Two months have passed for Ahilya and Iravan since they learned the truth of their world

Ahilya is now a Counsellor and is determined to share the truth with the people, but not everyone agrees with this and her relationships are becoming strained

She will need to show them proof of her claims, so will to seek the help of Iravan to show them the potential there

However, with a storm coming and time fast running out, the pair will have their work cut out for them! Can they manage to shift perception and save their people....

The Unrelenting Earth picks up right where its predecessor left off (you definitely need to read this series in order!) and has many features I appreciated in the first book: the alternating POVs of Ahilya and Iravan, compelling world-building, meaningful diversity that in no way feels tokenizing, an interesting magical / technological component (though I definitely do not fully understand the vocabulary used to describe it), and a lot of entirely believable political manoeuvring between different ashrams and the classes and interests therein. This book moves faster than the first in terms of pacing, and toward the end I couldn’t put it down. Rao has written a second book that sets up the third very well but that doesn’t suffer from ‘second book’ issues of feeling like filler or like its only purpose is setup: meaningful action and change for the characters happens and significant details of the societies’ histories and the surrounding world are revealed. I’m really enjoying this series, and look forward to the final installment.

Thank you Titan Books & NetGalley for providing an ARC.

Content warnings: violence, death, grief, blood, pregnancy loss

I love this series! The second book was fantastic. It was great being able to dive deeper into this world and be with Ahilya and Iravan a little longer. There were so many unexpected twists in this novel. Looking forward to the third novel!

The Unrelenting Earth is the next book in the Rages series. In this installment we are following our two MCs, Ahilya and Iravan, as they begin on their next big task; convince the world that being ecstatic is not the end but only the beginning. As they both attempt to navigate a new situation, along with their new dynamics, things seem to only be getting worse before they get better. Will Ahilya be able to convince the council of this new revelation? Will Iravan be able to maintain his position of power while still attempting to wrangle his newly discovered magical limits? Only time will tell.

2024 seems to be a tough year for fantasy, in my opinion. I wanted to like this book but it will have to be a DNF for me. The first book had me questioning a lot of things by the end of it but I don’t see many of them being resolved. I don’t know if it’s the writing style or the authors story telling that has me feeling this way. I feel like so many questions are being asked in this book. Questions by the characters both internally and externally with each other, questions asked within the narration, and also questions are coming from me and my own thought process. Most of the time the question is, “what is going on?” The scenes seem to drag on for longer than necessary because we, as the reader, are being told every bit of information. It makes me feel like the overarching plot isn’t relevant as we read pages and pages on how these characters are processing information. Every thought, feeling, and emotion is explained in great detail. I haven’t even started on trying to explain the magic system. There is a lot of “telling” in this book. It may just be a “not for me” book. The premise sounded great, but the execution was lacking.

CW: pregnancy, miscarriage

I’m hedging between a 4 and 4.5 for now.

After really having a great time with The Surviving Sky last year, I was very much looking forward to this sequel and I’m so glad to report that this is a great sophomore book from the author.

Kritika does a wonderful job expanding on the already very interesting world and magic system that she created in the first book - taking us through the highs and lows and all the possibilities of ecstatic trajection through Iravan’s pov; the history of the various ashrams, their relationships and interdependencies with each other, the power structures and hierarchy within the conclave and how non architects lives get out on the line again and again, all of it through Ahilya’s pov. I like the idea of us readers learning more through the eyes of our characters, though it meant that this book can feel both thrilling and slow paced alternately.

Both our main characters felt much more fleshed out this time, with each focusing on their duties and trying to protect those they care for. While their own relationship takes a backseat and Ahilya is struggling with her pregnancy, they both try their best to change the course of their world, but their lofty and idealistic ambitions get waylaid both by politics and cosmic creatures hellbent on destruction. It felt like an interesting change of pace in their interactions, because they were bickering less than book 1, but their individual purposes which don’t always align are also taking a toll on their relationship, which was all fascinating to read about.

However, it’s the final few chapters that have me completely shocked. While now it seems quite plausible, I didn’t see the ending coming and I feel like the finale will be more explosive - not due to the earthrages and cosmic creatures, but due to Iravan and Ahilya. I can’t wait…!!!

A wonderful sequel to a story that was absolutely adored by our students - I can't wait to get this into their hands.

