A VVivacious Release Day Review: The Craving by Z. Allora

Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Phoenix is a chosen, destined to devote his life to the betterment of dimensional art at the monastery and spend his life as a slave to the Principles of Purity. But for Phoenix this is a great honour and from the very day he learns of his status as a chosen, he decides to spend his life abiding by the Principles of Purity. Phoenix is prepared for his future but what he isn’t prepared for is Zadra Solav who steals his breath and pushes him into his first craving years ahead of schedule.

Riva Quinton lives on the radioactive wasteland which comprises his planet of Feri. His aunt sacrifices her life to get Riva on a Star Chaser headed to the monastery, so that at least he may survive his family. On the Star Chaser he meets Eytan Rain Otak Sita a.k.a. Eros from the planet of Song Di-Wang II. Their budding friendship rushes headfirst into an emotional attachment but as initiates of the monastery they are forbidden from love and lust.

Two couples, very much in love, separated by the law… Will they ever find their happy ending?

This story is fascinating and very interesting. There is loads of world-building. This entire story takes place in a different star system and a technologically more advanced one at that. There are a lot of planets harbouring a lot of different species with lots of different customs and outlooks on life. It was amazing to witness so many different outlooks of people on life. These planets are united by their political affiliations wherein they all accept the rule of His Greatness Ruler Xantha Aspara Paramendor, resident of Viking-Haven and ruler of the Xantha Galaxy.

The world-building in this book while fascinating, also has a lot of pitfalls but that is mainly because of the fact that the author has created an entirely new galaxy and even imparting basic knowledge of this galaxy and its various planets and people would have probably not made for a very interesting read. So while I acknowledge that yes some things are a little vague, I accept that it is better that way. But one thing I would have loved more information about and I felt that this information should have necessarily been parted with was how other people viewed dimensional art especially sixth dimension dimensional art, how exactly did that art influence people’s actions and how come no one had used the same art responsible for peace to incite war, rebellion and hatred and what would the outcome of such a thing be. In this book we only ever get to see dimensional art from the perspective of its creators which basically doesn’t give us any information on how dimensional art brought about peace and changed the course of the Galaxy.

This story is also not evenly split between the two couples. I personally feel that we get to see a lot more of Riva and Eros because they are established as a couple earlier on in the story while Phoenix and Zadra are more like the secondary couple especially because they aren’t a couple for more than half of the book.

I liked all the main characters but especially Eros and Riva because we get to know them quite better and also because since Riva has spent his life so far on Feri, he is inquisitive about a lot of things about the Xantha Galaxy that we aren’t privy to and thus his perspective is the most informative.

Yoshio Xirau is a non-chosen female admitted to the monastery and that is a rare thing to say the least because she is the only one. Now Yoshio is shown to be shy and afraid to connect with others. But this description only fits Yoshio in one chapter, because following that you she her back-talking and making her opinions known which begs the question that given her personality in latter chapters, why did she allow herself to be bullied by the chosen females. I found her role to be very intrusive with regards to Phoenix and Zadra’s relationship. My problem with her characterisation was that she seemed to be a whole lot unrealistic especially when she manages to smuggle two people under surveillance on-board the Ruler’s very own Star Chaser.

Personally the plot is interesting because of the fascinating world-building but when it comes down to the essence of the plot, it was supposed to answer the question if these two couples whose existence was contrary to the law would be allowed to be together. But not much of the plot is devoted to this aspect of the story. Also the fact that these couples are breaking the law doesn’t seem to burden their conscience at all, not even Phoenix’s who has lived by the Principles of Purity since the age of 14. There is an easy resolution to the plot. Also it seems like the author may plan a sequel because this book is very open ended as a wave of change is headed towards the Xantha Galaxy but while I would have loved a sequel focusing on dimensional art and its implications, I don’t know if I would like to read a sequel more focused on the political side of things.

There are a few loose ends – one being what was it that Zadra had asked for when His Greatness had asked him to name his price and the second one being Monk Paksus, what was up with that guy? Also I would have liked to know if anyone else shared Phoenix’s views of the empty canvas.

Overall the story is well written, with good characters and amazing world-building but it fails a bit when it comes to the plot but still makes for an enjoyable read.

Cover Art by Paul Richmond. It tries to capture the exotic world of the Xantha Galaxy and features Phoenix and Zadra.

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