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dearrivarie

 

"They burned for someone else's war, someone else's wrongs; someone they had never met had made the decision they should die, so in their last moments they would have had no idea why their skin was scorching off."
 
   isbn: 978-0-06-299589-6 | pages: 658
    publication date: August 9, 2019 | source: own
    genre: adult fantasy | rating: 8.2/10
    trigger warnings: extreme violence, drug use, rape, war imagery

    A M A Z O N    |    G O O D R E A D S    |    B O O K S H O P

    B O O K D E P O S I T O R Y    |    B A R N E S A N D N O B L E S    |    I N D I E B O U N D

power and manipulation
With the ending of The Poppy War leaving an uneasy truce, The Dragon Republic tackles Nikan on the brink of civil war and Rin's journey of vengeance against the empire that betrayed her. Right from the beginning, war consumes every living and breathing character as political allies are sought and tensions continue to build up. Amidst all of this, Rin is navigating her new position as the leader of the Cike while learning how to balance the demands of destruction from the Phoenix.

One of the most fascinating and heartbreaking elements of the story is of course, the portrayal and impact of war on the characters. R.F. Kuang explores the impact of white imperialism taking advantage of Nikara's weakness through the lenses of savior indifference and religious fervor. The Hesperians were fascinating to read about, albeit extremely irritating at the same time. They come into the story bearing weapons of technological advancement and a religion that preaches their superiority. Not only does this reveal the superiority complex that imperialism has taken advantage of in our own history, but also reminds readers of humanity's harmful ability to destroy individual cultures based on the belief that your people are somehow better and more deserving of the freedom to live.

rebuilding the broken
When reading The Dragon Republic, I was amazed by how R.F. Kuang continued to develop each individual character and their own journey with the impacts of war. Rin is stereotypically a bunch of things that I would dislike in a female protagonist - she's prone to anger, irrational, and sometimes ignores the advice of the people around her. However, her characterization is so well developed and gives a backstory and reason for her fears and irrationality. Like the synopsis claims, Rin has been primed as a weapon of war and ultimately this story focuses on her discovering what it means to be a weapon and how to be her own wielder. 

War is constantly colored in shades of gray, even the most noble of reasons lead to violence the bleed and kill the innocent. Sometimes the most difficult pills to swallow is not seeing the death and atrocities committed by your enemies, but seeing the complicity of your own people. The trauma that stays with the survivors, the guilt - these themes are explored through the cast of characters. I will forever adore Chen Kitay and seeing how his character internalizes and adapts to war, seeing his brilliance honed to battle strategies and death, seeing how every character we've met and loved in The Poppy War walk their paths by the dictations of war both broke and reminded me of how strong they are which made me so proud of them (while also wanting to shield them of the horrors of The Burning God). 

I know from reading reviews online the scene on the rooftop which destroyed many hearts but to end on a some what positive note, my favorite scene is the one where the Sinegard crew are making tang yuan together and that companionship and solidarity is what they all deserve in the end.


12:18 PM 2 Comments



Hello friends! I've been in a bit of a posting rut lately so my blog's been looking pretty empty these past couple of weeks. I have a couple of reviews that have just been piling up on the back burner and my motivation plus lack of skill in formulating eloquent reviews is making me run in circles around myself instead of actually putting up content.

I've been seeing the anti-tbr tag floating around booktube lately and thought that it would fun to answer the questions and give myself a little break from trying to describe war and death (aka my review for the dragon republic) in x amount of ways possible. The tag was originally created by NICOLE (@nicoleandherbooks) and the goal of the questions is to normalize creating a list of books that just aren't a priority for you to read. Since there are so many amazing books being published every year, it's nice to tell myself that I don't have to read every book out there and it's okay to not be interested in everything.

Of course, a quick disclaimer - if I mention a book that is one of your favorites please do not take it as a personal offense. Every individual has a different preference when it comes to reading and that's what makes it fun so please be respectful of my opinions as well. If you do love any of the books mentioned, I'm super happy for you. :)

   

a popular book everyone loves but you have no interest in reading?
daisy jones and the six by taylor jenkins reid
I remember seeing this book everywhere on social media and despite consuming so many Booktube videos and blog posts, I still can't give you a synopsis of the story. Something about the premise just never stood out to me and despite it being some of my mutuals' favorites, I don't think I'll ever get to picking this up.

a classic book/author you don't have an interest in reading?
the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger
For some reason, my high school English classes skipped over this classic entirely and I never had to pick it up. While I would like to read more classics in the future, American Literature, in general, has never been a sub-category that I particularly liked so I don't think I'd pick this up to read on my own. With that being said, if I ever take a class where this book is on the syllabus then I'd still give it a try so this is a tentative answer?

