‘Frekuensi’ by Rizal Ramli tells a story about the world where people suddenly went crazy and beat each other to death. Unfortunately, that’s about as deep as the story gets. This might be your next favorite book if you’re not a fan of rich storytelling elements. Find out why this book is disappointing to certain people.
About The Book
There’s a giant hole that literally tears the fabric of reality in the sky. This black void emits frequencies that drive most people crazy, causing them to beat normal people to death.
Yeah, That’s The Entire Story
From start to finish, people beat each other to death—that’s the entire plot. It’s like a zombie apocalypse, but the ‘zombies’ are called ‘madmen’ (orang gila). As these madmen beat innocent people, they keep chanting, “He has come…,” over and over again. And yet, it’s never truly revealed who ‘He’ is. There’s no explanation for why they’re beating each other or the origin of the black hole in the sky.
The worldbuilding and lore set by the author were poorly done. For example, this frequency turns most people into uncontrollable madmen. Some are unaffected, while others remain completely sane and are not attacked by the madmen. The frequency affects people differently, but we never understand why.
The Excruciating Redundancy
The story revolves around three main characters who never interact with each other until the climactic part of the story. We have Zaril, Yogita, and Vikram. The redundancy is excruciating to read because they experience exactly the same thing.
We are told how one character sees the black hole in the sky, how they react to the frequency, and how they survive hordes of madmen. Imagine reading three almost identical storylines in one book.
Each character should have provided a unique storyline and purpose. For example, Zaril’s journey could have been about him investigating why people react differently to the frequency. Yogita’s journey could have been her investigating the weakness of the madmen. Meanwhile, Vikram—a scientist tasked with investigating this phenomenon, by the way—could have explained what the black hole actually is!
With different journeys, experiences, and information acquired by these different people, readers would be more invested in reading the climax. But no, the author keeps writing about the way people died, being very explicit about the brutality.
Edgy Writing
There are so many deaths in the novel, but it doesn’t affect the readers at all. This is because the author introduces a new character and makes them die brutally a few pages later.
The readers aren’t given any chance to become invested in the characters. The characters are shallow. We never learn about their journey, development, or dreams.
The author writes gore scenes for the sake of gore. There’s no purpose in the storytelling; it’s done purely for shock value.
There’s nothing wrong with writing gore or death, but it has to mean something and affect the reader’s emotions.
Conclusion
Ultimately, ‘Frekuensi’ struggles to deliver beyond its shocking premise. While the gruesome action is unrelenting, the lack of depth in character development and worldbuilding leaves readers wanting more substance. Without meaningful context or purpose, the story falls short of its potential, failing to fully engage the audience emotionally.
The book deserves a 1 out of 10. The premise had potential, but the lack of story, character depth, and meaningful plot development makes it difficult to recommend. The focus on gore without substance leaves little to appreciate.
