Adventure of A Competitive Interdimensional Journey - Review of BULAN by Tere Liye

Title: BULAN

Author: Tere Liye

Publishing House: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Published Year: 2015

Number of Pages: 400

Rating: 4.7/5

“Kamu tidak membutuhkan kekuatan besar, atau senjata-senjata terbaik untuk menemukan bunga matahari pertama mekar. Kamu cukup memiliki keberanian, kehormatan, ketulusan, dan yang paling penting, mendengarkan alam liar tersebut. Dengarkanlah mereka. Hewan-hewan berlari di atas tanah. Burung-burung terbang. Suara dedaunan. Kelepak dahan-dahan. Dengarkanlah mereka, maka mereka akan menuntunmu dengan baik.” (“You don’t need big power, or stunning weapons to find the first-bloom sunflower. You just need bravery, honor, sincerity, and most importantly, listening to nature. Listen to them well. Animals running over the ground, the flock of birds flying, the rustle of leaves, the flap of branches. Listen to them, and they will guide you decently.”) - Hana-tara-hata, BULAN – Tere Liye (page 147).

Joining a competition when you visit a new place sounds such fun. But, what if the competition has a deadly risk as great as the chance to win? In this story which was set in Matahari Clan, Bulan narrated The Three’s intricate journey of joining a most-deadly-annual competition called Festival Bunga Matahari (Sunflower Fest). Even for Seli, who was the descendant of the Matahari Clan and inherited some of its power, this adventure was not as delightful as her ever dreaming.

Six months after knowing the fact about the parallel dimension, The Three (Raib, Seli, and Ali) got involved back into a nerve-wracking adventure in another dimension called Matahari Clan. Their first intention to hold a diplomatic alliance among parallel clans was ruined when they were forced to be the last team to join Sunflower Fest. Sunflower Fest was aimed to discover a peculiar-first-bloom sunflower in any place in Matahari Clan, and it involved the best youngsters that are grouped into nine contingents (teams).

Participating in the competition, The Three and Ily (son of Ilo) got the experience of riding snow tigers wandering around the clan, meeting with local people who wore bright colourful outfits, and facing a lot of barriers and challenges. They met Hana-tara-hata, the owner of a house in the middle of a shrub field, who had a very important role here. They also faced natural obstacles such as gorilla attacks, meat-eater-bird traps, and threats from local people, and fraudulent competitors.

Bulan describes more about Tere Liye’s imagination of his parallel dimension. This second novel in the series still employs Tere Liye’s typical detailed description in each scene. It becomes his consistent characteristic and greatness that highlight the strengths of his works in fantasy novels. However, in this novel, the description focuses on Raib and her friends’ struggle to get the first opportunity to pick the first bloom sunflower.

Guiding The Three’s adventure in Matahari Clan, Tere Liye has also been successful in showing readers about one more clan of the parallel dimension. He depicted the clan as having square buildings with incredibly natural landscapes and various distinct flora and fauna. The capital, Ilios City, even laid on a mountain slope as Raib’s POV straightforwardly described.

Seluruh kota Ilios terlihat, termasuk stadion tadi pagi. Kota ini persis di lereng gunung. Rakyat Klan Matahari menyukai bangunan berbentuk kotak. Kotak-kotak tinggi, besar, kecil, terlihat di sekitar kami. Kapsul-kapsul terbang hilir-mudik. Aku baru menyadari, Kota Ilios dikelilingi benteng, mungkin untuk mencegah hewan liar dari hutan. Dunia ini amat terjaga. Manusia tidak mengganggu hewan liar, membiarkan hutan lebat tumbuh alami. (The whole of Ilios City can be seen, including the stadium we looked this morning. This city is right on the mountainside. The people here like square buildings. Tall boxes, large, small, are all around us. The capsules are flying back and forth. I just realise, Ilios City is surrounded by wall of fortress, probably to keep wild animals out of the forest. This world is very protected. People can’t disturb animals, allowing dense forests to grow naturally.) (page 113)

Tere Liye’s direct and simple narrative style was also applied to illustrate The Three’s step-by-step efforts to face the challenges during the journey. Arranged in a chronological plot, Tere Liye always bring readers to catch the feeling in each unexpected moment. The engaging flow of the plot is one of significant factors to get the readers to sense their mood and energies.

