Well now that I have some time to do things during the day I've gotten a chance to read more books. Unfortunately sometimes it's hard to remember what I have and what I don't of certain series I'm on due to them being in storage back in Oregon. But since I've been down here I've read a couple of books.
First book was Book 2 of the Darkwar Saga: Into A Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist. Now REF is one of my favorite authors of all time. How this came about was I got my first book by him for a Birthday many years ago by one of my Best Friends Bar. After tearing through Magician: Apprentice I went and bought his next few books of the Riftwar Saga. Magician: Master, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon. This first two books were actually one book upon first publication called Magician. The books center around an orphan boy named Pug and his adopted, well somewhat, brother Thomas. The stories follow the path of both boys throughout the war. I'll keep from explaining more so as not to give it away to anyone who would like to read them. He since has gone on to write more books and stories for award winning video games that center around the world him and his friends created while making their own RPG based on the D&D core rules but which they found not up to snuff (See.
Midkemia Publishing). Well for most of his books Pug is usually found with the exception of his one book outside this realm of fantasy called Faerie Tale which is set in the real world but is fantasy. I'd say more but it's been a while since I read this. Anyway, back to the book at hand. I blasted through this as I can never seem to set down one of REF's books ever. It was good but just not as good as the original series and the series he did with Janny Wurts which are probably the two best complete series he did. I continued the story of the Epic battle between the Conclave and a certain Diety. But in order to continue the struggle Pug and some friends have to make a trip to the dimension below theirs. Which without the proper guide and training would kill them within minutes of arriving. It also brings in the story of one young Dasati to give you, the reader, a look into the enemy's point of view. Good book can't wait for the next one as it left me wanting more.
After finishing this book I immediately dove into the Final Chapter of the Harry Potter books The Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling. Ok you might be asking how I got into this series. Well at first I thought they were just kids books but after seeing the first movie I loved the story line, characters, and originality so much I just started pounding through the books. One thing I love about these books is they are written for children but unlike many children's books these don't talk down to children. As she's gone through the series she has almost made them like a progression for children to increase their reading skills by including more vocabulary as she's gone along. The books are quick and easy reads for me as an adult but they also speak to me greatly. As for the latest, and possibly last installment from her on this subject matter (but that is a debate for another post), book it just one up the previous book as that book did to the previous and so forth.
See Possible SpoilerI'm now working on plowing through the next two books in the Star Wars series Legacy of the Force. I'm a big Star Wars fan. My friends and family call me fanatic but in the grand scheme I'm probably just a big Star Wars fan compared to the people I've seen at convensions and movie premieres. Ok yeah if I was artistic enough I'd make my own Stormtrooper, Chewbacca and Jedi outfits but alas my talents do not lie in that arena or at least I'm not sure where to begin on that. So maybe I'm just a fanatic in the wings. I've always loved Star Wars but never thought I'd get into reading the books since there were so many and I wasn't sure which would be the good ones. Then one day I got a shipment from the Science Fiction book club by mistake and it had a book called I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. I read the book and immediatly got into the character of this book and Stackpoles writing. So I started at the begining of the story line with the X-Wing Series of books by Stackpole and others. These told the tale after RoJ and take place before the much acclaimed books by Timothy Zahn. In these books the Rogue Squadron group grows and then a second unit gets formed called Wraith Squadron. A great set of books if you want a good read and are into Star Wars at all. Since then I've read almost all the books in the Star Wars universe. I'm still short by about 10 or less books I think. The New Jedi Order series in my opinion changed how stories are told in book series. This was a refreshing idea they mapped out a story line over 20+ books and then assigned different Authors different points along the story arc. This gave the series an advantage over other long series in that you got a different voice to hear from in each book. Now that could have easily backfired on them but I think it worked out great as you never felt like you had read this before as you do with some long running series with only one Author. This led to the next mixed Author story chain Legacy of the Force which I'm now reading. It is a 9 book series writen by 3 authors who will each write 3 books in the series. I'm currently reading the 5th book Sacrifice. This is the story so far anyways of a potential Second Empire to come about by a new Sith Lord. One different twist in this series is we the readers got a chance to submit names for the new Sith Lord to take. So this gave us some ownership which is unique to anything I've seen before. In these books you see a rift forming in the Skywalker/Solo clans who throughout the years together have kept things going but apart will it tear everything they worked so hard for apart? Will history repeat itself? Well we'll have to stay tuned and find out.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them. If you'd like more detailed reading lists for REF or Star Wars please let me know and I'll give you my opinion on where to start to see if you'll be into it or not.
