A satisfying and striking end to one of the greatest fantasy trilogies of all time. R F Kuang has zoomed to the top of my list as one of the greatest storytellers of our time. I absolutely adored every book in this series and wait in heated anticipation for Babel.

I went into this book with high expectations having loved the poppy War, and the dragon Republic. As expected I was hooked from the start. If you enjoyed the previous book, you have to read this. And if you haven't, do it now!!

After Dragon Republic my expectations for Burning God was sky high. I craved going back to feeling this impending sense of doom and dread where I could not atop turning the pages, eager to know what happens next. Unfortunately Burning God doesn’t quite manage to rake me there. I have very mixed feelings about this book. I was mostly bored by the first half. The tense atmosphere built up in dragon republic kind of loses steam and fizzles out in the Burning God. The second half does pick up and the ending was everything I wanted but the lacklustre first half has me giving this book 3.5/5 stars (rounded to 4)

I think they sent me the wrong book because this was a request for The Embroidered Book but I got The Burning God instead.

It's an epic end to the trilogy though. Definitely recommend reading the poppy war series, you won't have a dull moment.

Fuck this.
I knew there was no fixing things but seriously? *breathes in a bag*
I’m not really happy with that ending but it probably makes sense in the grand scheme of things (not) 😬

I have been dreading to write this review because I’m still conflicted about my feelings on this book. On one side I really liked it, on the other I was disappointed. I’ll try to put my jumbled thoughts in an order than makes sense.

It pains me to say this, but I was bored. I found my brain drifting somewhere else when Rin and the army were traveling back and forth. I was tired of reading about them moving to places without a little intrigue or dialogue between characters I love. The writing was slow, it focused a lot on the obstacles they had to get through, but it didn’t really show them. At the same time it glossed over some parts I would have loved to read more about and that would have made me infinitely less bored. Let’s be real, there wasn’t enough Kitay or Nezha (and no Cike), they were the ones supposed to make the narrative flow better. At least that’s what I observed in the previous installments. However I’m super glad Jiang came back and took their place for a while. He was a normal human being for like 50 pages (progress lol) and now I kind of have a crush on him...........
He was perfect with Daji, I ship them so hard. His “darling, fucking what?” reaction to Daji saying she sent Jinzha to Vaisra as meat in dumplings will forever be Iconic. He was the highlight of the book honestly.

"The great empires of the waking world were driven so mad by what they had forgotten that they decided to slaughter the only people who could still dream."

I think the grimdark came out full force in this book more than in the others. The brutality, man. It was on a whole other level. My jaw is still on the floor after the Souji scene.
Plus can we talk about Rin? The rest of the morally grey characters ever written have left the chat. I loved that Rin was basically insane; usually you praise the character development in a book series but here I am praising her realistic descent into madness. Oops.

In summary my expectations were probably way too high for a third and last book in a series when I know for a fact that I tend to like less the last book in comparison to the first and second ones. I just had a lot of faith in Rebecca. Which wasn’t misplaced at all! But with books like The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, The Burning God can’t absolutely withstand the competition. My whole being is too in love with those two perfect works that my brain won’t let me love TBG as much. And that ending didn't help at all, what was the point? :(

"Kitay had been the first to reach out with his fingers, and then all three of them were holding hands, Nezha and Rin on either side of Kitay, and it felt and looked absolutely, terribly wrong and still Rin never wanted to let go."

I know I'm in the minority but I did not like The Burning God. I didn’t hate it but I’m just annoyed by the whole book and question the point of it all. I have the biggest urge to throw the book across the room and I haven’t had such a strong desire to do this since Edward broke up with Bella in New Moon.

I liked the beginning of the book and sped through the first 200 pages. Then it was 200 pages of boredom. The Trifecta were killed off in 2 pages - like what was the point in them being super powerful and raising Riga all for nothing. The Chaghan war for the homeland thing was sorted in a sentence. New characters were introduced just to be killed off conveniently. Vaisra just got killed off. I wanted these big deaths to actually be big deaths but instead they happen in a sentence and then are forgotten. What were the repercussions of these deaths?!? It’s all telling and not showing.