Sejak istirahat sarapan, kami sudah empat jam berlari tanpa henti, membelah padang rumput yang tidak habis-habisnya. Ali mulai mengeluh bosan ... Dia semakin sering tertinggal di belakang. Seli juga terlihat mulai lelah. Pinggang dan punggung kami terasa kebas. Kami belum pernah menunggang harimau salju dengan kecepatan tinggi tanpa henti selama ini. (Since the breakfast, we have been continuously running for four hours, accrossing the endless grassland. Ali starts to complain in boredom ... He is more left behind. Seli also seems tired. Our waists and backs feel numb. We haven’t been riding the rapidly snow tiger without any break as this long yet.) (page 230)

Besides presenting the wonderful Matahari Clan and the struggle and pain through the competition, Bulan teaches readers many humanism lessons related to natural matters. Tere Liye pointed out how different people treat nature and how nature treats us. Through the behavior of decent characters, Bulan has also brought advice to readers about friendship, loyalty, wisdom over power, sincerity, and honor. Readers can notice these messages in The Three’s interaction with Mena-tara-nata, II who helped them in their journey.

“Ayahku benar. Kalian berbeda dengan peserta kompetisi lain. Kalian tidak mementingkan diri sendiri, juga tidak memiliki ambisi kekuasaan dan kemenangan. Kalian tulus, bersedia mengorbankan diri untuk membantu orang lain ... Semuda ini, masih remaja, kalian telah memiliki budi yang luhur.” (“My father is right. You are different from other contestant. You all ain’t selfish people, nor are you having the ambition of power and victory. You are sincere, willing to sacrifice to help others ... At this young age, as teenagers, you guys have good heart.”) (page 249-250)

Bulan enriches the story with lessons, detailed information, and a cozy tone of writing as its strengths. It even provides an illustrated map of the Matahari Clan at the end of the novel pages to help readers picture the places mentioned. For me, it really helps to imagine the pace of The Three adventuring all over the clan. However, as the first novel, Bulan also still has some parts that give little uncomfortable effects while reading.

Similar to Bumi’s problem, in Bulan, the characters also still stick to the formal style of dialogue. But it is not the main problem since the readers will be accustomed to that style as they continue to read. I personally feel uncomfortable with the name of the characters of Matahari Clan (Fala-tara-tana IV, Nena-tara-neta V, Mena-tara-nata II, and others). It is rather tricky to remember the rhyme, and they mostly have a Rome number at the end even though this is particularly explained in Chapter 16.

Akhirnya aku tahu apa arti angka-angka romawi pada nama orang Klan Matahari. Itu menunjukkan urutan lahir. (Finally I understand the meaning of the Rome number in Matahari’s people. It showed the order of their birth.) (page 215)

Besides, Tere Liye’s decision to keep the narrative with Raib’s POV does not really fit the need in clarifying the story. Matahari Clan was portrayed as the ancestral land of Seli. In some moments, Seli seemed to be the translator for others when they had to communicate with Matahari Clan’s people. It rather feels unstraightforward to see through Raib’s perspective, instead of Seli’s. Otherwise, Tere Liye might have used the third POV with explaining all characters’ views for expanding readers' sense of Matahari Clan.

Despite some weaknesses, Bulan still gives you more knowledge because it provides new terms and biological facts about living things you probably never knew. This would be another fun way to get amazing insight outside the classroom. That information is mostly correlated with scientifical phenomena that would present in the next chapters. As in the first scene in Raib’s Biology class, Tere Liye inserted learning matters through the teacher’s explanation.

“Electrophorus electricus atau disebut juga electric eel adalah belut listrik yang bisa menghasilkan sengatan listrik hingga 600 volt.” (“Electrophorus electricus or as we used to know the electric eel is the species that can produce electric shock until 600 volt.”) (page 7)

Keep reading this novel to the end will never bore you since you will find continuous dashing moments and adventurous scenes. This is naturally recommended for you who cannot move on from the previous story of Raib in Bumi. Furthermore, Bulan even presents the continuation of the first novel’s ending. So, no need to worry if you haven’t followed or understood the Bumi’s end part because it has its section through Raib’s reverie or in some separate scenes of the flashback moments.

Lastly, you also do not need to be bemused in getting this novel. It has been provided both in Indonesian and English versions in either bookstores or online shops. Additionally, if you have no time enough to go shopping, don’t worry! You can simply find it on iPusnas app to get it in the digital form.

How is your feeling after reading this article?

• interested; will look and read the novel
• interested; will add to the reading list
• not sure; consider it later
• not interested