I PRINTED MY BOOK!!! // A Sprig of Green gorgeousness

[warning: this blog post contains much screaming in caps. I apologise in advance for any hearing problems you might sustain]

*screaming*

YES YES YOU READ RIGHT. I printed out a real life actual book copy of A Sprig of Green. *flails and more screaming*

How did this happen??
Well, the story is that Alice (one of my older sisters) is normally my brainstorming buddy and she reads all my books as I'm writing them and everything. And she's great at it. But for this one I wanted to give her a surprise. A birthday surprise.

So I didn't let her read it. Instead I had the epic Krystal reading it for me instead (many hugs and thanks to her because she was so amaaazing <33). And then I enlisted my other older sister, Clare, and she made an epic cover for me and I scraped through the novella roughly to try get rid of as many typos as I could. Then I uploaded it all onto lulu and clicked order.

AND THEN IT CAME IN THE MAIL JUST IN TIME. Two days before Alice's birthday, I got the book.

I was excited. Very excited. MUCH FLAILING HAPPENED, GUYS. I'm sure you can imagine it. xD

Flailing is still happening actually. :P MY BOOK SMELLS WITH THAT 'NEW BOOK' SMELL. I CAN HOLD IT. I CAN HUG IT.

So naturally YOU GUYS GET ALLLL THE PHOTOS NOW. YEEET.
(Once again, thank you SO MUCH Clare for taking such amaaazing photos. <3 <3 <3)

Then we break through the clouds and the light explodes down on us, illuminating a world of white, misty clouds and endless horizons...

I know now. I made my choice a long time ago, and there’s no going back. 

I’m going to help Michayla change the world.

Also, yeah this post has, like, two hundred words and two gazillion photos (closer to 300 words and 10 photos but shhh that's beside the point), but PICTURES TELL A THOUSAND WORDS EACH. So win-win. xD


SO WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PRINT YOUR BOOK??? (because you tooootally should, guys. Really. )

Camp NaNoWriMo // the final day

1 July 2017, 12:00 AM. I was sitting on a stack of cushions in front of the fireplace in our lounge room.

31 July 2017, (ALMOST) 12:00 AM. I am, once more, sitting in the exact same place and thinking philosophical thoughts.

You know actually I'm not thinking philosophical thoughts, I'm bouncing on cushions. But anyways.

July was a big month. I had my cousin staying over for the first week, I had my weekends booked with odds and ends, I had this and that and everything else on.

Plus Camp NaNo.

And yet right now after all the month is past (*glances at clock* technically it's still another little while yet, I guess. :P) I feel a sense of achievement. I feel like I lived this month. I feel like I took time to be with my younger siblings (and my older ones. :P I actually went to bed at a sane time once or twice so we could hang out before going to sleep). I feel like I did just the perfect thing that I needed to refocus my gaze and remind myself of why I spend hours at the computer everyday. Why I pour my heart and energy into words on a page.

It was a good month.


I actually have a story for you today (ironic, I know). At the end of May, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do for July Camp. I was going to write Steam Flight. I was going to have a goal of 70k. I was going to spend half of June plotting.

Haha. Ha.
Nope.

None of that actually ended up happening, but I'm so much happier with what I ended up doing. I wrote A Sprig of Green - the idea of which came into my head about three weeks before Camp. I had a goal of 40k. I started plotting three or four days before Camp, and finished with eleven hours to spare with a chapter-by-chapter plot. I then realised that my novel was actually a novella, and so I lowered my word count goal to 25k.

I had so. much. fun.

A Sprig of Green was one of the easiest books I've ever written. It was just the thing my brain needed to get out of the secret agents and criminals mode, and take a creative break to try out something else. It was an exciting adventure of writing. I finished the novella on day fifteen, at approximately 35k. And then I did something crazy.

I didn't start editing.

I meant to. I honestly planned to. But it didn't happen. And that's all cool by me. I really enjoyed being about to roll back on my insane word counts and hours of typing and delve into other things. I finished some critiquing projects (plus started and finished yet another). I learnt-ish how to do a flying jump kick (don't ask xD although if you do ask, you might get access to a secret youtube video featuring my gymnastics skills xP). I got one or two new movies to fangirl over (Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy yaaass). AND SO MUCH MORE that I won't bore you with telling. xD


At the end of one NaNo month, I automatically look toward the next. November. Actual real super duper 50k NaNoWriMo. Normally I would be starting to plan out "Ohh I'll write such-and-such project then" but right now. I have no clue at all. I don't know what'll happen between then and now. I don't know how far edits I'll be. I don't know what God has in store. But I'm excited. I'm excited to see everything that he's doing and I'm super hyped to see what he continues to do.