On the trip home despite small meals and a long arduous trip he is still gaining weight. During one part of his trip he stops off at an attraction called the Spindle Dance. It is a wonder that was created by the Plainspeople and their "magic". Now the village is empty and it is a tourist stop run by some half-breeds. This wonder looks at a distance to be spinning and looks like the rock that it is made out of is defying gravity. However, for Nevare no matter how close he gets to it it continues to spin. Some other tourists show up and during a confrontation with a kid who is trying to deface the wonder with his knife something bad happens. During the struggle to save the kid from falling into a crevice the knife slides down to the base of the Spindle and it causes it to stop spinning not to mention the agony it causes in Nevare. No one else seems to notice this strange effect. Note: in this world the magic of the Plainspeople can be negated by iron. Which is how the Gernians defeated the Plainspeople.
At this point it would probably be a good idea to recap some of the story from the first book to explain how Nevare is in tune with the magic that is counter to the beliefs of his country's religion. Nevare's father in hoping to make him a well rounded soldier son and to toughen him up gives his teaching over to a Plainsmen called Dewara. At Dewara's side he is beaten, taught the ways of the Plainsmen and even asked to do a ritual to become one of his people. During this ritual he is taken to a "Dream" like existence. Here he is told to go across the bridge and kill the enemy on the other side. However, this enemy is a woman, who he'll come to know as Tree Woman, and Nevare has always been taught to protect women not to harm. This delay costs him as the woman captures him and takes a part of him from him. After returning from this place he is dropped off at his father's estate at deaths door. Later in the book when he goes to the carnival he sees some Specks there and for some reason feels compelled to make a sign to them. This sign is a signal done through him by Tree Woman who uses that part of him that she took to see things and do somethings through him. At this signal the Specks do the Dust Dance which is what causes/spreads the Speck Plague unbeknownst to the Gernians. During the plague outbreak Nevare with the help of his "occult aware" cousin Epiny takes on the Tree Woman in this other Dreamlike world. When he's traveling through this world he sees people in a long line crossing the bridge to other side. These are people who are effected by the plague and once they cross they'll be gone. Nevare slays Tree Woman with Epiny's help and is able to turn back many people from the bridge including his best friend Spink. Spink after recovering marries Epiny. Anyway Nevare having slain Tree Woman gets that part of him that she took back. However, that other part of him is Speck like and being so also brings the magic of the Speck people into Nevare.
Back to this book now. Nevare then heads home where he is treated as a pariah by his family as he is now so fat that his clothes are bursting at the seems. His father puts him on a fast and makes him work hard all day. Nothing helps. At his brother's wedding he is spurned by his fiancee, Carsina. His father still disgusted by him end up locking him in his room since he feels that Nevare is lying to him and is sneaking food in the middle of the night after catching him in the kitchen one night. The reason for the late night meal was that Nevare and his old teacher Sergant Duril had gone out in search of Dewara so that Nevare to ask him some questions. In the confrontation of words with Dewara Nevare's other self, the Speck Self as he calls it, makes Nevare say something that enrages Dewara into attacking Nevare. He ends up skewering Nevare with his sword but before he can finish him off Duril shoots Dewara dead. Nevare thinking that he's going to die from the wound instead discovers it's no more then a scratch. Which is counter intuitive to the evidence of blood on the sword. It also heals up within a couple of days. During this time that he is locked away his father brings him his meal at night and during the day a servant oversees Nevare doing his chores during the day. Even after a long time of doing this his weight still doesn't drop in fact he's gained more. His father asks what he has been bribing the servant with to give him more food. His father will not believe him that he has nothing to eat but what he's given at night. So his father leaves him in his room and only brings up meals to him and never lets anyone else to ever see him. Still he does not lose any weight. By this time a bout of the Speck Plague comes through the area. Claiming Nevare's older brother, mother and his older sister. In the midst of the plague Nevare is forgotten about but instead of dieing somehow the Magic inside him keeps him alive until Duril comes to free him. While his father is recovering emotionally and physically from the plague and the loss Nevare and his youngest sister, Yaril, run the household quite competently. However, once his father recovers he thinks that Nevare is trying to rise above his soldier son station to take over as Heir. After a big fight Nevare's father disowns him and sends him away.
