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Revelation (2001)

Revelation (2001)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Series
Rating
3.96 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0451458427 (ISBN13: 9780451458421)
Language
English
Publisher
roc

About book Revelation (2001)

At the end of Transformation, I knew the story was far from done. Seyonne and Aleksander had defeated a demon and prevented a war, but still had to deal with the repercussions. Their victory had been, in part, a private one. The incidents leading up to Aleksander’s possession left a very real mark, and Seyonne had many more battles to fight. Seyonne has more than demons to battle, however. His every move is scrutinised by the Ezzarians, many of whom still consider him to be unclean, or unworthy. But as they have no other Warden to fight their battles, he is grudgingly accepted. Funny how that works, eh?The thorn in Seyonne’s side is Fiona. With his wife pregnant, Fiona acts as his ‘Aife’ or guide in the demonic planes. She is also his assigned watch dog and she’s a pitbull. When his wife apparently ‘loses’ their child--the boy is born possessed and apparently left out to die--Seyonne begins to question everything he once believed in.Revelation is aptly named. The war against the demons is not what it seems, and as Seyonne pieces together the truncated history of his people, he will discover the truth about his son, himself and the Ezzarians. Doing so will brand him a traitor to Ezzaria. Still, as discovered in Transformation, Seyonne does not shy from the impossible. He is willing to sacrifice himself, again. And, again, Carol Berg stuns with her characterisation and prose. She writes Seyonne, Fiona, Aleksander and Blaise (the leader of a band of outlaws), with all the dogged determination evident in each. Under her talented pen, the world comes alive with fantastic description and the plot weaves inexorably forward, but folded so that the pattern is only hinted at until the proper time. I did get weary four fifths of the way through. I understood why Seyonne’s sojourn in the demon plane had to be so long; there were a lot of plot points to discover and the changes wrought within Seyonne definitely required the passage of time. It was at about this point I cursed Carol Berg for being such a fantastic writer. Every word has to be read; just about every word is essential to the character and the story, so I couldn’t just skip the slow parts. The ending definitely delivers a reward to the tenacious reader, however. Adversity brings out the best in Seyonne. Though I missed the relationship between Seyonne and Aleksander, the prince is replaced, in part, by the ever watchful Fiona. Watching their partnership grow and change was as painful as it was delightful. I look forward to seeing more of them and Aleksander (and Blaise?) in the final book of the trilogy, which is already on my shelf.

I keep wanting to give this 10/10 because I'm remembering the ending, which was amazing. I'm stopping myself however, because there was a section in the middle that dragged terribly while I was reading it, but it's still a wonderful and amazing book so I'm compromising with a 9/10.I was kind of nervous starting this as the title suggested something disturbing was going to be discovered. I was right, and rather astounded by the wrinkle Berg threw into the mix. I'd kind of guessed the basic idea, but was still surprised by the way she played it out.Berg does push her characters to their very limits. I thought she had done the worst she could to Seyonne in Transformation, but I didn't guess even part of it. Seyonne finished that book with his home returned to him and hope of some peace and happiness with his wife. No such luck. After having his world shaken to pieces in the first book, Berg just kept right on shaking.As I mentioned above, I did find the long section in the demon realm very frustrating. Berg introduces the likelihood that everything the Ezzarians believe could be wrong, forces Seyonne to go looking for one the very last people he ever wants to meet, deepens the mystery then spends chapters and chapters mistreating Seyonne some more before giving him (and therefore us) a chance to figure out what might really be going on.Once we got back to the "real" world and the plot picked up again and it all finished up in the most amazing fashion. Berg knows how to tell a compelling story when she gets right down to it, but the set up just took more time than was needed.All the same, an awesome book in an awesome series.I did find myself disappointed in Ysanne and I am sad about that. She tried so hard, but she just couldn't bend enough, as Seyonne had been forced to do and go on doing and doing and doing. She could only see things they way she believed they must be, and not look beyond that to what the real truth might be. Fiona, on the other hand, was tough and determined, but eventually willing to look for that truth. Of course, we've been mislead about Ysanne before, but I don't know what I want to happen this time. I think we saw her true feelings at the end when she made her decision against Seyonne. She had tried, but had nothing left to give. If that's so, he deserves more.Seyonne has finished up with a very interesting and set of diverse allies, and it is going to be very interesting to see how they deal with whatever is to come next.

Do You like book Revelation (2001)?