I was excited for this sequel, if only because the last book was so unique in its setting and how it chose to focus on the relationship of the main characters in the context of the caste-esque dystopia. The sequel leans heavy into navigating the politics of the ashrams, how what might've worked in the past may in fact be detrimental to the future, and at building a new understanding of the world. The end is aching in the best kind of way, and is a good place to leave it here for now.

This will not be a book for everyone. They will hear “floating jungle cities” And think oh yeah that’s cool. But this is so much more, such a complex mind bending speculative fiction- that yes had floating jungle cities, but also takes place in various mindscapes that may throw casual readers for a loop. I repeat, this is not a beach read.

I absolutely love this world and the mixture of science fiction, environmentalism, and even faith (which I’m not religious, but I appreciate it here). Iravan and Ahilya are the messiest and realist characters and I love (and sometimes hate) them so much. The political maneuvering that occurs between the Council and the Conclave is just delightful and infuriating.

Just as good as the first one!! I loved seeing how Ahilya and Iravan's story continued and how the world grew even more from what it was in "The Surviving Sky". The new characters that were present alongside Iravan added to the story, I loved them just as much as I loved Ahilya and Iravan. The conflict within the story and seeing the different perspectives from Ahilya in her new role and Iravan as an Ecstatic made it so much more interesting.
Every chapter tugged at my heart even more, and I was on the edge of my seat finishing it. I'm so grateful that I was able to read "The Unrelenting Earth".

Arc Copy...The saga does continue and so does the protagonists struggles with their respective new discoveries from the previous novel. You can feel the tension as their old society is shaking from accepting + not accepting new ideas like the previous seen as dangerous "ecstasy" trajectory and the "monsters" in the jungles as natural norm, meanwhile the very earth and nature is raging even more so. Very much the ending very much hints another book, as there is hope but "there still work to be done".

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC. I really enjoyed reading The Unrelenting Earth. Surprisingly, for a second book, I like it even better than the first. The magic system is definitely a bit complicated; I don't completely understand it, and honestly I was using my own understanding of hindu philosophy to follow along. I feel like in this book, it was even more obvious than the first what the philosophical inspiration was, so even though I did not fully get the magic system, I still really liked it. The beginning was a bit slow, but once the story started picking up around the 20% mark, it became really fast paced, and the stakes were so high, I was frantically turning the pages to find out what happened next. My favorite part of the book is Ahilya and Iravan's relationship; I liked it even more compared to the first. There was still loads of tension, but also some cute moments, and so many emotional moments. Definitely check out the content warnings before reading this. I can't wait for the next book!

This book had severe second book syndrome. There was tons of world building and a lot of information thrown at us but it falls short of the brilliance of The surviving sky. It needn't have been so long.
The main USP of the book is the friction and passion between Iravan and Ahilya and that was still visible here but their activities could use a lot more oomph. I just wasn't invested enough but I am curious to see how the third book will turn out.
3.5 Stars

Best read of 2024
In English below

FRENCH
"Avis" à chaud ✨

Vous connaissez cette sensation ?
Celle qu'un livre a été écrit pour vous? Eh bien c'est ce que j'avais eu avec le tome 1 et Rao renouvelle l'exploit avec cette superbe suite qui va direct dans mon top de l'année et peut être même ma meilleure lecture de 2024 avec le tome 6 de Ruocchio !

C'est simple, j'en ressors vidé, épuisé, émerveillé. Je n'ai plus envie de toucher un autre livre, j'ai envie de continuer à m'imaginer dans celui ci et digérer ma lecture !
Car quelle lecture ça a été 😱💗😭

Alors oui, c'est un roman qui n'est pas aisé et qui peut être exigeant, parfois plus que le tome 1 c'est dire! Le système de magie est totalement fou et révolutionnaire mais parfois pas forcément compréhensible tout de suite. Mais au fur et à mesure de votre lecture, tout s'éclaircit ! 🥰💗

Cette série fait partie des rares univers où tout est en corrélation, chaque éléments étant liés aux autres ; de fait, les personnages, la magie, le Worldbuilding ainsi que les concepts de philosophie hindouiste sont inextricablement liés et rend le tout totalement cohérent, bluffant et brillant.

