I have seen many people praising Moses Siregar’s upcoming novel The Black God’s War (to be released about August 1, I think), and some time ago, Mr. Siregar released a novella that excerpted fifteen chapters from the complete novel, making up one small story arc out of the longer narrative. Seeing as the complete novel was pending, I checked out the novella to get an idea of whether or not I’d actually like to read the novel so many are raving about (including NY Times bestselling fantasy authors such as David Farland).

In short, I definitely see a lot of potential here, but I have to remain somewhat skeptical not having read the whole book. What I encountered in the novella is good, but not earth-shatteringly so. I definitely wouldn’t go so far as to say (as one reviewer has said) that this “is an excellent example of the quality the indie author scene is capable of.” If that statement is based on the novella, then I have to disagree. If that reviewer has seen the whole manuscript, then I would have to say that potential has been filled.

OK, now that I’ve got my skeptical comments out of the way, let me say that what is here is technically very good. The writing is tight, the characters well-drawn and deep, and the world feels alive and many-layered. This is clearly a labour of love for Mr. Siregar, who has crafted an enticing scenario:

A messianic-type son (called the Haissem) is born to the king of Rezzia. The boy is destined to lead the kingdom to greatness, and as a sign of his deity, he will be able to resurrect one person from death during his life. What follows in the novella is the story of Caio (the Haissem) getting to the point where he performs that resurrection. And there the narrative ends. As it was a very contentious choice of man to resurrect, there are likely to be massive repercussions for Caio’s actions, but we’ll have to await the full novel to find out what they are. What we learn here is that Caio’s father has been fighting a decade-long war with a neighboring kingdom, and there is conflict between father and son because Caio is a man of peace, a healer (it is hinted that all former incarnations of the Haissem were warrior-kings). So, in context of the greater novel, we have the set-up for a really epic struggle of character and empire. In the novella, it all sort of flits by without coming to fruition, though, as nothing is truly fully developed here.

There is, as I’ve said, a lot of potential shown in this novella for the greater novel to come. The Haissem, who appears to be the primary focus of the whole narrative, is a truly conflicted character, and Mr. Siregar has built in so many possible sources of strife that this truly feels like something that might have happened in our own world (in other words, this is no one- or two-dimensional and predictable plot/conflict, but rife with undercurrents and tensions that just spread out like so many strands of a spider’s web). Caio’s sister, Lucia, is also a very interesting character, for she is a warrior princess, ten years her brother’s senior, and has had to live in the shadow of the Haissem all her life.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that she has been tormented by the Black God (of the title) for all of Caio’s life. She is fiercely loyal to her brother, but I do sense a bubbling resentment there as well that may come into play as the novel at large progresses.

In short, there is much to like here, definitely, though so far I have not seen anything truly spectacular or new to make this the “must read” so many are calling it. As an introduction to the complete novel, this novella leaves all sorts of questions hanging (as it should) and they are enough to entice me towards picking up the novel in the near future.

The Black God’s War novella is available as a free download if you want to check it out, though I believe the complete novel is due in early August, so you may as well wait. As this is a review of the novella, I will not give my usual starred review, as I feel it is unjust in this case to judge what is clearly an excerpt and not a finished work which, while well-written, is not enough to leave one satisfied.