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  • The Burning God

  • Written by: R. F. Kuang
  • Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
  • Length: 23 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (111 ratings)

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The Burning God

Written by: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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Publisher's Summary

The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R. F. Kuang’s acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

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? 

©2020 R. F. Kuang (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

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What listeners say about The Burning God

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

Great book!

This series is amazing! The story and narrator are some of the best historical Sci-Fi ever.

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A difficult end to the story

The fall in paranoia of Rin is a difficult one to follow. After getting attached to her for two books she makes the worst decisions and changes her behaviors to a point where it's difficult to understand why you ever liked her as a character.
The story around her is well woven but comes to an abrupt end that seems a bit rushed.

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Emotionally Heavy Finale

A devastating finale filled with action, drama, sacrifice, and triumph, this is just the sort of ending I'd imagine for THE POPPY WAR trilogy, as Rin and her allies fight against humans and gods to reshape the world.

Rin's character arc has been filled with complications and challenge. She remains fierce and dedicated to her cause, no matter the cost. She is an interesting paradox of traits, so even when I disagreed with her choices, I understood them and remained mostly empathetic toward her. She has always been morally grey and I found that aspect of her to be particularly prevalent in this finale, where it was needed most.

Her relationships with other characters, both enemies and allies, remain equally complex. They each complement Rin in different ways and lived up to their own arcs, even if their role was relatively small at some points.

The action and world building are stronger than ever, with the stakes and danger fully realized. I appreciate the defeats and victories in equal measure, because it means that nothing is easy for the characters and it adds to the drama. And there is plenty of drama.

THE BURNING GOD is emotionally heavy by the end, and it was interesting to see the fallout of the final battle once it had played out. Nothing was simple and I didn't expect things to go the way they did. Still, I think it was a good choice to have the plot play out this way, even if it extended the book's length in some obvious ways.

THE POPPY WAR trilogy is a heart-wrenching and excellent series that has powerful and important messages in it. I loved exploring this historical fantasy, going on truly dangerous journeys, and following characters dedicated to a cause, willing to fight for it no matter how hard or how painful. It's an inspiring read, and I recommend the series for fans of dark, emotional fantasy epics.

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Dark and fantastic

An amazing final installment to the Poppy War trilogy. will have me thinking about it for years to come.

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Best trilogy since Hunger Games

I grew up loving the Hunger Games and other fantasy books, this is by far my new favourite. Incredible story

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A bit disappointing

I absolutely loved this trilogy. Emily Woo Zeller brought every character and their personalities alive to the point where I forgot it was all one person voicing every character.

I am however a bit disappointed at how it ended.
it’s just I wish we got more time to explore the world, pantheon and the characters that are introduced about 3/4 through the book.

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An Unsatisfying Conclusion

This series had a lot of promise, and the author had an important story to tell, but I just did not enjoy this final book. It was too abrupt, and by the end I was wondering what I was supposed to feel, coming out of it, because I felt nothing.

Grim dark isn’t usually for me, but there are some gimdark stories that I deeply enjoy amd value. The first two books of The Poppy War were solidly in that company until I got to this book.

Rin’s character development was all over the place and yet, somehow, didn’t develop at all? She was a character I cared about and was invested in, but this final book made me not care about her, which is so frustrating because I shouldn’t be responding to this story with apathy, with just a lack of emotion.

It’s okay that Rin isn’t a good person, that isn’t the problem I have. It’s that we knew this was likely to end with the Phoenix destroying everything in Rin’s life, and I should care about that! I should care about the ramifications of colonialism and western imperialism and eugenics have in this world and the fear Rin feels when she thinks about the Hesperian threat to her and her nation.

I should care about the dire situation the people of Nikan are in at this point directly because of the years of war, but the execution of this entire book just didn’t do the job for me.

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wow

just wow

What an amazing finish to the trilogy

20/10 recommend

lots of blood, violence and over all tragedy

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Simply Genius

There are so many historical parallels in this series. The destruction of Spear, the burning of Mugen, Rin's journey from naive to disillusioned, traumatized, and paranoid, the types of warfare, the toll of war, & the occupation of China by the West...it's all got historical basis. As a historian reading this for leisure, The Poppy War series was pure gold.

