For all of you authors out there who want to write your own archery scenes – PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT MATT’S ARTICLE.
He explains why some scenes described in books and movies just are not possible in real life. Here is a taste:
Have you read the following scenes in a book? Or maybe seen them in a movie?
A company of archers stands ready on the battlements of a castle as a horde of (vikings, orcs, Frenchmen) charges towards them. The captain of archers shouts, “Nock! Draw! Hold it! Hold it!” as the enemy approaches ever closer. Finally, at the critical moment the command is given… “Fire!”Or maybe an archer/sniper is hiding behind a tree, bow at full draw, waiting for a lone horseman to approach.Or an archer has a bow at full draw, holding an enchantress prisoner.To all three, I declare… BALONEY!
Greed is such a wonderful thing. It is as if some people think that if it sounds too good to be true, then it must be true. The Twelfth Tablet is the tale of a man who fell for such a scheme. As sometimes happens his falling led to murder and mayhem.
Upon closing the museum one evening Paul Mitchell meets a couple who make him an offer he cannot refuse. Ari and Valerie wish to see the museum’s Aphrodite statue in return for donating a large sum of money “to the museum”. Paul finds himself unable to say no to anything they ask. He tries but there is something strange about their touch that fills him with powerlessness and an eagerness to please.
Once he has said yes once, saying yes to their next request is less of a hurdle. Ari and Valerie want to know where they can find the Orphic Tablet and Paul leads them to it.
Paul is the perfect example of how we are all potentially able of deeds we thought impossible. I find Harper’s description of Mitchell’s self-destructive road believable. Tom has a tight pace and tension galore. We get plenty of action and fighting.
Angela of Troyis the story of an Amazon, necromancer and daughter of Cassandra of Troy and the god Apollo. Her job is to police the supernatural community and make sure that no unnecessary murders are committed.
A rogue werewolf has been on a killing spree and Angela is sent to stop him. To find out who the next victim is supposed to be she turns to a demon. Demons aren’t really Angela’s idea of fun – more like a necessary evil.
What she discovers is that the man she has been sent to hunt, Benjamin McConnell, is out to kill all who were associated with the man who cursed him. I can understand wanting to do that. McConnell has his own protection. If another tries to harm him that damage will be inflicted on the one trying to hurt him. Angela’s superiors must have known of this ability, yet they still sent her off to destroy McConnell.
All in all an interesting short story with a strange set of characters.
The other night I was invited out for a night with “the girls.” I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, “I promise!” Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easy.
Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times.
Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed…3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos = MIDNIGHT!)
The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, and I told him “Midnight”. He didn’t seem p*ssed off at all. Whew! Got away with that one!
Then he said, “We need a new cuckoo clock.”
When I asked him why?, he said, “Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said, “Oh. sh*t.”, cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another 3 times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.”
What we have in Dead(ish) is an example of a nutty Aussie author bent on making her readers laugh. Talk about insane mystery and vindictive murder victim. I have to say that this is one case of getting back at your murderer.
Our main characters are Mike: the murderer, Linda: the murderee and Trent: the detective. Linda, the ghost, hires Trent, the detective, to find out where Mike, her killer, has hidden her body. During that process Trent gets to hear both sides of the story and what a sordid tale it is.
This is what I love about fantasy and science fiction: there is always a chance of getting to hear a story from both sides – even if the story is murder.
Pastworld is a Young Adult dystopian, steam-punkish and semi-violent look at what could happen when the future is so bored with itself it seeks relief in pretending to travel to the past. Pastworld is the creation of such a future.
Not all participants know that it is all pretense. Eve is one such character. One of our main mysteries in Pastworld is the reason for Eve’s short memory. Why does she only remember events from the past two years? Why is she being kept hidden in Pastworld? Why does her protector/jailer/friend Jack get killed while keeping her from public attention? These are all questions that are answered.
Eve is 17 years old. I’m trying to remember what it was like to be 17 and decide if Eve is a proper representative of a Victorian 17-year-old young woman with an apparent memory loss. I have a couple of biographies to lean on (not the memory loss part). Girls of a certain class were pretty sheltered back in the day. They were not allowed to go anywhere without a chaperone. Accepted interests beyond home and family were nature. Education was so, so. They were taught how to read, some maths, etiquette, embroidery, housekeeping and painting. I guess with that as a guide, Eve was kind of representative for that group.
