The Burning God by R. F. Kuang

4.5 stars! Spoiler free for this book, but may contain spoilers from the previous books!

Summary:

It’s all up to Rin now. That’s it. That’s the summary.

Thoughts:

If you managed to read my review of book two, The Dragon Republic, my review of The Burning God will be a lot of the same because I ALSO LOVED this book. However, this is the only book in which I knocked off half a star, which I will explain at the end. If you missed by review of book two, all those things still apply to book three, I’ll copy and paste it now:

This book ALSO has everything!

✔️ A morally grey protagonist who makes you question her decisions and makes you question what you would even do in her situation

✔️ And she’s a badass female lead that shows you how she WORKS for her badassness

✔️ A plot where literally NOTHING comes easy

✔️ Loveable side characters that you root for

✔️ The bestest of best friendships

✔️ Plot twists, plot turns, plot flips, the fucking BETRAYALS

✔️ Tears, both the characters and yours

✔️ A plot where you cannot predict nearly anything that will happen next

✔️ A plot where no punches are pulled and ALL the gruesome aspects of war and what war brings to a nation are explored

✔️ A plot that feels REAL

✔️ Military strategy

✔️ Political intrigue

✔️ Heart break - or more like a shattering

So why did I feel the need to knock off a half star? It’s for one reason only and please feel free to disagree.

The ending, meaning the ultimate last chapter, felt rushed and then abrupt. It felt like the realistic choice, like there really was no other way for this story to end, but I also felt like everything that we have been working towards for the last three books was just shredded and thrown into the wind. It just left me a little empty. I don’t know what else could have made it so I wouldn’t feel that way, or maybe that was the intention of this ending, but yeah.. That’s how I felt after turning the last page of the last chapter of this last book.

Overall, this is one of my new favorite series. Definitely one my favorite adult fantasy series of all time considering it’s one of the few I’ve finished. I recommend this to ANYONE and EVERYONE who can handle the difficult decisions of a morally grey protagonist, the bloody and gruesome truth of war, and the havoc it wreaks on the people who fight in it.

The Poppy War review | 5 stars

The Dragon Republic review | 5 stars

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