I'm on page 314. I suppose this is a warning to all those I recommended book 1 to because I'm really struggling with this second book in the series. It's so graphic and unrelenting and the main character has lost absolutely everything and everyone, so I'm floundering along with him. Nothing happens but this incessant suffering for page after page.I'm persevering, but thought I'd give the heads up. I would still read Transformation, even if it ends up that I don't like the rest of the series. Book one is definitely stand-alone enough and worth the read._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I did it. I finished it. Upon completion, this is my response with TONS OF SPOILERS:No, no, no! This was a train wreck of a book. It's not worth reading 485 pages of confusion, so let me sum it up: There is NO scene between the MC and his wife. The book starts with them suddenly reunited, married and having a baby as a fait accompli. No relationship development AT ALL. Then he discovers she's suddenly NOT pregnant anymore and has sent his son away because the son is "possessed" by a demon. This leads to ONE conversation between the lovers and then he leaves/is kicked out to figure out if demons and humans are meant to be united into one being. What? He alienates his wife, his new Aife (Fiona), the rebel group, and the empire (Aleksander). No continuation of the great friendship that was the entire POINT of book 1.Once everyone hates him, he voluntarily enters the torture chambers of the demon dimension where we go through pages of torture and enchantment. Months later, he realizes he'll have to join with a demon to open the gate to send all these lovely? evil? demons back to some realm where perhaps they will be made whole (never explains how). He opens the gate, gets captured, fights off 4 wardens at once in his fugue realm, and then his wife, Ysanne, sticks a knife into him and leaves him to die. A last second rescue leaves him recuperating at the end of the book and no questions get answered about what is actually going on.The final 8 pages exhibit the poignancy and depth of feeling we remember from Book 1. I just didn't feel it through the majority of Book 2.I'm definitely not giving up, though. I have too much confusion to leave it at this point, but book 3 had better be better put-together.
—Lisa

Sadly, Revelation is nowhere near as involving as Transformation was. While Transformation was flawed, its beating heart was the relationship between Seyonne and Aleksander, and that relationship was almost completely absent in this follow-up. Instead, the novel follows Seyonne back to Ezzaria and then through several large set-pieces, each of which felt too dragged out. None of the new characters grabbed me, and the resolution was obvious from 200 pages away.I think the major flaw in this novel is its female characters. Carol Berg has admitted that writing women did not come naturally to her, and I think that is fairly obvious in Revelation. The story revolves around Seyonne's relationship with three women: his Aife Fiona, his wife Ysanne, and the demoness Vallynne. The plot rests on whether or not each of these women will trust him. And unfortunately, none of them is ever explored enough for the reader to make any sense of their decisions. Fiona in particular is given a clunky backstory at the very end of the novel that explains everything while explaining nothing. Each of the women was extraordinarily interesting in theory and completely flat in practice.Still, it was a decent novel. Berg's writing is never painful, though her pacing continues to be problematic, and when I think about the novel I can see the bones of a brilliant story. It is definitely strong enough (and leaves enough unresolved, though the novel has enough of an ending to satisfy temporarily) for me to read the final volume. I just hope that Aleksander returns and that Fiona, at the very least, is made more real than she was in this novel.
—Phoenixfalls

Book Two of The Rai~Kirah follows Seyonne, Warden of Souls on a very different adventure. He is back in Ezzaria and has served a year as the sole active Warden when a strange confrontation with a demon troubles him, and his reaction troubles his fellow Ezzarians even more. As a result Seyonne soon finds himself on is travels again, and then sought by Aleksander, but in his efforts to help his Prince he perversely ends up fighting against him on the side of the rebels. Here he meets Blaise, the rebel leader, in whom he recognises something special, a perception which only adds to Seyonnes problems. Blaise however is stricken with his own personal problem, a problem which indirectly will affect Seyonne.In his efforts to help Blasie Seyonne finds his way to an isolated Ezzarian, a meeting which leads him to his greatest trial yet. He finds himself in a situation no longer battling against the demons in one to one combat but now completely absorbed into their world. Although having initially entered voluntarily, he is at first imprisoned and tormented, and then released but not free. An uneasy truce exists as the demons tolerate Seyonne’s presence while they plot to control him and use him for their own ends. Uncertain who to believe in this strange world Seyonne finds himself facing a most difficult dilemma, should he acquiesce to the demons demands along with the hope of saving the world, or should he resist them and look to save himself and his family?Whichever way Seyonne turns it seems he ends up in trouble and torn in his allegiance, or more accurately worried that his friends will question his loyalty; yet despite that he is compelled to do what he believes to be right.Part Two is in now way repeats Seyonne’s adventures of Part One, and the level of tension is if anything greater. The complexity of the demon world is gradually open up to us, although I did find it difficult to follow or fully comprehend at times, leaving me a little confused; but that could be my failing. I do feel that too much of the book was devoted to Seyonne’s time in the world of the demons, much of which did not progress the plot significantly. The writing however is good and the imagery excellent, and the story otherwise is full of suspense and drama; I cannot wait to see what happens next in Part Three.
—Benjamin

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