The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War, #2)

The Dragon Republic is a military high fantasy by R. F. Kuang. Though some critics categorize the novel within the grimdark genre, Kuang resists this categorization as the events of the novel are based on real Chinese history. Released in 2019, it follows Kuang’s 2018 novel The Poppy War and lays the foundation for 2020’s The Burning God. The Dragon Republic was a 2020 Ignyte Award Finalist and a 2019 Goodreads Choice Best Fantasy Nominee.

R. F. Kuang is an award-winning and New York Times best-selling author. She was born in Guangzhou, China and immigrated to the United States with her parents as a child. She has a master of philosophy in Chinese studies from the University of Cambridge and a master of science in contemporary Chinese studies from the University of Oxford. In 2020, she returned to the United States to pursue a doctorate at Yale University in East Asian Languages and Literatures. Kuang has a passion for military history, specifically naval warfare, which influences her detailed and accurate depictions of naval battles in The Dragon Republic. She has also published Babel, or the Necessity of Violence (2022), which won a Nebula Award for Best Novel, and Yellowface (2023), which won a Goodreads Choice Award and was named Amazon’s Best Book of the Year for 2023.

This guide uses the 2019 HarperCollins hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and guide contain discussions of genocide, wartime violence, racism and scientific racism, colorism, rape, sexual assault, self-harm, physical abuse, and substance use disorder.

Plot Summary

In the Prologue, which takes place eight years before the events of the book, Nezha (Rin’s ally) and his younger brother Mingzha enter a forbidden grotto. A mysterious dragon eats Mingzha and imbues Nezha with power.

The book opens with the protagonist Rin and her command unit of shamans, the Cike, carrying out assassinations for the pirate queen Moag, who has promised to help them kill Empress Su Daji in exchange. Moag has also imprisoned Rin’s friend Kitay, forcing him to work as her accountant. At one of these assassinations, Rin sees Daji, whom she blames for the death of the Cike’s old commander, Altan Trengsin. The Phoenix, the god Rin communicates with, overpowers Rin with rage and she loses control of her fire power, burning an ally, Unegan. As a result, Unegan and another Cike member, the healer Enki, desert the Cike. Though the rest stay loyal, Rin feels guilty about hurting her allies. She also experiences flashbacks of the genocide she committed against the Mugenese people in The Poppy War, killing most of the country; these memories become mingled with visions of the genocide in her home country, Speer, which was committed by the Federation of Mugen. Rin relies on opium to dull her trauma and anger.

The Cike’s ship is overtaken by warships helmed by Nezha, a former ally whom Rin believed was dead. Nezha fakes the Cike’s deaths to get Moag off their trail and takes them—and Kitay—to his home city Arlong. Nezha’s father Vaisra, the Dragon Emperor, plans to revolt against Daji’s Empire and instate a democratic Republic. Vaisra recruits the Cike and Kitay to support him. Vaisra helps Rin to quit opium and strengthen her powers, but to do so, he alternates between physical abuse and praise. Rin begins to mold her actions to seek his approval.

Vaisra and Rin meet with Daji and Nikan’s other provincial warlords at the Autumn Palace—Vaisra plans to initiate a bloodless coup. However, the attempt fails, and Daji and Rin fight. Daji manages to place a “seal” on Rin’s power, and another Cike named Chaghan helps Rin escape. They also rescue Vaisra, who is badly hurt. The seal blocks Rin from calling on the Phoenix’s power, and it also gives her visions of Altan.

The Republican Army then begins training to invade the Empire. Several southern warlords secede from Daji and join Vaisra. Vaisra is also courting the military aid of a Western country, Hesperia, which has superior aerial and naval technology. The Hesperians want to observe whether Nikan is “ready” for democracy before they pledge their help. They also want their religious wing, the Gray Company, to be able to experiment on Rin to investigate her shamanic powers. Their monotheistic religion, Makerism, sees her powers as evil. Vaisra manipulates Rin into agreeing to these conditions, and a Hesperian named Sister Petra begins to experiment on her. Meanwhile, Rin reunites with another old ally, Venka, who was raped and abused by Mugenese soldiers and subsequently ostracized from Nikara high society.