The Hesperians just turned into the big bad evil with no character. Kuang rewrote the rules of the bond with Kitay just when it was convenient. There were no secondary characters in this, there was just Rin. All the characters with personality got killed off, leaving Kitay who was a wet flop (no longer the cinnamon role that I liked) and Nezha who never got any screen time.

And the ending was just 1 big flop - like what was the point in doing all that shit if you’re just going to kill yourself and give into what this big bad evil want, where was my big climatic ending!!! I thought Rin was meant to be a reflection of Mao and Mao would not have killed himself.

Now I can understand why Kuang made some of her choices and can see that for a lot of it is written well. It's not necessarily a bad book, I'm just very disappointed/frustrated as I'd hoped for so much more and seriously wanted this to be 5 stars. I'm still unsure on how to rate this as I have such fond memories of the first 2 books so it's sat at 3 stars currently but that could change.

Even when you know whats coming- it still hits like a knife to the heart.

Plot summary:
Rin has gone back to her roots and is now leading the south in a rebellion against the Dragon Republic. With the Hesperians taking over can Rin and her God take over the country or leave it burning.

Review:
Plot wise this book was great, i really enjoyed it. I could see the ending coming and i was praying i was mistaken but alas i was not and this book left me in a slump for over a week. The continuation on the themes of racism, colonialism and history are fully displayed in a wonderful writing style. I will be honest I had to go have a nap after the ending as my emotions where all over the place.

Kuang has a unique writing style and it shows throughout in all its glory.

The pacing of this story is absolutely perfect-it hits you in the heart and knows how to do it masterfully.

Character wise every single character had their moments to shine within the final instalment and it was a beautiful thing to see. Seeing all of them getting their chance to shine- even if it was only once- was a truly wonderful experience.

This is the epitome of how an author should wrap up a trilogy- a very fitting story with a satisfying ending

Final Thoughts:
A beautiful, heartbreaking ending to one of the best series I have read in a long time.

The Burning God is the final book in The Poppy War trilogy by RF Kuang.

I did actually read this a while ago now, and it does still stick in my mind as one of the most interesting and "good" endings to a trilogy.

I gave the first book 5 stars, the second book 4.5 stars and this book I gave 3.5 stars.

I have to admit I did find the pacing a little off, as there was a lot of walking as well as a lot of drawn out interactions or political machinations that didn't really feel conducive to the plot.

I very much enjoyed the ending, but it didn't pack the emotional punch that I thought it would after waiting so long for this finale to be published. I wasn't quite sure where Kuang was going with the characterisation of Rin a lot of the time and it did feel a little muddled.

The characters I do still think about to this day, but the plot I think was a little lacking in the final book.

“Dying was easy. Living was so much harder—that was the most important lesson Altan had ever taught her.”

This review will be spoiler-free!
Let me first start by saying that you will enjoy The Burning God if you enjoyed the previous two instalments in this series. This book is filled with violence, brutality and heart-wrenching moments. I will divide this review into two parts to keep this review spoiler-free – What I loved and what I didn’t love.

What did I love?
The best aspect of this series has been the character Rin, the world-building and the themes. Rin has become one of my all-time favourite fantasy characters. Rin’s character arc is phenomenal, and I appreciate seeing some badass women in my fantasy. Rin has so much depth, and aspects such as ‘mental health’ and ‘how actions lead to consequences’ are masterfully explored through her character. Furthermore, I love the themes in this series. The Poppy War explores themes such as identity, religion, the consequences of war, the lack of justice in this world and gender/racial stereotypes, which adds so much depth to this series. Kuang does a phenomenal job at making the reader feel invested in this world and its characters by making the reader understand each character's motivations and exploring Nikara’s lore and history.

Furthermore, Kuang has an astounding ability to write horrendous and grim scenes. This series is not for the faint-hearted. Kuang also concludes this series very well. Some people will not appreciate how this series ends, but I thought it was a fitting conclusion.

What did I not love?
Some parts of this book felt a bit slow and repetitive. Kuang focuses quite a lot on where the crew is travelling and the obstacles on the way. However, overall this book is well-paced.
Furthermore, there is a scene in this book involving some characters deaths that I felt was a bit underwhelming/undeserved.

Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I loved following Rin and seeing this civil war unfold. There are some fantastic themes, and the conclusion is satisfying. If you enjoyed The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, you will love this book.

4 / 5 stars for The Burning God
4 / 5 for the series as a whole

This series is a compellingly complex and richly detailed military fantasy that will punch the reader in the gut. I will never be the same again after those final pages.

This is the third book in the series and things do not get any easier for our heroine Rin and the somewhat reluctant Kitay. They are allies trying to right the cruel injustices of their world, but betrayal is never far away.
Rin is ruthless, manipulating and violently flawed , living in a world where life is cheap and expendable .
Set against a meticulously created eastern background ,the story provides an enthralling atmosphere reminiscent of myths and legend. It features a really stunning array of well observed characters and their histories - Gods, Warlords ,Empresses, Religious Zealots and Dragons et al vying for supremacy or just plain survival.
The novel vividly illustrates the dehumanising consequences of war and the inevitable need for compromise to gain a lasting peace . Total victory is not enough, the problems of the aftermath of war, famine disease and poverty have to be solved. Who can Rin trust? Not her close friends or her former murderous lover . She cannot even trust herself. Violence and death is never far away and odds are continually stacked against her. Finally Rin realises that revenge will not bring the satisfaction or redemption she desires.
Overall, a compelling read but I must admit to a slight disappointment with the conclusion which felt abrupt and hollow after all that preceded it. Having said that, I eagerly look forward to further novels from the Author.



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This was one of the most explosive and emotionally charged finales I've read in recent years. Kuang has an unbelievable talent for delivering action, spectacle and fast pacing without ever sacrificing character development. I'm still surprised this is her first trilogy, given her level of mastery over the craft.

Every facet of The Poppy War trilogy is fantastic in many ways, but for me, its the characters who make it truly phoenomenal.

There are few characters that can frustrate me as much as Runin Fang, and yet she still captured every damn piece of my heart. I mean, she did rip it right out of my chest with her bare hands and made me watch as she burnt it to ash, but I still thanked her for the experience.

Rin can be hateful, cruel and willing to sacrifice almost anything to get what she wants. But I can't help but admire her dedication, tenacity and ability to stand up to the people around her with all of the political power and control.

Yet, Kuang miraculously still manages to portray her vulnerability beautifully and realistically. Kuang is able to write these many sides to Rin’s character in a way that feed into each other perfectly.

The relationships are choc full of tension. As the characters play a warped game of cat and mouse, you can feel the heat of the fuse burning down to each confrontation where the players make their moves and the sparks fly.

The historical influences Kuang drew on to craft this unique and savage story do a wonderful job at setting it apart from many other fantasy epics, and the invented lore and history of the imagined world is rich and artfully woven into the narrative.

This isn't a story to enjoy, so much as a piece of art to be awed by. It's a painful, uncomfortable, frustrating and often times brutal read. But it’s no less magnificent because of it.

I'm eagerly awaiting anything Kuang puts out in the future.

I LOVED this, such a fantastic end to the series, brutal and clever and a really satisfying wrap up. I’m so glad we were able to feature this series in the box

Great final to the series. The magic system is so interesting and my favorite thing about the series. Rin's journey concluded perfectly, didn't see such a realistic outcome3in a while.

This book completely destroyed my soul in the best way possible. I am forever in awe of R.F.Kaung's writing and the world she's been able to create!

I feel a bit speechless after finishing this book. Also totally broken, but speechless first. This is the third and final book in the Poppy War trilogy, and it is the perfect conclusion to such an incredibly gripping, all consuming series. The characters are enthralling, and I think - bar one- I have loved and hated them all in equal measure, which makes this series all the better. This is dark fantasy, and perfectly captures the true horrific landscape of war. This is not a hero tale, or even one where you have any hope of something happy happening, but it is pitch perfect in its delivery. I don’t think I will ever forget this series.

