Restoration (Rai Kirah) [Paperback]

Carol Berg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rai Kirah | Publication Date: August 6, 2002

Seyonne, the slave-turned-savior of the acclaimed Revelation and Transformation, returns to fight evil and tame the demons within him-in the third novel in this "thoroughly original" (Starburst) epic saga.

"A much-needed boost of new blood in the fantasy pool." (Dreamwatch)

Editorial Reviews

Review

* 'A humdinger of a plot . vivid characters, a tangible atmosphere of doom' - SFX * 'A truly remarkable first novel' DREAMWATCH * 'This well written and thoroughly original fantasy grabs the reader by the throat on page one and doesn't let go! . Wonderful' - STARBURST * 'Her novel is made memorable by its characters . a superbly entertaining book! - INTERZONE --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Author

A sorcerer who fears he will destroy the world. A prince who fears he has destroyed his people. What price do fate and legend demand for the power to save everything they value? Amid the chaos of a disintegrating empire, two men confront prophecy and destiny in the last battle of the demon war...

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Roc (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458907
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458902
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Who would ever imagine that someone who majored in math so she wouldn't have to write papers would produce thirteen epic fantasy novels? I tell people that writing is "the hobby that ate my life." I grew up in Texas in a family of teachers, musicians, and railroad men, taught math for a while, but worked as a software engineer for much longer. I have degrees in mathematics from Rice University and computer science from the University of Colorado. I live, camp, hike, and bike with my husband in the Colorado Rockies. My books have won the Prism Award, the Geffen Award, and multiple Colorado Book Awards. I was truly honored and humbled in 2009, when my duology, Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone, was awarded the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. My name now sits on a list with the very authors whose works sit on my bookshelves: Tolkien, McKillip, Le Guin, Anderson, Kushner, et al. Join me on Facebook (Carol Berg) or visit me on the web at [http://www.carolberg.com] or [textcrumbs.blogspot.com].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Final installment of Rai-Kirah trilogy, January 12, 2004

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Restoration (Rai Kirah) (Paperback)

Carol Berg's 'Rai-Kirah' trilogy "Transformation," "Revelation," and "Restoration" is so believable (well, except for the wizards and demons), it almost falls into the category of historical fiction. It is narrated by Seyonne who was once a mighty wizard and Warden against demonkind, then a slave to Prince Aleksander, then the savior of demonkind and a wizard-in-exile, and finally in "Restoration," a mighty winged warrior who fights for the deposed heir-apparent to a fantastical Arabian Nights Empire.

"Restoration" develops logically from the interaction of its two main characters, Aleksander and Seyonne, especially after Aleksander is accused of killing his father, the King and is deposed from his rightful throne. With Seyonne's assistance, Aleksander escapes from the usurper and then suffers humiliation, defeat, and near-death in his quest to regain what rightfully belongs to him. Author Berg believes in building character through suffering, and Aleksander loses everything, including his princely arrogance and most of his warriors.

Meanwhile Seyonne has his own internal demon to battle (joined to him in "Revelation"--you really, really need to read this trilogy in the correct order). He must also make his way to a fortress of profound darkness, where a wizard who frightens even the demons has been imprisoned, almost since the beginning of history. Seyonne meets the prisoner in a dream, and the old man seems harmless. When he finally enters the fortress, all Nyel, the old prisoner wants to do is help Seyonne find his own true form.

Seyonne realizes that he can help his friend Aleksander far more as a powerful winged warrior, rather than in his current human form. Thus begins his slow seduction to the beauty and utility of absolute power.

This third book in Berg's trilogy has prodigious battles, hair's-breadth escapes, and journeys to locales from her previous two novels, including the land of the demons. It is a vast, fabulous landscape and a pleasure to revisit, but the plot has a tendency to wander, bifurcate, and even lose this reader completely. This book definitely seems to bring the trilogy to an end, but I'm still in doubt about the fate of demonkind.

Seyonne spends almost the whole of "Revelation" in helping them escape from their frozen hell, but in "Restoration" all we get are a few guest appearances. So this trilogy comes to an untidy end with the dissipation of the demons, but it is still a great and glorious read.

