Laura's Reviews > The Burning God

“What you have to do is shroud yourself in myth. Your enemies' deaths become part of your legend. Eventually, you become so far removed from reality that right and wrong don’t apply to you. Your identity becomes part and parcel of the idea of the nation itself.”

The Burning God closes a chapter in R.F. Kuang’s life and has definitely sealed the Poppy War Series as one of my favourite fantasy series. This final volume addresses the aftermath of Rin’s decision to fight back against the Republic, her trail through Southern and Western Nikan and the political ideology(ies) the nation of Nikan will fight against. The Burning God grasps the key elements of a civil war, from its battles to the meaning of being a nation ruler. More than ever, Rin evolves into this goddess warrior on an identity quest and doesn’t stick to the constricting boundaries of the perfect MC, which the majority would call morally gray.

The Poppy War introduced a scared and insecure young woman, on her journey to war and seeking this god path she seemed predestined to. This same girl, developed into being a skilled soldier who finally acquired control over her powers but who also expanded her political knowledge and challenged her preconceived ideas. In the Burning God, Rin ascends to what she had been after all this time: a fire goddess at the head of an army, on her way to overthrow the Republic.
This identity quest pierces through the reader’s biggest fear – will Rin topple and fall head first into insanity?

“All three times she killed with fire, but not with her own hands. She was capable of such cruelties, even without the Phoenix's power, and that both delighted and scared her.”

R.F. Kuang really accentuates Rin’s evolution through all three books masterfully. The Burning God never fails to remind the reader that the young woman is far from who she was at the beginning of this adventure, and that Rin must face the consequences of it. As a warrior and army leader, she seems to understand that executions become a “viable necessity”. What really caught my attention, was how Rin’s views on human bodies switch from an alive vessel, a companion, to something more material.

“Human bodies were so breakable, she marvelled. So soft. Just meat on bones.”

This final chapter acts like the end of an initiatory journey, an absolute in a world where the thread between humans and gods is very thin. The author explores this in detail and I find it very interesting to read and compare with the previous books.

The writing is, as always, very accessible however noticeably improved as well. After four years writing this series, R.F. Kuang has focused on her world building in ways that it thinly follows China’s trajectory while keeping her usual colloquialism proper to modern times. I am not a huge fan of complicated writing styles as I believe they intend to hide a flawed or lacking strong world building. The Poppy War on the contrary, is built on strong bases and doesn’t allow the writing style to cast a shadow upon it.
I also really liked the fact that The Burning God explored the last bit of Nikan we hadn’t properly seen yet – The Southern and the Western regions of the empire. It is rare to find a series covering every single geographical space on their map, The Poppy War accentuates this notion of civil war by making sure the reader understands that every single Nikara meter square in, indeed, involved in this battle.
Finally, I fell in love with the way the author used myths and legends and how she trivialised them. Both previous books built up around the different myths spreading in the empire – the Trifecta, the Red Emperor, the Speerlies massacre, Rin’s recent status as a goddess. All of these elements are finally addressed in this final book, in a way so banal that it is hard to remember them as myths while also unveiling the procedure behind the creation of new myths.

“Oh you know that's not true’. Daji's mouth twisted into a pitying smile. ‘You are the South now. Rooster province is part of your founding myth. You need it to be. You have nothing else left.”

“Through love or hate, adoration or fear, she would have them one way or another.”

As a reader, we are manipulated in such a beautiful way, it is almost impossible to read The Burning God without changing opinion on Su Daji or wondering where certain characters’ ties lie. This is both deliciously frustrating and successfully excruciating – all of this being a good thing of course.

The atmosphere as well is very well achieved - the Dragon Republic had set up a clear separation between the Republicans and the Nikara people, anchored in their tradition and political parameters. The Burning God poses the question of Western Imperialism, resulting in the rise of communism in Eastern countries. The book masters this political dilemma, the different options Nikan has to fight back against the Hesperians. This question, and its many answers, are not black or white but rather intricate to an already fractured system, where people fight for their identity, their nation but where the goals seem vague and abstract. R.F. Kuang doesn’t want answers, throughout this trilogy, I believe she wants the reader to wonder what possibilities are most human, or the ones that benefit more the country, or even which case scenario would Nikan prosper and turn the page on years of violence and trauma?

I personally felt like this third book clearly draw a parallel between Rin and Mao, the thin line between fiction and reality was sometimes blending in between the lines and it became quite obvious that, through her writing, R.F. Kuang intended to highlight Mao’s journey to the power. I recognised some elements from The Long March (1934-1035) or even The Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings (1927) for instance. As a reader, I found myself wondering if Rin was a mirror of Mao or if the author intended for her to portray an alternative outcome of the civil war and its consequences. R.F. Kuang’s background as a Chinese History Graduate played a key role in this trilogy.

The author impressively portrayed this growing and omnipresence of the West throughout the book by their lack of presence at the foreground of the action. Her writing has considerably improved, The Burning God acts like a proof of that maturity. What struck me the most, is how little the Hesperian will engage directly in the story, but how big is their material presence. The Dragon Republic allowed the Hesperians to express their opinion in direct dialogues, they were always in Rin’s shadow and General Tarcquet physically imposed himself in Nikan. The Burning God shows them as a mean, Nezha doesn’t allow them to talk but uses their advanced technologies instead.

“It's not their religion. Perhaps that's related - the divine architect is certainly more friendly to scientific research than any of our gods are. But I don't think they need deities at all. They have machines, and that's perhaps more powerful than anything they could summon. They rewrite the script of the world, just like you do. And they don't need to sacrifice their sanity to do it.”

The West and its religion appear as this shadow monster, this entity impossible to grab and destroy. An omnipresent but also absent enemy, always lurking around the corner to strike. And this, the author mastered in her writing – they are mentioned more than they are present. This way, the tremor and fear associated to them spreads through different conversations, by their use of their dirigibles or how they completely rebuilt the New City according to their standards.

“They want to erase us. It's their divine mandate. They want to make us better, to improve us, by turning us into a mirror or themselves. The Hesperians understand culture as a straight line. One starting point, one destination. They are at the end of the line. They loved the Mugenese because they came close. But any culture or state that diverges is necessarily inferior. We are inferior, until we speak, dress, act and worship just like them.”

The Burning God is an amazing ending to a breath-taking journey – it finally answers most of our questions (I still have a lot of questions myself…) and has definitely taken a lot of importance in the fantasy genre. It’s the first time that I finish a book and feel nauseous at the thought of saying goodbye to my now favourite characters (and for the first time ever, I fell in love with one of them!). I would recommend this series to everyone, without exception! Amazing experience, thank you R.F. Kuang!