Rai-Kirah Trilogy

Carol Berg is a name that has been picking up steam lately in the fantasy genre. For those unfamiliar with her books, she writes almost exclusively in the first person perspective, and has a habit of making the main character either in extreme emotional duress or otherwise conflicted somehow. This method of writing is intended to make the character's plight hit closer to home and have a deeper impact on the reader, and it's a bit hit or miss with Carol Berg. Her first novel, "Song of the Beast" (actually published as her fourth book), suffered from a similar problem as the games based novels discussed in the last posting. Because the book is such a short read, it's hard to sympathize with the main character or his problems, even if it they are expressed in the first person. It seems like Berg did not yet have a full grasp of how to write about extreme tragedy in an effective manner yet.

That's all cleared up with her next three books, collectively referred to as the "Rai-Kirah" trilogy and composed of the titles "Transformation", "Revelation", and "Restoration". These books know how to hit the readers where it hurts, and make them thoroughly enjoy every moment of it. The story revolves around a man named Seyonne who has been a slave so long that he no longer even bothers to contemplate suicide; he's so far in the depths of despair that even the thought of the release of death gives him no joy. The horror of his slavery extends beyond simply being owned and abused by another human being. In the culture that he comes from, warriors who are taken captive are considered dead to their people, so even should he ever be freed or find some way to escape, all of his family and friends would ignore his existence. He could shout in their faces, punch them, or even burn down their homes and they would not acknowledge his presence. Expanding the book into a trilogy gave enough time to flesh out the cast and have some decent character development. During the course of the series Seyonne changes as his circumstances change around him.

Berg's writing is not perfect, though. There are some missteps that might put off readers. Some arcs of the story veer wildly off into strangely unnecessary tangents that don't seem to have any real relevance with the overall world, and there are the occasional fantasy clichés that can be seen from a mile away. Overall these complaints are minor and can be overlooked when compared to the compelling storyline and amazing first person execution.