The legend says that the great hero Sorahb will return when his country has need of him. If ever Farsala needed a hero, it is now. The Hrum Empire has destroyed its army and taken possession of most of its major cities. They still have most of a year to meet their deadline, when they must either subdue all resistance or abandon their plan to conquer Farsala, accepting it as an ally instead. The nation's slender chances of holding out that long depend on one walled city withstanding a siege, a band of lawless "swamp rats" evading capture, and the tiny remnant of her army being ready to make a last stand before the end. Though oral history in the future will say that Sorahb indeed returned, the hero Farsala needs is really not one person, but three young people whose interests and approaches to fighting the Hrum couldn't be more different. One of them is Soraya, the daughter of the army's late High Commander, who was the shrewdest representative of Farsala's ruling "deghan" class. Soraya just wants to rescue her mother and little brother, who have been captured and deported as slaves. Though proud and haughty, and sometimes not a very sympathetic character, she learns a lot and grows greatly while accepting immense risks and hardships for her family's sake. Then there is Jiaan, Soraya's bastard half-brother, who takes command of the surviving army in spite of his half-blood pedigree. He too has picked up unusual leadership skills from his broad-minded father. The question is whether he will have vision enough to reorganize his country's defense around the strengths and values of the peasant class.The final third of the newly-arisen Sorahb is a lowly peddler named Kavi, whose resentment of the deghans stems from an act of brutality that destroyed his career as a smith. As a spy to the Hrum, albeit against his will, Kavi's betrayal of his country has been so effective that it played a role in destroying the deghan way of life. No one could seem less likely to be part-savior of Farsala at this stage, but after seeing the results of his betrayal Kavi has a change of heart. Now he uses the trust he enjoys on both sides of the conflict to play a double game, cuing the Farsalan resistance into opportunities to frustrate the Hrum governor's plans. By spreading rumors, organizing supplies for the besieged city of Mazad, and planning even more daring escapades in the name of Sorahb, Kavi becomes a sharp thorn in the enemy's side.Working independently, these three leaders will need a lot of courage, charisma, and luck to keep the Hrum off-balance for the months to come. The real test of whether they can win, however, will come when they finally meet in one place. Will they be able to overcome their bitter differences, and unite to realize the legend of Sorahb? This question smolders throughout the second book in the Farsala Trilogy, providing tension and cohesion to a complex tale. Originally titled Wheel, this book is the sequel to Fall of a Kingdom (a.k.a. Flame). As to how it all works out, that will be revealed in the third book, Forging the Sword. Author Hilari Bell, a sometime librarian in the Denver area, says on her website that she specializes in "ethically ambiguous" fantasy. This claim is certainly borne out in this book, in which three patriots—none of whom has a spotless character—resist an empire that, in some ways, would be a better place to live in than the country they defend. Each of these three young heroes must consider the other side's point of view, and each other's reasons for the choices they make. Everywhere one sees good and evil mixed in subtle and thought-provoking proportions. And they always seem to find that wisdom consists in dealing honestly, reconsidering accepted way of doing things, and knowing what risks to take and not to take. Among Bell's other titles are the "Goblin Wood" trilogy, the "Shield, Sword, and Crown" trilogy, the "Knight and Rogue" quartet, and the "Raven" duet. These and several standalone books look like attractive picks for teens and younger who enjoy adventures with swords, magic, and the occasional unicorn.
RATING: 4.5 FRICKIN' HARRY POTTER SCARS Rise of a Hero is, if I dare say, better than the first book. Although the first book did captivate me, this one was more...promising. More suspenseful. More alluring. I'm on the edge of my bed and I've almost fell multiple times because I'm too caught up in the story, and constantly looking for a comfortable spot without having my arms ache. I love the three main characters Soraya, Jiaan and Kavi. I love them so much, they're officially (and unofficially) my new best friends. And so is the author. Buuut... There is one teeny, tiny problem that I've encountered, but thankfully, have encountered rarely. It is the fact that the author forgets to mention a few things from the previous book. It's nothing major, I assure you. It's just one particular incident that can be neglected, but honestly, it's been bugging me. In the first book, Hama, who is the daughter of Kavi's partner-in-crime, get locked up for stealing--or attempted stealing--and the guard gave Kavi nine days to gather up the sum of the bailing money, or else Hama would take her chances with the magistrate. However, Kavi was blackmailed by one of the nobles--deghans, if you may-- who is also the High Commander, to supply his stowaway daughter with food twice a year. Now, in the first book, Kavi doesn't address Hama's situation, and in the second, when Kavi goes to visit his "adopted" family, as he calls them (ironically, Kavi's like, twenty), Hama is up and about and Kavi, nor the author, even think about asking her, or her mother, if the magistrate had ordered her to be tortured severely or not. But like I said, it's nothing major. A aforementioned, it's nothing major. Honestly, these series are SO FRICKIN' GOOD that I feel like I'm floating around the room when I'm reading it, and get caught up in some time warps because when I finally have the sense to tear my eyes away from this AWESOME story and remember I actually have a life, it seems like FOREVER has passed by since I'd first picked up the book. *Sigh* One more book in the series to go! Honestly, I'm dreading picking it up, 'cause I don't want to finish the series. But curiosity always wins, no matter how many times your brain reiterates, "Curiosity killed the cat."
