Mitchell Loughlin’s Reviews > The Poppy War > Status Update

Rin speaks to the the phenoix and burns the city to the ground running her relationship with Kitay. Chagran and the rest of the Cike are with her though and she is named leader.

Her dragon boy is definitely alive as the next book is titled after her region. Real enemies to lovers good guy realizes the girl is a monster story

She said the same thing that the women blocking the pantheon said. That’s why she was so strong to put up a fight with C earlier. Rin must be her daughter. There is no other reason why we wouldn’t know her parentage by now. Also might be why she refused to call the phenoix to defend Speer

The empress was the person who sold them out according to the doctor. Is it just fear? She knows she can’t control them?

She feels their anger. Altan encouraged her to take it from them and channel it. That is where his power comes from. In unison their eyes snap open in the mortal realm, flames licking their bondage. They melt their guard then their shackles then the doctor. They flee the tower before running into an entire army. Altan fights to allow Rin to swim to their island. He explodes in an inferno and she hears the queen

Someone mentioned mind powers don’t work on speerlies. This was definitely a hint to a fight with the empress

Why did the empriss kill tyr. That whole sceen seems out of place. He was attempting to spy on the federation but she killed him. The federation seemed to expect her. This makes me think more and more that their general is the warrior. But why is he attacking the mainland rather than revealing himself.
And if she could control Tyr, a powerful shaman then shouldn’t she control the warrior.

Is Jiang a coward or wise.
So far he has had a mixed record. He saved Rin from eternal madness. Sealed himself in the mountain when he didn’t trust his decisions any longer. Feared Altans anger. Feared Baji and Suni. It seems like he could have done more but didn’t.

The doctor fills in the role of the typical evil doctor using war to advance medicine. He is unfeeling, creepy, and has a squeaky humerlous laugh. He questions Rin under threat of dosing A with more and more opium. Comments on how the empire subsided the speerlies with opium for generations and mentions that Rin has seen this before.

They run after him and are met by the federation encamped outside of the cave entrance. The cave suppresses the abilities of the gods so they could not call the phenoix and are overwhelmed by the numbers. Rin ponders on how they knew her and Altan would be there.
Theory: Chagran attempting to stop them from unleashing hell on the planet tipped them off.

Altan is Turkish for red dawn. Al meaning red.

He explores them not to follow through with this crazy plan. The pantheon works dude to balance and unleashing thousands of crazed deities without proper balance would be apocalyptic. Altan once again is too head strong. Rin follows her commander over her master and Jiang reseals himself in rock. They then attempt to release a former Cike who could summon wind. It does not go well and he escapes

She overhears Altan and Chagran talking through a plan to empty the mountain of crazies and unleash them on the world. Chagran emphasizes that this is insane and won’t work but Altan is too head strong. He sends C + Q north to do something……

He and Rin head north to the mountain to unleash the demigods. When they arrive the first person they see is Jiang who is reveled to be the gatekeeper