I have a pile of projects that are eagerly awaiting my attention, and I could do an entire blog series on what they are and what needs doing on all of them, but I'm not sure that would be terribly interesting after the first one or two. :) So currently, I'm just meandering along as God opens doors or closes them and I'm just so excited for next month. And I'm also excited to have all my wonderful blogging friends so I can bounce along and hear all the cool stuff about your life happenings too. :D

Only two minutes left. :P


What are you excited for in August?
Who's hoping to do NaNo this year??

Spider-Man Homecoming // warning: much fangirling

*starts humming the spider man theme*

One week ago, my dad took me to the movies to see Spider-man Homecoming and it officially earned a place waaaay high up on my favouritest movies of all time list. I absolutely and utterly loved every moment of it. 

So of course I'm going to do a blog post solely to flail over it.
This post is spoiler-less, so don't worry if you haven't seen the movie yet, you're all safe.

My reaction basically: I LOVED IT SO SO MUCH AND HELP I CAN'T GET OVER ANY OF IT AND YEEEET.

This movie and I started off on a good foot from the very first. Spider-Man has always been my favourite superhero. I watched the 2002 Tobey Maguire version a year or so back, and before that, I'm fairly sure that I read some comics too. Not the super originals probably, but I have a recollection of Spider-Man comics and absolutely loving them. So when I saw the Spider-Man Homecoming teaser trailer- well, it happened something like this:

Me: oh hey I'll watch this trailer. it's Spider-Man after all.
Me: *watches*
Me: OH SWEET PIZZA AND PASTRY WHEN IS THIS MOVIE COMING OUT I MUST SEE IT.

And for the past two months, my family can confirm that I have been going on about Spider-man...a lot. :P I'd watched every single trailer that I could find - several times over. I even quoted the movie before it was even released. I was hyped, to say the least.

The day when I was going to see it, I was so nervous. I was worried it wouldn't be all that cool. I was desperately trying to not imagine all the awful things the movie could be like. But as soon as it started BOOM. All worries were gone.

SO GOOD.

I have always loved Spidey so much because he's just so relateable, and Homecoming has done this in a super great way. HE'S JUST A TEENAGE KID TRYING TO WORK OUT LIFE AND HELP DON'T WE ALL RELATE??? I'm sure I do, anyway. 
And another thing Peter was so dyyying to get out of school and be spider-man again. THAT WAS SO GOOD. IF I COULD BE SPIDER-MAN I'D WANT TO DO IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Like...who wouldn't?! And he's my age. Not some college-going Superman or some billionaire Batman (or even the other versions of Spider-Man). He's just a kid like me, going through similar things to me (though I'm not spider-man, and I'm not in 'school' school - yay homeschooling XD but still, it's true) and I love that so much.

I'd watched a ton of interviews that Tom Holland (the actor who plays Peter/Spider-man, for those non-geeky people :P) did and once or twice I had a flash of concern of: 'wait, if I do this, what if I can't see him as Peter, but only as actor Tom Holland' BUT NO. It wasn't like that at all. Tom was Peter and the casting of everything was just so perfect.

Have I mentioned how much I liked the characters?? Peter was amazing. Aunt May was young and I really really liked that actually. Ned and Michelle cracked me up. (Michelle though guys, a female character who wasn't the love interest?? How cool is that?) And the villain was super well done. He made so much sense and was so real but so scary at the same time. (scary in a good way)
Gosh I just loved them all. No one felt flat or unrealistic at all.

Is Spider-Man a funny superhero? Hmm, let me think. UM YES. And Homecoming captured that perfectly. Even in the super intense epic action scenes, there's humour and comedy dropped in there. And it's not forced at all. It's just realistic. Because honestly, if I was in that situation YES. I'D DO ALL OF THAT. I'd be like "WHOA THIS IS SO COOL I'M A SUPERHERO - AVENGERS HERE I COME." And it's so quoteable and memorable.
(I have had several gif conversations with a friend in which I use solely Spider-Man gifs and I'm very proud of myself. xD)

And speaking of action, I was so in the movie. I was shivering with tension some of the scenes and I'm sure my heart almost stopped for a moment there with THAT PLOT TWIST. Not to mention that I was discreetly absolutely definitely not crying nope not at all in one certain scene. I just wanted to give Peter a hug because I could relate so much.

And, like the avid fan I am, I've now seen the movie twice. First time when my Dad took me and then I dragged both my older sisters along because I liked it so much and needed some more people to get my quotes and references. IT WAS JUST AS GOOD THE SECOND TIME. *shrieks and fangirls forever*

This is BY FAR my favourite Marvel movie (granted, I haven't watched a heap (*cough*two*coughcough*), but shhh that's beside the point. Silence peasant. XD) and way high up right near the very top of my favourite all-time. It's just so epic and cool and YES.

