Reidaro is an in-progress series of books written by Travis Dutko. The series has gone through many iterations, drafts, and medium since its conception in the summer of 2005 (plus or minus a year). Its first online publishing was in 2012 and has since released a total of three books and four short stories. All writings were released on his blog and are available to read free of charge.[1]
Around X00 years ago, the world was hit by multiple comets called Reidaro. While the crashing of these objects severely changed the way the world functions (occasional mutations and complete radio disruption), they also grant creatures incredible psuedo-magic power. Felix Grey, a local paperboy, awakens from recovery after a crashing Reidaro annihilates his home city, Anasazi. His rescuers, a merchant couple called Autumn and Quartz, have managed to save him from the magical comet by treating him with healing Reidaro. In order to stabilize him, they attempted to use these magic crystals to mend him only to find out that he has a condition that prevents him from assimilating the Reidaro without a special, powerful (and expensive) regulator Reidaro.
With his new abilities and a chance to live a more fulfilling life, Grey sets on a journey to help his companion Kichi to help find her missing brother while befriending a witch, a drunk, a pirate, and others while also encountering powerful groups including terrorist organization The Fifth Wave, a bandit group called Atlas, and the government.
Reidaro contains examples of:
- Alliterative Name: Addie Amahl, Kichi Kanabe, Kazoku Kanabe
- Amnesiac Resonance: With Makoto and his amazing knack for assembling and disassembling things. It’s not completely clear what memories have come back to him early on.
- Back from the Dead: Dinah pulls the frail Ryan’s soul back from the dead just to prove a point.
- Blessed with Suck: Grey's Reidaro Rejection Syndrome seems at first to be purely negative; it prevents him from using the world's magic items. However, this disability is what caused him to be treated with a Regulator, one of the most powerful Reidaro. A power he learns to take advantage of—with the consequence of taking a toll on his life.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Elizabeth. She’s dressed up in dark purple with long dark hair complete with flowing coat and tall boots yet is arguably one of the most charming and polite characters of the series.
- Embarrassing First Name: Felix Grey. In real life it probably wouldn’t cause a stir, but Addie laughs hard and loud at finding out and even Grey introduces himself by his last name only. Can apply to Tome-az as well as he admits that Briammond was way too silly and fancy of a name (although it can be debated if Tome-az is any better)
- Eye Color Change: River. His eyes are frequently mentioned for their intense green when in a defensive mood or in attack mode and a soft blue when he’s calm or distracted.
- Eye Scream: Sooo many. Eyes seem to be a favored theme for the author. The most noticeable trope example is when Dinah takes out Noel’s left eye.
- Government Conspiracy: Pretty much all of the governments know about the outbreak, but keep it under wraps. This is also the Fifth Wave's modus operandi in most locations.
- I Know Your True Name: While not immediately apparent, names (and the identities/perspectives they represent) are powerful things in the hands of the right individuals. Which is likely why entities such as The Chained and The Unfettered go to such great lengths to remain anonymous
- Light Is Not Good: invoked with Kazoku as he’s been engulfed and enslaved by blinding light for several years.
- Purple Is Powerful: This is demonstrated in a few ways in the books. Dinah, pretty much an unstoppable powerful genius mixed with crazy, has sharp purple glowing eyes. She gets one blue eye from Noel pretty early on in the series, but it’s pretty much because she was super powerful to begin with.
- Supporting Protagonist: Grey was originally posed as this and is explicitly said to be the case in Ais’s prologue to the first book. However, he does get a bit more significance and game changing power as revisions go on.
