Book Blog #407: The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

 

Title: The Dragon Republic

Author: R.F. Kuang

# of Pages: 654 (ebook)

Genre: YA, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: In the aftermath of the Third Poppy War, shaman and warrior Rin is on the run: haunted by the atrocity she committed to end the war, addicted to opium, and hiding from the murderous commands of her vengeful god, the fiery Phoenix. Her only reason for living is to get revenge on the traitorous Empress who sold out Nikan to their enemies. With no other options, Rin joins forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who has a plan to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new Republic. Rin throws herself into his war. After all, making war is all she knows how to do. But the Empress is a more powerful foe than she appears, and the Dragon Warlord’s motivations are not as democratic as they seem. The more Rin learns, the more she fears her love for Nikan will drive her away from every ally and lead her to rely more and more on the Phoenix’s deadly power. Because there is nothing she won’t sacrifice for her country and her vengeance

Review: Slightly better than the first book, but not by much.

Major downside, this one is longer which means suffering longer through this story. If it takes me 300 pages to even get into the story, there's no way the book is getting 3+ stars.

My main gripes with this sequel continue to be with the character development and the plot.

Rin is still unlikable. Although her not having a clear motivation might actually be an intentional conflict in both books 1 and 2 and could justify poor big-picture decision making, her smaller-scale decision making sucks and is frustrating to read about. She's like when a movie's Rotten Tomato rating is a 6.0; not good but also not bad enough to love to hate.

I was happy to see some returning characters who I enjoyed reading about in book 1 (or at the very least enjoyed more than Rin). 

I was really happy to see Nezha again, but I really don't understand who him and Kitay are as people. Nezha used to be the cool enemies to friends (or lovers??) guy vs Kitay was the annoying goodie two shoes, Hermione-esque friend. But this seems to get thrown out the window by the end of this book; Nezha is a Rin-simp until he's not, Kitay a rule follower until he's not. What do you mean that Nezha will do anything for Rin and also publically defies his father in strategic meetings when in the end he betrays Rin by literally stabbing her in the back? This isn't so much as a surprising, well planned betrayal as a complete 180 for the character that doesn't make sense at all.

Although I wasn't a huge fan of Kitay in the first book (rule followers are boring), I enjoyed him way more once Rin and Kitay had their anchor bond. Kitay's characterization also is all over the place which means he turned into a non-rule following, logical man. Now that they're literally bonded, this is as close as I'm guessing the reader will get to Rin ACTUALLY developing a close relationship with someone (whether it be platonic or romantic).

However, I have major gripes with their characterization. For example, Rin is supposed to have close relationships with some of the people, but the only reason why the reader knows is because of explicit verbal declarations of love rather than Kuang writing in scenes that build characters' emotional connection.

A lot of supporting characters are clearly just plot devices, and it shows. My theory is that Kuang wrote in too many characters in book 1 and realized she had to do some culling of her own once they served their purpose.

Rin is too OP with her genocidal-level fire power? Just slap a seal on her powers so she can't use it for most of the start of the book and force the reader to experience normal warfare scenes! The Cike characters are now irrelevant because Kuang decided to develop the Rin x Nezha x Kitay trio? No problem; just break up Cike and don't mention them until Rin needs them, then kill them all off! Really I don't see why Ramsa's death had to be a SUICIDAL distraction. And will all this talk about how hard it is cull the Cike, Suni and Baji were sure captured and executed easily. They should have at least gone out "guns" blazing.

Although I continue to not know much about the historical events that this series is based off of, it's way too clear that Kuang has some goal in mind that she's trying to reach and/or a historical framework that she's trying to mold the story into.  

Rin (who's supposedly paralleling Mao Zedong) is unnecessarily unsympathetic toward the common man that she sees on the Dragon Warlord's campaign. Her declaration that the people are too stupid to govern themselves (even in the face of valid, logical counter arguments from people she trusts) felt forced just to fit her into the Mao Zedong mold.

If you enjoyed the first book then you should keep reading the second. I am not in that boat, and the first half was definitely 2 star material. The last 200 pages were actually somewhat entertaining despite the flaws, which might've actually put it into low 3 star territory if Kuang was better and tying this whole story together. 

Book Blog #406: Whistler by Ann Patchett

 

Title: Whistler

Author: Ann Patchett

# of Pages: 296 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again. Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.

Review: A short read but not a quick read.

"We should think about doing the things we want to do while we’re able to do them"

Whistler is unsurprisingly contemplative story focused on nuanced, familial relationships between 50+ yr old characters who are tied together by something greater than just blood. I did find myself feeling a bit emotional thinking about aging and lost time, but ultimately it's more of a slice of life of characters who spend a lot of reminiscing and not much else. While there was a lot of beauty in long lost relationships being rekinded, there's just not a lot that HAPPENS in this book, which made it less of a gripping read.

Although they're quite different (in format, character development), I do see why The Correspondent dropped in an Ann Patchett mention; the vibes are somewhat similar.  Another similarity with that book (and honestly many others) is that Patchett is definitely writing in the realm of what she knows (main character always dreamed of being a novelist, multiple characters work at major publishing houses, etc). 

I liked it, but nothing really stood out to me. I kept putting this book down and thought there could be more to the story. This is my first Ann Patchett book, so maybe this slow, slice of life style is common in her books, and it's just not my ideal read. I'd recommend it only if the premise already sounds interesting to you.