Hello readers!
I don't know about you, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy! I started a new job and started my junior (!) year of college, all in the same week. Boy has that been an adventure in itself. Before all the craziness ensued I did manage to read a new book that has quickly endeared itself to me. I will definitely be reading it again. So let me tell you why I enjoyed it so much.
First off, I will tell you that I am fascinated by stories about the Titanic. The only exception to this rule is the movie; I can't stand the movie, mainly because it is the first movie (after Marley and Me, which is another story in itself) to make me bawl my eyes out, not to mention put me in a sort of depressed mood for two weeks. True story. But any book I can get my hands on that tells of a passenger on the ill-fated voyage and their experiences before, during, and after. I'll even watch a documentary if I can find a good one. All that to say that it should come as no surprise when I say that this new book has made its way onto my favorites shelf.
The title is mainly what caught my eye: The Dressmaker. Now my favorite hobby other than reading is sewing. So that is the big reason why the picture of an early 20th century dress on a seashore caught my eye along with the title. I opened the cover and started reading the front flap, read that this book is centered around the sinking of the Titanic, and knew I had found my newest book. I guess you could say it was love at first sight ;-) Needless to say I started reading it there at the store, bought it, and finished it at home over the next few days.
This story is about a young girl named Tess who wants to do more than clean someone else's house and mend their clothes for little pay for the rest of her life. One day she makes up her mind to leave her employer. It's quite an amusing scene actually. She's trying to pick up her final pay and leave the house for good when her mistress intercepts her. Madame threatens that if Tess takes the envelope and goes through the front door without finishing her duties, her employment is terminated, which is exactly what she wants. They exchange a few lines of dialogue before Tess finally just walks out with only a few belongings in a small bag and her final pay. And so changes her life for good.
She had heard about a ship called Titanic that would be departing the next day for America. There were good jobs for seamstresses there, or so she heard, so she decided to find passage on the ship, however she could. Her plan was to find someone who would be willing to take her on as a maid, and thus pay for her passage. While searching the dock she spots a well-dressed woman with a fiery personality and learns this is the legendary Lady Duff-Gordon, a famous dress-maker at the end of her rein. To save you the amusing details, Tess manages to convince the high society lady to take her on as her maid and potentially an employee in her dress warehouse.
And now we are on the ship. And what a glorious ship it is, especially to Tess's eyes. While she is not given quarters with her new mistress, she is as happy as can be. She makes a few friends along the way, including a soon to be divorced millionaire and a young sailor named Jim. Both win her affections by appealing to what they see in her, the millionaire seeing a potential mistress and the sailor seeing a potential friend. And it is in the midst of her adventures on board with her mistress, the millionaire, and the sailor that tragedy strikes. We all know what happened next so I won't give you the details that brought tears to my eyes, just as in any story about this tragic night. So I will skip ahead in the story. The passengers who managed to find a seat in the lifeboats all made it to the Carpathia, yet not without any regrets or shock. One woman stayed at the railing the entire rest of the journey to New York, looking for her children.
Once in New York, our characters find themselves facing yet another sea, but this one full of flashing lights and shouting voices, reporters clamoring to get the best story from the survivors. It is not long before rumors begin to spread about Lady Duff Gordon that she intentionally left her large lifeboat only partially filled and would not return to rescue anyone else. To cut this long portion of the story short, all the crew members, including Jim, Titanic officials, and some willing survivors are called to testify about what happened that night. I won't tell you exactly what happened, you'll just have to read the book and find out ;-)
But to get to what I really wanted to talk about. I really liked reading about Tess' journey from a timid young servant girl with high dreams of becoming a seamstress, to an independent young woman who knows who she is and what she wants and isn't afraid to live a little. She eventually manages to get away from Lady Duff Gordon's employ, determined to make her own way. Now you might start to think that this is a feminist book, that I only want to talk about it because of that. That couldn't be further from the truth. (I will give my thoughts on feminism in my other blog later, but enough on that). I want to focus on her development. She thought the only life that she would be able to claim would be one of servitude to someone else with a stronger will than she; that she would spend the rest of her life living up to someone else's expectations for her life instead of her own. It wasn't until she met Jim and walked the streets of New York that she knew only she had the true power to set the course for her life. She became friends with a female reporter who also was coming to the realization that only she had the power to control her own life. Both women learned a lot from each other, and I'm sure were friends long after the last page. Tess eventually realized where her heart was at and decided to follow it. I think that if Tess had never walked out that front door, had never stepped foot on that ship, that her life would never have changed the way it did.
