Revelation, Book II in Rai-Kirah Series, by Carol Berg

Sorry for the wait people, but I had very little time to finish reading this book. Now that I have, here's the review.

Oh wait! Potential *SPOILER* alert. If you haven't read the first book, and you're incredibly anal about not knowing even the tiniest part of it, then I'd suggest you stop reading now, and come back to it after finishing Book I (Transformation). For the rest of you, let me assure you that I haven't revealed any of the HUGE "secrets" from the previous book. Just mentioned tiny details to elucidate some aspects I considered important for the review!

Alright, so, for the second time, on with the review.

Revelation, the second book in Carol Berg's debut Rai-Kirah Series, adopts the same writing style with which I fell in love during the course of Transformation. However, I have to say, I didn't like the book as a whole nearly as much as I liked the first one. That being said, this is still such a great book to read. Besides, don't you want to know what happens after the first book ended? 

When reading the next book in a series, as readers, we're tempted, and even somewhat expected, to peg the two books against each other. But, in this case, before you do that and end up shunning this book, you've got to first understand the change in circumstances that have occurred.

Firstly, Seyonne is no longer a slave. As a slave, his choices were so much more restricted, so Berg was able to give us a lot more depth behind every single one of his actions. In general, writing with the slave's perspective must've been so much easier. With his new found freedom (um... sort of), his choices are so much more diverse and, well, let's just say that I felt that I could see Berg had a bit of difficulty in developing him in the same way as Book I. Though, I am of the opinion that she did a good job by maintaining his basic essence as a character, which I feared might have changed with his newfound freedom.

Speaking of characters, where is Prince Aleksander? Personally, I enjoyed Transformation as it was told as a tale of two people transforming each other through the power of the their personalities. That, obviously, involved TWO people: Seyonne AND Aleksander. This book, however, seems to have almost forgotten the poor prince. He makes only a few short appearances in the story. On the contrary, this gives us a lot of "contact time" with the main character, Seyonne, and the antagonist! Sort of a different feel, after getting used to Transformation, but I think she handled it quite well. And since Revelation is the journey of a man discovering that the world is altogether different to what he believed, and, in the process, probing the very nature of his soul, I suppose this intense concentration on the main character, at the cost of one of MY favourite characters, is loosely justified. *Hmph!*

Also, one of the main focuses of the book is the quest to identify the true purpose of the demons, vanishing whom has been considered the very purpose of Ezzarian existence. But as the story progresses, this is quite well hidden beneath other focuses, and at the end comes up again with a bang, leaving Seyonne with a life changing decision. And I think that Berg decided to pay so much attention to his character development so that at that time, we could all understand the path he has travelled to reach this choice.

All this negativity aside, the book is really quite good. At the end of the first one, you'd expect a nice quiet life in Ezzaria for Seyonne, and he would have deserved it too. But that would make a terrible story. You need conflict and intrigue, and believe you me, Revelation's got truck loads of both. For starters, Berg answers so many questions that were sort of left hanging in Transformation. Most importantly of these, why the Ezzarians engage in battle with the Rai-Kirah, the demons.

In addition, Berg sort of fills the gap made by Aleksander's short appearances by not only developing Seyonne, but these new side characters who simply do wonders for the story. To name a few:

• Fiona - a very stubborn, talented, and prickly young Aife who has been assigned to keep watch on Seyonne to make sure he has not brought some hidden corruption back to Ezzaria. She drives him crazy by watching over his shoulder and taking notes whenever he does anything wrong.
• Blaise - an enigmatic young Ezzarian who has grown up outside of Ezzaria, wholly unfamiliar with Ezzarian life and custom. He is the leader of a band of outlaws who harass Derzhi nobles, tax collectors, and other officials, and he has some most unusual talents.
• Several Rai-Kirah - as can be expected from the second book of the Rai-Kirah series. Among these, some of whom are quite unlike the Lord of Demons or the other demons Seyonne has met in battle, or anyone else he has ever met, for that matter.

and...

• Merryt. You know how Seyonne keeps saying that the worst fear of a Warden is to be abandoned alive beyond the portal, trapped in the "abyss", or whatever lies beyond the soul when the Aife's landscape vanishes? Well, folks, Merryt is a Warden who has experienced this and lived to tell the tale.

Hehe... interested, are we not?

Well, to sum it up, even though it feels that if you consider Revelation a slow stroll through the park, Transformation seems like a 100 meter sprint, the book does hold its charm. And, more importantly, sets the stage for the final book in the series!!


Final Verdict:
Though a little less strongly than I did for Transformation, I recommend you all to read this!

Transformation, Book I of Rai-Kirah Series, by Carol Berg

Folks, I have to say, if you love fantasy, you definitely want to give this book a chance. It's the first book in the Rai-Kirah series by Carol Berg, a modern-ish fantasy author. Published in 2000, this is the book Berg debuted with, and my-oh-my has she done a good job.

When I'm reading a book, especially in this genre, I want to feel what the characters are feeling, see what they are seeing, hear what they are hearing, think what they are... well you get the idea. Same goes for the environment the book's been set in. I want to want to be there. To me, that's what fantasy is about: the author making me fantasise about his/her world. And I personally think that Carol Berg has done a commendable job towards this end.

