SUPERNOVA

I just finished Dewi Lestari's novel series, Supernova, and it is not exaggerating to say that the book was mind blowing. I knew how fall behind I was, since the first book was released more than 10 years ago, but the perks is, I didn't have to wait years after years for the series to finally completed like everyone else.

So my thoughts about them?

The first book, Kesatria, Putri, dan Bintang Jatuh was quite challenging. I need to read the first 10 pages twice or trice, or more, to really understand what the book was trying to tell. Really, I was a literature student, not physics. For me to read a fiction which has so many, if not much, physics terminologies in one page was too much. My brain refused to digest, and make some senses out of them.

As I was keep going, I began to see the plot was actually so simple (or was it?), and maybe if you are a conservative person, you would think that this book has low moral values. I mean, it was about a beautiful woman who had already married to your typical handsome, rich, loving, and loyal fictional character of a man. Yet, this woman felt dissatisfied with her husband, and had an affair, even sex with another your typical handsome, rich, loving, and loyal fictional character of a man. How ungrateful a woman could be? There also this high class prostitute with the intelligence of Einstein, and rate herself with a large number of Dollar instead of Rupiah. Don't forget about the gay couple who played their roles as if they are the narrators in the story. 

See? couldn't you see how absurd and immoral this story all about? Little did I know it was only what's on the surface.

Turned out the story was not as simple as I thought. The first book ended with a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions of who and why. Then, I continued to read the second, and third book. Akar and Petir. In these two books, my brain was given a chance to rest a little. It didn't mean that the stories are less interesting though. In fact, my questions were adding up. Akar and Petir were told from a two different characters which has no relationship at all, but they have one similarity. Both are orphaned. Still, I couldn't really see where this story was actually going, even though I had my own theories.

What hooked me up was how Dee stringed her sentences in the story, and how the characters expressed themselves through their dialogues. She chose, and threaded every single word carefully which made the book beautiful to read. Sometimes they are so philosophical, that made me stop reading for a minute or two to contemplate these words.

My theories were proven to be true in the fourth and fifth book Partikel and Gelombang. Let me tell you, reading these novels were like reading I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and Sophie's World by Joestein Gaarder, altogether. Of course minus the galactical war, explosions, deadly weapons, hidden treasure, and all that stuff. But all these characters, even though Dee didn't explicitly told us they were an alien, I would still think that they are some extraterrestrial beings which have this superior consciousness, and made them questions everything, even their own existence, and without realizing it, they have to go through certain journeys or sequences in their lives, until finally, they got their answers. Like seeing a baby grows up, I love how Dee put these sequences in the characters' lives. It gave me better understanding of why they are the way they are.

Finally in the sixth book, Intelegensi Embun Pagi, everything was explained in such a palpable way, like how usually history teachers explain their subject, almost boring. No more riddles, no more hidden messages, no more confusing words. I actually a little bit disappointed about the way everything is revealed, because I love the first five books for how Dee played with words. Looking past my minor dissatisfaction, reading the rest of the book was like watching a thriller in a cinema, you wouldn't be able to sit still. Like when my brain hadn't given a rest in the first book, this time was my heart. All these characters were running against time, and the events in this stories were arranged in such a way that kept me flip pages after pages without wanting to stop, Yes it was that addicting.

The stories was completed with an open ending. Probably many people were disappointed because this series has been going for 15 years, yet still there was no closure for us, the readers. But I think it is the right way to end the story, it gives us so many possibilities about the fate of all characters, and who knows that maybe one day Dee would continue this story with a different frame, different setting, or even different universe... who knows.