Lost into A Bizarre -Archipelagic World - Review of KOMET by Tere Liye

Title: KOMET

Author: Tere Liye

Publishing House: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Published Year: 2018

Number of Pages: 384

Rating: 4.8/5

“Petualangan ini, pulau dengan tumbuhan aneh itu, aku tidak tahu lagi apakah itu berharga untuk diperjuangkan. Karena di atas segalanya, persahabatanku dengan Seli dan Ali jauh lebih penting. Memastikan mereka baik-baik saja jauh lebih penting dibanding memastikan dunia parallel selamat dari bencana si tanpa Mahkota.” (“This adventure, the island with the strange plant, I have no idea whether it's still worth to look for. Because above all, my friendship with Seli and Ali is far more important. Making sure they're good is far more important than making sure the parallel universe will survive the disaster from the Uncrowned Man.”) - Raib – KOMET, Tere Liye (page 352)

Let’s imagine you had been ordered to do something crucial in a place where you didn’t know yet at all. Wouldn’t it be complicated and confusing? That was what Raib, Seli, and Ali (The Three) experienced as they tried to block The Uncrowned Man, their big enemy, to chase the power to conquer all clans. This novel, entitled KOMET, is telling the next adventure of The Three exploring Komet Clan, a strange archipelagic world where The Uncrowned Man was seeking to get unbeatable power. Along their journey, this story is a kind of the most unplanned adventure. Everything happened in this story as abruptly as they couldn’t imagine before.

The Three heard the rumours about The Uncrowned Man looking for the most powerful heirloom to take control of the entire universes. With Ali’s discovery and help from the Bintang Clan people, the Three found out that the portal toward the heirloom place was in Matahari Clan. When they arrived in Matahari Clan, the people were holding the closing event of Sunflower Fest. The Uncrowned Man got the chance to pick the first-bloomed sunflower and got his way to the portal toward Komet Clan. Preceded by Ali, The Three also jumped into the portal and followed The Uncrowned Man. However, when they arrived, they didn’t meet him, instead, they met the local people named Uncle Kay and Aunt May.

As The Three lost the trace of their enemy, their way to prevent him from finding the heirloom was not that simple. They never knew that it headed them to a more hazardous trip. Komet Clan consisted of seven islands and had so many bizarre and gigantic creatures. The Three found out the conflict came up during the exploration of all islands. They head many barriers and challenges such as a gigantic starfish, a flock of birds of prey, tens of pirate’s invasion, and the dispute of a twin snatching a throne of Friday Island authority. Not less importantly, in this adventure, they also met a “loyal” young sailor man, named Max who then accompanied them on their adventure and became a ship driver for their voyage. Even though they managed all barriers, there was still a challenge they had to face when arriving at Saturday Island. What did they approach to the mission of preventing The Uncrowned Man?

As far as I get into the sixth novel, KOMET, the most visible greatness of the novel is the plot. KOMET’s plot is rather faster and denser. Tere Liye did not hesitate to contribute a lot of battle scenes and tense moments. However, he managed to make all occurrences in the story become understandable so that readers would not feel any rush in following the plot. Besides, the ending also employed plot-twist types of anagnorisis and cliff-hanger that will make readers furious and curious at the same time about the resolution part.

The plot is not the only impressive element highlighted in KOMET. The characterisation in Bumi series novels would make readers get the characters stuck in their minds through either the character development or character unveiling. In KOMET, Tere Liye unveiled Seli by showing much heart-touching kindness of her in some moments. This became one more drawing-attention element in the novel.

Malam itu, saat Raib dan Ali tertidur kelelahan, Seli “melupakan” soal bergantian berjaga setiap dua jam … Seli memutuskan akan terus berjaga sepanjang malam … Biarlah dia yang terus terjaga. Bahkan jika ada monster laut, Seli akan memastikan Raib dan Ali tetap tidur nyenyak. Biar dia yang menghadapinya. Malam itu, dengan perut lapar, Seli menatap lautan lengang dengan senang hati. Sedikit pun tidak ada perasaan terbebani, dia tulus melakukannya. Demi sahabat sejati. (That night, when Raib and Ali fell asleep exhaustedly, Seli “ignored” about taking turns on guard every two hours ... She decided to keep on guard all night ... She would stay awake. Even if there were sea monsters, Seli would make sure Raib and Ali slept well. She would deal with it. That night, starving, Seli looked at the ocean with pleasure. There was not the slightest feeling of being burdened, she sincerely does it. For her best friends.) (page 120)

As the plot-twisting scene brings an unexpected ending, some readers might have been satisfied to reveal the real fact. However, the ending also presented a cliffhanging situation for the story's resolution. It left too many curiosities for readers. For people who like to know detailed information, this novel probably annoys them by presenting a mysterious impression. Moreover, it is regarding the anomaly of the clan and the people of Komet Clan (Uncle Kay and Aunt Nay); their existence remained a confusing explanation.

Petualangan ini sama sekali belum berakhir. Dan harus menunggu lagi …. (This adventure is by not over yet at all. And it needs to wait again ….)

Bersambung ke KOMET MINOR (To be continued with KOMET MINOR)

(page 372, the end of the pages)

Above all, this fantasy novel keeps me reading until the end of the story. The cliff-hanging ending made me more curious and unable to stop reading. This novel even creates an addiction feeling in an after-reading sense. You may get the novel in a bookstore or you can access it online on iPusnas. Last, but not least, as same as the previous book, KOMET is more than worth it for those who have been falling in love with The Three’s adorable friendship.

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