The Awakened City
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In the remarkable sequel to The Burning Land, a man of peace is forced to confront his unwanted destiny in a fantasy realm torn apart by magic, religious intolerance, and holy war For years they were oppressed, outlawed, and hunted. But the Brethren have finally prevailed, and now the kingdom of Arsace is theirs once more. Unbending in their single-minded devotion to the slumbering god Ârata, the Brethren will not allow their religious authority to be questioned. Therefore, all of the remaining heretical renegade mages known as Shapers must be eliminated, their magic rendered impotent, and Refuge, their hidden desert sanctuary, destroyed. Of all the Shapers who survived an earlier attack on Refuge, the one known as Râvar possesses the greatest power, and he has declared himself the Next Messenger who will usher in a new, illuminated age. But the false prophet’s decision to take Axane the Dreamer as his captive could have unforeseen, world-shattering consequences, for it has drawn the seer’s devoted husband, Gyalo Amdo Samchen, away from his chosen path of peace. To rescue his endangered beloved, the former priest will have to confront his greatest fear, for in the terrible flames of holy war the true Next Messenger will be revealed. The Awakened City is the powerful sequel to Victoria Strauss’s acclaimed fantasy masterwork The Burning Land. A story of faith, fate, love, and magic that unfolds in a richly imagined world plagued by violence, intolerance, and religious persecution, this is a stunning and intelligent work of literary artistry from a uniquely talented fantasist.
Series
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2 primary books#2 in Way of Ârata
Way of Ârata is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2004 with contributions by Victoria Strauss.
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3.5 stars
Gyalo and Axane have tried to fade into normal life, despite his status as a powerful, apostate Shaper, and hers as one of only two survivors of distant Refuge. But the other survivor, Râvar, is claiming to be the long-awaited Second Messenger of the god Ârata, and gradually, he draws Axane, Gyalo, and the entire country into his vengeful design.
The prequel to this book, The Burning Land, was a well-imagined exploration of religious faith, hampered by some structural problems, and weakened by the author's unwillingness to explore the issue as deeply as she might have. The Awakened City follows a similar path, though happily with better structure.
The Burning Land suffered from poor sequencing, with long, slow flashbacks and info-dumps getting in the way of the story. Similar problems afflict The Awakened City - poor sequencing, and unnecessary repetition, but after the first third, the book finds its pace. It starts, as did the prequel, with a religious/mythological text, but with the context now familiar, this one is far more interesting.
Strauss again declines to dig as deeply into her concept as she might. She steers clear of answers to the world's major religious question - does god exist or not? Strauss does offer some hints, only to undercut them later. It's a reasonable literary decision to provide no easy answers, but the argument is weakened by Strauss' choice of at least one of the narrative points of view, which should have answered at least one of the mysteries, and thus hinted strongly at the major questions.
I wish that Strauss had taken a position, but since she doesn't the story also has to work well as an adventure, and here she's more successful. Gyalo and Râvar both undergo quite a bit of soul searching, and it's well-handled. While these key characters are frustrating from the outside, internally they're complex and credible. While Strauss could have taken each of them further, the path of each protagonist is fairly satisfying.
What's left out is information about Axane's psyche. We see her mainly from Gyalo's perspective, and I think that does her a disservice. She's the logical third point of a character triangle, and a strong character in her own right. Where in the first book, she provided a key point of view, here she's mainly a maiden-in-distress prop. Not only could she have provided another narrative view, (and I'd rather have had her than Sundit - one of the religious rulers), she'd have offered a key perspective on the book's central religious theme. Plus, I could have sworn she played a greater theological role - in fact, I still think she does, though Strauss nowhere specifically implies this.
There are a few odds and ends that should have been tidied up - some careless errors of consistency, some loose ends, but largely this is a good book, and better than its predecessor. Strauss missed some chances to make the duology great, but it's still much worth reading.