Highly recommended.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's an ending (possible spoilers), December 30, 2002

By 

Natalia Mayer "the turtle" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Restoration (Rai Kirah) (Paperback)

Carol Berg is competing with a five-star book -- her own "Transformation". By that standard, the second and third books are lacking something.

The beginning is great -- assassins, a battle, and Seyonne helping Aleksander as the prince becomes a fugitive. When Seyonne decides to take another path, things become less interesting.

As with "Revelation", much of the middle section takes place in a supernatural realm. The author created a complex, fascinating human world in her first book, and wisely kept almost all of the action there. The magical realms in the other two books become rather boring. And very few authors can make a reader care about godlike superbeings.

The ending is problematic. A worthy, important adversary was introduced early on in the book. However, he only reappears at third hand, and is disposed of offstage. Very disappointing. And, in order to wrap up the series, dot every i and cross every t, the author gives us a politically correct, fairytale resolution of the world's problems. Aleksander's role, and that of the Derzhi, are completely changed. Aleksander may have agreed, though even that seems a stretch -- he was just a bit too "transformed" from the Aleksander we know. But the Derzhi? The conquerors who make ancient Egypt look progressive, and the Romans look like softies? I can't see them swallowing the new society for one second (no matter whether they supported Aleksander in the war).

The very last bit has yet one more sacrifice by Seyonne. It seems unnecessary -- there must have been another way. As for what he gains -- well, he seems happy, but I have always found Seyonne's women, and his relationships with them, hard to believe. Unlike so much of what Carol Berg writes, they just sit there on the page and don't come alive.

Of course there are good things -- the beginning, the climactic duel which uses the strengths of the first book. And Carol Berg seems incapable of writing a *bad* book. Even through the less interesting parts, I wanted to know what happened and was anticipating the next meeting of our heroes. She created vivid new characters and fleshed out some old ones. Her writing style is far above most of the fantasy today. I suspect she has spoiled me, and many other readers, for a lot of what's out there. I look forward to her next book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly Triumphant Conclusion of Seyonne's Story, August 19, 2003

By 

Silmarwen (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Restoration (Rai Kirah) (Paperback)

By the time Seyonne survived 16 years of slavery under the Derzhi, reclaimed his life among the Ezzarians, had his people try to murder him and joined with a demon, he knew that there were gods at work on his world - and they must have had a doozy of a sense of humor. Seyonne is exiled from his homeland and wants nothing more than to watch his son grow up from afar, try to heal and to find out what to do with the demon that is inside of him. But when a group of assassins show up, sent to kill him by a Derzhi heged, Seyonne has no choice but to go to Aleksander, his former master, and warn him. It turns out that Aleksander already knows, but his father, the emperor, just died and the Council of the Twenty is fighting Aleksander's ascension to the throne. Tricked into starting a battle that he knows he cannot win, Aleksander is betrayed and only Seyonne can save him.

While Seyonne waits for Aleksander to heal, he comes in contact with a mysterious sage in a long-deserted city and Seyonne knows that he can only delay his destiny, not change it. For Seyonne has long seen a terrible warrior in the dreaded palace in the land of the demons - a warrior with his face. Seyonne waits as long as he can to try and help Aleksander, but the demon part of him is tearing his soul apart and the nightmares keep him from any kind of rest. Seyonne forces himself to journey across the borders of the world to the palace where something dark waits to destroy him and the world as he knows it...

This is an absolutely stunning trilogy by Carol Berg. It began with Transformation (my personal favorite), continued with Revelation and ends here with Restoration. Seyonne and Aleksander are some of the most memorable heroes in all of my fantasy reading and all of Carol Berg's characters are well drawn and absolutely fascinating. The world that Seyonne inhabits is never static - the rules of the game change in every book so the reader never really knows what to expect. This book was absolutely heart wrenching and really showed the costs that are associated with changing the world for the better. Seyonne lost everything and then regained everything and it was so hard to watch him change and to lose that core of honor and belief in the value of lives for a brief time. For anyone who loves fantasy, this trilogy should be on your must read list - and they are well worth keeping to read again and again! I am eagerly awaiting more fabulous tales from Carol Berg, a tremendously talented author.