Sometimes a little risk is what we need in order to take the reins of our own lives. Imagine if Tess had not set foot on the Titanic, but instead stayed in Cherbourg. She would have been lost and confused and living in the shadow of all those whose voices ran through her head constantly. She most likely would never have discovered her heart and her dreams, never realized the person she is or what she could accomplish. Don't be afraid to open that front door, grab that envelope, and step foot on the next boat out of there. You never know what might be waiting for you when you get off. Yes there may be heartache along the way, but that can only make you stronger. Now I'm not saying quit your job and travel the world; all I'm saying is, don't be afraid to take a risk.
If you have not read this book yet, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. It is a beautiful story and one that I know I will cherish for a while. If you have read the book, do you think I did it justice? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Happy reading!
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
September 16, 2015
July 21, 2015
Why I Read
Hello readers
It has been a little while since I last posted. I've been busy with summer term and life in general. But that has not stopped me from reading!
Today's post is one that I've been stewing on for a while now. To give a background of why I've been thinking about it for so long, let me tell you the sweetened condensed version of the story.
I was taking an introductory business course my first semester at college. Toward the end of the term, I was placed into a group with three other students. One day, one of my teammates, for the sake of anonymity and forgetfulness of names and all that good stuff I'll call him Will, and I were waiting in the library for the rest of the team to arrive so we could discuss our project. (I'm sure everyone who has taken any college course, especially a business course, can understand this!) Well Will and I started talking to pass the time, and the subject of reading came up. After talking for a minute about it, Will asked me an unusual question, one that I'd never been asked before. I don't remember the exact wording that he used, but he asked if I took reading seriously, treating the worlds within the stories as real. I told him yes I do. He responded with the craziest (at least to my mind) statement, and as soon as he said it I knew he was not a reader, and had not experienced the joy that is reading, at least not in the way I have experienced it. Again, I don't remember the way he worded it, so I'll paraphrase his response. He said I should not take it so literally, that I should keep my head out of the clouds. The world around me is more important than the ones I find in books, and my life in the real world is the best thing to focus on than the one that I experience in books, according to Will. You can imagine that I did not like that comment too well. However, instead of jumping into a rant about how I love to read and just how good for the soul a good book is, I just nodded and said maybe so. So, that is the shortened version of the story behind why I have been thinking about this for a while. Over the past year it it will come back to mind and I will have one of those arguments inside my head and you totally kill the other person and win your case. But unfortunately Will is no longer around to hear it. So, here I am typing it out for you to read, my defense for why I read and lose myself in books.
To start with, books do not addle the brain, despite what Aunt March says. On the contrary they can make a brain a better thing, especially if it is nurtured properly. Reading stories can help develop imaginations which can spill over into the real world. With a greater imagination comes greater creativity. Greater creativity can lead to success in any career regardless of the field of work; it pushes readers to think outside the box to come up with unique solutions to problems of all shapes and sizes. One example, albeit humorous yet not so humorous, is how to respond to any insult or situation. You've heard of Disney comebacks for any situation; well there is the literary equivalent. This could really be expanded to responses for any awkward situation. I usually use a common phrase from Bryan Davis' books whenever I'm thinking too hard or I'm bombarded with information. The phrase is "My brain is choking!" Of course the effect is much better if you have a panicked look on your face and hold both hands to either side of your head. ;-) I did get a little off subject, but I think it was worth it. That's just a small advantage that readers have over non-readers. But a part of my point about the imagination is readers are able to picture things in their minds. Books, especially those without pictures, give flight to the imaginations of those who open their pages. As a person reads the words on a page, the picture that the author has so wonderfully painted forms in their mind, giving them a viewing portal into the world in which the characters live. And that my friends, is imagination at work and being exercised.
Another advantage is the ability to escape. Stories give readers the wonderful opportunity to escape from the worries of the present world and run to the embrace of another place and sometimes another time, into the open arms of friends both old and new. I can't tell you how many times I have picked up a book to forget what I'm worried about or to run off on an adventure and escape the normal routine. Sometimes I just need a little comfort that can't be offered by anyone present, but the characters in the story world give me just what I need. If I need a laugh there are books that do just that (I'm reading one such book right now); if I need a word of wisdom any book on my shelf will give me what I need. So, books can provide the means for escape and comfort that nothing else can provide. Sure a movie or a video game can provide that, and for some people that is their outlet, but there is something special about using your imagination to paint a picture in your mind's eye and interpreting the descriptions for yourself.
Yet another reason why I love to read is this: I meet so many new friends. With every book I pick up I learn a new name that I know I will grow to love and a new name I will grow to despise and never want to see. And yet, each name is dear and special to me. Yes I may not want to see that character ever again, but I still want to see their name on the page because I know that means the story is not over yet and I don't have to say goodbye just yet to the characters I do like. There are some characters who have left the story worlds that I read, never again to dance across the pages, and that fills me with grief whenever I open those books. Yes, I can always go back and read the stories again, but that separation will always be there. I will never again meet them for the first time, never reel from the shock of their disappearance. These characters include Susan, Peter, Professor Kirk, Mr. Tumnus, and Reepicheep; Sapphira, Elam, Karen, and Professor Hamilton; Brom; Boromir; all these just to name a few. Some have died and some have just left the story altogether to live happily ever after, but they are my friends all the same. At the same time I have many friends who are still in the story at the end: Meggie and Mo; Maria, Robin, and Sir Benjamin; Aslan; Billy, Bonnie, Matt, Lauren, and Clefspeare. Through these friends I have gained wisdom, learned how to fight evil and allow good to prevail, how to persevere and hold on to my faith when it seems like all hope is lost.
Reading has taught me patience. (I know, this is probably a stretch, considering I do glance ahead to see if a character is still present later in the book) In spite of my flaw, I have developed a patience in waiting to learn what happens. There are many times when there is a situation in one of my books that I want to see resolved but it won't be resolved for several chapters because of a skipping between points of view. There is also the wait between books in a series! That is probably the worst kind of waiting when it comes to reading because even when you can't stand it any more and have to know what comes next, you can't look ahead except at the summary that the author might decide to give. And that is enough to drive any book lover absolutely bonkers!
One last thing is reading teaches readers to be quiet and still, even when everything around us is not. I could write a whole post about how calming a book can be, and I might do just that at a later date. Even when everyone else is running around and losing themselves in the hustle and bustle and noise around them, a reader can immerse herself in a good book and tune out everything else. This is what makes reading so relaxing. It helps a reader to slow down and de-stress, distracting from the worries of the day.
That is why I love to read. These are abbreviated reasons, but they still show just how wonderful it can be.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on reading and what it means for you! Tell me in the comments. Then go read a book and put your head in the clouds.
Happy reading!
It has been a little while since I last posted. I've been busy with summer term and life in general. But that has not stopped me from reading!
Today's post is one that I've been stewing on for a while now. To give a background of why I've been thinking about it for so long, let me tell you the sweetened condensed version of the story.
I was taking an introductory business course my first semester at college. Toward the end of the term, I was placed into a group with three other students. One day, one of my teammates, for the sake of anonymity and forgetfulness of names and all that good stuff I'll call him Will, and I were waiting in the library for the rest of the team to arrive so we could discuss our project. (I'm sure everyone who has taken any college course, especially a business course, can understand this!) Well Will and I started talking to pass the time, and the subject of reading came up. After talking for a minute about it, Will asked me an unusual question, one that I'd never been asked before. I don't remember the exact wording that he used, but he asked if I took reading seriously, treating the worlds within the stories as real. I told him yes I do. He responded with the craziest (at least to my mind) statement, and as soon as he said it I knew he was not a reader, and had not experienced the joy that is reading, at least not in the way I have experienced it. Again, I don't remember the way he worded it, so I'll paraphrase his response. He said I should not take it so literally, that I should keep my head out of the clouds. The world around me is more important than the ones I find in books, and my life in the real world is the best thing to focus on than the one that I experience in books, according to Will. You can imagine that I did not like that comment too well. However, instead of jumping into a rant about how I love to read and just how good for the soul a good book is, I just nodded and said maybe so. So, that is the shortened version of the story behind why I have been thinking about this for a while. Over the past year it it will come back to mind and I will have one of those arguments inside my head and you totally kill the other person and win your case. But unfortunately Will is no longer around to hear it. So, here I am typing it out for you to read, my defense for why I read and lose myself in books.
To start with, books do not addle the brain, despite what Aunt March says. On the contrary they can make a brain a better thing, especially if it is nurtured properly. Reading stories can help develop imaginations which can spill over into the real world. With a greater imagination comes greater creativity. Greater creativity can lead to success in any career regardless of the field of work; it pushes readers to think outside the box to come up with unique solutions to problems of all shapes and sizes. One example, albeit humorous yet not so humorous, is how to respond to any insult or situation. You've heard of Disney comebacks for any situation; well there is the literary equivalent. This could really be expanded to responses for any awkward situation. I usually use a common phrase from Bryan Davis' books whenever I'm thinking too hard or I'm bombarded with information. The phrase is "My brain is choking!" Of course the effect is much better if you have a panicked look on your face and hold both hands to either side of your head. ;-) I did get a little off subject, but I think it was worth it. That's just a small advantage that readers have over non-readers. But a part of my point about the imagination is readers are able to picture things in their minds. Books, especially those without pictures, give flight to the imaginations of those who open their pages. As a person reads the words on a page, the picture that the author has so wonderfully painted forms in their mind, giving them a viewing portal into the world in which the characters live. And that my friends, is imagination at work and being exercised.