When Jack gets more and more eccentric after a mysterious person comes sniffing after Eve, Eve runs for her life. Quite stereotypically she decides that the circus must be the place to go. And she does – Jago’s Acclaimed Pandemonium Show.
In Buckland Corp. Comm. Center Sgt Charles Catchpole becomes aware that something is afoot in Pastworld. A murderer has returned (the Phantom), one who leaves his victims dismembered and sometimes headless. One can certainly see how this would keep his minions in line and whet the appetite of the Scotland Yard.
Much of what we see in Ian Beck’s novel seems probable. 2048 is in 35 years and quite a bit could happen in that time. We already have plenty of theme parks around the world. Making a city into one might not be the stretch I would like to think it is.
What is it that makes a great author? I feel certain all wanna-be authors have wanted to know the answer to that. To me a great author is one who manages to reach her audience in a manner that lets the reader remember her. S.M. Reine is one such author.
Another important quality that Reine handles well is keeping the flow going. Death’s Handshows Reine’s skill at drawing the reader into the world of Elise Kavanagh and James Faulkner almost immediately. Remaining in the world of Elise, the kopis, and James, the aspis, was no effort at all. I am always gratified when an author manages to do that to me.
Our introduction to Elise and James is when James finds Elise surrounded by 12 female corpses on a plain in Russia. She is barely alive and even unconscious. We then jump briefly to a time ten years before that when Elise is handed her first kill by her father. Yes, I agree – perhaps you ought to be more than seven years old before you kill your first demon. After that we jump to the present (11 years after James found Elise) and meet an Elise and James who are both in retirement from the killing business.
Business is the wrong word to use for what the pair did. Elise is a kopis or sword while James is an aspis or shield. Their job used to be to make certain angels and demons kept humans from knowing about the supernatural world. Sometimes they had to kill to make that happen and the pair were always on the run just to keep alive. So, retirement makes sense and Elise has to use a pseudonym so she will not tip her clients off as to her identity.
Throughout Death’s Hand we go back and forth in time and we get glimpses of how Elise and James have ended up where they have and why Elise feels such a need for a semi-normal life. But the past has a tendency of catching up with us one way or another. Elise and James are no exception to that rule.
Elise is the kind of heroine that I enjoy reading about. Her strength is amazing and based on the scars of her past. Her past has left her highly vulnerable and one way to deal with that is to skunk the people who come into her life. All except for her room-mate Betty. Betty is the one thing in Elise’s life that Elise loves unconditionally. For some reason Betty has been the armor-piercing bullet that needed to get past Elise’s defences and keep her somewhat grounded. We all need friends like that.
James, on the other hand, seems to dislike and fear Elise at the same time as he feels the need to protect her. Granted, Elise is a force to fear, but then so is James Faulkner, the witch. Indeed, a very powerful witch at that. Hmmm?
Traudl’s brother Karl suffered from schizophrenia. After Hitler’s star rose in Germany, so did his ideas. This is the environment Traudl grew up surrounded with. When the government decided Karl had to be sterilised, the family thought it only right.
At the age of 21 Traudl was desperate for a change, for an opportunity to chase after her dream of becoming a dancer. When Albert Bormann suggested she get a job for the government she applied for one thinking she could pursue her dancing off-hours. But life did not turn out that way. Later she drifted into applying for a position as one of Hitler’s private secretaries and just happened to get it. She wasn’t especially qualified, she was just the first one through the door. She kind of drifts into a lot of things in the book.
Reading Traudl’s story puts me in mind of ending up with a cult. Hitler was an intense person who could turn even the best arguments on their heads. He was, the first couple of years, a kind of father figure to Traudl and made Traudl feel as though she was part of something special. Information beyond what Hitler and his compatriots provided was not allowed on the premises of the various bunkers and Berghof. Finally, Traudl was like many young people, available for the position of follower.
Then the picture begins to crack. The idealistic leader meets trouble and failure. His narcissism is showing more and more, but the brainwashed Traudl is so caught up in his personality and her own denial that she sticks with him until the bitter end.
Perhaps the way I’ve presented this autobiography reads as an attempt on Traudl’s part to excuse her own participation as part of Hitler’s staff. But I did not get that feeling while I read it. It does, however, present a very believable kind of human being. Perhaps I would have had more in common with her when I was 21 than I would like to admit.
The worst part of coming out for Traudl was having the neo-nazis come up to her to shake the hand that had shaken Hitler’s. For her that made a mockery of all of the suffering that he had been responsible for and that she, if indirectly, had enabled.
