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The Burning God  By  cover art

The Burning God

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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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 twentieth-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, though, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it?

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

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What listeners say about The Burning God

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Remove the protagonist and its good (spoilers)

I powered through this last book thinking all the mystery and unanswered questions that were left would eventually be answered or maybe the main charecter would FINALLY grow up and learn from her mistakes and sigh... i was wrong. Let me start by saying this is an interesting read, but the way this story wrapped up was lack luster, and thats an understatement. They spend 3 books over hyping this trio of warriors of legend just to kill them off in the weakest way possible. The main charecter is so hate blinded and immature she rushes head first into all situations, screws up, gets betrayed, rinse repeat. IN EVERY BOOK. They make her so irrational and petty by the end of the book and then ends it by doing what in 3 books she never showed she was capable of. And forget about burning questions being answered, they wont be. Sorry, not for this review, but sorry i dint listen to my inner voice telling me not to read this. its not going to satisfy you

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Not sure why this story was written.

The protagonist started out her journey naive, unwilling to listen and hell bent on trusting those who were obviously going to betray her. She continued her journey and ended it this way too. What was the point of the whole trilogy? The plot had no real direction. The character development was non existent. I really wanted to like this series but it just couldn't meet basic literary standards let alone the next level hype that led me to pick up this series in the first place. Save yourself the trouble and go read Jade City instead.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Rin: a screw up till the end.

I loved the series but Rin is bar none, the dumbest protagonist ever put to page. The proformance was great.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Flat character

The writing itself was good. But I did not enjoy this book, nor this series. The main character is full of anger and hatred, has refused to grow up or learn from her past. The entire story is told pretty much from the main character’s point of view, lots of self pity. In turn, all the other characters were left flat, because she could not tell the story from their perspective. Too much hatred. Too much anger. But maybe, growing up in an environment like that, one might just be full of despair, anger... I wanted to like this series, but I failed.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Total Disappointment!

After listening to all 3 books within the past few months, I can assuredly say how disappointing the final book was. It made me regret investing my time and energy into the first two books. I don't know what the author was thinking when she wrote the final book but it was not well received on my end. The first two books were riveting and captivating with refreshing takes on a fantasy/fiction series. I was hoping to see the character develop and thrive in the final installment of what was SUPPOSED to be an amazing trilogy. Yet, all I got was the same hard headed, impulsive, train wreck of a protagonist who only hurt others along the way and never learnt a single lesson. On top of that, the story of the Trifecta had to be the biggest let down of a story arc I've ever read. After hyping up the audience for the first two books, the ending they got was totally flat and boring. I think the author had the right ideas but her execution was sub par and disappointing. 10/10 won't recommend.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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.

The first two books were okay despite how annoying the main character is but this was such a disappointing and terrible ending to the series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I have never hated a protagonist this much.

I hate Rin. I felt it was strange when the author said in the interview at the end of book 1 that Rin is too stupid to be a good soldier, but not I whole heatedly agree. Rin's character is that she's angry, short sighted, and easily manipulated, and I can not stand Rin. I finished this book feeling tired and unfulfilled.

As far as the narrator goes, I got tired of it sounding like she was whispering in my ear the entire book. Please, just talk normally. I get that you're trying to put emotion into your reading, but it gets so tiring having the same angry secretive sounding whisper talking in your ear after a while.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

You’re not supposed to like Rin

The thing I enjoyed most about this trilogy was the way the author wrote such a compelling series with a main character you cannot root for. It’s devastating to watch the fall of Rin as she fails over and over, to be in the perspective of character that is slowly losing their mind in the midst of war, a villain in a tale the desperately needs a hero. The trilogy is a fresh take on tragedy.
A lot of the critiques on this series have to do with the main character but she stops being the hero after the first book, the rest is gritty downfall and it amazing and horrifying to read. I don’t think you’re supposed to like her.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pretty epic

Kind of an emotional roller coaster and I liked it. And the narrator is great.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The storyline

It feels more real than any other fantasy ive read. More realistic portrayal of a hero.

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