Thursday, March 4, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Requiem Moon by C.T. Rwizi

 


Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on March 23, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Requiem Moon is the second book in C.T. Rwizi's epic fantasy series which began last year with Scarlet Odyssey (which I reviewed here). I liked Scarlet Odyssey but had some substantial reservations - it was a bit more grimdark than I'd liked, featuring things like rape and horrific murder as backstories for characters, and didn't quite address one major potential consent issue in the story.  Still, its epic fantasy storyline was really interesting, its characters were very solid even if none truly broke out into greatness, and the tantalizing mysteries of its world and greater scope villains made me curious to see how things would play out in book 2...which I happened to have an advance copy of.  

And Requiem Moon continues to be tantalizing just enough to keep me intrigued in the events of the series while at the same time featuring enough plot choices that prevent me from giving a full-throated endorsement.  The story actually isn't as grimdark as its predecessor - oh there's dark stuff in the background, but events like rape and horrific mass murder aren't as prominent, making this a lot easier type of book to consume.  And the main cast remains solid even as things get more and more dangerous for them, and some of the mysteries begin to be answered.  Still, the mysteries continue to pile up here, with more and more greater scope threats being revealed to make some of the more present threats seem kind of meaningless and these books are so long that I'm more disappointed that I'm not more satisfied after finishing a book of this length.  

More explanation after the jump:


---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
Salo and his party - bodyguard and outcast warrior Ilapara, man of strange technology Tuk, and Alinata, the Yerezi Queen's Asazi spy with an uncertain agenda - have arrived at Yonte Saire in the KiYonte Kingdom.  What they find however is not what they expected - the Yontai King is dead and the Kingdom is in disarray, with the Crocodile leader proclaiming himself Prince Regent and trying to unite the magically separated clans and the King's daughter Isa locked in the temple as the still proclaimed King.  Uncertain of what to do, or what the Queen really wants, Salo decides to investigate the strange magic of the Kingdom, but what he finds is more dangerous than he could have imagined.

Meanwhile King Isa now knows that Salo is the key to breaking the Kingdom's longtime curse...but she's all too aware as well that getting him to help will require buying time that she doesn't have.  Aided by her herald Jomo, Isa begins to take risks to keep her power just long enough to get Salo on her side, so she can take steps to save the Kingdom.  But Isa is well aware that this path leads to a potential for mass darkness and begins to take secret steps on the side to ensure she doesn't lead to a disaster worse than the massacre of her own family.  

And all the while, in the shadows, powers from abroad, wielding magics far more powerful than the Red Magic known on the continent, continue to manipulate the situation in Yonte Saire for their own ends....ends that threaten destruction or worse for all of humanity.....
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Requiem Moon follows a similar format to its predecessor, with the story being an epic fantasy told from a different point of view each chapter, featuring a Sanderson-esque style in which each part of the book announces the different POVs who will be appearing.  We also get interludes featuring a mysterious greater-scope character known as The Adversary, watching a different horror each time and vowing to get vengeance against "the heavens."  But our main points of view are similar to our last book - Salo, Ilapara, and Isa return, and are now joined by Jomo (Isa's herald who survived the massacre by being drunk in the first book) and one other character (kind of a spoiler, but not really). We also get again occasional chapters from the point of view of The Enchantress, the greater scope villain whose identity and presence is more clear here now that pretty much all of the characters are in the same location.  

And really that's the biggest change here from book 1 to book 2- all of our characters are basically together, the table is set so that you know the conflicts that are happening at least on the surface, such that it no longer feels like the author has to try so hard to knit the tapestry together from different places - and the greater focus also comes with a lot less use of dark acts like rape and the like for motivations, which is a much welcomed improvement.  The book doesn't try to repeat its mystery point of view trick like the first book, instead trusting us to understand the plot as it's going on, even clearing up some of the Enchantress' backstory in the process.  

This works because the characters are for the most part enjoyable.  Salo is still really enjoyable in his combination of earnestly trying to be good and also at the same time trying to learn more about magic, to the point he kind of drives himself mad.  He may not have a POV, but we learn more about Tuk here in this book as well, and he's fascinating (and still full of some mysteries).  Jomo adds to the story by showing how Isa looks from a side person who isn't privy to her secrets, and he himself adds some flavor by being the former drunk coward trying to make something of himself (even if the book doesn't really get to spend enough time on him to pull this quite off).  And Isa remains excellent as the intelligent young woman who is well aware that she is being manipulated into committing what is likely to be a horrible wrong and so even as she follows that path, she tries to humble herself to others who can possibly minimize the effects of her choices.  The whole cast is like that - all forced between choices that are between bad and worse, and how they react really carries the story in interesting ways - when all paths lead to blood, to some form of oppression, what really is the right path?  Is there one?  And how does one choose?  

Still it doesn't all really work.  One POV character, Ilapara, kind of feels pointless at this point, since her defining aspects of being the warrior in a culture where women aren't such fighters, a warrior searching for a purpose, kind of doesn't matter anymore.  And the book adds greater scope villains and complications on top of already existing Greater scope villains, to the point where it's sometimes hard to care about the events on the ground: who cares if Isa manages to destroy the clan system when we all are aware (even Isa!) that the process of doing that will unleash at least one, and perhaps more than that, powerful magical force from containment who could change anything?  And the story ends up only adding more of them even as we do get some clarification of who these forces are and what they want, leading to a cliffhanger that honestly is just not believable.  

The result is an epic fantasy book that has improved upon its predecessor, still dealing with interesting themes in its African-inspired fantasy world, but just hasn't improved enough to make me fall in love with the characters or story.  I'll probably get to the next one of these, but unless you're really craving epic fantasy, these books are too long to so eagerly recommend as I might have hoped.  

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