Title: Restoration Author: Carol Berg
Series: Rai-Kirah
Date Read: January 15th
On TBR for: 57 days
Format: Physical book - Mass-trade paperback
Source: Bought - New
Challenges: 2012 Outdo Yourself, Off the Shelf 2012
Restoration is the book that closes the Rai-Kirah trilogy, and reveals much of the secrets of its world, specially when it comes to Ezzarian mythology. Things do not start easy for Seyonne, who is living with Blaise's rebels, but trying to keep his demon in check. Only he sometimes loses his mind and gets this urge to kill all humans. He has been postponing crossing the portal that leads to Kir'Navarrin in part because he wants to spend as much time as he can with his son, and in part because he is afraid of what will happen when he does.
Things aren't going easy for Aleksander either. His father is dead, murdered, and the hegeds blame him, in order to get a more malleable emperor in his place. He finds himself empire-less, army-less, and mostly friendless because all his loved ones are being targeted by assassins, so he had no choice but to drive them away.
At first I was really excited with this book – Aleksander was once again one of the main characters, and even if things were going horribly wrong with him and Seyonne, I was having so much fun with their dynamics. This series strongest point is, undoubtedly, Seyonne and Aleksander's unlikely friendship. And for about half of the book that was what I got. For once, I was glad that Seyonne is one of the most high-functioning procrastinators ever, doing so much in order to not having to do what he must.
But as he accompanied Aleksander in his quest to find supporters and an army to get his empire back, he went through various changes, that at first were slight and understandable, but as they progressed something started to not feel right with Seyonne. Fortunately (I guess), this is the point where he decides he can't put off going to Kir'Navarrin any more.
At the end of Revelation, I thought that in Restoration I would have a nice banter between Seyonne and Denas, much in the fashion of the relationship of Seyonne and Aleksander in Transformation. I didn't get that, but I didn't complain because there was Aleksander, which made all so much better. But once in Kir'Navarrin there was no Aleksander, and I felt the injustice that had been done to Denas. It also didn't help that the pacing came to a complete stop in this part, with Seyonne mulling on his thoughts more and more, and being morose the way only he can be.
Even worse, his changes in personality didn't stop, in fact, they intensified. And even if he was helping his friends, I was not liking the direction the story was taking, and was starting to dread the ending it would have: I simply couldn't see it end well, or not badly. There were some twists to the plot, some thinking that occurred behind the scenes that I hadn't factored in, which meant that I got to be positively surprised on how the situation resolved itself.
I ended up liking this last book, even with the complete changes of pace and the transformation of the main character. Maybe not as much as the first one, but I think it brings a nice close to the series, the mythos of the Ezzarians explained, Seyonne with a somewhat happy ending, and Aleksander fulfilling his potential.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Other Reviews: Dragons, Heroes and Wizards | Ubiquitous Absence
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