RIHASI — quick comments

Okay, so, first, many thanks to everyone who has taken time to write a review so fast! Currently, nearly a third of all the ratings for RIHASI are accompanied by reviews, which is an immense proportion. That’s not going to last – as more people read the book, the proportion is going to drop toward the normal tenth or so – but I’m very certain these reviews are helpful in multiple ways, plus of course I am just so happy that readers are so positive about RIHASI. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a book stick at 5.0 stars this long. I’m aware the rating can’t stay perfect for too much longer, but I now fully expect RIIHASI to settle at something like 4.9 stars, maybe 4.8 stars, and stay right in that range somewhere. I was confident readers would enjoy it, but seeing the proof of that is still thoroughly satisfying, believe me.

Second, I’m really curious about how many readers catch on about Kior’s backstory before the reveal. There are clues, so if you missed those on the first read, I bet you’ll spot them the second time you read the book. I also tried to provide plausible wrong alternatives to confuse the issue, because while I thought it would work for readers who caught it, I didn’t want it to be too easy! Two of the early readers got it; the rest didn’t; that seems to indicate that this element worked pretty well as a mystery. Plus I do think the story works just fine whether a reader catches on or otherwise because this isn’t actually a murder mystery. You’ll just react to certain elements differently depending on whether you’ve guessed or not, probably.

Third, I wonder if anybody has noticed something else? No one has commented about this as far as I know, but MARAG and RIHASI are actually a related pair of stories, even though one is a prequel and the other a sequel. Or, I could say, Sinowa and Rihasi are similar people in really essential ways, even though they’re obviously so dissimilar in more obvious ways:

A) They both belong to the Sun, and

B) They are both implacable.

The former attribute is emphasized in MARAG because Marag herself sees this and notes it in so many words. That’s because Marag is, essentially, a priestess, so she is obviously going to perceive the way the Sun stands above Sinowa. But it’s there in RIHASI even though Kior doesn’t pick it up the same way. There are a fair number of important moments when the Sun really does throw down his light upon Rihasi. The Sun is definitely standing above her in the same way, even though it’s more subtle.

Meanwhile, implacability is emphasized in RIHASI, where Kior notes it in so many words at important moments. But it’s there in MARAG too; it’s just that Marag doesn’t think of it exactly that way. The quality she thinks about is surety, but implacability is in there too. You may not remember, but Goru inNakeyo uses that exact term when he says, near the end, “I do not imagine many men are as implacable as you are, Sinowa inGara.” He’s right about that.

This does make me wonder what Sinowa and Rihasi would think of each other if they met. That’s not a hint. I have no specific plans to have them meet, though who knows, it could happen. I just wonder if they would perceive each other as kindred spirits in this essential way. That would be kind of strange for them both, probably.

I have no specific plans to write another book from the Rihasi/Kior points of view, though obviously if I suddenly thought of a keen story that would work from their points of view, I’d be happy to write that story. This is true for most of the secondary characters, of course. I will say: Rihasi is going to be important, obviously, so we’re dead sure to hear references to her, at the very least. More than that, she’s likely to remain closely associated with Aras and/or Sekaran, so sure, we might meet her again, probably during Tathimi’s stories.

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