         

an author whose books you have no interest in reading?
a game of thrones by george r.r. martin
I picked up the first book back in high school when excitement for the show was at its peak, but I'm putting it on the list because I never finished reading it. Since then, I have binged the show with my friends (we never watched the final episode because season 8 was rough) and I just don't care enough about the characters, world, or story to want to read the source material. The author also majorly screwed up during the Hugo Awards ceremony and just overall demonstrated the privilege that white male fantasy authors have when it comes to making racist and sexist commentary.

a problematic author whose books you have no interest in reading?
the lies of locke lamora by scott lynch
2020 is the year where I've finally accepted that I can be a fan of adult fantasy even if I haven't read books by "acclaimed" white male authors. The Gentlemen Bastards series is one that has been on my tbr for years because of all the hype but there has been a statement released on how the author has manipulated and assaulted women authors in the fantasy industry. Like the aforementioned author for question three, I am quite over defining my worth as a reader based on questionable authors and would much rather read stories by diverse authors with less problems. 
an author you have read a couple books from and decided their books are not for you?
brent weeks
Out of all the male fantasy authors I am mentioning I do think Brent Weeks is one of the less controversial ones (but correct me if I'm wrong). I read his Night Angel trilogy in high school and while I adore the first two books, I absolutely hated the finale and I honestly can't remember why. Since then, I've eyed his Lightbringer series and even bought the first book in anticipation. However, I recently unhauled it as part of Goodreadance 2020 after trying to read the book during quarantine and not getting past the first 50 pages.

a genre you have no interest in OR genre you tried and couldn't get into?
horror
My reasoning behind this isn't that I'm easily scared but rather the premises of horror novels never quite interest me. I'm always down to watch a horror movie with my friends but I don't find myself gravitating towards the genre when it comes to books. 

a book you bought but will never read OR a library book you borrowed but returned unread?
house of earth and blood by sarah j maas
Sarah J Maas is a name that the internet pushes constantly and while I have read her ACOTAR series and the first book in TOG, they're all pretty forgettable to me. I picked up House of Earth and Blood from the library in September when I was feeling a bit slumpy and thought I'd at least give the book a try - I got 3 pages in and didn't make any more progress so that sums it up.

            

a series you have no interest in reading OR a series you started but have dnf'd?
the seven realms by cinda williams chima
Regan from PeruseProject used to talk about this series so much on her channel when I was in high school so I always had the books on my tbr. I read the first book 1-2 years ago and just felt very unattached and disappointed. While I originally planned on rereading the first book and trying to continue, I think I've reached a point where the books just aren't high priority enough for me to get around to and I should just acknowledge that I'll never actually pick them up.

a new release you have no interest in reading? 
blood and honey by shelby malhurin
I read Serpent and Dove because I was so curious why the reviews were incredibly polarizing. If you remember my thoughts from my july wrap up, I honestly didn't care about the story. It was so unforgettable that when my sister picked it up a week later from me, I couldn't remember who the main characters were. Despite these books having gorgeous covers, I don't care enough for the story to want to continue reading so this is one where I'm confident in leaving the series as unfinished.
Honestly, narrowing down my answers was incredibly hard so I definitely want to do a part II to this tag in the future. More than anything, it was fun to compile a list for myself as a reassurance that it's okay not to read every book ever published - some for reasons where supporting certain authors is harmful to others or because the premise just isn't interesting to me.

I'm not really good at tagging people so I'll leave it open-ended as usual - if you've been wanting to compile a list of books that aren't on your tbr anymore and would like to do this tag, please do so and share your results with me!

Have you read any of the books on my list and what did you think of them?

3:36 PM 4 Comments
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DearRivarie

DearRivarie
Hi there! My name is Rivalie (Riv for short). Welcome to my blog where I share book reviews, discussions, and more fun things! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic day! 🌸

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