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The Elemenstor Cycle, Book 9: Rise of the Rhjajyept
Dust Jacket Notes
The Lightning of Change crackles once again across the darkening skies of Battal. Deep within the earth, an ancient power awakens...BEHOLD the ancient Rhaja Lord, long imprisoned in his earthen tomb, returns to lead the Rogue Chronosorcellors of the Jyept Adept. Little do they suspect that they are merely pawns in a much grander saga, a cycle of cycles, a wheel within a wheel within a cycle, being played out again by the Rhaja Lord! The powers of Elemenstation are matched against the mind-bending might of the Rogue Chronosorcellors, only to lead to a stunning about-face conclusion...
Notes
This book saw the return of many popular characters of The Cycle such as Felthar and Dogus Brankorking and is really more of a side story than anything else, appearing chronologically between the events of Book 5 and Book 6.
Although pivotal to the larger plot of the series, paving the way for the rest of the books and resolving some previously unresolved threads, this is generally considered the most poorly-written of them all. Some early fan blogs speculate that Mr. Brahe unwisely allowed his compatriot Mr. Gabriel (not to be confused with the enigmatic Gabe) to write the last two thirds of the book. Such speculation is corroborated by the broad disparity in quality between the first third of the book, which is relatively well written, and the last two thirds, which seem to have been hammered out by a very young adult. Although the plot seems to have been fully developed, the actual prose has caused many fans of the cycle to beat themselves senseless as they slog through it. A number of attempts at a rewrite, none complete, have been made by the blogging community.
The above snippet was obviously written by Mud Kings.
The precise location of the dramatic shift in writing style is excerpted below, though the style of writing does improve somewhat later on. Advocates of the Single Author Theory suggest that the dramatic shift in tone is an ironic use of Brahe's "primitive voice" by which he parodies Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, from which the segment clearly draws. The implication, of course, is that Wagner surrendered his critical capacity for intellectual disengagement and distancing from the work, engaging in a "primitive" capitulation to the regressive tendencies of the genre.
It is perhaps due to embarrassment on the part of the author, or a sense of frustration at the inability of his audience to follow his dramatic experimentation in fantasy style, that in some versions of Book 10 it is revealed that the entirety of Book 9 was in fact a dream. These versions begin with the line "And then I woke up" and never refer to anything that occurred in the previous book.
It is also thought that an effort was made to account for and integrate the diverging styles of this volume into the subsequent volume by carrying the polyvocality of its authorship to an extreme degree (See Book 10).
In spite of the atrocious writing, this volume contains a number of key references to the political economy of spica and the Spica Wars and foreshadows The Resundering at numerous points. In addition, the dangling plotline of the Halfmen Revolution, often regarded by the fandom as a clumsy excuse to stick some kickass monsters into Book 8, is finally resolved early in the book, with fan favorite character Noddy Chillbreezey (see Dolphinthropes) playing an important part. As such, it is indispensable to the plot development of the series.
The book ends on a downbeat note - bickering amongst the various Elemenstors sunders the fellowship that has lasted for so many long yearicles. Each departs in anger, unknowing that the deadly Hierarch Wars are soon to begin and their powers will once more elemanifest...
Excerpts
(this one reveals the odd change in narrative ability exactly at the point in which it happens)
Dogus looked over the cascade of approaching Khith with trepidation and much nose-waggling. While their sharpened smithings were held aloft their rancid cries of "Holo-ka, holo-ka," rang piercing in the ancient Elemenstor's ears. "Another pint should suffice for me to strategize a forthcoming plan," he boasted, heading back into the Pig's Annoyance, all the while befuddling over whether or not the Chronosorcellors had discovered some form of Unlight Elemenstoring to control these vile creatures. He had to hurry, the creatures grew closer in the friscillating moonlight. He drank the beer good. Monsters coming. He think fast. Dogus blow up Khith and lots of fire. People cheer. Meanwhile Felthar coming. He on horse. Horse eat hay. "I hurry," he says. Loud music.
--Taken from Book 9, Rise of the Rhjajyept, Page 211
See Also: S'yrf'yl the Immortal. Book 6. Hurt and Burn. Dolphinthropes. Wombamancy. Book 10. Cinco de Mayo. Canonical ELotH Sexuality. The Elemenstor Cycle. Finnish translation. Felthar. Ssskssenekland. Book 13. Availability. Bowsar. Excerpts from the cycle that are recounted here. Canon or non-canon. Chthonic Swinemen. Omg. Halfmen Revolution. Adhnaten Lake. Pizzlewali. Quotable Quotes. Rhaja Lord. unknowable. Ssskssenek. Calg Hokhok. Ginormous Lack of Wanting To. Need to Replace Arrows. Nedned Nednedned. Book 8. Book 5. The Song of the Sorcelator. Other Bag of the Endless Void. RealLifeTimeLine. Bitterscorpion. Elemenstor Cycle Timeline. Ablongox the Particularly Unusually Long Lived. Walnut Grove. Weighty Tome of Elemenstor. Trans-Am. Bannister the Stationary. Bertrick's Easy 30-Minute Brownies.
Discussion
| Anybody see the recent article on "Ain't it cool news" explaining the tonal shift? Apparently an entire first draft was penned in flowing Esperanto, and then Brahe was going through and submitting re-translated chapters. Apparently he started falling really behind and when they needed to get the book to press the publishers submitted the rest of the manuscript to a beta Esperanto translater that babelfish was demoing. After the book was published, Brahe was quoted as saying that it was "cool this way", so no attempt has been made to re-translate the second half. Thought that was a pretty interesting article, but you guys probably all saw the same one. -tim |
| I don't speak Esperanto, but one of my friends who does read my EFC version of Book 9. In his words: "Either Brahe spoke pidgin Esperanto, or this was an early draft, because it's all wrong." This could be the case, as evidenced by the primitive scrawling in the marginalia... but I think that it was, in fact, Brahe's own dialect that he invented soley for the purpose of Book 9 and we all can't understand how awesome it is yet. Maybe one day a cunning linguist will crack the portion of the "Brahe Code" that he's hidden in Book 9 and reveal to us the true genius of his work. ~ asura |
| I still don't believe that the writing in book 9 was worse than muffin. - Unguided |
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