“Ruin me, ruin us and I’ll let you”

Brutal, devastating and relentless, The Burning God is the finale to the Poppy War trilogy, a series that has firmly solidified itself as one of the best historical fantasies of our generation exploring the harsh realities of, rebellion and the inherent corruption that comes with power.

I really struggled with the first 100 pages of the book, I think this was partly because it had been a long while since I read The Dragon Republic, but also I found Rin’s POV extremely intense and honestly unpleasant to read. This is obviously the author’s intention and Rin is meant to be a morally black villain but it put me off reading for a while, it’s a lot to handle and I think you have to be in the right headspace. There is also a lot of travel and military tactics, which whilst I loved the military fantasy aspects in the Dragon Republic I didn’t love it at the start of this book, it is important for the set-up of the rest of the novel but for me personally it was a struggle.

However once Su Daji came back into the picture, the book really picked up for me and I started becoming much more invested in what was going on. The Trifecta were by far and away my favourite part, I am an absolute sucker for the older generation of godly characters coming and getting involved in the current goings on. It also helps that Su Daji is a tragic female villain, which is basically my kink lol. I feel Kuang perfectly portrays the madness and tragedy of their story, and the abusive co-dependency they have with each other, they are all such fascinating characters and I would love a prequel about their story. I also think Rin’s relationship with Master Jiang was very interesting, the resentment but ultimate forgiveness and preservation of their legacy. The ending of the Trifecta also felt very fitting, reflecting the fall of the imperial dynasties and they were all such devastatingly powerful characters that it made sense to have them destroy each other – it also allowed Rin to take her fate into her own hands and was the catalyst for events in the later half of the novel.

I did warm up a bit to Rin as the book went on, I had liked her in previous books but as I said before at the start of this one I did not get on with her POV at all, however once she started to take matters into her own hands and we start to see her rise to power ultimately leading to her downfall, I was much more invested. The last 80 pages of the book I really loved as we see what happens after Rin and her southern coalition have technically “won” the war, but Rin is a character who has only known war and she cannot deal being a leader of a country, especially one so broken, the only thing she can do is cause more devastation. I really love downfall/descent of villain arcs, and I thought Rin’s slow paranoia and belief in herself as a god, refusing to see her support crumbling around her was a very realistic depiction of someone who has come into power through such brutal means and has grown up in such a war torn country and been taught nothing different.

Also the ending with her and Kitay fit the book very well in my opinion, in a way I can’t see it having ended any other way and seeing Rin finally making a selfless choice for the better and Kitay finally standing up to Rin rather than enabling her was very cathartic. They are one of my favourite book friendships and have such a soul deep connection that choosing to die together (and for the hope of Nikara’s future) felt almost like a peaceful end for them. It felt very full circle with the Cike and how from the beginning it has always been death or the Chuluu Korikh. Also Nezha being left to shoulder the incredible burden of their legacy and hopefully break the vicious cycles of history, was a fitting end for his character as well, he is the embodiment of dying is easy but living is harder.

I did really miss the Cike and other character dynamics from previous books, this book was very RIn heavy, even Nezha and Venka did not very large roles – I feel Venka as a character was a big missed opportunity and I would have liked more exploration of her and Rin’s relationship, and that would have made her ending a bit more impactful. I think character relationships we not a large focus of the book, which I am a huge character based reader so this made me enjoy this book slightly less than the others in the series but it’s not a fault of the book as I don’t think it was the authors intention to write that story. I did really like the new shamans Rin trains, and seeing her attempt at being a teacher was quite funny and these were interesting new characters to get to know, especially Pipaji – I would have loved more of her character. Changan is another character I really like, and we didn’t see much of him, the bits we got I really enjoyed though even if it felt like he just showed up to tell Rin things she needed to know for plot convenience.

The Poppy War books always excel on the themes and The Burning God is no exception. We explore the very human factors and experiences that culminate in an almost senseless war, as both sides of are working for the same thing, to be in control of the republic just have different intentions and how both sides are willing to commit atrocities in pursuit of their goals. We also see how often rebellions and revolutions will fail, and how they can fail at any stage, there are so many moving pieces in a war that determine outcomes that are often out of control. The role of the gods in the book I think represent the out of control forces that play into war, especially with the Dragon in Arlong. We also see how the power hungry actions of the leaders of war affect the everyday civilians, especially towards the ending it was very harrowing with the starving villagers and endemic diseases pervasive throughout the country due to the mass movement and distruption because of the war. It goes to show how the aftermath of war can be just as devastating and desolate as war itself.