Help. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop flailing and fangirling over this movie.
Actually no, don't bother send help. I'm quite happy right as I am. xP


Have you seen Spider-man Homecoming??
(if you did, FLAIL WITH ME, you know you want to XD)
Are there any movies that you've been flailing over before they're even released?

The Beauty of Poems // I bought my friend's poetry book!!!

You probably noticed in my vlog on Friday, that I read out a poem written by Julia Ryan. And not only that, but it was read out from an actual physical paperback book.

That, my friends, is because Julia Ryan has her AMAZING poetry available to buy.

Hence today you get a post with lots of beautiful photos (credit to my sister - obviously) and not very many words (I blame camp nano).

When I heard the news, I was so super insanely excited. I bought it that day. And YES, it was, like, a bit over twenty dollars (what with converting US dollars to AUD + postage) but that's the price I have to pay for about 80% of new books. And this was absolutely and definitely worth every cent.

"I laugh a lot

for no good reason

sometimes

I just catch myself doing it

and then I grin

and keep on laughing"

"her laugh

it's changed

it seems a bit more open

almost a bit more

f r e e "

 

"I thought that books were

harmless enough

but I was wrong

they aren't just a bunch of words

printed out on paper

they play with your mind

giving you a sensation

of a world

you are yet to be a part of"

Poetry is such a beautiful gift. Reading through this was so amazing and I could honestly feel the realness that was behind each poem. Every poem has a story that shows just a little bit of the author's heart. The part of them that isn't often on display for anyone to see. 

That's one of the things that I love most about poetry and about songs and about writing. It's all like a little glimpse into a deeper person.

"you have to be brave

to let people in

to trust them

with your story

and heart

and love

you can't just run away

bc you are scared"

. . .

"be brave

trust in God

and then

my dear friend

you will find beauty"

I know that with some of my artistic creations (using words, of course, because drawing/paint = nooope) I pour my time and my energy into it and there is so much of me in the stories and the characters and the words and phrases. 

To be entrusted with reading someone else's story and heart should be just as scary as telling people yours. Because we're handling something that is so close to them that it should be frightening. And for me, it is. But in a way that makes me excited and so alive.

Because we've got to be brave, even if it doesn't feel like we can be. 


Check out the lovely Julia Ryan at her blogging corner of the internet to find out more about this wonderful person - and hop over to her poetry blog for some of her amazing works!!
Blog - The Barefoot Gal
Poetry blog(!!!) - Twilight to Dawn
and don't forget to check out her 'my poetry book' page and BUY IT NOW.

Do you like reading or writing poetry?
(if the answer is yes - shoo, off you go and buy Julia's book. If the answer is no. . . off with you and do it anyways)

Explore Leira Blog Tour: K is for Ky Huntyr

I have a thing for characters by the name of Ky. (Cai, Kai and Kye work too.) When I stumbled across the Songkeeper Chronicles (actually, it was probably my sister who found them, but I do enough stumbling for us both so yeah.) (I'm not sure how that side note got so off track in one sentence.) I fell in love with Ky Huntyr immediately.

And today you guys get to hear all about him!!!

Author Gillian Bronte Adams is here today and she's going to give a rundown of this super epic Ky-fellow who Jane won't stop flailing over.

So without further ramblings, I'll hand over the stage to Gillian!

- - -

Thanks, Jane, for hosting me here and helping me celebrate the (almost) one year book birthday for Songkeeper! (If this is your first encounter with the blog tour, we are continuing a series of alphabet posts looking at the world and characters and magical creatures of the Songkeeper Chronicles. And you can follow the tour at Gillian's website and find a list of all the stops at #exploreleira tour.) And we also have an awesome giveaway that you can enter at the end!

Today, we’re looking at the letter …

K is for Ky Huntyr

Oddly enough, it is sometimes easier to write one of these spotlight posts about a minor or secondary character than one of the major point of view characters. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps because there is so much information about these main characters spinning around inside my head, that it’s hard to translate that firestorm into words on a page.


So what is it that makes Ky who he is? He is not the biggest or the strongest, not the fastest or the bravest, not the smartest or the most well-spoken. He isn’t always right, even when he is convinced that he is. But he has conviction and the courage to back it up, and he cares deeply about those he seeks to protect.

Ky lives in the occupied city of Kerby. Five years before the events of Orphan’s Song, the soldiers of the Takhran, the Khelari, took over the city. They established a digging works along the banks of the River Adayn just outside the city walls. Not long after, people began to disappear. Taken, by the dark soldiers.