I am going to say it again. Grimhilda is the most adorable wicked witch I have ever come across. She is wicked, but she is wicked in a proprietary and warm manner.
Paul Kater’s writing conveys humour in spades. Some of it is innocently raunchy and some of it simply funny while the violence is quite innocent. My advice about age appropriateness is the usual one – check the story out yourself first and then decide.
Dandh (review below) said:
If you have any imagination, you can easily forgive the ‘unprofessional’ writing and enjoy the story. Many people expect too much from Kindle free books. This is a venue for amature writers to get their stories published. They don’t have editors and teams of people working behind them. The stories are pure and unedited, that’s what makes them great.
My favorite part of this story is the part where Hilda gets visited by door-to-door salespeople trying to sell her a broom. I wish I could do what she did to some of the salespeople that turn up on our doorstep.
Snow White is your classic airhead that somehow seems to survive unscathed all the horrors that are thrown her way. With Hilda as her own “semi-godmother” she has a bit of supernatural protection. But all is not horror in the life of Snow White. No, indeed it is not. I liked this version of the seven dwarves.
We also get to meet Baba Yaga. For some strange reason there are people out there who seem to think that Baba Yaga originated with Terry Pratchett. Just to clear the record, she does not. Baba Yaga and Grimhilda are great friends who love to prank the other witches.
Some on the witches that are pranked by Hilda and Baba Yaga are the three witches of MacBeth (the Weird Sisters). I guess you could say that Kater’s similarity with Pratchett lies in using some of the same sources as Pratchett does. Paul also employs humour to get whatever message he wants across to the reader.
Paul’s obvious love for his craft is what allows me to look beyond editorial problems. Sometimes a writer’s talent shines through whatever limitations are placed on him.
Cover photo illustration by Aleta Rafton Cover design by Kerri Resni
The Catholic church is a fascinating church. Within its realm we find people praying to both official and not quite so official saints to get these saints to function as mediators between themselves and God. Santa Muerte (the Skeleton Saint) is one such unofficial saint (a folk saint) – one that people pray to in spite of the priest’s condemnation of her.
For some strange reason the followers of The Godmother are persecuted in both Mexico and parts of the US. Human nature being what it is this has only led to an increase in the Saint Death‘s popularity – in some places eclipsed only by Virgin Mary worshipping. Santa Muerte is The Personification of Death itself and is considered very powerful. People pray to her on issues of health, money, love and so on.
Pale Horse Santa Muerte
In Shapeshiftedthe Lady of the Shadows seems to have disappeared. When Edie seeks help for her mother, the condition for getting help from the Shadows (from the sub-basement of County Hospital) is that she find Santa Muerte for them and inform them of the Skinny Lady‘s location.
Edie has no clue as to who/what the Holy Girl is. So she does what most of us do – goes on the internet. While looking for the Pretty Girl Edie finds a job in a poorer and criminally challenged part of town. The reason she applied for the job is because of a picture on the net of a huge mural of the Black Lady on the wall of the clinic. Unfortunately for Edie her lack of Spanish is a huge minus but due to how she deals with a crisis she gets hired.
Without knowing it, Edie is firmly back in the midst of the supernatural world and is once again going to have to fight for the lives of her friends and herself. Even though Edie felt she was getting a grip on what the supernatural world entailed, she finds her beliefs and values challenged. Not only must she find Santa Muerte, but Edie must also discover how much she believes in freedom of choice.
Cover artist Julie Bell My favorite Firekeeper cover
When Jane Lindskold got Julie Bell to do the covers for the Firekeeper saga she made the best choice possible. Julie Bell’s wolves and people are incredible (see link above). If you have the chance, you should check out her artwork.
Once again my son and I read about Firekeeper together and once again we were richer for it. I believe this is the only advantage to having a child with a serious case of dyslexia. In spite of his age we get to sit side by side enjoying a story that takes us a to place out of time and away from our world. Both of us have Firekeeper and Blind Seer as our favorite characters. Part of that is due to the kind of fatalism on their part that comes from having to fight for survival since childhood. I believe it also comes from the love that Firekeeper and Blind Seer have for each other.
Another thing that makes the pair my favorite is that they follow their hearts no matter where that might take them. If they feel something is the right thing to do, then they will do it. As they become acquainted with the Meddler they find themselves struggling to discern between what is the influence of the Meddler and what they truly feel is right.