What do You think about Rise Of A Hero (2006)?
Not very creative with these book titles, are they? Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of a Hero. These could be the titles for the first and second books of soooo many trilogies...Hilari Bell's plots are GREAT. I really enjoy the intrigue, the world-building, the construction of society, community, government in alternate-historical Persia. It's all really interesting and cool.But her writing isn't that good. There are SO many times I wish some editor along the way had said, "This sentence is awkward."I feel like Bell should have teamed up with someone who was great at writing prose but sucked at plots. Together they would have become a super amazing writing team! But as it is... three stars. Harsh, I know :( It's kind of weirding me out, because the whole time I read I was thinking, "This book is great. I should love this book." But I still can't quite convince myself...
—Ricki
bell is fantastic as she continues her saga about Farsala, the Deghans, and a mythical, legendary hero who may or may not be reborn here in Farsala as it attempts to stop the Hrum from conquering their land. Politics, friendships, fierce enemies and a desert people who may hold the saving of the Farsala in their quiet, almost magical ways, unite in this second book of the Farsala Trilogy. Stay immersed and find out: is Sorahb reborn? Or is his name just being used by the many peasants who fight not only the invading army, but the leaders who rule them with little concern for them.
—Cathleen Ash
See more reviews on my blog.This book totally missed the mark for me with its villain, and I just couldn’t get past that.I know what it was trying to do, create this kind of grey morals thing and ask “but is it worth it” by making the invading army pretty awesome, except for a few things that they do. It wanted to make both the characters and the readers waffle around going “but, but, but.” Well, I never butted. I’m 100% pro-Hrum. I was in the last book and I am in this book, too. Plus, one of the villain-izing aspects of the Hrum was instituting a 5-year mandatory service draft, which everyone absolutely flipped their shit over. I mean, I’m on board with them flipping, because the idea of everyone having equal abilities and opportunities is upending their worldview, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to actually think it’s bad. And I lol-ed forever when their response to “no, we’re not going to fight in the army” was “we’re going to fight in this other army instead! That’ll solve the problem of…not wanting to fight in an army…”Having said that, I am glad I stuck with this series like everyone suggested. I think a lot of the problems I had were in trying to see good and bad sides, but about halfway through I slipped into thinking of everyone as…just people, instead of protagonists and antagonists. Sloppy, mess people with slopped, messy motivations and we’re just watching them slop along. And it that light, it was pretty fun. I do like these kind of war/rebellion stories, and this book delivers on that. It’s smart and know what it’s doing with tactics. And even though I’m rooting for everyone to loose, I still like the characters. All three of the main Farsalan’s are tenacious and proactive, and I really do enjoy them.I don’t know, it’s not like I can’t get behind the idea of rebels standing up to the juggernaut invading army. Of course that’s a classic story. And by the end (after they’d gone through a dozen other motivations like they were trying on costumes), they did settle on a justification that I could jive with. That made the rest of the book far more enjoyable. But most of this book and the last one (again, until they settled at the end) basically read like “OMG, you keep slaves? Well, at least our degans didn’t do that! I mean, they had free reign to murder us, take all of our stuff, work us into crushing oblivion, and mistreat us in every conceivable way until we’re slaves in everything but name, but at least we’re not called slaves, and that matters for some reason. Also, fuck the draft, how dare you give me fair laws and ample opportunity and awesome civil projects and education and basically everything that a person of my time period could want and then expect me to do something in return. The utter gall!”Not everyone’s going to read it that way, obviously, but that’s what was playing on repeat for me.The highlight of this book, though, was the title concept. The way the book played with the legend of Sorhab really tickled me, both in the comparisons to the ‘myth’ and watching how the characters themselves used the legend for tactical advantage. Kavi is such an awesome little sneaky devil.
—Whitley Birks