Another advantage is the ability to escape. Stories give readers the wonderful opportunity to escape from the worries of the present world and run to the embrace of another place and sometimes another time, into the open arms of friends both old and new. I can't tell you how many times I have picked up a book to forget what I'm worried about or to run off on an adventure and escape the normal routine. Sometimes I just need a little comfort that can't be offered by anyone present, but the characters in the story world give me just what I need. If I need a laugh there are books that do just that (I'm reading one such book right now); if I need a word of wisdom any book on my shelf will give me what I need. So, books can provide the means for escape and comfort that nothing else can provide. Sure a movie or a video game can provide that, and for some people that is their outlet, but there is something special about using your imagination to paint a picture in your mind's eye and interpreting the descriptions for yourself.
Yet another reason why I love to read is this: I meet so many new friends. With every book I pick up I learn a new name that I know I will grow to love and a new name I will grow to despise and never want to see. And yet, each name is dear and special to me. Yes I may not want to see that character ever again, but I still want to see their name on the page because I know that means the story is not over yet and I don't have to say goodbye just yet to the characters I do like. There are some characters who have left the story worlds that I read, never again to dance across the pages, and that fills me with grief whenever I open those books. Yes, I can always go back and read the stories again, but that separation will always be there. I will never again meet them for the first time, never reel from the shock of their disappearance. These characters include Susan, Peter, Professor Kirk, Mr. Tumnus, and Reepicheep; Sapphira, Elam, Karen, and Professor Hamilton; Brom; Boromir; all these just to name a few. Some have died and some have just left the story altogether to live happily ever after, but they are my friends all the same. At the same time I have many friends who are still in the story at the end: Meggie and Mo; Maria, Robin, and Sir Benjamin; Aslan; Billy, Bonnie, Matt, Lauren, and Clefspeare. Through these friends I have gained wisdom, learned how to fight evil and allow good to prevail, how to persevere and hold on to my faith when it seems like all hope is lost.
One last thing is reading teaches readers to be quiet and still, even when everything around us is not. I could write a whole post about how calming a book can be, and I might do just that at a later date. Even when everyone else is running around and losing themselves in the hustle and bustle and noise around them, a reader can immerse herself in a good book and tune out everything else. This is what makes reading so relaxing. It helps a reader to slow down and de-stress, distracting from the worries of the day.
That is why I love to read. These are abbreviated reasons, but they still show just how wonderful it can be.
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| Even dogs love to read! |
I'd love to hear your thoughts on reading and what it means for you! Tell me in the comments. Then go read a book and put your head in the clouds.
Happy reading!
March 15, 2015
A Wonderful Adventure
Hello readers!
In my last post, I hinted that I would be talking about a series which is my absolute favorite and is, sadly, coming to an end. If you have never heard of Bryan Davis, then I suggest you stop reading this post, and go find some of his stories to read. He is by far the best fantasy author I have read to date. But before I forget where I'm going with this, let me tell you about this particular series that has become my second home (for those of you who regularly escape to the worlds between pages, you know what I am talking about :-) ). I will be waxing poetic about this story, so there is a good chance this can get lengthy, so grab a mug of something hot to drink and get comfortable. Even so, I will do my best not to give any important spoilers. ;-)
This story actually takes place over the course of three different series, with four books each, but each series is a continuation of the last. The first series, Dragons in Our Midst, opens up with a young teen named Billy. He is your average teen living the life of a normal American high schooler: he has a best friend, he is picked on my the school bully, and is very talented. Only, his life is not very normal. He learns an age old secret that his parents, specifically his father, have kept from him. He discovers that he has an unusual trait that belongs to the descendants of a species long thought to be extinct: dragons. But, obviously, this race of creatures has indeed lived for centuries, since the days of Noah, in fact, and Billy's father is one of them, preserved in human form by the great wizard Merlin himself. There are only a few of the original dragons left alive, and an old enemy is still hot on their trail. The children of these dragons are called anthrozils, since they are part human and part dragon. Another anthrozil, named Bonnie, also a teenager, is searching for the son of the great dragon Clefspeare, following her mother's final request. Unlike Billy, she has known about her heritage most of her life. She has what she describes to others a deformity on her back. So as to not give spoilers, I won't tell you what the deformity is, but I will say it saves her life, and the lives of others, many times. Eventually, Billy and Bonnie meet, and together they fight off the dragon slayer. Throughout this first series they must join with friends, both old and new, family, and even a supercomputer to save the world from a powerful force that has been terrorizing the world since Creation. Their adventures take them everywhere from the foothills of West Virginia to the mountains of Montana to England to other dimensions. Together, this team of heroes must rely on each other, steel, dragon fire, and, most importantly, faith in order to forgive, heal wounds both on the heart and on the skin, and save the world and each other.
