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  • The Complete Poppy War Trilogy

  • The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God
  • By: R. F. Kuang
  • Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
  • Length: 66 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (628 ratings)

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The Complete Poppy War Trilogy

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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Publisher's summary

From R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Babel, this collection features the novels in her historical military fantasy trilogy—The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God—a complete epic inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

The Poppy War

A war orphan, Rin earned her place in Nikan’s most elite military school. There, she discovers her lethal, unearthly power of shamanism—and learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive. When an inevitable conflict arises between longtime enemies the Nikara Empire and the Federation of Mugen, Rin realizes her shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity. . .

The Dragon Republic

After committing an atrocity in battle, shamanic warrior Rin is consumed with guilt, an opium addiction, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix god. Channeling her anger against the Empress who betrayed Rin’s homeland, she chooses to join forces with the Empress’s enemy, the Dragon Warlord. But as Rin discovers the true natures of the Empress and the Dragon Warlord, the temptation to unleash the Phoenix’s fearsome power grows—and so does her vengeance. . .

The Burning God

After saving Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress in a brutal civil war, Rin realizes that her homeland’s real power lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Vowing to defeat all who threaten the shamanic arts, Rin’s power and influence grows—but so does the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it. . .

“Mixing historical parallels of Chinese history, the themes of war, politics, and colonialism are balanced with terrific, flawed characters and amazing worldbuilding.”—Library Journal (starred review)

©2023 R. F. Kuang (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Complete Poppy War Trilogy

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dark, Compelling, and Brilliant

This is a grim dark fantasy, and anyone complaining that the series is too dark, the main character is whiny, etc etc has kind of missed the point. If you’re looking for a feel-good fantasy with a perfect hero/heroin, this this is definitely not the series for you.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Think hard before getting this.

If you're looking for entertainment, these are not the books for you.

A 3 star rating is both too low of a rating and too high. At the end of every other chapter I would have given a different score. With the writing at time being some of the roughest and most inconsistent of any other story I have listened to. At times I had to force myself to keep listening, but other times I could not put it down. As someone who has a really hard time with sadness, the ending was perfect, and it brought me to tears. But getting through the 2nd and most of the 3rd book was horrible.

If you can get to the finnish line, it's worth it, but you need to be a certain kind of listener to enjoy its full value and look past the flaws of someone's first work. I'm not sure I am. Good luck

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Performance was fine, story was mediocre

I finished it, but felt 'meh' about it. Many fantasy and war tropes mixed into a parallel/alt-history thing. Such angsty melodrama. And I could've done without the chapter about the sacking of "Golyn Niis" (aka Nanking) by the "Federation" (Japanese) with its pages-long description of every war crime atrocity from the Wikipedia page... just no.
I was also mildly offended and off-put by the worst trope ever... where the main character overcomes her opioid addiction alone, through willpower, in a short time. And then never has a problem with opioids again. That was the most unbelievable part of the whole book. And there was magic.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good "Popcorn" Listen

This is a good deal to use one credit for the entire trilogy. That said, it starts to drag after a while. Like a good "popcorn" movie, it is pretty good for listening to over a long commute or something. It gets a little YA for my tastes though. It is definitely better than anything written by, say, N K Jemisen. However, I think Babel would be a better place to start for a new reader. It was a lot better (though still had a bit of that YA flavor).

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Devastating

I cant recommend this bool enough it is the best and worst book to ever happen to me.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good story

the story is quite good, the world building was stellar. The pace is also quite fast, which I enjoyed, but it felt a bit rushed at times and glossed over points and scenes(especially in regards to the magic and war) that I would have liked to see expounded upon, and dragged at points that I would have liked to be a little more rushed(the horrific scenes). War is hell though I guess and it seemed a conscious choice by the author, so I can't fault them for that. The ending was unsatisfying for me, and that is why I gave it an average review, but it was engaging and memorable read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

wow - what a trip

This series is amazing. I just finished it and started up again with my fiance. who is loving it. I listened to the series over a few weeks and was totally immersed. When I wasn't listening to the book, I was looking forward to when I would have the time.

This is a story about an incredibly brave and strong girl who is faced with adversity at every turn - finding, losing, and cherishing love and loyalty along the way. You will root for her, hurt for her, mourn for her, and celebrate with her from start to finish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A winding road

It was wild to me the turns and events that lead to the end of the third book. The slow decent into madness was palpable and I loved how this reflected real world themes in a view point I didn’t know before reading it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

Excellent storyline, excellent story. I also really liked that the trilogy was together, you could roll right into the next book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

eh.

Overall I enjoyed the story and the history behind it. It is very hard, however, to overlook a main character with zero development. Don't go into this serious expecting the MC to have any character development. She is going to be the same pretty much the entire story. You can't go through all of that and not be changed at least a little by it. She never learns. Well maybe she does in the last paragraph, but by then it's far to late. And no, I'm not expecting her to become some hero. That wouldn't fit her. But even learning the wrong lessons would have been better than learning nothing. So ignore that part. Just enjoy the over all story and thing about all of the real history behind it.

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