Before I continue on the review, let me give you a brief summary of the book.


A coming-of-age story of sorts, but told in a very different way with an interesting perspective. The protagonist, Seyonne, was born an Ezzarian, a free, magical people in a lush, green land. But the Ezzarians were conquered by the larger and militarily superior Derzhi Empire. Seyonne was captured, put through horrible rites that striped him of his magical powers and forced into slavery. He endures horrid conditions and pathetic, inhumane treatment while holding on to the pitiable remnant of his life with the mantra, "What comes, comes."

On the other hand, the next most important character in the novel, Prince Aleksander, son of the Derzhi Emperor, purchases Seyonne out of one his frequent childish whims. He is the worst type of Derzhi: arrogant, uncaring, heartless and heedless to the cruelty about him. Ready to hate him, Seyonne gets shocked when he notices the light of feadnach, the God-touched, in the pompous prince's eyes. Sworn to protect one as such, due to Ezzarian teaching, he struggles to understand how to look after a cocky Derzhi prince who doesn't even believe in magic!

Then, when the Khelid come, Seyonne immediately recognises the demon glean in their eyes. However, since he has been stripped of his power, he has nothing but his wits to fight them, and if that wasn't enough, the obstinate Prince, whose life he's trying to safeguard, opposes his every move.


Well, that's the summary. Now, on to the review:


Personally, I know that I am really going to enjoy a book when, early on, I find myself wondering what the characters are doing during the times of their lives that the author has chosen not to tell the reader about. The story skips forwards a day or week between chapters, and I start trying to imagine what the characters did and said during the missing time. More over, since the characters have been so well-drawn, and their background of history and culture so full realised, that I can make pretty decent guesses as to what transpired.


However, books like this are few. Fortunately, Carol Berg's "Transformation" fits the bill quite well. I find that it is difficult to incorporate this much detail, not only to the history and characters, but also to the literal landscape and other aspects of geography, without the details overshadowing the plot and making the book a slow read.


Seyonne and Aleksander, pretty much the two main characters of the book, have been created with a great deal of care. I find them as real as the backgrounds they have been set on, and as such, I can't help but feel deeply for both. Neither is perfect, nor very nice all the time. But Berg managed to make me care about them both.


As I have mentioned earlier, not only has Berg made the characters so real with detail, but she has also created a world around these two with a comparable level of depth. The cultures of the Derzhi and Ezzarians are richly detailed and logically realised, so much so that you might believe them to really exist. She has even gone ahead and created very imaginable conflicts between characters of each culture. In fact, I personally felt that this aspect of the book could even be used to illustrate anthropological principles in a fictional setting.


Having said all of the above, I must still point out that "Transformation" is not a perfect novel. I did find a few drawbacks worth mentioning.

1. The demon-infested Khelid characters come across as stock villains. They seem to only want to conquer the Derzhi Empire, but Berg never really tells us about their motivations for this desire. This is something that I really would have liked to know.
2. Berg simply does not explore the culture of these Khelid enough. In contrast to the other two major cultures described in the book, it's almost as if that she'd forgotten to complete the Khelid.
3. There is the issue of Seyonne's betrayal by a childhood friend that resulted in his capture and enslavement by the Derzhi. The reasons given for this just don't seem enough.
4. There isn't enough of Lydia, Aleksander's spirited fiancée, in the story. The way she is introduced, it seems that she's going to be such an interesting character. But as the plot continues, you find yourself wondering, "Wait a minute, where'd she go?"

However, the above are really minor issues that ultimately don't matter enough to mar the enjoyment of this rip-roaring and page turning story.


Final verdict:
If you really enjoy fantasy, and you have not read this yet, give it a try! You might like it enough to try the entire series (I think you probably would).

An Intro to My Blog

Hello People!

Alright. First and foremost, I'll have you know that this is my first blogging experience. So... okay, that's surprisingly all I have to say on that topic. Just keep it in mind.


Now that THAT is off my chest (phew!), a very warm welcome to my blog on Book Reviews! This next part might have most of you taken by surprise. I'm going to write reviews on books!! Yes, it's true, my other name is the Master of Suspense (or was it the Bleedingly Obvious?). Well, in particular, since I thoroughly enjoy the genre of Fantasy, most of my Book Reviews would be, well, on Fantasy Books (there I go again with my catching you off-guard). However, I do fancy myself living on the knife's edge, so I occasionally read non fantasy books. When I do, I'll put up some reviews on them as well. Apart from Book Reviews, you folks might see some updates/news on certain books that I'm interested in every now and then.


While telling you about what to expect from this blog, another head's up: I'm not an English-major, or in any way described as one with exquisitely rich and profound taste in literature. I read books that I enjoy, and think that anyone who likes certain themes would enjoy them too. Well, I'm not a complete numbskull either, so I do, once in a blue moon, pick up a book of literary note. And sometimes, I read it too.


Yup, I think that about sums up my "Intro" to the blog. Hope you folks find mention of a few good reads off my page.


Cheers!