Thursday, December 2, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Chariot at Dusk by Swati Teerdhala

 





The Chariot at Dusk is the conclusion to the Swati Teerdhala's young adult fantasy trilogy which began with "The Tiger at Midnight (which I reviewed here) and continued with "The Archer at Dawn" (Reviewed Here).  The series is inspired by (per the marketing of the first book) ancient Indian history and (Hindu) myth, and features as its heart two protagonists: a young woman who survived the massacre of her family to become the resistance fighter and assassin the "Viper" and a young man, a soldier, with a kind heart and a secret past who struggles with his role and his need to do what's right.  The setting also featured two related countries with a breaking but shared magical bond, jealous princes and foreign rulers, and enough background to keep it interesting and a little different from other stories.  Still, book 2 ended on a cliffhanger that was a bit hard to believe, so I didn't rush to pick up this trilogy ender when it first came out.  

And....The Chariot at Dusk is fine as a trilogy ender, although very much an anticlimax in how much it rushes through closing off all the relevant plot points.  The 2nd book ended with the main duo separated and on the outs for various reasons, with enemies new and old popping up on all sides forcing the pair into strange new alliances, but this book rushes to reunite the pair and never really deals with how strange and uncomfortable these new allies could be.  Thankfully the main duo's relationship, although not particularly unique, is still done decently well and the ending is solid if pretty standard, so the book isn't bad by any means.  It just feels like this book needed to be about 33% longer to really hit home the way it should have.  

Spoilers for Books 1 and 2 are below:

-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Kunal made his choice.  Discovering that the head of the Jansan rebels was really the lost princess Reha, Kunal and Reha ran from the palace to reforge the Janma Bond using their bloodlines to renew the land once more...before the bond falls apart and the land dies.  But in doing so, Kunal left Esha behind to join forces with the young woman who was only recently trying to frame and kill her. 

And back at the Jansan palace, Esha barely has time to feel betrayed - for everything has seemingly changed.  The foreign Yavar have revealed themselves to be behind attacks on both Jansa and Dharka, in the hope of breaking the Janma Bond for their own mysterious ends and have kidnapper her best friend and onetime love, Prince Harun.  The Tyrant King Vaardaan escaped in the aftermath of the attack and is hiring mercenaries to take back the throne.  And so Esha is forced to work with not only her old allies, but the Jansan rebels who recently tried to kill her, if she is to somehow take control of the situation and save the country.  And still, despite having no time for personal thoughts, she can't help but thinking of Kunal and how much his betrayal stings.  

But when Kunal and Reha's attempt to restore the Janma bond fails, Kunal and Esha are forced to work together once more, as only together can they rediscover their land's historical magic in time to save it.  But with their own bond fractured, will they possibly be able to work to restore the land's god given magic before their foes get a hold on it for their own ends?  
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The Archer at Dawn ended with some major developments:  Kunal left Esha with Reha to restore the Janma Bond, leaving her feeling utterly betrayed...and without him knowing, the palace was attacked by the foreign Yavar, who kidnapped Esha's other love interest (and closest companion) Prince Harun.  Kunal's plotline portended a difficult journey mainly because just a few days prior, the girl who turned out to be Reha was the leader of the Jansan Rebels - a group that had killed his "uncle" and framed Esha for it and had been repeatedly causing him and Esha trouble in their attempt to free Jansa without the help of its neighboring ally Dharka, who they blamed for their troubles.  Meanwhile, back in the palace, Esha and her Dharkan rebels (the Silver Blades) now had to deal with both the escaped traitor king but a new foreign enemy, and had to ally with those same Jansan Rebels (particularly Laksh, Kunal's former best friend who betrayed them both).  

It's a setup that should involve a ton of tension for both parties - Kunal has to deal with a young woman in Reha whose life was thrown into even more chaos by the reveal of who she is, and who has taken action against her true identity in her ignorance before; Esha has to work with Jansan rebels whose nationalist goals made them fight against her previously and should make them less agreeable in the future - to say nothing of the personality conflicts between them.  But The Chariot at Dusk doesn't really deal with these tensions, even though these tensions were so well setup and a part of the prior two books.  Instead it essentially skips through these parties learning to work together or elides how difficult it was, and moves quickly to a point where the two groups reunite, and makes its central personality conflict that of Esha and Kunal struggling to reconcile after Kunal's "betrayal."  

And well, the good news is that Esha and Kunal's chemistry remains excellent, and their personality conflicts - Esha's need for vengeance and her inability to let go of her role as the Viper; Kunal's hope that Esha can be herself instead of that role and his own inability to let go of his need to do good, as well his struggle to not let his people get harmed by his actions again - are well done.  The pair's relationship is strained for obvious reasons, and the struggle to overcome that strain and to come back together is done very well.  The two of them do finish their character development both towards each other and towards the world in this book, as they embark on a quest for magical artifacts and towards building a new world that is better for everyone, not just the individual peoples of Jansa and Dharka.  It's not a very unique plot, but it works well, thanks to these two being solid central characters.

Still, everything feels rushed, and there was so much more setup here so it remains a shame that this book is so short and that more wasn't done with it.  The reunion of Laksh and Kunal is done okay but isn't really dealt with as much as it should for what was a more real betrayal; Kunal's other best friend Alok, who had interesting backstory issues in the prior book, might as well not exist in this novel since he adds absolutely nothing; Prince Harun's capture winds up not mattering at all, and the Traitor King's plans are basically resolved with little issue despite the main characters worrying tremendously about it.  Even subplots introduced in this book, like a governing character possibly not being loyal and a possible spy go absolutely nowhere.  

Again, this is a solid trilogy ender, and if you read the first two books and wanted to see how Esha and Kunal would get their happy ending, you'll be satisfied here.  But the first two books of this trilogy presented a world with a lot of depth, and that depth is seemingly cast aside here in the attempt at resolving everything tidily in a short package, which is a disappointment.  

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