Story by: Edgar Calabia Samar
Adarna House
(5/5 ★★★★★)
(Cover by Borg Sinaban)
"Sa tournament ng TALA Online
sa bayan ng Balanga,
namatay ang lahat ng manlalaro
maliban kay Janus.
Sunod-sunod pa ang naging kaso ng pagkamatay
ng mga kabataan sa computer shops sa iba't ibang
panig ng bansa. Kinontak si Janus ng nagpakilalang Joey,
isa rin umano sa mga nakaligtas sa paglalaro
ng TALA na gaya niya. Hindi inasahan ni Janus
ang mga matutuklasan niya mula rito na mag-uugnay
sa kaniya sa misteryo ng kinahuhumalingan
niyang RPG - at sa alamat ng Tiyanak mula sa Tábon!"
The Good:
The world building was meticulously done considering a realistic and an online world must be illustrated in order to be able to engage the readers into the world of Janus Silang.
For a young adult series written by a Filipino, the author has managed to give us a different perspective of our world, most especially about our mythological creatures. Creating an RPG (role-playing game) that has an interesting BAT (Bayani-Anito Tandem) concept to overcome different creatures ranging from a lone tiyanak of level 1 up to the diwata of the seven ponds in level 7 of the game. TALA (Terra Anima Legion of Anitos) seems to be really great if this could actually be played in real life as you fight off the legion of the soulless in every level.
This novel never runs out of surprises as some pieces of Philippine history were thrown in to the story. The biggest one was Janus discovering the true story of the Tábon cave in Palawan and the involvement of the tiyanak in all of these deaths.
The Bad:
If there's one thing that I can't understand in this novel, that would be the "dilang-karayom" of the manananggal that is frequently used. It might be an expression originally created by the author for this series but it could be something else altogether. As of the moment, nothing significant can be found in the novel or online regarding this phrase.
If you're using the book 101 Kagila-gilalas na Nilalang, which was also written by Edgar Samar, as a reference to check all the creatures mentioned in the novel, you might want to look for another reference since the Berberoka that appears on level 4 wasn't mentioned on that book.
The Verdict:
This novel will surely drain away the happiness within you as you reach the last pages of the book. A surge of different emotions such as shock, anger, despair and sorrow will be felt as the author left us astonished by the smooth unveiling of the painful truth.
The 1st book of the Janus Silang series will really amaze you from the start up to the very end. A Filipino reader would be really pleased and be proud of having the opportunity to read this excellent work of Edgar Samar. His way of making us vulnerable to be able to also feel the emotions of Janus was astounding. What starts out to be a simple RPG themed story slowly darkens as the author slams right into our face the horrors of the truth that we didn't perceive to be out of place from the very start.
This is a novel that is highly recommended to all, especially to those who are fans of the Harry Potter series. Don't be discouraged if you think the book lack some pages. I'm sure the author is nearly done with the next volumes of this series before the tiyanak discovers what he is doing.
"Babalik ako sa panahong di mo inaasahan para kunin sa iyo ang noon ko pa gustong malaman." - Tiyanak
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