I guess I kind of understand the Meddler’s motives. He is a self-righteous git who takes no responsibility for the consequences of his actions but is convinced that his intentions were all that mattered. The Meddler himself considers Firekeeper a natural born meddler, but the main difference between him and Firekeeper is Firekeeper’s willingness to bear the responsibility for the consequences of whatever actions she might have taken (without putting on a self-righteous mien).
Poor Derian. He is back in Liglim as an ambassador’s assistant and still heart-sore from his short but intense relationship with Rahniseeta in Wolf Captured. My heart warms at the strength of his character. He has had Firekeeper’s back many times during the past five years and will need to rise to the occasion once again. Derian, Firekeeper and Blind Seer are naturals for the quest that is inspired by the Meddler. Along come Truth, the jaguar, and Harjeedian.
Harjeedian is the guy that kidnapped Derian, Firekeeper and Blind Seer in Wolf Captured. He is the human diplomat for the Liglim on the journey. Truth is a divining jaguar who has gone in an out of insanity. In spite of having a shaky hold on reality Truth needs to come along. So does Plik, Bitter, Lovable and Eshinarvash (the wise horse). A strange troupe for sure, but one that represents most of the groups that the gang know of.
Bitter and Lovable by Fortunes Favor
In the above portrait by FortunesFavor Bitter and Lovable are heartwarmingly portrayed. Lovable is as her name states Lovable and in love with shiny things. At first she might come across as your regular ditzy “blonde”, and she is that too. But she is most of all bright and loving. We get to see just how close she and Bitter are in Wolf Hunting when the couple meets up with an incredibly dangerous hunter. Firekeeper and Blindseer love the couple’s wit and courage and deviousness. The two end up being essential to saving Truth and also essential to the well-being of the group that ends up chasing after one of Meddler’s meddlings.
Plik as drawn by Secnd Logic (JRY)
This portrayal of Plik, the maimalodalum that ends up going with the gang to find the twins, shows a version that I agree with. He looks so innocent, but like all innocent-looking raccoons, Plik has another more violent side. As he is maimalodalum that means that there is quite a bit of human in him and we get to see this fairly well. Derian’s first reaction upon seeing Plik is – well I’m sure you can guess. But as time passes Derian sees Plik more and more as the individual that he is rather than the oddity that maimalodali are.
Eshinarvash, the wise horse, first appeared in Wolf Captured. He has chosen to come along as a horse herder and also as a companion to the others. Derian and he develop a close relationship that will come in handy as the story follows the path of Lindskold’s imagination.
These are the main characters of Wolf Hunting. As you see some of them are more unusual than others. But that is the nature of Wise Beasts/Royal Beasts and nutty spirits. I hope you find as much enjoyment with this tale as my son and I did.
I love this German cover, but have no idea who the cover artist is.
Once again Ben Aaronovitch has wowed the market, this time with Whispers Underground. And once again he wowed me.
“Back in the summer I’d made the mistake of telling my mum what I did for a living. Not the police bit, which of course she already knew about having been at my graduation from Hendon, but the stuff about me working for the branch of the Met that dealt with the supernatural. My mum translated this in her head to ‘witchfinder’, which was good because my mum, like most West Africans, considered witchfinding a more respectable profession than policeman.”
By coincidence Ben Aaronovitch and Peter Grant happen to have gone to the same comprehensive: Achland Burghley School. It just so happens that another student at that school has heard of Peter’s witchyness and asks him to come look at a ghost she has found.
Young Abigail Kamara is a delightful 13-year-old. She has all the rebelliousness of a girl turned teenager and a desire to show herself as more adult than she is. But trying that out on Peter just won’t work because she needs Peter way more than he needs here. His growing up on the same estate as Abigail probably also makes him less susceptible to Abigail’s “tantrums”. But one thing is for sure. If Abigail continues on the route she is on today she is going to turn into a version of Peter’s mom when she grows up. She is one fierce kid.
Peter and Lesley go with Abigail and, what do you know, there they see the ghost – a young white kid getting ready to spray some graffiti on the wall of the tunnel. They watch him get hit by the train then start the whole thing over again.
Lesley is still in the Folly and learning how to live with the face that fell off. Both she and Peter get a lesson in seeing people for who they are rather than how they look by Zachary Palmer, a character that turns up in Whispers Underground. That would be a wonderful lesson for me to be able to learn.
At 0300 one morning DI Miriam Stephanopolous calls Peter because of a murder that seems a bit off at Baker Street Underground Station. (Yes, the same Baker Street that Sherlock Holmes lived on.)