The second series, Oracles of Fire, actually begins centuries before Dragons in Our Midst. Eye of the Oracle, the first book in this series, introduces Mara, an underborn who has lived underground her entire life and is curious about the world; Acacia, Mara's twin sister; Elam, the son of Shem, who was taken from his family as a young child; and Mardon, an evil genius and the son of King Nimrod and Semiramis, a sorceress. This book begins in the days leading up to the great Flood of Noah. Morgan and her sister Naamah are scheming to gain passage on Noah's ark in order to survive the coming deluge and to complete the evil work set for them by Samyaza, a fallen angel and Morgan's husband. It is in this book that we are introduced to the first dragon, Arramos, and the two dragons chosen to sail on the ark with Noah, Makaidos and Thigocia. The story takes us throughout history from the days following the Flood and the fall of the Tower of Babel, to Joseph of Arimathea, to the days of King Arthur and Camelot, to the present day. Along the way, these new characters experience the changing of the times, Mara chooses a new name for herself and becomes Sapphira Adi, dragons find a new purpose, Elam realizes where he needs to be to fulfill his destiny; all of this comes together and brings us to the end of the book and the end of Dragons in Our Midst. From the second book onward, we see familiar faces mixing with new faces: Billy and a few of our friends meet Sapphira, Makaidos finds his long lost father in a new form, Bonnie is guided by the prophet Enoch to know where she should go, and all of our characters join forces in a place called Second Eden to battle Satan and his army from hell and keep them from penetrating Heaven's door. This adventure concludes with a climactic battle that quite literally leaves your heart pounding in your chest as if you are standing right there with Billy, Bonnie, Sapphira, and the others. And the ending is exactly as you would expect it to be, and all of our characters live happily ever after.
That is, until the third and final *sniff* series, Children of the Bard. Song of the Ovulum, the beginning of the end, is set fifteen years after Bones of Makaidos, the final book in Oracles of Fire and my favorite of the entire story world. Billy, Bonnie, and Ashley, another anthrozil, are imprisoned in a military compound; their children have been stripped from them and raised apart, never knowing their identity or heritage. Matt, their son, grew up in foster care, and has spent the last few years in military training; he also has unique traits. He is withdrawn from training by a stranger who seems to know everything there is to know about him, plus things that not even he knew. The stranger, who turns out to be Walter, his father's best friend, takes him on a mission to rescue his parents. Lauren, Matt's twin sister, was raised by loving foster parents; she, too has an unusual trait, one which gives the catty girls at her school ammunition to cruelly tease her. Her world is turned upside down when a demon named Tamiel kills her best friend and foster parents and sends her to places unknown. Before long she stumbles upon a military compound and two men, Walter and Matt. Together they stage a rescue mission to break the teens' parents and Walter's wife Ashley out of the compound. Along the way they meet a few unexpected allies, as well as a few enemies. They are successful in getting all three captives out, only to have Bonnie abducted by Tamiel, who then exploits her gentle and compassionate nature to force her to help him achieve his goal. Eventually she finds Matt and, with his help, heals the people of Second Eden. Lauren is reunited with her father and sets out with him to find her mother in Second Eden. Along the way, however, they are separated, and she alone can find Second Eden. She finds the portal only to find that a terrible disease has struck the former dragons, leaving them weak and threatening to kill them. They have been transported to Second Eden where they can receive as much care as is possible. A cure has been found but can only be administered with extreme heat, and the only source of heat that extreme is the volcano just outside the village. But, the only way this particular volcano will erupt is if someone falls into its mouth. Lauren knows what she must do, but before she gets a chance to carry out her sacrificial act, a Second Edener named Eagle takes her place and gives his life in place of hers. Lauren is left to flee the oncoming lava, and is saved in the nick of time by Walter and Ashley. In the end, the former dragons and Lauren are saved, Billy is captured by military thugs, and Matt and Bonnie are once again in the clutches of Tamiel, and are sent on a long journey with Matt's former foster sister Darcy to find seven keys. Each key is located at a "door", or a location that is permeated with evil. This journey is designed to kill Bonnie's salvation song, the song of the ovulum. They find all seven keys, but not without mishaps along the way. Bonnie is captured by Satan and forced to watch Matt struggle through one of the doors on his own, without her wisdom to guide him. However, through circumstances that are of the supernatural and are the culmination of faith, she is able to break her bonds and fly to meet Matt at the final door. It is while she is en route that she meets Lauren and Roxil, one of the dragons still in dragon form. Together they make their way toward the seventh door, where they find Billy, Walter, Ashley, Matt, Darcy, and Tamiel. All of our friends must face down the devil himself and try to save humanity. Despite their best efforts, a catastrophic force is unleashed, and Matt, Lauren, and Darcy are plunged into yet another adventure that will bring them even closer to the end of the world as they know it. The third book ends with our heroes preparing themselves for one final epic battle between the forces of good and evil.
