Tuesday, July 26, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Primeval Fire 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 July 26, 2022 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.     


Primeval Fire is the third and final book in C.T. Rwizi's Dark Epic Fantasy Trilogy which began with Scarlet Odyssey and continued with Requiem Moon.  The series features a setting heavily inspired by - and seemingly taking place in an alternate version of - Africa, where various tribes and peoples exist with different magics (which often seem very code-based and Clarke-ian in how it often seems like technology) and traditions (as well as prejudices) and where peoples from outside this continent keep a tenuous eye on the happenings within.  It's also a dark series, with horrifying backstories (including at least one involving rape), and atrocities that happen in the modern day as the series' main characters attempt to do the right thing in a world where there are no right answers....and the only path may be to act according to the whims of some who are evil.  It's a series that has had a LOT of balls juggling in the air through two books, with plotters and powers on multiple levels, so I was kind of surprised to find out that this third book would be the conclusion - I expected this to be a longer series.  

And well, Primeval Fire is an enjoyable and very readable concluding volume, but it suffers quite a bit from being the third and final volume of this series, resulting in the book not really having time to deal with the ramifications of many of its parts.  With the story's two most prominent protagonist characters at least temporarily out of the picture, the story is told from the perspectives of a bunch of new and old secondary characters, as they each try to find a way to survive in a world that has changed massively - often for the worst - and to prevent it from further being devastated by dark powers.  These plotlines are all compelling, and the conclusion is very enjoyable, but there's enough potential obviously not realized here that it still feels like a disappointment to some extent.  

NOTE: Spoilers for Books 1-2 are unavoidable below.  If you intend to read the first two books, avoid the rest of this review. 



---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
The world has changed since Salo ran with the Hegemon's crown and met his fate.  In the Yerezi Plains, the Queen has come into strange and miraculous new powers, powers she is using ot expand the tribe's influence further into the continent, to make a new empire of her own.  In Yonte Saire, the Mystic formerly known as the Arc has used a piece of the crown to seize power and claim the title of Emperor, wielding powerful magics against those who oppose him.  And outside the continent, forces form the East and the West, the Enclave and the Empire, are rising with attention towards those on the continent, wielding unfathomable powers and weaponry.  And a mysterious new King is arising....one with his own surprisingly strong magical strength and who intends to use the powers of the Emperor and the Queen for his own plans....

In this new world, Salo's friends find themselves adrift and lost, seemingly without hope, until new discoveries give them purpose and direction.  Aneniko, mourning the loss of the boy he couldn't admit till too late that he loved, finds himself going AWOL from his duties as royal guard to help a Faraswa boy Salo once saved, a boy who is suffering mysterious seizures due to signals coming from the West.  Ilapara and Tuk find themselves on a forbidden journey back to Enclave territory armed with the stored remnant of Salo's soul, which they hope to use to resurrect him.  And Alinata sees a vision that forces her to make a choice between the Queen she has done unspeakable things for and doing something to make amends for the world she broke.  

And in a devastated land struck by a catastrophic magical corruption, a stranger awakens lacking any memories of who he is and how he got there.  And this stranger somehow contains knowledge and magical understanding that may be the only thing between this survival and further devastation by an Adversary just waiting to unleash demons upon the entire world...  
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Requiem Moon ended on some crazy cliffhangers - Salo dead (albeit in a way that you know he'll be back, as Isa has obviously set things in motion to allow his resurrection), Isa having used the Arc's plans to break the curse splitting the tribes apart (at what turns out to have costed her life, something that wasn't really clear from the end of Requiem Moon), and Yerezi Queen and the Arc having conspired together to carve up the continent....and godlike forces having attempted to use Salo to renew their ages old conflict in their favor and against their enemies, with both of them having a point.  And of course this doesn't even go into the Enchantress still running rogue or the Enclave and Empire being out there, more likely to re-emerge as active players now that forces of the Hegemon have seemingly returned.  

So it shouldn't surprise that the book features parts with two-three characters narrating points of view from disparate places on the continent, each trying to figure out a path forwards to navigate this new world in a way that leads to a better outcome.  And well these characters are rather compelling.  In Ilapara you have the woman warrior who now has more to protect, as well as something to avenge....and who has to go to strange new lands in the Enclave to try and bring back Salo who she lost (and alongside her, although not a POV character, is Tuk who is so depressed at Salo's passing that he becomes manic at the prospect of saving him, for better and worse).  In Aneniko, you have the boy who realized he let the one he loved (Salo) go without telling him, and who is desperate to make up for that by protecting the one Salo saved.  In Alinata you have the regretful apprentice, who knows she will forever be haunted by her choices in support of a Queen who wasn't as good as she thought, but who might just take one chance to make things right.  In Kamali you have the mage-soldier who once killed many just to save the whole and now finds himself hatefully working for the Emperor just to save lives...to his disgust.  And then you have the Stranger, who mysteriously possesses powers and understanding that are surprisingly familiar...but is in a context no one could have imagined.

These voices are all compelling, as is the general setting of this Africa-esque land in which the local forces are now incredibly powerful and armed with magic, while the resistance forces find themselves only able to fight back with weapons from outside the continent, as those outside continent forces find themselves using their technology/magic to try to stop what they see as the return of an unspeakable force.  And Rwizi uses this setting and character to lead up to a strong conclusion in which it all comes together in a way that creates a satisfying ending in its status quo.  

Unfortunately, the path to getting to that ending is often a disappointment, and not just in a few plot twists that are so obvious you'll see them coming a mile away (gee, you'll guess who the Stranger is from the beginning, and will guess that one other character isn't what others assume all the same).  The book is so laser focused upon reaching that ending that it never stops to consider ramifications of its new status quo when those parts of the setting are revealed - so for example, how the Yonte tribes were forcibly merged together by the Emperor?  Not really dealt with, it just happened, so get used to it.  The creation of a third power in the "King of the West"?  Yeah that party's identity and his supporters are a major reveal, except by the time that reveal occurs, it has no impact on the actions of the rest of the characters...and there's no actual conflict then with that clearly dark character so as to make that matter.  Nor is there any showdown with the Yerezi Queen, a major antagonist after the last book's cliffhanger, who basically does nothing in the finale (nor does the Emperor/Arc).  And well, whereas the last book made clear in its big reveal of the cosmic forces that the Cosmic Good Force (the Vigilance) and its Devil (Arante) were not necessarily really good and evil, with Arante having plenty of real grievances and reasons for what she did, in this book they're back to being good vs evil, as if that conflict and questions never happened. 

Again Primeval Fire is fine, and how it gets to its ending, and how its magic and technology intertwine with its compelling characters is often really thrilling, so I don't want to be too negative on this book.  But the series spent its first two books building a really complex world with lots of questions, themes, and plotlines, and here it just sort of seems to not bother with a bunch of them so that it could come to a conclusion.  A loss of potential, even if this is still enjoyable.   

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