A ruler betrayed by those closest to her. A young warrior with fearsome powers. A ruthless matriarchal land on the brink of destruction.Legendary warrior Ramya has successfully ruled as Melokai for longer than most. Prosperous, peaceful, and happy, her people love her. Or so she thinks.Ramya’s time is up. Bracing herself for the gruesome sentence imposed on all Melokais who have served their … Melokais who have served their purpose, she hears instead a shocking prophecy.
Is the abrupt appearance of a mysterious, eastern cave creature the prophesied danger? Or is it something darker, more evil? And what of the wolves? Will the ferocious war with their kind oust her from power?
Suddenly Ramya must fight threats from all sides to save her mountain realm. But while her back is turned, a conspiracy within her inner circle is festering. Ramya and her female warriors must crush an epic rebellion before it can destroy her and devastate her beloved nation.
She thinks it’s the end, but it’s just the beginning…
Melokai is a grimdark epic fantasy packed with unique creatures and beings, blood-soaked action and brutal battles. It’s a sweeping tale of dark intrigue and conspiracy, forbidden love and sex, powerful magic and hardened warriors.
With intricate worldbuilding, a diverse cast of complex characters, and a richly detailed plot told from multiple narratives, this gritty adult fantasy will appeal to readers of George R. R. Martin, Mark Lawrence, Anna Stephens and Joe Abercrombie.
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Melokai: In the Heart of the Mountains by Rosalyn Kelly is an engrossing, dark and diverse fantasy that propels you into the world immediately. The cover alone promises an epic read, and author Kelly didn’t disappoint.
In the opening, Melokai Rayma is accompanied by her counselor and Head Scholar, Chaz, to entreat the Stone Prophetess Sybilya. Each Melokai ruling the matriarchal society of Peqky serves for a decade, and then a new Melokai is elected. After which, the departing ruler’s tongue is removed and they’re banished from Peqky. This isn’t a prospect that Rayma or her counselors relish, since their fates would be the same, save the banishment.
Rayma visited the stone goddess each week for her ruling, but instead of proclaiming Rayma’s rule at an end, the goddess remained silent. As a result, Rayma had ruled two years longer than any other Melokai. Howbeit, this visit would be different. The stone goddess spoke a prophecy that will inexorably alter the Peqkyians future.
Although bemused by the prophecy, Rayma continues to lead her people and make great strides to improve the lives of her denizens as well as lessen the severe treatment of the pleasure peons (PGs). Regardless of some opposition, she is loved by her people and surrounded by loyal counselors and warriors. Or is she?
The Peqkyian society is also intriguing. Most inhabitants display catlike features and also communicate with their feline companions. In the times of Xayy, a thousand years past, men had a place of ruler as the Melokaz. However, after the then stone prophetesses cursed them, that changed, and now the males (peons) are considered lesser citizens, and nothing more than a means to procreate and provide physical pleasures. Unfortunately, if males can’t demonstrate their ability to provide the latter, they are disposed of in a most horrific way. The PGs (male pleasure givers) existence is better than most other males. Notwithstanding the threat of castration and an excruciating death if they can’t satisfy their female summoners, they live and are treated modestly well.
Another interesting (and relevant) element is the Peqkian children. Women can choose a soulmatch if they feel connected to a certain male. Evenso, once they birth children, they’re taken to a communal pen. Naturally, with the use of PGs, women are pregnant often, and Peqkian law mandates that no child can know their parents and vice versa. “Mothers” have positions in each pen facility to rear and teach these children until they reach the appropriate age (fifteen). If the young boys can’t pass a ‘usefulness test,’ they are disposed of immediately.
With the dire implications of the prophecy, distrustful allies, warring wolves, and a banished, foreign Trogr (Gwrlain) arriving in the city, fealties are wavering, and the brittle filament tethering the Peqkian together could shatter at any moment.
That’s quite a bit to absorb, but it’s merely the tip of the iceberg. Author Rosalyn Kelly has created a vividly intriguing world pervaded with new species, deities, talking animals, concepts, great battles, and milieus that immerse you in this epic world whilst tickling every fantastical desire to satiate even the finickiest of readers. With numerous sub-plots, betrayals, manipulations, and intricately scrupulous treacheries, you’ll barely have time to catch your breath.
