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Envy of the Gods: If the Reward Were Right

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Only two things can surpass Raphela of Milson sensuous beauty, her desire for power and her thirst for knowledge. While the latter she fulfills by breaking the tradition of her land that women are uneducated and learns to read and write, the first can be satisfied by only one man, Duke Atan Ishtba, a man of unstoppable strength and power. In their first intimate meeting, both know their lives are about to change forever due to the other.

As the first in a trilogy to follow, Envy of the Gods, lays the foundation by introducing the players and conflicts in this grand tale. The pacing of the novel is extremely fast, sweeping the reader along and making it difficult to put the book down. Occasionally though, the pacing is so fast that it leaves the reader wishing for a touch more descriptive details in such areas as the religion of the Nameless Ones, and the history of the world of Raalek. However, this is easily overlooked due to the novel's main strength, characterization.

Without a doubt the complex characters are the heart of Envy of the Gods. Raphela and Atan are almost anti-heroes on the surface with some of their ruthless actions to gain power. Yet underneath their ruthlessness, is a compassion to try and create a better world, making them sympathetic and likeable characters despite any atrocities they may commit to achieve their goals. With characters presented with such strength and the believable world of Raalek just beginning to unfold, Envy of the Gods leaves great hope to the potential that following novels will blossom into a wonderful trilogy.

Envy of the Gods (Bridgeway Books, Texas, 2006) is the first in Andrea Savitch's trilogy of fiction. Set in the medieval world of Raalek, the tale gives an account of power-hungry Duke Atan Ishtba whose recklessness could not be checked by any means until the arrival of beautiful and willful Raphela. In 316 pages, Andrea Savitch circumscribes the peak period of the lives of her two main characters with sensuality and power as her motifs.

Savitch's work has the desirable quality needed for every work of fiction, a smooth and fluent narration. Her use of language is creative and there are no verbal barriers in the reader's progress with the book. Letting the reader know in the first page that the story of the Duke is told on the first night each spring readily induces the ambience of folklore. The story of the young Duke's craving for power and Raphela's passion for conquering him hooks the reader from the first few chapters.

Then the unwieldiness of the novel's plot starts hovering over the mind. Little description of the Castle Cordan, the characters, and the social world, the emptiness of events and their causal unrelatedness all render the tale incapable of a deeper impact. Accounts of punishment and subsequent compassion are highly incompatible with the outlines of characters. The author's unending concern with Mahtso's chain bothers. Before late, the interaction of characters assumes a mechanical air that seems to linger until the meeting of Raphela and Nabus at the end, a scene touching in its unaffectedness.

The transformation of Atan into a man from a beast and Raphela's victory in standing by her love of knowledge give something of a plot to Savitch's tale. The title stays unthought of. It is the Absence of Gods that needs to be dealt with. The story of Svaitch's `legends of power' is not over and in the coming ventures a convincing conclusion can be hoped for.