I have a lot of mixed feelings.

TW for references to rape and torture (in this review (but also in the book as well (though it is more than a reference in the book)))

To start: This is not a YA grimdark military fantasy. This is a fantasy retelling of the Sino-Japanese War, and the Nanjing Massacre. There are fantasy elements, sure, but a lot of the stuff that happens in this book, happened in real life, just under a different name.

I semi-knew what I was getting into before I read this. I have seen people say that this book 'tricks' people into thinking it's a YA book, and then the tonal shift happens, and you're into some dark stuff. I disagree. This book is YA stylistically, in the writing. It is obviously quite dark, but for the majority of this book, that darkness is surface level, and easily digestible.

Then there is Chapter 21.

Bad things are graphically described in this chapter. I knew bad things would happen in this book, and as I was reading, I thought to myself: "When the horrors come, i'm not sure I will care because I do not care about these characters all that much." And then the horrors happened, and it didn't matter that I didn't connect with the characters they happened to, because they happened to people in real life (I also feel a certain way about bringing back a female character that we hadn't seen since Part 1 just to have her describe her violent abuse, especially as the women of this book are few and far between, but I digress). I stepped away from the book at that point, which is normal. Natural, even. And I sought out spoilers and reviews from other readers because I needed trigger warnings from this point on.

(I think as well, this book needed disclaimers on it. If I were to just pick this up off a bookshelf, and read the blurb, you are in no way prepared for Chapter 21, and the rest of the book doesn't set you up well for that chapter either. I knew this series explored the horrors of war, and what those horrors so often entail, but inferences and statements are vastly different from descriptions.)

I don't understand, from this point forward, how the series could be 'enjoyable'. That sounds like a criticism but it isn't. I'm not even sure if this series is meant to be 'enjoyable'. I think if it remained YA, or committed to being adult, grimdark fantasy, i would have different opinions, but this mish-mash of tones and genres just left me on edge as a reader, as I never knew if I was about to get a vivid description of torture, or just vague references to it.

There are other criticisms I have of this book, but I am not the voice who needs to share them. Half of me feels immature for not 'wanting' to read further or being able to stomach the one chapter of this book that affected me, and the other half of me knows that I don't have to. As such, I won't be reaching for The Dragon Republic with any haste.