[SPOILERS]

"They had a God to kill. A world to reshape. An Empress to overthrow"
Rin and the Cike have escaped betrayal by Empress Dajin, and joined forces with the Dragon Province to create a new world. Old faces join this effort with various motivations. As Rin is drawn deeper into the politics of the Autumn Palace, she needs to discern fact from tales.

"Was it better to serve at the hands of a tyrant, to consolidate the Empress into the true dictatorship that it had always aspired to be?or should she overthrow the empire and take her chances on democracy?"
As Rin and the Cikes future is being played by much bigger and powerful forces, Rin needs to decide her position and how she can shape her fate. I enjoyed Rins character development as she ponders the line between Liberator and Aggressor, friendship and family, and the lines of morality.

This sequel is a perfect followup from the Poppy wars, the pace is faster and there is a sense of urgency from Rin, the Dragon Lord, Kitay. Frequent fight scenes as the South brings the war to Daji

I really enjoy how Kuang has weaved the themes of colonism into this fantasy; the weaponisation of rational thought is often bought out to dissuade natives who fight back, how natives are conceptualised to be savages or primative to the slavers, and the need for the colonised to be salvaged.

I have read an interview with Kuang who shared that this trilogy helped hone her craft for Babel. I cannot wait to dive into the third and final book soon.