Since I listened to the audiobooks, I have to say that Emily Woo Zeller is an amazing voice actor. There is so much emotion in her voice & she brings the characters come to life. Pure perfection.

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  • Kilo rev's
  • 2020-12-19

Remove the protagonist and its good (spoilers)

I powered through this last book thinking all the mystery and unanswered questions that were left would eventually be answered or maybe the main charecter would FINALLY grow up and learn from her mistakes and sigh... i was wrong. Let me start by saying this is an interesting read, but the way this story wrapped up was lack luster, and thats an understatement. They spend 3 books over hyping this trio of warriors of legend just to kill them off in the weakest way possible. The main charecter is so hate blinded and immature she rushes head first into all situations, screws up, gets betrayed, rinse repeat. IN EVERY BOOK. They make her so irrational and petty by the end of the book and then ends it by doing what in 3 books she never showed she was capable of. And forget about burning questions being answered, they wont be. Sorry, not for this review, but sorry i dint listen to my inner voice telling me not to read this. its not going to satisfy you

9 people found this helpful

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  • Ninewise
  • 2021-01-08

Not sure why this story was written.

The protagonist started out her journey naive, unwilling to listen and hell bent on trusting those who were obviously going to betray her. She continued her journey and ended it this way too. What was the point of the whole trilogy? The plot had no real direction. The character development was non existent. I really wanted to like this series but it just couldn't meet basic literary standards let alone the next level hype that led me to pick up this series in the first place. Save yourself the trouble and go read Jade City instead.

5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Lakefront Khan
  • 2020-11-29

Rin: a screw up till the end.

I loved the series but Rin is bar none, the dumbest protagonist ever put to page. The proformance was great.

5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • awconcepcion
  • 2020-12-12

Flat character

The writing itself was good. But I did not enjoy this book, nor this series. The main character is full of anger and hatred, has refused to grow up or learn from her past. The entire story is told pretty much from the main character’s point of view, lots of self pity. In turn, all the other characters were left flat, because she could not tell the story from their perspective. Too much hatred. Too much anger. But maybe, growing up in an environment like that, one might just be full of despair, anger... I wanted to like this series, but I failed.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-01-18

Total Disappointment!

After listening to all 3 books within the past few months, I can assuredly say how disappointing the final book was. It made me regret investing my time and energy into the first two books. I don't know what the author was thinking when she wrote the final book but it was not well received on my end. The first two books were riveting and captivating with refreshing takes on a fantasy/fiction series. I was hoping to see the character develop and thrive in the final installment of what was SUPPOSED to be an amazing trilogy. Yet, all I got was the same hard headed, impulsive, train wreck of a protagonist who only hurt others along the way and never learnt a single lesson. On top of that, the story of the Trifecta had to be the biggest let down of a story arc I've ever read. After hyping up the audience for the first two books, the ending they got was totally flat and boring. I think the author had the right ideas but her execution was sub par and disappointing. 10/10 won't recommend.

3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 2022-07-26

.

The first two books were okay despite how annoying the main character is but this was such a disappointing and terrible ending to the series.

2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Scott
  • 2021-12-09

I have never hated a protagonist this much.

I hate Rin. I felt it was strange when the author said in the interview at the end of book 1 that Rin is too stupid to be a good soldier, but not I whole heatedly agree. Rin's character is that she's angry, short sighted, and easily manipulated, and I can not stand Rin. I finished this book feeling tired and unfulfilled.

As far as the narrator goes, I got tired of it sounding like she was whispering in my ear the entire book. Please, just talk normally. I get that you're trying to put emotion into your reading, but it gets so tiring having the same angry secretive sounding whisper talking in your ear after a while.

2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jadah King
  • 2023-05-25

I’m speechless

I suspected the ending but I hoped that Rin would push through in some way and not lose to fear and impulse, but I still love it. Not all stories need a neat little bow to wrap it up.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Barreck Teeg
  • 2023-05-24

Excellent

I loved this book. I would highly recommend it. It isn't in my normal genre, but well worth it. The ending was a little disappointing until I realized that the author told you how it would end from the beginning.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 2023-05-23

perfect endings

this r.f. kuang ended this trilogy the only way that could've made sense for Rin and her rebels. it was hardly ever easy to listen to but this has been a consistently good story