Kasmah Forma

In the scorched lands of the Maharaan lives a dark-skinned girl soon to become a woman.
Capable and strong, confident and caring;
all she has known is peace, all she has known is purpose.
All she will bring:
Death.

On the icy plains, beyond the Gadori forests, lies a dead boy.
Forgotten by the world and himself,
he is about to be given the hardest challenge of all:
Life.

In the center of Kasmah one sits above all, the Integra Divinitas.
Beyond the trappings of the common, bound to mankind by responsibility.
A burden that, should any Divinitas fail, could bring the worst fate of all:
Chaos.

All promises must be fulfilled.

For Kasmah... will grow.

*Contains Spoilers*

Kasmah Forma, by S. Vargus, transports readers to a different world, divided into three parts, featuring three stories. In a fantasy world where anything can create or destroy, the main characters must find and define themselves. Vargus separates the characters by distance, function, and necessity, promising conflict and delivering horror. 

Kahli is a girl in the Maharaan. She lives to serve, as seeing other people happy makes her feel useful and, in turn, happy. Yet, the arrival of a strange woman throws her life into chaos. She wakes up to her entire village destroyed and each member slaughtered. With no memory of what happened, Kahli falls into a destructive cycle. Though her storyline is confusing at first, readers experience Kahli's confusion from a direct source. Neither the reader nor the main character know what is happening to her. As she uncovers each piece of her story, readers begin to understand the how and why of Kahli's experiences. Readers will feel pity and anger toward Kahli at first, but that will slowly shift to understanding mixed with second-hand regret. Fear of Kahli also plays a big role in the reader's connection to her as she is incredibly frightening with her abilities. 

Toyo, the second main character, is a boy who woke up in the middle of an empty wasteland of snow with no memory of what happened. He knows how to speak, how to do basic tasks, but cannot remember anything of who he was before he woke up. Toyo finds a pair of iron gloves and mistakenly puts them on, only to discover that he cannot take them off. His power is seemingly unlimited and he is naive to it. Soon he is found by two hunters from the Gadori forest and they take him to their tribe. Toyo can barely communicate with the group but is determined to be accepted by them. Readers will see his commitment to being accepted, but will also witness his youth. He's quick to act with no regard to the consequences. His story is highly entertaining as readers learn about the Gadori right along with Toyo. 

The final main character is Mulat, the main leader of the world. His story was the most confusing for me, but was still semi-enjoyable. Mulat is a man who bores quite easily and when he's bored bad things tend to happen. Throughout his story, assassination is a frequent occurrence, though readers never quite learn who was behind the biggest attempt. Part of his story includes other important members of the city when Mulat is claimed to have been killed. This is where the three character's really come together. 

Each character is inadvertently creating chaos in his or her part of the world. That chaos is leading to destruction and death. As the three move closer to each other figuratively and globally, the terror grows. Kahli is fighting for a life she gave up. Toyo is fighting for acceptance. And Mulat is fighting for existence and stability. Yet, when they come together, the novel ends with no definitive answer as to what happened. Is this because Kasmah Forma is supposed to be a series? Will there be a sequel that picks up where this drops off? Because this lack of an ending completely confused and upset me. Though there were character-reader connections, I would have liked to see connections between the main characters. Perhaps that will be a focus in the sequel now that they are all in close proximity.

Rating: 2.5/5 Cups