David Li Chen

http://davidlchen.blogspot.com

Nar'Kobar The Motivator' is a unique, fantasy laden, easy reading, humorous, and somewhat disturbing novel. It is not obvious what genre this novel can be categorized in. In my opinion it's ‘science fiction', not ‘comedy' as claimed by the publisher. This novel is the first book of the Nar'Kobar trilogy.

Although, the central character for this story is a male Jin being named Nar'Kobar, the story does not entirely focus on this character alone. Several other characters (Ipung, Lena , Larasati, Raksa Geni, etc.) have also interchangeably dominated some portions of story. I believe the author (Andhika Pramajaya) uses these characters to point out his “religio-sci-fi” ideas or concepts weaved within the story. The author extensive exploration of the Jin phenomena and the existence of the ‘jin world' throughout the story clearly denote his intensions of writing the book. Even though, I am Christian by birth, I have understood some basic concepts of these Jin beings which only existed in Islamic teachings. Unlike purely fictional novels such as Harry Potter, Dune, Narnia, Eragon, and Lord of The Ring, Nar'Kobar was based on hard religious Islamic concepts.

The Islamic concept of intelligent unseen beings (the Jins) living amongst us throughout our live is somewhat disturbing and daunting even for Christians such as myself. Nonetheless, the book reflects the fundamental basic concept of religion—faith, and its role in the war of good and evil within us—the personal war of the mind and spirit.

I had suspected that the name ‘Nar'Kobar' was derived from the Indonesian term ‘narkoba' (narcotics). I believe the Author uses this term to portray the ‘motivator' Jins as narcotics of the human soul.

The sci-fi part of the story was depicted by the theoretical existence of the KIS 3000 (Kirlianic Imaging System 3000) camera which has the ability to capture and record video images of the ‘unseen' Jin beings. Actually, we can photograph unseen auras using today's Kirlian photography techniques. The KIS 3000 would likely be the futuristic technological advancement of the Kirlian photography phenomenon.

The author's in-depth imaginative exploration of the Jin realm is astonishing, considering that this novel is his first publicized literary work. His ability to blend religious concepts, science, and fantasy within a simple plotted ‘romantic' and ‘humorous' narration could be felt throughout the book. The author had created theoretical concepts of the Jin world including their diverse ways of life, races, technology, social and cultural achievements, military and political systems. The Jins was publicly accepted amongst the Muslims as having daunting, mystical, and mysterious images. The author exposed readers to see from a different point of view or perspective of the existence of the Jin beings, where we see them as God's creatures having social and cultural daily activities like humans. This novel also broadens our basic knowledge of the Islamic concepts of the Jin race.

Strangely, no printed information about the author can be found in this book. Is this a publishing error or is it intentional?

Synopsis:

For 250 years, Nar'Kobar's mission as member of the ‘Jiinayil Aq'lun' (a Jin language term for ‘human counterpart') was to influence or motivate humans and transforming them mentally into a ‘gampusan' human (The term ‘gampusan' reflects the evil or negative states/tendencies of the mind). At the time, his main purpose was to transform Lena —his present subject—into a ‘gampusan' woman. For over 8 years, Nar'Kobar's ‘motivational' influence on Lena hadn't shown much success due to Lena 's strong religious belief. His tasks become somewhat more difficult and perilous when Ipung—a campus friend of Lena—started wooing Lena. Ipung had supernatural ability to ‘see' the Jin being through his mind-eye. Ipung also has supernatural self defense abilities that could harm the Jins physically. Thinking that Ipung's supernatural abilities would directly conflict and create unwanted setbacks on Lena's transformation process, with the aid of his friend Nar'Himaar, Nar'Kobar plans to overcome this problem by making another of Lena's friend (Gugun) fall in love with her. If Lena and Gugun became lovers, Ipung would eventually forfeit his pursue on Lena, thus making Lena 's transformation more possible for Nar'Kobar. At the moment, a first born Jin princess named Larasati from the Jin kingdom Madanglaya was planning on visiting the human realm to gain more experience and knowledge about the human race. Princess Larasati chose Nar'Kobar as her ‘mentakir' (guidance, teacher), considering his extensive knowledge of the humans. Nar'Kobar advised princess Larasati to change her appearance, using her state-of-the-art form transformation ability, into a gorgeous, voluptuous, and rich Eurasian woman named Laura Berman. He plans on making Ipung fall in love with Laura thus stopping him from wooing Lena .

David Li Chen david_lchen@yahoo.com.sg