Rai-Kirah Trilogy by Carol Berg
Mar. 25th, 2022 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really enjoyed it.
+ I liked the world-building in this especially the whole backstory reveal of just who the rai-kirah and the Ezzarians truly were, of who the Builders were and what happened to them.
+ Seyonne himself was great. I loved him. Though, god did these books love whumping him hard. It’s a little amazing. Just, so so much. Aleksander's joking-not-joking about all of Seyonne's plans ending in him bleeding was not wrong.
+ The ending Seyonne got was probably the best he could have gotten (choosing to believe that he did eventually regain his melydda) but I admit I was sad and disappointed to see him lose his 'godhood' and the powers that came with it. I wanted him to find peace/happiness and get to keep his awesome power! Boo. I wanted Madonai Seyonne. Also he damn well deserves everyone's recognition and respect and awe, damn it!
+ I guessed the reveal that Seyonne was Valdis back at the end of Revelation and I loved it. Denas was the torn remnant of Valdis's soul/spirit and Seyonne was...? I feel like it's not entirely answered either way. He could simply be an Ezzarian who happened to be born with the power and given the time fighting demons to grow it. But I like to think that Seyonne truly was Valdis reborn. I mean his body was apparently exactly like Valdis for no one remarked on him physically changing. I liked how complicated identity was for Seyonne but in the end it's clear that he does consider himself Seyonne but also Valdis.
+ Seyonne's relationship with Aleksander was definitely the heart of the series and I loved them. Lots of great stuff between them in all the books (less so in the second.) But having just finished the last: Aleksander venturing into the garden in order to fulfill his promise to kill Seyonne if he lost himself was a great choice as climax and Aleksander's reaction when he realised that Seyonne was himself again - "His gaze was raw. Bleeding." to "one might have thought the sun had taken up residence in that cold room" - was so perfect. Their devotion to each other was so good.
The only negative, leaving me annoyed, was how Aleksander seemed to so quickly decide Seyonne had actually betrayed him in Revelation and how hard he turned against him. There were several instances and I kind of wanted to smack him upside the head.
+ I really loved the circle of devoted friends he gathered. The end of Revelation where Fiona, Blaise and Aleksander worked together to save Seyonne was excellent.
+ Less great was the romance. There wasn't really much to it to my surprise. I was expecting more of it, though that's on me. Like in Transformation I thought Catrin but nope. Then I thought Fiona after Revelation but then she disappeared for most of Restoration. We get flirtations with others like Vallyne that go no where. In the end it's Elinor as the endgame happily-ever-after and while it wasn't a surprise at all when it happened it was also so very low-key it surprised me. I mean I liked them fine and they made sense but also left me sort of 'eh, okay then'.
And then there is Ysanne. One of my big issues of the first two books was how much Seyonne/Ysanne failed especially when compared to his relationships with other people. We get all this talk/contemplation by Seyonne about how much he loves Ysanne and his devotion for her but it’s really all talk. They barely interacted on-page and we didn’t get to see a lot of their actual relationship or why they loved each other. We get some great relationships with other people – both Aleksander and Fiona and their relationships with him are given a lot of page-time – but Ysanne is barely there and it all falls completely flat.
There is a part near the end of Revelation after Seyonne is left to die where he muses about how much he loves Ysanna and then immediately after falls into a vision of Aleksander being joyful and enjoying how beautiful it is only for him then to fall into horror as Aleksander is killed and just the contrast really struck me and perfectly encapsulated my issue. Why follow Seyonne telling about his long-lasting love for Ysanna with him immediately having a vision of Aleksander, his joy at watching him be free and then his panicked horror at him dying? If the visions were about Seyonne’s fear/failure why wouldn’t his musings on Ysanna naturally lead to her being his first vision?
And then in Restoration Ysanne dies off-screen without ever seeing Seyonne again after her betrayal. It was kind of frustration. Like, I'm glad that they had so little page-time because they didn't work for me but also they didn't work because they weren't given the page-time to make them work! And Ysanne as a character could have been pretty interesting. Oh well.
