Wednesday, October 30, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A House of Rage and Sorrow by Sangu Mandanna




A House of Rage and Sorrow is the second in Sangu Madanna's "Celestial Trilogy", a trilogy that began with last year's "A Spark of White Fire" (Reviewed Here).  The trilogy is a SciFi/Fantasy (there's aspects of both) adaptation of the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, with a slight YA slant - and is actually one of two adaptations of that epic (Ashok K Banker's "Upon a Burning Throne") I know of being published by western publishers over the past year.  I really liked A Spark of White Fire - the book was short, but contained a fascinating universe of worlds, stations, gods, and mortals, with a really likable heroine struggling to find peace and family despite prophecies and curses suggesting those may be a mere pipe dream.  It had some flaws, but I really enjoyed it despite those flaws and have been looking forward to the sequel pretty much all year.

And well, A House of Rage and Sorrow delivers tremendously on the promise of its predecessor, despite being even shorter in length.  Now that the stage has been set, we go fully into epic scifi/fantasy as Mandanna presumably adapts the sprawling nature of the original epic into her world, and despite packing everything into a short package, she manages to fill the world and characters with such depth as to keep me riveted throughout.  This is a story of mortals, gods, sentient space ships, great beasts, and more, and it even somehow manages to address some of my key flaws of the prior book.  Yeah, I love this one and I cannot wait for the conclusion.

Spoilers for A Spark of White Fire below are inevitable, be warned.

------------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
Esmae wanted only to be loved by her family.  By her mother - the woman who had abandoned her as a babe due to a Curse of destruction.  By her brothers, particularly her twin brother Alexi, the most noble and just young warrior in the galaxy.  And to bring them all back home to their homeland of Kali, as if the coup to remove her mother and brothers from power had never happened.

But that was before Rama, her closest childhood friend, died as a result of Alexi's betrayal.  Now all she wants is vengeance and destruction, and to make her brother pay as much as possible for his betrayal.  And so she has sent a galaxy teetering on the edge of war well over the edge and begun the conflict she once tried so hard to prevent.  And with the sentient ship Titania, forged by the gods to be undefeatable, on her side, there appears to be little that can stop her.

Yet Alexi and her mother will not sit by and let her wreak this havoc - and with the help of the God of Tricks Kirrin, they have embarked on a dangerous plan to unleash a force even greater than Titania upon the galaxy, one that can cause even more destruction than Esmae herself.  And if they are not stopped, everything and everyone Esmae still loves - such as her adopted cousin Max - will pay the price.....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Spark of White Fire was told entirely from the perspective of Esmae, our trilogy's main protagonist, and I'd hoped the series would branch out and show other perspectives in the sequel.  And I got my wish: while most of this story is told from Esmae's point of view, the book contains a number of interludes from Titania's point of view.  And it's such a welcome addition, especially as it felt like the book forgot about Titania for large stretches.  Not here, for sure, with Titania being a major character with her own personality, as her godlike - literally - perspective gives her a very different view on things, colored by foreknowledge of events past and future.

But again, our lead is Esmae, and as with the first book, Esmae is both a bit confused as to what she wants and yet incredibly passionate and devoted to following her current chosen path: which in this case is no longer reuniting with her family in peace, but wreaking vengeance for Rama and destroying everything Alexi cares about.  She wants not to simply kill Alexi, but to take everything he cares about.  And yet, as I mentioned above, Esmae is still confused as to her feelings - she still cares for her brother Bear, maintains feelings towards Max (who doesn't want the vengeance she's devoted to wreaking), and still desperately wishes for a connection with the mother who has shunned her....even as she knows deep down that her mother is her enemy.  It makes Esmae a fascinating character and just so easy to care about.

I should point out that I once argued that the first book was a more streamlined adaptation of the epic than another adaptation, but that changes heavily here, with the book more clearly laying out a sprawling epic fantasy/scifi setting and plot, with curses and prophecies affecting numerous characters and situations, new legends coming into play, etc (at one point the book references a legend briefly explained in the first book and never mentioned again until this part and it's like "wait what, when did we learn that?").  And in a book this short, it does lead to the book feeling a bit choppy, with things happening abruptly without connective tissue especially early on, and some actions of characters seeming hard to believe of real people - but being very easy to believe of people in an ancient epic with codes about honor and whatnot.

And yet that sprawling nature works, and allows for the book to feature an incredible cast of characters, many of whom gain extra depth in ways that are really appreciated here. Besides Esmae and Titania, there's Max of course, whose mysteries are revealed, there's the gods Amba and Kirrin, there's Rickard the legendary warrior and trainer, there's Sybilla - Esmae's bodyguard and good friend, and new character Radha, etc.  All of whom have their own personalities and subplots, especially Sybilla and Radha, and they work really well without ever feeling too distracting from the main action.   And it all leads up to a conclusion, with a major cliffhanger, that is so incredible and yet fitting that I sat there with my mind blown for minutes after having finished the book, only to reread it again.

People sometimes wonder - often in bad faith but still - what's the benefit of trying to read things from diverse backgrounds instead of the same old SF/F based upon classic western traditions.  This series is yet another great example of why - because the stories you get based upon other cultures, whether direct adaptations or just inspirations, are filled with fascinating characters and surprising intense plots that can blow your mind, and if you're avoiding those stories, you're totally missing out.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)