MustRead, RM15.00, ISBN 978-967-0076-76-2
Historical Nonfiction, 2025

Rentap 2 follows Rentap 1, continuing our hero’s story from where that other book left off.

Like the other book, the illustrations here are made using AI, so anyone interested in my thoughts on that or wanting the background information on this series should check out the other review first.

So, from where we left off, it’s now 1853 and Rentap is now in the thick of it now. Brooke’s soldiers would make a few assaults on the Iban rebels’ stronghold over the next four years, not that one will know from reading this thing because the whole thing seems to be one long continuous fight over a few days. 

That’s one issue that is compounded by the fact that general-use AI image generation programs at this stage still isn’t good at creating dynamic illustrations with plenty of action and drama. The pacing feels off, and I never get a feeling that the war is really real, if I am making sense here. It’s more like watching stills and hearing a guide narrate the facts about each still than getting immersed in the whole story.

Also, it’s hilarious how Rentap immediately ages from hot half-naked Iban hunk to silver daddy Iban DILF in a space of two panels, when historical data suggests that he died at age 70 or so one year after the fall of Bukit Sadok and his retreat into the wilderness to live as a refugee. That means he is 69 when the final battle takes place… and he is still portrayed as the hottie in that final battle.

I don’t even have to dig deep into historical sources to know all this, as this thing helpfully presents a chronology of Rentap’s life and death at the end of the book, heh.

Also, maybe because having Rentap retreat and never fight again may seem anticlimactic — although to be fair, he is 59 or 60 by then, ancient for a man of that time period — the authors pad the last few pages of hot Rentap stills while telling me that his fight will inspire countless others and the Iban will never fall.

Well, except that they did fall, and Sarawak will only be liberated from the Brookes when the third Brooke on the throne handed it to the British after World War 2, and it was only in 1963 that Sarawak gained independence from the British… well, only to have its oil stores used to make the Peninsular Malaysia states even richer.

Still, this time it is exploitation by one’s own government instead of those filthy white men, so… yay?

Anyway Rentap 2, like the previous installment, is a cute but flawed little thing that succeeds in making the story of Rentap a little more exciting than what is in the history textbooks.

However, the usage of AI for the illustrations means that every panel is just some folks posing statically so there is no convincing sense of action or tension — a pretty big flaw for a story that is centered around people killing one another with spears and guns and cannons. 

While I don’t have any strong objection to the use of AI in general, these two books do suggest that maybe using AI entirely to illustrate a dramatic tale of war may not be the best way to go. At least for now.