After leaving Nevare still wanting to fufill his destiny as a soldier son takes off in search of a regiment to join up with. After a long journey he winds up in a run down town of Dead Town. This town was made up of convicts, who are working off their sentence building the Kings Road, and their families. However, there are not many left and those that are there are barely holding on. Nevare befriends a woman and her children by doing work for a place to stay. While he's there he teaches the women to hunt for game, cultivate a garden correctly and basic skills needed to live off the land that she hadn't learned growing up in the city. One day a Scout, Hitch, for a fort not too far down the road, Gettys, comes in hurt from a wild cat attack. Nevare gives him some first aid and decides to help the man get to Gettys a four day trip. On the trip Hitch isn't doing so well and at one point confides to Nevare that the Magic sent him to get him. Nevare and Hitch finally make it to the fort where with Hitch's recommendation he gets taken on, even with being too fat, as a cemetery guard. Once he gets to his lodging out at the cemetery he gets to work making it up the best he can.
The issue with the cemetery and the need for a guard is that bodies get taken by the Specks. They are usually found in a tree and returned. After a while at his post a body gets stolen and when he finds it in the forest it is being absorbed into a new tree. When he goes to remove the body he is confronted by two Specks who tell him that the man wants to stay there and not to be put back in the ground. This doesn't make any sense to Nevare so he ignores them and brings the body back.
Back in town Nevare sees his cousin Epiny in the streets but not wanting to dihonor her and her husband Spink he doesn't approach her. But in stairing at her he attracts the notice of one of his fellow soldiers. Who from then on takes a big interest in everything he does. Spink runs into him a little later and recongizes him but Nevare tells him he must be mistaken. Nevare is trying to spare them the embarassment of his situation but Spink is having none of it. He comes out to see him later and they end up meeting in secret from time to time. During this time Nevare gets blamed for the disappearance of a whore he had visited in town. To top that off he runs into his old fiancee, Carsina. When he trys to approach her to ask for her help in contacting his sister, as he knows his mail along with Spink and Epiney's is not reacher her due to his fathers interference. But she pretends not to know him and from this he is accused of harrassing her. Every time Nevare thinks things are settling down in his life something gets in the way. His reputation in town is just getting worse as people think he is a rapist, murder and accoster of women. So he starts to stay away from town.
By doing this he ends up in the forest one day to try and get some logs for making a fence along the cemetery to keep the Specks from stealing the dead in the graves. However, instead the same Speck man from before shows up and tells him he will lead him to some good trees. Instead he ends up leading Nevare to his daughter instead. In Speck culture it seems the women are in charge of everything so she sets her claim on Nevare. Their relationship is one of her taking him for her own and trying to fatten him up as she recognizes him as a Great One, a powerfull man of the Magic. The more Magic a person can use the bigger their physical appearance. He is now caught between two worlds one is the world of the forest, the Specks, and the world of being a soldier, Gernian. For the rest of the book this drives just about all he does.
As the story goes on he learns more and more the Magic is the source of everything bad that's been happening to him. It wants him to do something and he's not doing it so it helps him move along so he'll be able to do it. First it got him kicked out of the academey, then it killed off those he was close to at home so that his father threw him out, it cause his friend Hitch who also has some of the Magic in him to kill the whore that died and to cause the blame to fall on Nevare. The Magic wants Nevare to drive his countrymen away from the forest. This is because as Nevare will discover via his new Speck contacts the tree they are cutting down to create the King's Road are in fact the spirits of their ancestors.
The final part of the book goes really fast and things just keep heading downhill fast. Due to the Speck Plague causing more deaths in town and the fact that some of the dead seem to come back to life. Nevare gets accused of Necrophilia on the corpse of his old fiancee. On top of this there is proof, that was setup by Hitch, that he killed the whore who's body was recently discovered. So Nevare finds himself on trial. After he is convicted his cousin Epiny working with the woman from Dead Town, who is now working for Epiny and Spink, work to set him free. In the escape attempt he is caught by a mob. Spink is trying to get to him and the woman from Dead Town is about to be raped because she is helping Nevare. Because of all this Nevare gives into the Magic completely and causes everyone to stop. He makes everyone think that they killed him and buried him. Then he makes his way off into the forest to figure out what he has to do for the Magic.