C'est pour moi un superbe Hard Science-Fantasy, et l'autrice est vraiment talentueuse pour arriver à nous faire ressentir tout ce qu'elle nous offre.
Les personnages sont très réalistes, et j'ai adoré voir combien l'autrice joue des effets de miroirs entre des situations vécues par l'un ou par l'autre d'un volume à un autre, et qui permet au personnage d'en face de mieux comprendre les émotions et réactions de l'autre.

Le Worldbuilding reste incroyable, et d'une très grande richesse, de même que la magie qui au final maintient aussi l'ordre et le système de castes en place. Mais les choses pourraient bien changer au vue des révélations de la fin du tome 1.
Aujourd'hui l'heure est au travail en commun, mais comment y parvenir avec les peines qui subsistent en chacun? Et comment y parvenir quand il semble que nos deux héros aient deux agendas bien distincts.
C'est là encore la force de l'autrice qui parvient à nous faire ressentir toutes les émotions de Ahilya et Aravan et bien que ce tome ci nous offre parfois plus la possibilité de donner raison à l'un plus qu'à l'autre, contrairement au tome 1, j'aime tellement ces personnages que je me refuse à prendre partie... Et pourtant...

Si la philosophie hindoue prend une place importante dans la construction de l'univers de Rao ; des thèmes comme le Dharma qui représente le devoir et la responsabilité que chacun a envers soi-même, sa famille et la société, ou encore la loi du Karma qui fait référence à la loi de cause à effet, selon laquelle chaque action entraîne une conséquence, qu’elle soit positive ou négative ; il est un concept qui semble majeur dans la série, celui de la métempsycose , la transmigration des âmes, aussi appelé réincarnation ! C'est le concept de l'immortalité de l'âme qui se réincarne dans un être matériel. C'est une errance douloureuse car l'âme est conduite à revivre à nouveau les difficultés du monde. Le but suprême est de quitter et oublier les préoccupations matérielles afin de briser le cycle des réincarnations et libérer l'âme des tourments. Mais si on croit à ce concept, ne peut on pas y voir JUSTEMENT, le fait que notre âme, tant qu'elle se réincarne, reste immortelle ? Et donc le désir de poursuivre le cycle des réincarnations ?
Deux idées se confrontent au sein de ce même concept. Deux idées que l'on retrouve dans le roman et donne une saveur particulière, philosophique à l'intrigue principale.😱
Ces concepts sont vraiment au cœur de la psyché de nos personnages et nous permet en tant que lecteur de prendre parfois partie, car parfois la différence entre ce qui est bien et ce qui est juste, peut être vraiment fine.

En tout cas, le concept de réincarnation et de l'immortalité de l'âme reste la trame de fond de la série. Et encore une fois, on voit combien l'autrice a savamment travaillé son récit pour que tout s'imbrique totalement !

Avez vous déjà ressenti cette émotion ? Celle qu'un livre a été écrit pour vous? C'est mon sentiment depuis le tome 1 de la série ; une série qui trône maintenant parmi mes préférées de tous les temps et je suis heureux de dire qu'elle arrive en plus en France, les droits ayant été achetés !!! 🥰💗💕🇮🇳

ENGLISH
You know that feeling? That feeling that a book has been written just for you? Well, that's what I had with volume 1, and Rao has repeated the feat with this superb sequel, which will go straight into my top pick of the year and perhaps even my best read of 2024, along with volume 6 of Ruocchio!
It's simple, I came away drained, exhausted and amazed. I don't want to touch another book, I just want to keep imagining myself in this one and digest my reading!
Because what a read it was 😱💗😭
So yes, it's a novel that's not easy and can be demanding, sometimes more so than volume 1 that's saying something! The magic system is totally crazy and revolutionary but sometimes not necessarily understandable straight away. But as you read on, everything becomes clearer! 🥰💗

This series is one of those rare universes where everything is interrelated, each element being linked to the others; in fact, the characters, the magic, the Worldbuilding as well as the concepts of Hindu philosophy are inextricably linked and make the whole thing totally coherent, bluffing and brilliant.
For me, this is a superb hard science fantasy, and the author is truly talented in making us feel everything she offers us.

The characters are very realistic, and I loved seeing how the author played with the mirror effects between the situations experienced by one or other of them from one volume to the next, allowing the character opposite to understand each other's emotions and reactions.

