The Dragon Republic: The award-winning epic fantasy trilogy that combines the history of China with a gripping world of gods and monsters: Book 2 (The Poppy War)

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She had a weapon now. She wasn't defenseless against him. She'd never been defenseless. She had just never thought to look.” Kesegi, Rin’s step brother, brings Rin to the Warlords. They want her to join them as they flee. They don’t trust Vaisra’s campaign any more. Rin refuses. As she’s leaving, she spots a Hesperian soldier raping a young girl. She kills the soldier and throws his body in the canal.

Arreola, Cristina (2018-11-28). "The 30 Best Fiction Books Of 2018 Show That Women Dominated This Year". Bustle . Retrieved 2019-12-27.Mingzha shouted with delight and splashed into the water. Nezha followed, stooping down to grab his brother’s hand.

This will be a short review. I'm not going to spoil anything but you can skim over some of the quotes as you might consider them as a spoiler.

In this book, we also begin to see the effects of war on the general populace, and not just the combatants.We did get a glimpse of it in The Poppy War because of the events at Golyn-Niis (massive trigger warnings abound) and Khurdalain, but those were huge one-off atrocities committed by an invading army. In The Dragon Republic, we are shown an unflinching portrayal of how little Nikan soldiers – especially higher-ups – actually care about the peasants they claim they’re protecting or liberating. As Vaisra’s army marches on the Imperial Militia, provinces are conquered or tossed aside as strategy deems fit, their food stores seized so they end up starving (there’s a particularly jarring scene where Rin discovers children who were euthanised by drowning because their parents decided it was more a more merciful death than starvation), their able-bodied citizens used as cannon fodder on the front lines, and so many other examples. It’s raw and brutal, and speaks to Kuang’s dedication to her craft. The trifecta reborn The Dragon Republic: epic fantasy and China's bloody history unite". South China Morning Post. 2019-08-23. Archived from the original on 2022-03-13 . Retrieved 2022-03-13.