I will have the final book in this amazing story world in my hands within the next few days. This will be the most emotional, heart pounding, gut wrenching adventure I have been on in this world. There are so many conflicting emotions that I cannot begin to describe exactly how I feel about it. The characters have been my friends throughout these eleven books, and it will be hard to let them go and to know there will be no new adventures to experience with them. All the same, I am anxiously awaiting this final chapter, the final showdown between the army of God, and the army of hell. It will be one of courage, faith, friendship, humility, and sacrifice. There will be no turning back. As dramatic as that sounds, it is true. Once I have read the final word in this book, and have had time to process the journey I will have completed, I will do my best to describe my thoughts and feelings about it. For now, though, go find a Bryan Davis book to read!
Whew. That has almost left me breathless. I told you it would be lengthy. ;-) I can't really help it though, I absolutely love these books, and cannot say enough about them.
If you are familiar with Bryan Davis, I want to know your thoughts on his works. Let me know what they are in the comments! If not, I encourage you to check his books out and see if you like them or not.
I will be back in a few days writing about this new book, so check back soon!
Happy reading!
In my last post, I hinted that I would be talking about a series which is my absolute favorite and is, sadly, coming to an end. If you have never heard of Bryan Davis, then I suggest you stop reading this post, and go find some of his stories to read. He is by far the best fantasy author I have read to date. But before I forget where I'm going with this, let me tell you about this particular series that has become my second home (for those of you who regularly escape to the worlds between pages, you know what I am talking about :-) ). I will be waxing poetic about this story, so there is a good chance this can get lengthy, so grab a mug of something hot to drink and get comfortable. Even so, I will do my best not to give any important spoilers. ;-)
This story actually takes place over the course of three different series, with four books each, but each series is a continuation of the last. The first series, Dragons in Our Midst, opens up with a young teen named Billy. He is your average teen living the life of a normal American high schooler: he has a best friend, he is picked on my the school bully, and is very talented. Only, his life is not very normal. He learns an age old secret that his parents, specifically his father, have kept from him. He discovers that he has an unusual trait that belongs to the descendants of a species long thought to be extinct: dragons. But, obviously, this race of creatures has indeed lived for centuries, since the days of Noah, in fact, and Billy's father is one of them, preserved in human form by the great wizard Merlin himself. There are only a few of the original dragons left alive, and an old enemy is still hot on their trail. The children of these dragons are called anthrozils, since they are part human and part dragon. Another anthrozil, named Bonnie, also a teenager, is searching for the son of the great dragon Clefspeare, following her mother's final request. Unlike Billy, she has known about her heritage most of her life. She has what she describes to others a deformity on her back. So as to not give spoilers, I won't tell you what the deformity is, but I will say it saves her life, and the lives of others, many times. Eventually, Billy and Bonnie meet, and together they fight off the dragon slayer. Throughout this first series they must join with friends, both old and new, family, and even a supercomputer to save the world from a powerful force that has been terrorizing the world since Creation. Their adventures take them everywhere from the foothills of West Virginia to the mountains of Montana to England to other dimensions. Together, this team of heroes must rely on each other, steel, dragon fire, and, most importantly, faith in order to forgive, heal wounds both on the heart and on the skin, and save the world and each other.