The world-building remains incredible, and very rich, as does the magic that ultimately keeps order and the caste system in place. But things could well change in view of the revelations at the end of Volume 1.

Now it's time to work together, but how can we achieve this with the pain that remains in each of us? And how can we do that when our two heroes seem to have two very different agendas?
This is another of the author's strengths, as she manages to make us feel all the emotions of Ahilya and Aravan, and although this volume sometimes gives us the chance to agree with one of them more than the other, unlike volume 1, I love these characters so much that I refuse to take sides... And yet...

Hindu philosophy plays an important part in the construction of Rao's universe, with themes such as Dharma, which represents the duty and responsibility that each person has towards themselves, their family and society, and the law of Karma, which refers to the law of cause and effect, according to which every action has a consequence, whether positive or negative.
There is one concept that seems to play a major role in the series, that of metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, also known as reincarnation! This is the concept of the immortality of the soul reincarnated in a material being.
It is a painful wandering because the soul is led to relive once again the difficulties of the world. The supreme goal is to leave and forget material concerns in order to break the cycle of reincarnations and free the soul from torments. But if we believe in this concept, can't we JUST see in it the fact that our soul, as long as it is reincarnated, remains immortal? And therefore the desire to continue the cycle of reincarnations?
There are two conflicting ideas within this same concept.

In any case, the concept of reincarnation and the immortality of the soul remains the backbone of the series. And once again, you can see how skilfully the author has crafted her story so that everything fits together perfectly!

Have you ever felt that emotion? That a book has been written for you? That's how I've felt since Volume 1 of the series, which is now one of my all-time favourites, and I'm delighted to say that it's also coming to France, as the rights have been bought! !! 🥰💗💕🇮🇳

Last year, I really enjoyed Rao's debut The Surviving Sky. It was a fascinating mix of the fantasy and sci-fi genres in a post-apocalyptic world full of climatic themes and injected with a Hindu/South Asian worldview that is unfortunately all-to rare in SFF publishing. With the shattering revelations at the end of the first book I couldn't wait for The Unrelenting Earth to deal with all of the wonderful fallout.

Unfortunately The Unrelenting Earth falls far short of the promise laid out in The Suviving Sky, giving way to both the worst impulses of SFF trilogies and the elements that didn't quite work for me in The Surviving Sky.

My biggest critique of The Unrelenting Earth is that the whole book felt unnecessary. It felt like a single act of another novel stretched out to 500+ pages, and very little is actually accomplished in this book (in terms of character, themes, or plot). I wonder if this series would have been better left as a duology, and that there were social/economic pressures pushing Rao to turn this into a trilogy. The plot and characters spin in circles for large chunks, and I found myself turning the pages waiting for ANYTHING to develop. This is a classic case of "middle book syndrome" where the author cannot move too much toward the endgame (to leave material for the final book), and so stuff that could have been a few chapters at the beginning of the next book gets over-extended into a full novel.

I could have felt a bit kinder to the unrelenting wheel-spinning here if the wheel-spinning were a bit more interesting. The problem is that so much of the page count is dedicated to Iravan's use of Rao's magic system - a philosophical, physcological, techno-magical mashup that was introduced in The Surviving Sky. The magic system was actually one of my favorite aspects of The Surviving Sky, and the way that Rao depicted it there was bursting of visual color, bombastic prose, and stimulating ideas. However, in The Unrelenting Earth she introduces so many ideas that the magic system descends into a confusing mess. Iravan spends entire chapters using the magic, and it is just word salad on the page. After a while (about the 50% mark) I found myself skimming through entire chunks just because it was all meaningless to me - and I still found that I wasn't really missing anything by doing so. Rao definitely had the challenge of conveying an etherial and dense techno-magic system that is based on a cosmology and worldview not usually presented in Western fantasy books. She more than succeeded in The Surviving Sky, but seems to have gotten buried under the weight in this sequel.