Baker Street underground station Photograph by Alun Palmer
When Peter goes into the tunnel where the body was hit by the train he discovers a bit of magical pottery in the pool of blood. When it turns out the victim is James Gallagher, the son of an US Senator, the British police have an international incident on their hands.
As is only natural when a body is found on the tracks, the British Transport Police turn up and give us a look at their responsibilities through Kamar – one of their officers. In fact, as Whispers Underground moves along we see that Peter and Kamar find it in themselves to put all inter-departmental rivalries aside and work together toward a solution to James’ murder.
DCI Seawoll makes Peter a part of the Belgravia murder squad so he can keep an eye on him. You might remember both Seawoll and the reason why he is a bit wary of Peter from reading Moon Over Soho. One of DCI Seawoll’s quirks is that he does not want the word “Magic” used anywhere in his vicinity. He knows it is there but he prefers that Peter and Lesley use words like “oddities” instead. It is kind of funny how Seawoll is like the rest of us in denying what is right in front of our faces. In fact, I think this might be one of the great appeals of British literature. They tend to make their characters human rather than glossed up versions of ourselves.
The fascinating thing about large cities is the many “forgotten” parts of them that work as a breeding ground for an author’s fantasy and probably also for the alternate parts of society that need a place to stay. As Peter and Kamar dig into this forgotten world Kamar comes to realise that the BTP might have overlooked certain parts of the underground system.
In their hunt for The Faceless Man Lesley and Peter are sent to Shakespeare Tower at the Barbican to interview a person DCI Nightingale suspects was a member of the Little Crocodiles (a Cambridge dining club).
Barbican towers / Shakespeare Tower in centre Photographer: Riodamascus
Being part of The Faceless Man’s gang can be dangerous for a person’s health. But you do not necessarily have to be part of his crew to get hurt, and the methods Faceless uses to keep his identity a secret are generally quite brutal – demon-traps come to mind. I would certainly think twice before joining him in his games. Part of this is because The Faceless Man comes across as amoral rather than sociopathic. That makes him completely unpredictable in a rather frightening manner.
Previously I have stated that Peter is my favorite character. He still is, but in a close second comes the dog Toby. Toby and Molly’s relationship is hilarious. The things she is teaching him to do!!!! A nutty dog for a nutty place like the Folly.
In his usual manner, Aaronovitch managed to prod my sense of the absurd. His sense of humor is perfect. I love it when an author manages to tickle my funny-bone and please my desire for action. Maybe this is why my favorite authors tend to be British. They have a sense of timing that I have not found anywhere else. Ben Aaronovitch handles the dark side of humanity well, well enough that I was unavailable to my family while reading Whispers Underground. I sometimes pity my family for having a book addict for mother and wife.
I really like Aaronovitch’s writing. He keeps on taking the piss throughout the whole book, leaving me delighted with his sense of humor. Other readers seemed to agree with me as I found a gazillion reviews of Moon Over Soho. I have only a few of them below and tried to use reviewers that I have never previously come across.
Although each book in the Rivers of London series is a stand-alone, it only makes sense to read the first one before getting into this one. Or maybe not. They are stand-alone after all.
Moon Over Soho is a much darker novel than Rivers of London. One of the crime scenes is kind of disturbing in a fascinating manner and the ending is not Disney-happy-ever-after.
As with Rivers of London, Ben Aaranovitch connects a lot of people with actual places in London. The demi-goddesses/gods each control their own rivers with Mama Thames and Father Thames as the head honchos. One might even think of them as some sort of mafia bosses when one considers how they wield their power. Some of the smaller rivers/brooks have gone underground as London has continually been built over.
Then there are the jazz clubs. Perhaps one should bring Moon Over Soho as a guide to which clubs to visit while in London. Inasmuch as I listen to music, jazz is one of the styles I enjoy. Being a jazz musician, though, is an incredibly dangerous occupation lately in the world of Peter Grant. You might not have heard about jazz vampires before but now you have. I have no idea how many types of vampires are out there. A jazz vampire must surely be one of the more unusual ones. Instead of sucking the life out of people by drinking their blood, jazz vampires seem to drink talent or creativity from the musicians.
I like Peter. He comes from a rough background with an alcoholic/drug-addict dad who used to be an incredibly talented jazz musician. His mom is a frightening woman. Frightening and fun. She is the kind of matriarch that all the relatives listen to and who knows half of London (it seems). Listening to her talk to Peter is hilarious. Poor kid – which is exactly what he turns into when he visits his mom and dad.
