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!