This series has been an interesting one. I read the first book and thought it was fine I liked it well enough to read the second book which I absolutely loved so The Burning God was something of a damp squib. It’s rare that a middle book is my favourite.
The whole series offers something totally different from the most three volume novels of their genre. There is a LOT of material on warfare, strategy, politics, logistics all that good stuff. The characters are vicious none of them should be likeable (except Kitay who is just a genius) there is very little reason to like Rin; she’s impulsive and violent, she always gets things wrong and never thinks about what she’s doing these things all make her entirely human. She’s never sure where she belongs and latches on to anyone who shows her the least bit of respect and is constantly punished for it. She’s totally insecure and this fuels her need for power.
The Burning God starts with a lesson in guerrilla warfare with our very own Ché Guevara in Solji then quickly pulls focus we see war and the effects on a grander scale. I found that this meant the plot was less tight and more episodic than before. The Trifecta and Riga were built up then quickly and, in my view, unsatisfyingly dealt with.
I didn’t get enough of the characters together, Rin was alone or with strangers a lot of the time, Kitay kept getting pushed to the side and Nehza was hardly there. We didn’t really get a confrontation about his actions in the second book. Everything got swallowed up by Kuang’s meditations on war and it’s aftermath. This doesn’t mean it was a bad book far from it but it did mean that by drawing back from the characters when I reached the climax I wasn’t as heartbroken as I should have been. It made sense. I nodded and thought well that’s the only way it could have gone. This is both satisfying and unsatisfying.

4,5 stars.

In true R F Kuang style, this conclusion to The Poppy War had the same gut-wrenching nature that the previous two novels had.
There were so many loose ends to tie up and questions to answer with this last book that I was a little apprehensive going into it, wondering which direction it would go.

Firstly, I'm still so in awe of this author's amazing writing. It's different from the usually quite lyrical writing styles that I'm generally drawn to. But instead, every word feels intentional. Meticulously crafted sentences and phrases that just left you reeling.

I've thought about this review for quite a while and I still don't know exactly how to feel about the direction of the ending. I didn't really have a specific hope for where the characters would end up, however the last few chapters certainly gave me a lot to think on. Without spoilers...
In that sense I think the tone of the ending perfectly fit with the overall theme of the entire series. That there are no "winners" in war when there is so much fallout and suffering.

This is definitely a series where you don't want to get overly attached to characters, as R F Kuang doesn't pull any punches in mirroring the reality of war and its casualties.
While I didn't necessarily like any of the characters in this series, they are still characters that will stay with the reader. The themes and metaphors of this book just run so deep through every aspect. Through all of the characters' morally grey decisions. To deciding if the gods are the monsters or if war has made monsters of man..

This finale doesn't quite hit the 5 star mark for me, mainly because of some of the issues I had with character's decisions.
Mainly, I was hoping to see a little more character development with Rin, but I kept getting frustrated with her still making mistakes that had been present since book 1. I didn't want this to detract too much from my rating though as it's still a compelling character that can make you feel vivid emotions and want to pull your hair out at times.

As for all three books in this series, I wouldn't suggest this to anyone sensitive to themes of war or related topics. Or to anyone sensitive to gore/torture/on page rape or assault.
While none of these things, in my opinion, are written about gratuitously. They are just the stark realities that go hand in hand when writing about any war. It can still be a tough read at times but still the best written war fantasy series I've read. Would highly recommend.

R.F. Kuang has created some truly unforgettable characters. The worldbuilding is excellent and although the conclusion felt inevitable in some ways, I still found myself gripped and emotionally involved to the last. A fantastic, painful ending to an epic trilogy. There are a few things I thought were wrapped up a little too quickly or anti-climactically but it didn't bother me enough to mark it down. An agonising joy to read, and series I'll be rereading many times in the future.