DCI Nightingale is laid up at The Folly. He overtaxed himself in Rivers of London and needs to be taken care of by Molly. I realize I am not the only one, but burning is what my curiosity is when it comes to what Molly is. DCI Nightingale’s recovery period is spent trying to knock some magic into Peter. Peter is a natural when it comes to “smelling” vestigia (magic residue). Other than that he is going to have to plod the learning trail to magic. Like many beginners Peter wants to experiment, but as we saw in Rivers of London, magic is insanely dangerous. One might even wonder why any one would want to practice it.
For the Latin lovers out there you will already know what vagina dentata is. “Vagina dentata (Latin for toothed vagina) describes a folk tale in which a woman’s vagina is said to contain teeth, with the associated implication that sexual intercourse might result in injury or castration for the man.” I feel confident some of you blokes out there shuddered as you read this.
Guess what! Yes, you guessed it. A journalist is found with his nether parts bitten off by what appears to be vagina dentata. And where was he found? Well, in the downstairs toilet of the Groucho Club in London’s Soho district. Due to the nature of the journalist’s murder Peter is called in. All of this in addition to having to learn magic and keep the recovering Lesley and Nightingale from going insane is almost too much for one man to handle. Add to that the bureaucracy within the police and a love affair with beautiful Simone Wilberforce. I think I need to rest.
It was fun joining Ben Aaronovitch in his jaunt to the London of Peter Grant. Lots of action and action and action and I am happy. Mysteries are super-fun and fantasy made it all even better.
My 18-year-old son and I are still enjoying reading about Firekeeper together. There is something magic in being able to share in the joy of a well-written novel that cannot be had in reading by myself.
Jane Lindskold was at it again with the difficult-to-pronounce words. The worst one was the name of the temple at u-Seeheera: Heeranenahalm and the other two were Fayonejunjal (name of vessel) and jujundisdu (type of leader). We (or rather I) had to pause before pronouncing the words one syllable at a time.
This time my favorites have, if not all the parts, most of the attention of the author. Wolf Captured is for the main part about Firekeeper, Blind Seer and Derian and their adventures in Liglim.
That sounds so benign, doesn’t it? But getting to Liglim meant the capture of the three and their unwilling transport across the ocean. And why were they taken? Well that was thanks to their “beloved” Waln Endbrook – you know the guy that cut off Citrine’s finger. Yes, that guy. There is something fascinating about the mentality of the bully. I’m trying to figure out if Waln is actually a sociopath. According to this page on bullying he probably isn’t but he definitely shares some of the traits.
Harjedian mis-calculates in kidnapping our trio. I doubt he realised just how skewed Waln’s description of them was until he actually had them in his irons. Trying to hold captive something as wild as Firekeeper and Blind Seer takes a crazier person than I am, and Harjedian quickly realises his mistake. Which is part of the reason why Rhaniseeta is sent to care for the captives.
Rhaniseeta is Harjedian’s younger sister – the one he has taken care of ever since their mother died. When Harjedian showed himself to be a potentially talented diviner his status rose and the two of them were able to share an apartment in the snake temple. The Liglimosh tradition of animal-reverence (Wise beasts – yarimaimalom) makes him realise that his steps when capturing Derian were about as detrimental to getting Derian’s cooperation as anything could have been.
The reason Derian was captured was the thought that he was somehow Firekeeper’s keeper or possibly ambassador with the human world. Derian and Firekeeper do nothing to dissuade the Liglimosh from this thinking, but the Liglimosh soon discover that their relationship is way more than that. In Wolf Captured Derian ends up playing a much more visible role than we have seen thus far and I like the way Lindskold portrays him. He is well worth a main part.
Firekeeper and Blind Seer are wolves (although Firekeeper’s form continues to be human). She wishes desperately that things were not so, and is willing to explore any avenue that might make her truly wolf. Her ability to speak with the yarimaimalom have the Liglimosh suspecting that she is either a maimalodalum (would be serious spoiler to tell) or a yarimaimalom. The Liglimosh captured her for this ability in the hopes that she might teach them, but factions within their culture wonder how wise this would be.
In Wolf Captured we get to learn about the politics in a new system and their beliefs. We once again see how insane human cultures really are and the steps some of us are willing to take. Intrigue and secrets are a part of the story along with adventure, action and (this time) a touch of romance. Like I said, my son and I had a great time with Wolf Captured, fantasy creatures that we are.
humanitysdarkerside 