The Complete Poppy War Trilogy

The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God

De: R. F. Kuang

Narrado por: 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)

good but overrated

i think the series is so highly rated because of the thinly veiled criticism of american/british colonialism set in a fantasy-ish world. so i sort of roll my eyes at that. the story IS good, and the voice talent/reader is phenomenal. but how shall i put this? it’s no Dune on the philosophical/critique end. and it’s no Song of Ice and Fire on the visceral, “life is pain, princess. anyone who says otherwise is selling something” end. (both texts are meditations on power that strip man of their safe ideological trappings or self lies in their own ways). the main character sway with some serious bipolar attitudes that might actually be real but are less believable in the way that an actor’s best performance is not to do or say exactly what a person would really say or do but, rather, represent it through mimesis, which actually NOT really but speaks to the imagination of the audience in a way that is intellectually more stimulating or “real.” if that didn’t make sense, i’m just saying telling the most realistic character can come off less realistic than dramatizing deeds/words specifically for dramatic effect. and the third book kind of feels rushed and almost jumps the shark; my diatribe on being true versus dramatic truth is speculation about why it feels rushed and unbelievable.

Okay story if you like military novels, horrible narrator

I cannot believe people haven’t rated the narrator lower. I listen to audiobooks constantly and a bad narrator can ruin the whole thing. The character voices are CHOICES and not good ones. I get that she wanted to differentiate but some of them are so bad I just had to put it at 1.7x speed to get through it. Sheesh. I wanted to like this way more than I did.

Strong all the way through

Really fantastic novel and without your cliche fantasy plots. Really appreciated the depth the author went into each of our main characters and hope to hear the next chapter of Nikan’s story

guerras

História cativante até certo ponto, no 3° livro já estava um pouco cansada da mesma coisa.

Enjoyable Read

It isn’t Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones, but this is an enjoyable book. The narrator is extremely talented.