The Empire poisons one of Arlong’s main rivers, and the Republic begins an offensive war. Rin and the Cike find the source of the poison and destroy it. Rin joins a fleet with Kitay, Nezha, and Nezha’s older brother, Jinzha. They easily win battles as they sail upstream toward the capital. During their first challenging battle, they are surprised to see Nikara fighting alongside Mugenese soldiers.

Rin and Kitay begin to doubt the values of Vaisra’s Republic since they realize that he manipulates people into joining him. Rin’s disobedience gets the Cike disbanded and she is demoted to foot soldier. Jinzha decides to keep pushing north despite the advancing winter, and this grows increasingly risky. The weather demoralizes the soldiers, and booby traps in the river take out large portions of their forces. During one attack, Nezha uses his powers to protect their ship by enveloping it in water, and Rin realizes that he is a shaman, too, though he has never revealed his powers before. Afterward, he avoids her and won’t talk about it.

The Republican Fleet is poorly prepared for a naval battle in the city of Boyang. The Empire has recruited a former Cike shaman, Feylen, who is possessed by the wind god. Feylen destroys the Republican fleet. Rin and Kitay wash up with Chaghan and his twin Qara downstream. Along with a group of Hesperians, they are captured by a tribe called the Ketreyids. The Ketreyid leader, the Sorqan Sira, finds out that Daji has sealed Rin’s power, and she agrees to help break the seal if Rin kills Daji. The Ketreyids previously trained the Trifecta—Daji, Dragon Emperor Riga, and Rin’s old tutor Jiang—in shamanism, but the Trifecta betrayed the Ketreyids. The Sorqan Sira helps extract Daji’s venom from Rin; she also creates an “anchor bond” between Rin and Kitay, tying their lives and minds together so Rin can use her power again. However, the Sorqan Sira’s decision to help Rin foments a Ketreyid revolt: They kill the Sorqan Sira and Qara. Chaghan leaves to warn his own tribe, the Naimads, of the betrayal, while Rin and Kitay float back to Arlong on a raft.

In Arlong, Nezha tries to explain his powers to Rin, but she is angry that he doesn’t call on his power to save people. She discovers large refugee camps filled with southerners who are being mistreated, including her foster brother, Kesegi. Meanwhile, Arlong is preparing for Daji’s invasion. Daji sends Jinzha’s body back to Vaisra, baked into dumplings. Vaisra’s key ally, Tsolin, defects because Vaisra is harming and manipulating more people than he helps. The southern warlords try to recruit Rin into a southern rebellion, but she refuses.

Kitay makes wings Rin can use to steer with the heat of her fire and fight Feylen. Rin recruits Venka, who is a talented archer, into the Cike to provide her with air cover. Nezha tries to talk to Rin, but they cannot repair their rift. When Daji’s Imperial Fleet invades Arlong, there are many casualties on both sides. Rin’s wings help her defeat Feylen, but she is shot down and barely saved by Nezha, who is also severely injured. He takes her to an abandoned shore and passes out. Daji appears and talks to Rin. She warns Rin that the Federation was only a puppet for the real enemy, which is Hesperia. She predicts that Vaisra will sacrifice Rin to the Hesperians to ingratiate himself with them and says that Rin will need Daji as an ally. Then, Daji disappears.

The Republic wins the battle, but their great losses mean that the Hesperians are effectively in control. Rin knows that she, Kitay, and the Cike must flee—otherwise, they will be targeted by the Hesperians. However, before they can leave, Nezha betrays Rin and imprisons her. Several Cike members are killed for being shamans. Kitay uses his and Rin’s anchor bond to find where she is imprisoned and frees her. They, Venka, and the southern warlord Gurubai flee together. Rin learns that Vaisra is now a puppet emperor for Hesperia. Southern warlords and refugees alike are being killed by Republican forces. Rin realizes that she must embrace her role as a revolutionary figurehead for a southern rebellion.