The second series, Oracles of Fire, actually begins centuries before Dragons in Our Midst. Eye of the Oracle, the first book in this series, introduces Mara, an underborn who has lived underground her entire life and is curious about the world; Acacia, Mara's twin sister; Elam, the son of Shem, who was taken from his family as a young child; and Mardon, an evil genius and the son of King Nimrod and Semiramis, a sorceress. This book begins in the days leading up to the great Flood of Noah. Morgan and her sister Naamah are scheming to gain passage on Noah's ark in order to survive the coming deluge and to complete the evil work set for them by Samyaza, a fallen angel and Morgan's husband. It is in this book that we are introduced to the first dragon, Arramos, and the two dragons chosen to sail on the ark with Noah, Makaidos and Thigocia. The story takes us throughout history from the days following the Flood and the fall of the Tower of Babel, to Joseph of Arimathea, to the days of King Arthur and Camelot, to the present day. Along the way, these new characters experience the changing of the times, Mara chooses a new name for herself and becomes Sapphira Adi, dragons find a new purpose, Elam realizes where he needs to be to fulfill his destiny; all of this comes together and brings us to the end of the book and the end of Dragons in Our Midst. From the second book onward, we see familiar faces mixing with new faces: Billy and a few of our friends meet Sapphira, Makaidos finds his long lost father in a new form, Bonnie is guided by the prophet Enoch to know where she should go, and all of our characters join forces in a place called Second Eden to battle Satan and his army from hell and keep them from penetrating Heaven's door. This adventure concludes with a climactic battle that quite literally leaves your heart pounding in your chest as if you are standing right there with Billy, Bonnie, Sapphira, and the others. And the ending is exactly as you would expect it to be, and all of our characters live happily ever after.
That is, until the third and final *sniff* series, Children of the Bard. Song of the Ovulum, the beginning of the end, is set fifteen years after Bones of Makaidos, the final book in Oracles of Fire and my favorite of the entire story world. Billy, Bonnie, and Ashley, another anthrozil, are imprisoned in a military compound; their children have been stripped from them and raised apart, never knowing their identity or heritage. Matt, their son, grew up in foster care, and has spent the last few years in military training; he also has unique traits. He is withdrawn from training by a stranger who seems to know everything there is to know about him, plus things that not even he knew. The stranger, who turns out to be Walter, his father's best friend, takes him on a mission to rescue his parents. Lauren, Matt's twin sister, was raised by loving foster parents; she, too has an unusual trait, one which gives the catty girls at her school ammunition to cruelly tease her. Her world is turned upside down when a demon named Tamiel kills her best friend and foster parents and sends her to places unknown. Before long she stumbles upon a military compound and two men, Walter and Matt. Together they stage a rescue mission to break the teens' parents and Walter's wife Ashley out of the compound. Along the way they meet a few unexpected allies, as well as a few enemies. They are successful in getting all three captives out, only to have Bonnie abducted by Tamiel, who then exploits her gentle and compassionate nature to force her to help him achieve his goal. Eventually she finds Matt and, with his help, heals the people of Second Eden. Lauren is reunited with her father and sets out with him to find her mother in Second Eden. Along the way, however, they are separated, and she alone can find Second Eden. She finds the portal only to find that a terrible disease has struck the former dragons, leaving them weak and threatening to kill them. They have been transported to Second Eden where they can receive as much care as is possible. A cure has been found but can only be administered with extreme heat, and the only source of heat that extreme is the volcano just outside the village. But, the only way this particular volcano will erupt is if someone falls into its mouth. Lauren knows what she must do, but before she gets a chance to carry out her sacrificial act, a Second Edener named Eagle takes her place and gives his life in place of hers. Lauren is left to flee the oncoming lava, and is saved in the nick of time by Walter and Ashley. In the end, the former dragons and Lauren are saved, Billy is captured by military thugs, and Matt and Bonnie are once again in the clutches of Tamiel, and are sent on a long journey with Matt's former foster sister Darcy to find seven keys. Each key is located at a "door", or a location that is permeated with evil. This journey is designed to kill Bonnie's salvation song, the song of the ovulum. They find all seven keys, but not without mishaps along the way. Bonnie is captured by Satan and forced to watch Matt struggle through one of the doors on his own, without her wisdom to guide him. However, through circumstances that are of the supernatural and are the culmination of faith, she is able to break her bonds and fly to meet Matt at the final door. It is while she is en route that she meets Lauren and Roxil, one of the dragons still in dragon form. Together they make their way toward the seventh door, where they find Billy, Walter, Ashley, Matt, Darcy, and Tamiel. All of our friends must face down the devil himself and try to save humanity. Despite their best efforts, a catastrophic force is unleashed, and Matt, Lauren, and Darcy are plunged into yet another adventure that will bring them even closer to the end of the world as they know it. The third book ends with our heroes preparing themselves for one final epic battle between the forces of good and evil.