Melokai by Rosalyn Kelly effectually whisk you through multiple lands and societies (not all human), and a huge cast of interconnected characters. With the sexual content and brutalities, it’s intended for mature readers and not those unfamiliar with dark or grimdark fantasy. I don’t have an issue with such content when it’s used for characterization and along with the plot…not in place of one. Melokai is the former, and I was captivated from page one, and can’t wait to see what’s next revealed…especially with Sarrya, V, Artaz, and Gwrlain. What appears to be an end will certainly be a new beginning.
Easily 4.5 stars.
4/5
MELOKAI is a novel which I was surprised by in more than one way. I was intially attracted to the book by the cover and was even more interested once I read the synopsis. It claimed to be inspired by Game of Thrones and Kushiel’s Dart, both series which I was familiar with. They had very different feels, though, and I was curious where the story would take me.
Ramya is the queen of the Peqkyrian people, a mountainous Amazon-esque race which is ruled by women and keep their men in nightmarish misandrist conditions. Men are only useful for pleasuring women or fathering children with those who excell at neither being summarily killed upon maturity. They are racist against all other people in their land, live an isolated existence, and get by only through the power of their armies.
Rayma fancies herself a compassionate, level-headed monarch who is loved by her people. In fact, she is none of these things. Rayma is a ruler prone to whimsy, acts on her immediate impulses, and is utterly ruthless in her actions regardless of their cruelty. One notable moment happens when she castrates and removes the tongue of a messenger for asking if the Peqkyrian people would be willing to hire their armies out as mercenaries.
Genghis Khan, notably, found the idea of killing messengers abhorrent as did most of the ancient world. Sparta, while they did kill Persia’s messengers as depicted in 300, eventually got on their hands as well as knees to atone for the action that was infamous across the Ancient World. Rayma doubles down on her capriciousness by the fact she accepts more or less the same deal a week later when the queen offers it instead of a male servant.
Ramya’s term as queen is coming to an end, though, because they each serve about ten years in office before they are exiled to die in the mountains. She’s already served two more years than is customary and is expecting the call to her doom any time now. Instead, she receives a prophecy that wolves are coming to her doorstep. Melokai is an interesting novel which doesn’t shy away from sex, violence, or the fact their protagonists are pretty much all awful people. Ramya is a vicious tyrant and it’s only her word that she’s actually that much better than previous ones. Indeed, her greatest accomplishment is the fact she dialed back the mass culling of young men which is a bit like Gul Dukat being outraged the Bajorans were ungrateful he dialed back some of the atrocities being done against them. Sorry, gratuitous Deep Space Nine reference.
While Ramya is an awful person, most of the people around her aren’t much better. The surrounding nations are misogynist or an outright race of talking bipedal wolves who more or less have become the orcs of this reality. The other Peqkyrian are also far harsher and more misandrist than Ramya who considers them barely more than animals. The most sympathetic character is Ferraz, a male sex slave who believes Rayma is in love with him and planning on making him his mate. He is wrong but that is just the beginning of his end.
The world building is the best part of the novel with a huge amount of attention paid to the politics, societies, and relationships of each community. We learn not only how the Pekyrian people live but their neighbors, their trade partners, and their enemies they don’t even know anything about. It’s not just a transplanting of real life cultures either but wholly invented new ones with society impacted by their alien qualities. The Trogs and Wolves were perhaps my favorite characters in this book because they were so far removed from human evil.
Are there flaws to the book? Yes. The fact we don’t get into the perspectives of the main characters can make some of them seem like they make very arbitrary decisions. Other characters are a bit more broadly written than others. Rayma is driven by her whims, cruel, and hypocritical but her chief opponent (and what passes for the villain) is a misogynist rapist moron. That hurt the narrative a bit as everyone seemed equally awful and thus it was hard to get invested in who wins. Despite this, I still found myself eagerly turning pages as I did want to know who would triumph in the end. The answer surprised me.
I appreciate fantasy which isn’t afraid to create dark situations with no clear good guy or no good guys whatsoever. The book isn’t afraid to kill off important characters with shocking regularity, either. At the end, it was almost like a slasher film. Its characters are motivated by whimsy, prejudice, and absolutism. Despite this, I had fun reading it and think it’ll appeal to a lot of readers.