Book Review: The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
Genre(s): Fantasy / Grimdark
Book Synopsis:
After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead.
Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation.
Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, though, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it?
Review:
The Burning God is a fitting end to the trilogy—in every twisted, painful, and aggravating way possible.
But that sums up the series pretty well too. The story is brutal for everyone involved, not only Rin. It showcases the horrors of war, not just for the major players, but for the civilians too. It tells a tale of chaotic gods that want nothing but destruction and will sometimes consume their human conduits, the shamans. It features every layer of agony conceivable that a country in the throes of a civil war could possibly endure, then the author twists the knife and makes it even worse.
And it’s a fantastic series.
As for the final book itself, I don’t think I liked it quite as well as the first two. By the end, Rin’s paranoia and hair-trigger temper were really starting to grate on my nerves. She was becoming more irrational (if that’s possible), and it was difficult to predict how she’d react to anything. Maybe this was the author’s way of showing her descent into madness as the hands of the Phoenix, or maybe she was finally at her breaking point and could no longer cope as he once had, but when the final chapters played out, it was almost a relief to see the story over.
Rin was always a difficult character, one that I loved as much as I hated, but hers was a compelling tale that kept me reading. And if my previous statements about this book weren’t clear, it’s definitely not a happy one. Rin goes through hell. Her country goes through hell. But I think the character that suffers the most (though you don’t see him for large spans of the story) is Nezha.
Part of me kept hoping he’d get a better ending somehow, even when I knew the author wouldn’t let it happen. No one in this story walks away unscathed.
And I’m still trying to process it all. I probably will be for some time. Regardless, this was a great book and the end to a fantastic series, as long as you don’t mind having your heart ripped out and stomped on multiple times along the way.
Author website: rfkuang.com
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