Now, having said all of that there were still several elements of the book that kept me moving through the book. While I had a lot of issues with large sections of The Unrelenting Earth, I still quickly made by way through its chonk mostly for the relationship between Rao's two leading characters - Ahilya and Iravan. Their relationship is one of the most complex, toxic, loving, and nuanced in modern-day fiction. Both of them are loving, yet condescending. Supportive yet selfish. Mature yet immature. So in love yet often on different sides of the ideological spectrum. Rao continues to walk this balance of putting Ahilya and Iravan in conflict, and yet never making it grating or annoying. It never feels like she puts obstacles between them just to keep them apart or to keep the story going. When Ahilya and Iravan are together, their chemistry crackles. When they collide into one another, their passion and anger burns bright. When Rao steps back from the techno-babble and focuses on this core relationship, I am locked in and ready to read. This is where Rao's strength relies as the author.

I just wish that Ahilya and Iravan had more interesting things to do.

In total, The Unrelenting Earth is not a total miss because of its core relationship. They kept me reading, and they will keep moving forward into the next book when it is published in 2025. However, I hope that Rao can reclaim the plot and simplify the magic system so that the best elements of the book (the fun worldbuilding, critique of human actions, core romantic relationship) shine through and the plot momentum of The Surviving Sky comes back.

CW: Include miscarriage, brief internalization of blame

Holy. Goddamn. Fuck. Kritika H. Rao, I am in absolute raging awe. The Surviving Sky was incredible. The Unrelenting Earth was breathtaking. Though it had been a couple months since I'd reread TSS, i was able to pick back up and slip right back in with a fair amount of ease. For those who do not recall the magic system, or have difficulty grasping it, there's a glossary in the back!

The spiraling of relationships, love, hurt, trust and pain-- I truly have nothing to offer other than it was a masterpiece I eagerly devoured each paragraph of. To any of my advanced readers, I'll be thrilled to recommend this one!
And to scream about it endlessly into a created Moment with my friends, of course.

Unfortunately, book 2 in the "The Rages" series was a complete miss for me, which is a shock since I really enjoyed book 1. My biggest drawbacks were:

-the magic system made no sense
-the book was way too long and felt like a chore to read
-the author should have found a way to end the series with this book (I think it easily could have been done!) but instead, is dragging it on to be at least one more book

My biggest issue is that I cannot understand the magic system. I didn't understand it in book one, and then it became infinitely more complex. I even read the glossary of magic words and still could not parse the difference between the moment, the resonance, the deepness, etc. This is a huge detriment to the reader, because every scene from Iravan's point of view is all about trajection and the different levels he is using. The first 20% of the book was just scene after scene of ectastic "trajection", so not understanding it made the book incredibly difficult to follow and get into.

Another complaint is that nothing interesting happens for about 50% of the book. When I finally became interested, it was always Ahilya's point of view I enjoyed because she didn't traject, so no need to understand the magic system. There were just way too many scenes with the vaguely described magic system throughout (especially at the end) and it made picking up this book a chore. I actively did not want to read, and that very rarely happens to me-I read every single day! I had to force my way through this book and I wish it had a conclusive ending because I will not be suffering through book 3.

The book was also just way too long; many of the trajection/ecstatic scenes could have been cut, and at this point I am tired of hearing Ahilya and Iravan complain about their relationship. Clearly they should not be together.

You may like this book if you enjoyed book 1. The world building is still super cool, with the Ashrams in the sky and the earth being uninhabitable due to the rages. You may also enjoy this series if you like a mix of sci-fantasy, and can understand this complex magic system. 3/5 stars for me because it's a cool concept that I just can't wrap my head around.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Titan Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review


I also want to put one trigger warning in a spoiler below that could be a huge drawback for some readers:

SPOILER

TW: miscarriage

The Unrelenting Earth had a strong first half, and in some ways flowed better than The Surviving Sky - Rao's writing style had certainly developed and improved. However, whilst I initially thought I was on track to like this even more than the first in the series, I found the last quarter difficult to wade through - and this detracted from the experience as a whole. As the descriptions became more technical, and there was so much action and plot progression, I began to lose the thread slightly - and this was to the detriment of my enthusiasm about reading as well. I didn't feel as invested in the characters and what was happening to them.
That said, this is still such a fascinating world - I'm assuming/hoping that this is an instance of second-book-in-a-trilogy syndrome, where a conclusion can't feel satisfactory because there is still more to happen, and the plot has to be condensed somewhat to get everything ready for what's to take place in the sequel. I'll certainly be picking up the third instalment, if/when it exists.

I think Rao has grown as an author, which is always great to see. Really excited to read the next instalment in this series.