+ I appreciate how characters make clearly wrong choices (that lead to death and destruction) and yet you can see why they made those decisions.
Seyonne burying Denas and refusing to listen to him left him unprepared to face Nyel/Kerouan and forced a good man who'd suffered greatly in his life to be buried in his final year (to Seyonne's regret) and yet considering how he grew up viewing demons and his madness he thought caused by Denas it's not surprising or unreasonable even if he was wrong.
Or Aleksander ignoring Qeb's prophecy to leave behind the Derzhi Empire to win his fight. It's a choice that led to the deaths of Sovari, Malver and W'Assani (so sad) but of course he wouldn't listen. Even beyond his pride his duty to his people both Derzhi and not would not allow him to seemingly abandon them. He wasn't ready yet to look that much beyond his upbringing. It was the journey he took after reject Qeb's advice - the death, the hardship, the seeing and meeting first hand - that gave him the perspective that enabled him to seek outside help.
+ I was sad by Vyx’s sacrifice to contain the Unnamed. He seemed like a pretty interesting and fun character that we didn’t get to see enough of. I'd wished in Revelation that he’d joined with Seyonne instead of Denas.
+ Poor, poor Denas. I felt so bad for him.
+ It was so weird in Restoration how Seyonne saved Drych in Kir'Vagonoth and then left him there with Vallyne and they completely disappeared from the story except for a quick mention at the end.
+ I wish we'd gotten a final scene between Seyonne/Verdonne and between Seyonne/Feyd. There were others that would have been nice but those two felt very noticeable in their absence. Feyd was the strongest surviving new relationship Seyonne built and in the end Feyd had very much taken a role as Seyonne's Priest and I really needed to see something between them in the aftermath, even if only a sentence. Meanwhile, Verdonne's long long watch has ended and it deserved a mention more than that no one had seen her since. Her love for her son deserved a goodbye between them.
+ Merryt was so clearly off and untrustworthy.
+ I liked the world-building in this especially the whole backstory reveal of just who the rai-kirah and the Ezzarians truly were, of who the Builders were and what happened to them.
+ Seyonne himself was great. I loved him. Though, god did these books love whumping him hard. It’s a little amazing. Just, so so much. Aleksander's joking-not-joking about all of Seyonne's plans ending in him bleeding was not wrong.
+ The ending Seyonne got was probably the best he could have gotten (choosing to believe that he did eventually regain his melydda) but I admit I was sad and disappointed to see him lose his 'godhood' and the powers that came with it. I wanted him to find peace/happiness and get to keep his awesome power! Boo. I wanted Madonai Seyonne. Also he damn well deserves everyone's recognition and respect and awe, damn it!
+ I guessed the reveal that Seyonne was Valdis back at the end of Revelation and I loved it. Denas was the torn remnant of Valdis's soul/spirit and Seyonne was...? I feel like it's not entirely answered either way. He could simply be an Ezzarian who happened to be born with the power and given the time fighting demons to grow it. But I like to think that Seyonne truly was Valdis reborn. I mean his body was apparently exactly like Valdis for no one remarked on him physically changing. I liked how complicated identity was for Seyonne but in the end it's clear that he does consider himself Seyonne but also Valdis.
+ Seyonne's relationship with Aleksander was definitely the heart of the series and I loved them. Lots of great stuff between them in all the books (less so in the second.) But having just finished the last: Aleksander venturing into the garden in order to fulfill his promise to kill Seyonne if he lost himself was a great choice as climax and Aleksander's reaction when he realised that Seyonne was himself again - "His gaze was raw. Bleeding." to "one might have thought the sun had taken up residence in that cold room" - was so perfect. Their devotion to each other was so good.
The only negative, leaving me annoyed, was how Aleksander seemed to so quickly decide Seyonne had actually betrayed him in Revelation and how hard he turned against him. There were several instances and I kind of wanted to smack him upside the head.
