her foes. And there are so many foes to contend with and so many ways she can think of to hurt them. Can she shift the balance of power once and for all, and what will the price be to her, to her allies, her enemies and most of all to the people of the seven provinces still facing war...

Fantastic series

I loved this series, brilliantly written, the story from book 1 through to book 3 never disappointed.

Miserable

Loved the first book but the subsiquent books become more and more miserable. Quite frankly I found myself routing for the enemy within a couple of hours of starting this one.

The ending.

I hope I forget this trilogy, just so I can read it all over again.

Gave up at 30%

I'm just not enjoying the plot. Killing off the secondary characters at the end of the last book was a mistake and this book then finds a reason to take Rin away from her remaining friends. I've skipped ahead to look at the end and just don't care about where this book goes.

A refreshing change to Western influenced fantasy.

An excellent series of books, perfectly read and wonderfully South-East Asian in influence.
I can't wait to read her next book.

I couldn't bear any more awfulness

I hate to write a poor review. But... these books just wore me down.

Everything is grim for the sheer grimness of it. Everyone is awful with zero redeemable qualities. Everything anyone tries to do goes wrong, presumably for dramatic effect but it feels like "the manual on novel writing says make bad stuff happen here". I lost all sympathy for everyone and everything they were trying to do.

The first book had so much promise, with lots of cool stuff kind of foreshadowing awesomeness. But everything set up as "could this be a thing...?" just gets smashed, broken, maimed, and left for dead. Including the integrity of all the characters.

Was that the point? A fantastical retelling of Chinese history? A loss of innocence, ideals, and a fatalistic embracing of any means - no matter how many "peasants" are killed, or nations dealt genocidal blows - justifying individual ends? That feels one-sided. And I'd rather read a history book. Or the abridged one novel only version of this long, long, long, harrowing journey into losing all care for characters that you initially are rooting for.

wow

very enjoyable it is an amazing story and is very gory if u like that

Excellent series.

Well that's me finished with my journey through The Poppy War series, The Burning God was a fantastic conclusion to a very harrowing series full of War and the atrocities that come with it. My only scruples with the whole series was the main protagonist Rin, I know she has gone through hell and back but her whining just got worse as the story continued. Thank god we had Chen Kitay's character, as a fellow reader said that i was chatting with, he was the main man. A brilliant strategist and fellow student of Rin's at Sinegard school of warfare was my favourite. The worldbuilding, setting and plot is brilliant, with the Hesperian’s bringing their advanced technology to the Nikara Empire, using the airships and arbalast guns and with the subdued help of the Dragon Republic are looking to bring the Nikarians under their rule and the Gods of the pantheon to end. But Rin and her God of the Phoenix stand in their way. To start all over fresh again, you have to burn it all down first. The Poppy War trilogy is an unfiltered look at the brutality of violence war and how its aftermath leaves a lasting effect on those who are left to pick up the pieces. This series is definitely one of those that a reader must read at their own discretion. The narration by Emily Woo Zeller is excellent through out the whole series. If you love asian and mythical lore, then this is must read....🖤🔥☠️