Tag: purpose

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Books

Review: Inherited Danger

Inherited Danger (The Dawning of Power #2) by Brian Rathbone

I give this book a 3.

Okay

This book picks up just after the end of the first book…because it had too. Needless to say, I didn’t like the way the first book ended, but since it rolled over so evenly into the second one, I was more open-minded to continue reading the story. (I bounced back and forth between listening and reading on my Kindle.)

In this follow-up to the Call of the Herald, Catrin goes on a “Lord of the Rings” type journey in search of…I think, the understanding of her power. The style of this story seemed a bit different from the first book, but after I got used to it, it wasn’t too bad. My major complaint is that not a lot happens for a long time and then everything seemed to happen all at once.

It was nice to learn more about Catrin’s background and that of her friends, even though, outside of Benjin (can’t remember how this is spelled), the others characters seem to do very little. There are tons of new characters introduced and some of them are even still alive at the end of the book, and who knows they may appear in the next story.

The understanding of the role of Herald isn’t clarified explicitly, but I think this is a good thing. It gives the reader room to decide if the Herald is a vessel for good or evil before seeing how things will play out in the story. At this point, it could still go either way for Catrin, especially since she can’t seem to decide if she’s a strong feisty fighter or a meek lost child. Sometimes she takes hold of the situation and uses her powers boldly and other times, she makes me think of a young wizard hold out his wand with his eyes closed hoping that he’s doing something right. I want Catrin to be a stronger woman than acts like sometimes.

Also, some of the relationships in this book are too quick or underdeveloped. Catrin meets her grandmother and a few passages later, we’re on to something else.

After saying all this, I want to be clear that I did enjoy this story, just not as much as I did the first one. I’ll eventually continue the series and would recommend it to fans of epic fantasy.

See my review of The Call of the Herald here.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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IWSG

#IWSG June 2015: Wanting to be wanted.

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

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Before I bum everyone out with my insecurities, I’d just like to say that launching the sequel to my Eternal Curse Series at a local Comicon was the best decision I’ve made in a long time….

Now, lately I’ve been trying to look at myself objectively and reevaluate my role as author, blogger, and other. In my day-to-day life, I know exactly who and what I am. I’m a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, and a teacher. These are roles that come easy to me, though teaching is the one that seems to stretch me the most. Working with the children is easy; working with other adults and the politics of the educational system is where things get a bit tough. Even with the challenges of my day job, I know where my place is and what my purpose it.

Now when it comes to being an author and blogger, I still feel a bit lost after all these years. Don’t worry, this isn’t a farewell statement of any kind, but to say I have insecurities would be an understatement. For the first time since I started the blogging journey I’m starting to feel a sense on synchronicity between my role as author and blogger. I actually feel as if these two roles are mutually beneficial, whereas in the past one seemed to interfere with the other, and vise versa, at all times.

While that is all well and good, I don’t feel comfortable in my mission, content, and or niche. I honestly don’t know that I fit into a niche, which is probably the root of my problems. I feel like the ideas and desires I have for reaching out to readers goes against whatever it is that readers actually want…but I just can’t seem to change my mind. I want to be flexible and free to express myself through many genres, but I run the risk of losing interested parties who are only interested in a particular thing I’ve done.

I had a silly notion of creating a You Tube presence that would connect me with other writers, which would in turn connect us all to a whole new audience of potential readers and fans. The problem is that writes don’t do anything on camera. So I’m trying to refocus my efforts to just interviewing on my blog, but many authors don’t seem to be interested in that either. I feel like I should stop reaching out to authors all together, even though I don’t want to.

I’ve tried reaching out to readers, offering pieces of myself and trying to connect with them, but not many seem to be interested unless I’m giving something away, and even that doesn’t  bring in too much interest. I know that I write because I love it and I know that I blog because I love it, but unless I start addressing all my content to myself, I’m left wondering, who am I reaching out too?

I wish I could make a difference.

Need to find a niche.

Wanting to be wanted.

So, have you found where you belong?
Do you know who you’re reaching out to?

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
M. Pax,
 Tracy Jo,
 Patricia Lynne,
 Rachna Chhabria,
 Feather Stone, and
 Randi Lee!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #108).

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

Review: Call of the Herald

Call of the Herald by Brian Rathbone

I give this book a 4.

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I have no idea how I originally got a copy of this book. I literally found a copy of it on my laptop and then downloaded it onto my Kindle. Later I looked it up on Amazon and downloaded a copy to compare, but there were no differences other than the covers.

The idea of being the chosen one is not a new concept and the reality of it is not without its ups and downs. So this is the story of Catrin and how she goes from being a farm girl to a (whole vessel of sorts) herald of war while possessing some neat and sometimes confusing “super powers”.

I must say that I like this story. It’s not without its flaws, but it’s good enough to pull me in and make me want to read more in the series. The story seemed like it was short, but it took a while to read. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that the pacing didn’t match the length of the book. Most of it all happened so fast, but nothing was left out, as far as I can tell.

It does end with a cliffhanger, which I do not like. I much prefer stories to reach some kind of resolution and then move on or change direction, but this is one of those stories that build up to… nothing and then you have to read the next book to see what happens.

I think if these characters had simply come to some sort of destination and left an opening to the next book, I would have given it a 5, but as is, I’m too annoyed to do so.

Still, it’s a good story and worth reading if you like tales of “the one” and prophecies being fulfilled. It’s almost a space opera, it’s almost a high-fantasy epic, it’s almost a paranormal coming-of-age tale, but ultimately it’s an adventure.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords