A Year of Reading: The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang - reviewed by Katherine Roberts
My March offering is a return to the fantasy genre of my youth, in that it's huge (650+ pages) and has 'Dragon' in the title. I picked it up in a local charity shop as part of a five books for £1 bundle, so although I've not come across this author before it was worth the risk.
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| The Dragon Republic |
Dragons are beloved of fantasy fiction, whether telepathic and beautiful like those of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, or fearsome and monstrous like those of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones. Often they have dragon riders, who are vulnerable in that they form fierce bonds with their mounts and feel pain when those dragons are injured or die. However, the dragons of The Dragon Republic turn out to be warlords rather than actual flying reptiles, and as a dragon fan I was slightly disappointed to find that none of these warlords ride any kind of fantasy creature. In fact, although there are a few references to wings, I am still not quite sure if any of the characters have them! The fantasy element seems to be based on shamanism, with certain people able to access powerful gods in the form of elemental powers that manifest as dragons and phoenixes, etc. The kick-ass heroine Rin (phoenix/fire god) is possibly not human... at one point a scientist takes exact measurements of her body and there's a reference to 'wingspan', yet for much of the story she can only access her powers in opium-induced dreams, and I think this might be the whole point. It's an adult fantasy with a fair number of f*** words (don't give it to your 9-year old!), more Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon than How to Tame Your Dragon, and all the stronger for that.
The author RF Kuang is a scholar of Chinese history, and if this book had been written slightly differently it could almost have been a historical novel based on Chinese/Mongolian warfare. There are 12 provinces, matching the signs of the Chinese zodiac, each led by a warlord and involved in a brutal war to depose the Empress Su Daji and form the republic of the title. Our heroine and her band of shamans (known as the Cike) are soldiers in this war, and for some reason yet to be revealed about the only person the Empress is truly afraid of is Rin. Into this mix the author introduces a race of pale-skinned Westerners (Hesperians) who ally themselves to the dragon warlord to help the republic happen. Some of them are also missionaries attempting to convert the conquered peoples to their Western religion, and as such they take a strong interest in Rin's shaman abilities... or rather non-abilities, since an earlier encounter with the Empress has Sealed her access to the fire-god and reduced Rin to a remarkably fierce but essentially human foot soldier.
Kuang writes with vivid detail, and the book is packed with action from page one. Unlike many adult fantasies that chop and change viewpoints to tell the story, we stick throughout with Rin, and readers who love a kick-ass heroine will find one here to rival all the rest put together. A military historian would no doubt find the strategies, battles and weaponry in this book fascinating, although I confess to skipping some of the wartime details to get to the more character-driven parts. These were interesting, however as the book progressed I found the references to Rin's backstory rather got in the way of the plot, and the novel began to read like the second book of a fantasy trilogy*, although there was no indication on the cover that this was the case or I might not have attempted to read it as a standalone novel. That said, it's immensely readable, and I'm on my way back to the charity shop to see if the first book is there so I can catch up!
* The listing on Amazon states that this is Book 2 (of 3) in The Poppy War, so I'd definitely recommend starting with Book 1 and working your way through this trilogy in order of publication.
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Katherine Roberts writes fantasy and legendary/historical fiction for young readers.
If you enjoy a longer read with some historic battles along the way, her I am the Great Horse (the story of Alexander the Great from the horse's mouth) runs to a meaty 500+ pages!
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| I am the Great Horse |
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