+ I really loved the circle of devoted friends he gathered. The end of Revelation where Fiona, Blaise and Aleksander worked together to save Seyonne was excellent.
+ Less great was the romance. There wasn't really much to it to my surprise. I was expecting more of it, though that's on me. Like in Transformation I thought Catrin but nope. Then I thought Fiona after Revelation but then she disappeared for most of Restoration. We get flirtations with others like Vallyne that go no where. In the end it's Elinor as the endgame happily-ever-after and while it wasn't a surprise at all when it happened it was also so very low-key it surprised me. I mean I liked them fine and they made sense but also left me sort of 'eh, okay then'.
And then there is Ysanne. One of my big issues of the first two books was how much Seyonne/Ysanne failed especially when compared to his relationships with other people. We get all this talk/contemplation by Seyonne about how much he loves Ysanne and his devotion for her but it’s really all talk. They barely interacted on-page and we didn’t get to see a lot of their actual relationship or why they loved each other. We get some great relationships with other people – both Aleksander and Fiona and their relationships with him are given a lot of page-time – but Ysanne is barely there and it all falls completely flat.
There is a part near the end of Revelation after Seyonne is left to die where he muses about how much he loves Ysanna and then immediately after falls into a vision of Aleksander being joyful and enjoying how beautiful it is only for him then to fall into horror as Aleksander is killed and just the contrast really struck me and perfectly encapsulated my issue. Why follow Seyonne telling about his long-lasting love for Ysanna with him immediately having a vision of Aleksander, his joy at watching him be free and then his panicked horror at him dying? If the visions were about Seyonne’s fear/failure why wouldn’t his musings on Ysanna naturally lead to her being his first vision?
And then in Restoration Ysanne dies off-screen without ever seeing Seyonne again after her betrayal. It was kind of frustration. Like, I'm glad that they had so little page-time because they didn't work for me but also they didn't work because they weren't given the page-time to make them work! And Ysanne as a character could have been pretty interesting. Oh well.
+ I appreciate how characters make clearly wrong choices (that lead to death and destruction) and yet you can see why they made those decisions.
Seyonne burying Denas and refusing to listen to him left him unprepared to face Nyel/Kerouan and forced a good man who'd suffered greatly in his life to be buried in his final year (to Seyonne's regret) and yet considering how he grew up viewing demons and his madness he thought caused by Denas it's not surprising or unreasonable even if he was wrong.
Or Aleksander ignoring Qeb's prophecy to leave behind the Derzhi Empire to win his fight. It's a choice that led to the deaths of Sovari, Malver and W'Assani (so sad) but of course he wouldn't listen. Even beyond his pride his duty to his people both Derzhi and not would not allow him to seemingly abandon them. He wasn't ready yet to look that much beyond his upbringing. It was the journey he took after reject Qeb's advice - the death, the hardship, the seeing and meeting first hand - that gave him the perspective that enabled him to seek outside help.
+ I was sad by Vyx’s sacrifice to contain the Unnamed. He seemed like a pretty interesting and fun character that we didn’t get to see enough of. I'd wished in Revelation that he’d joined with Seyonne instead of Denas.
+ Poor, poor Denas. I felt so bad for him.
+ It was so weird in Restoration how Seyonne saved Drych in Kir'Vagonoth and then left him there with Vallyne and they completely disappeared from the story except for a quick mention at the end.
+ I wish we'd gotten a final scene between Seyonne/Verdonne and between Seyonne/Feyd. There were others that would have been nice but those two felt very noticeable in their absence. Feyd was the strongest surviving new relationship Seyonne built and in the end Feyd had very much taken a role as Seyonne's Priest and I really needed to see something between them in the aftermath, even if only a sentence. Meanwhile, Verdonne's long long watch has ended and it deserved a mention more than that no one had seen her since. Her love for her son deserved a goodbye between them.
+ Merryt was so clearly off and untrustworthy.
