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Mortals And Deities (2011)

by Maxwell Alexander Drake(Favorite Author)

4.49 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1605489301 (ISBN13: 9781605489308)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Books in Motion

series

Genesis of Oblivion

review 1: In this self-published author’s second book of a trilogy, the characters and events of the first book (Farmers & Merchants) move forward in unexpected and interesting ways. The main characters, which in a typical fantasy novel would join together to form a fellowship (all bow to Tolkien), instead remain separated for about the first half of the book. The lion-man, who has a complex backstory involving separation from the rest of his people and slavery, in this book gets his own story arc in which he slowly bonds with a new human benefactor, his son, and the man’s retinue. The other main characters meet early on in the novel, but are wary of one another. Even the two brothers have reasons to distrust each other, creating a nice tension and moving the story forward. ... moreI liked that these characters did not become instant best friends—a common failing in many fantasy novels.Speaking of common fantasies, a few words about the main female character. First of all, I appreciated that the author finally added a major female character in this volume. That she is the epitome of every fanboy’s dreams—she has a super-sexy body AND can fight like a Ninja—would make her scarcely more than window dressing if not for her mysteriously blank memory. How she learns about her own history becomes a major plot point that I found compelling and that kept me interested throughout the book. She is one reason I upped my review from three stars for the previous novel in the series to four stars for this installment. As in Farmers & Merchants, the world building in this novel is quite good. The locations are varied and well-described, as are the different cultures to which we are gradually introduced. What really struck me as exceptional in this second novel, and what also inspired me to give it four stars, were the descriptions of the way that magic works in this world. Don’t hate me for saying it, but I think the magic in Harry Potter is the weakest part. There is simply no explanation of how the magic in Harry Potter works, beyond the concept that you need a wand and then you memorize some pseudo-Latin words. Newer (and I would say better authors) such as Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, spend a lot of time on the mechanism of the magic in their books. A complex, coherent system of magic adds a lot to the verisimilitude of their novels, making the whole enterprise more complex, interesting, and believable. Drake has done the same in this series, crafting not one but two—and possibly more—different systems of magic. And to his credit, he does not force the reader to endure endless pages of exposition explaining these systems. Instead, he allows the reader to discover them right along with the characters, who are themselves discovering and experimenting with their powers as the story progresses.I will definitely be reading the third book in this series.
review 2: This review contains spoilers for the previous book in this series.Mortals and Deities is the second book in the Genesis of Oblivion Saga by Maxwell Alexander Drake, and is the sequel to Farmers and Mercenaries, which was reviewed here. The sequel starts off right where Farmers and Mercenaries left us.A multitude of viewpointsAlant Cor finds himself near his old home with no clue of how he got there. His eyes glow red, and he doesn’t know what being thrust into the Essence Node by the Elmorians did to him. He only knows that he is the Mah’Sukai—a being of unimaginable power—and has no idea of where to find the answers to his many questions. When Alant encounters a woman who claims that he can find those answers in an ancient lost city, and after many failed attempts at gathering information from people he thought might have the answers, he clings to the only bit of hope he has left and follows her instructions.Arderi Cor, Alant’s brother, is sent to the ancient citadel of Bin’Satsu to learn how to become a Tat’Sujen—a group of humans with enhanced abilities to manipulate the world around them. He is given the order to kill the new Mah’Sukai at any costs before the evil being has the chance to wreak havoc on the world. Assuming that the Mah’Sukai must be someone truly evil, Arderi accepts the order without question.Elith was raised among priests her entire life to be the perfect assassin—deadly, silent, and devoid of emotion. The only purpose given to her in life has been to find the Mah’Sukai and bring him to the head of the priesthood, known simply as the Revered Father. Elith is not the cold-blooded killer she was trained to be, however, and the feelings of sadness and guilt she experiences makes her question everything she knows. Complicated by her feelings of remorse and plagued by sudden bouts of unexplained memory loss, she sets upon her journey to find and capture the Mah’Sukai.Klain is living with his employer, Rohann, as a bodyguard for Rohann’s son, Charver. When Rohann becomes fanatical about a sudden journey to a long-lost city filled with unimaginable treasure, Klain begins to worry. Ever dutiful, Klain does as he is bidden, and follows Rohann and Charver on the expedition despite his fears for the sanity of his employer.In Elmoreth, Sarshia, Princess to the Elmorian people, uncovers a plot concerning the human Initiates of their school. When she finds that her brother is the mastermind of this sinister plot, she has no idea how she will proceed with this new-found knowledge.Characters that grew on meIn the first novel, I had a problem relating to the characters. They were all interesting, but I never felt emotionally invested. This time around, my feelings have changed. The feeling of shock and disbelief when a character does something unspeakable, those “I seriously can’t believe that just happened!” moments, were there for me in this installment. I cared about the characters, and they are developing well in the Genesis of Oblivion series.A rushed plotThe first novel, Farmers and Mercenaries, did not feel rushed. In fact, I liked it because it flowed so naturally, instead of having all of the characters do silly things that they normally wouldn’t do just to make the plot more interesting. Unfortunately for the reader, that’s exactly what this book did. There were a few cheap thrills that didn’t really serve any sort of purpose at all—they were just little encounters that one might expect to find in a D&D campaign. “Seven insect-like creatures attack your camp, what do you do?”—and then never spare them a thought again. These devices were inserted to make the plot a bit more interesting, but only served to cheapen it.Redundant alternating viewpointsA majority of the characters in this novel meet up together trying to explore this lost city where all their answers lie. As mentioned, this novel is told with alternating viewpoints, which normally works very well when they’re separate, and perhaps briefly while they’re together. After a while, though, it becomes redundant, especially near the end of the book. I had the exact same scene laid out for me by four different characters, using almost the exact same language. After the second character, I was like, “Yep, already heard this. Let’s move on.” And the third: “… yes, I’m aware of your surroundings. I don’t need to hear about it.” And the fourth: “You’re in a cave, alright? There’s this glowing blue chick in an egg. That’s all you need to know.” It gets pretty tiring, especially because the way things are described is too similar, and nothing new or interesting is added with the new viewpoints.A fantastic conclusionThe way that this novel ends blew me away. It confirmed the suspicions that I had early on in the novel, yet the reveal isn’t blatantly obvious—and there are quite a few things that shocked me. I became emotionally invested in the characters and cared about their actions. A certain pivotal scene for a character made me gasp and quickly re-read to make sure what I saw was true, thinking, “What the hell just happened?” But it happened, and the character acted accordingly in a feat of seamless storytelling. The ending is set up perfectly to flow right into the third installment.A great installment in the seriesMortals and Deities further explores the world that was revealed to us in Farmers and Mercenaries. We see more of the inner workings of the Elmorians, a fantastic alien-like race of people who are like gods in their ability to manipulate the Essence when compared to mere humans. More cultures are explored, new characters added, and it’s a spectacular read overall.Why should you read this book?This is a magnificent addition to the Genesis of Oblivion series, and one that begs for additional sequels. The richly developed world leaves me wanting more, just as the first novel did. I can’t wait to return to Talic’Nauth! I hope that Drake will explain the events that took place in the conclusion of Mortals and Deities and dive right into the new challenges that the characters face in the third novel. Overall, this was an incredible, captivating read. less

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