I will have the final book in this amazing story world in my hands within the next few days. This will be the most emotional, heart pounding, gut wrenching adventure I have been on in this world. There are so many conflicting emotions that I cannot begin to describe exactly how I feel about it. The characters have been my friends throughout these eleven books, and it will be hard to let them go and to know there will be no new adventures to experience with them. All the same, I am anxiously awaiting this final chapter, the final showdown between the army of God, and the army of hell. It will be one of courage, faith, friendship, humility, and sacrifice. There will be no turning back. As dramatic as that sounds, it is true. Once I have read the final word in this book, and have had time to process the journey I will have completed, I will do my best to describe my thoughts and feelings about it. For now, though, go find a Bryan Davis book to read!
Whew. That has almost left me breathless. I told you it would be lengthy. ;-) I can't really help it though, I absolutely love these books, and cannot say enough about them.
If you are familiar with Bryan Davis, I want to know your thoughts on his works. Let me know what they are in the comments! If not, I encourage you to check his books out and see if you like them or not.
I will be back in a few days writing about this new book, so check back soon!
Happy reading!
December 9, 2014
Lesson from Thorin
I know it's been a while since I last posted. It has been one crazy semester. I have finally found a few minutes to sit and write about the Hobbit. So, without further ado, I'll tell you about a lesson from Thorin. It'll be short and sweet, but still important.
For those of you who have not read the book, Thorin is a dwarf prince without a home. In his childhood Smaug the dragon took over his home in Erebor. During the attack, the elves living nearby brought their army, but turned away when they saw it was a hopeless endeavor. Thorin's heart hardened toward any elves after that day and as a result will have nothing to do with any elves. This hatred is further incited when Thorin and the rest of the company are captured by the wood elves of Mirkwood, the very same elves who refused to help his grandfather in the attack on the lonely mountain.
Whenever Thorin is approached with the idea of wielding an elvish blade or seeking refuge with elves, even if they are not woodland elves, he refuses. Gandalf recognizes this and chastises him, saying that he is not his grandfather that the past is in the past and he needs to just let it go. Okay, so I may have pulled that last little bit from Disney, but who's counting ;-) The rest of it is what he said in a nutshell.
We can learn from Thorin's hate and unwillingness to forgive. He has the stubbornness of his people ingrained within him. For us, if there is someone who has wronged us in the past, we should be willing to forgive them and let bygones be bygones. Thorin slowly realizes this as the story comes to its climax. It's easier to hold a grudge and stay angry at someone for the rest of your life, but does that really make you happy? Thorin's pride and stubbornness kept him from gaining valuable allies; the hate he kept inside made him bitter and cold. Forgive and forget. You will be all the happier for it.
It's just one more week until the final installment in this saga comes to theaters. I hope y'all are planning to see it at some point.
Let me know what you think, if you agree or disagree. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy reading!
For those of you who have not read the book, Thorin is a dwarf prince without a home. In his childhood Smaug the dragon took over his home in Erebor. During the attack, the elves living nearby brought their army, but turned away when they saw it was a hopeless endeavor. Thorin's heart hardened toward any elves after that day and as a result will have nothing to do with any elves. This hatred is further incited when Thorin and the rest of the company are captured by the wood elves of Mirkwood, the very same elves who refused to help his grandfather in the attack on the lonely mountain.
Whenever Thorin is approached with the idea of wielding an elvish blade or seeking refuge with elves, even if they are not woodland elves, he refuses. Gandalf recognizes this and chastises him, saying that he is not his grandfather that the past is in the past and he needs to just let it go. Okay, so I may have pulled that last little bit from Disney, but who's counting ;-) The rest of it is what he said in a nutshell.
We can learn from Thorin's hate and unwillingness to forgive. He has the stubbornness of his people ingrained within him. For us, if there is someone who has wronged us in the past, we should be willing to forgive them and let bygones be bygones. Thorin slowly realizes this as the story comes to its climax. It's easier to hold a grudge and stay angry at someone for the rest of your life, but does that really make you happy? Thorin's pride and stubbornness kept him from gaining valuable allies; the hate he kept inside made him bitter and cold. Forgive and forget. You will be all the happier for it.
It's just one more week until the final installment in this saga comes to theaters. I hope y'all are planning to see it at some point.
Let me know what you think, if you agree or disagree. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy reading!
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