Three years before Orphan’s Song, Ky’s parents were taken. Forced onto the streets, he found refuge and a new “home” in the Underground, where he was paired as a “younger brother” to Dizzier to learn the ropes. 
When it came to training, Dizzier preferred to literally hammer his point home with punches. Ky is too free-thinking for his own good. In the Underground, survival is key … but Ky just couldn’t master the art of survival at the expense of others. Somewhere in between dodging dark soldiers, avoiding Dizzier, and nicking enough bread and apples from the market to contribute his fair share, Ky met Paddy and made a fast friend.


Paddy chuckled softly. “You’re such a fool, y’ know that, Ky?”
He snorted. “Thanks, friend.”
–Orphan’s Song


In many ways, Paddy is far more his brother than Dizzier.

For a weapon, Ky chose a sling that he wears wrapped around his waist like a belt. Like all in the Underground, he must undergo sword training in the Ring, but something about the blades always strikes him as unbalanced and clunky. He will wield a blade in a pinch, but only then.

We see the roots of Ky’s character in Orphan’s Song but he really blossoms and grows in Songkeeper. When the world falls apart, a person’s true mettle is revealed, and that is true of Ky. He’s got guts and plenty of them. We love to see heroes overcome, and Ky is an overcomer. Knock him down, and he’ll drag himself back to his feet. Weaving and staggering to keep from falling again.

But standing ... and sometimes that is enough.


Cade was halfway across the room by the time Ky managed to lurch to his feet. Head spinning, he yanked the sling from his waist, snatched a rock from the cavern floor, and relying on feel rather than sight, sent it zinging against the blade in Cade’s hand.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and forced himself to stand straight. “The fight’s not over.”
– Songkeeper


What makes Ky who he is?

His indomitable spirit. He simply will not give up. Driven by conviction and hope, he rises and rises and rises again, determined to stand for what he believes to be right.


Trivia Question: What item does Ky “nick” in the market place in Orphan’s Song to earn a place in Cade’s approval?

What character qualities do you admire most in your favorite characters?

- - -

Check out the links below for a place to purchase the books:

Amazon: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper

Barnes and Nobles: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper

And before you leave, don’t forget to enter the giveaway! 

One lucky winner will take home a copy of Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, and a gorgeous handmade mug. Two lucky winners will take home copies of Songkeeper! Open to international entries. Enter through the Rafflecopter below and be sure to visit Gillian's website to continue following the blog tour. You can earn new entries for each post that you visit along the way. 
Winners will be announced after April 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GILLIAN BRONTE ADAMS is a sword-wielding, horse-riding, coffee-loving speculative fiction author from the great state of Texas. During the day, she manages the equestrian program at a youth camp. But at night, she kicks off her boots and spurs, pulls out her trusty laptop, and transforms into a novelist. She is the author of Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, and Out of Darkness Rising. Visit Gillian online at her blog, Twitter, or Facebook page.

- - -

What character qualities do you admire most in your favorite characters?
Interested in reading these books yet?
(hint: the answer is yes)
Check out my reviews here: Orphan's Song, Songkeeper

Songkeeper - Artair's Sword

So, you have all heard that I am a terrible artist. Right? Well if the answer was no, now you have.
But if I get desperate/excited/inspired enough, I might give it a go.

Generally speaking those attempts end their very short days in shredded pieces in the bin.

But not this day!

To inspire me to even attempt anything slightly art-ish is an amazing feat (unless I'm making pizza, in which case it's easy to be artistic). Therefore I must impart the great and amazing thing that made me do it:

Songkeeper

A book. Called Songkeeper. And the fact that I'm on the 'launch team' probably helped a little.


So I guess you'll all want to see my picture now. *Sighs* Well, that's what this post was for. Here goes:

Ahem...So...yeah. How d'you like it? If you weren't sure, the picture's of a sword (Artair's sword) at the bottom of a river. It turned out better than I expected...

I just started with a sketch and then my DLS (A bit like DLF only it stands for 'Dear Little Sister' - even if she's older) helped me discover, ever deeper, the ways of colouring something in on photoshop. 


Now that we've got the picture over and done with, I can rant about 'Songkeeper!' Okay, I'll let you go lightly then. But only if you read the book!

Songkeeper is a really, really, really, really (really, really really) good book. Epicly so. I was actually jittering in my seat through half of it. It was good.

Oh, I guess I'd better mention that it's the second book in the Songkeeper Chronicles, and Orphan's Song (the first book) was definitely just as great.

I reviewed it on Goodreads here. And for those of you who couldn't be bothered to click on the link, I'll stick it in here too. :)


“This book is SO GOOD! I just can't even think straight anymore. I enjoyed Orphan's Song massively and expected great things from Songkeeper. And I am not disappointed at all.

The characters are all amazingly real, relatable, and just plain awesome. To start off the awesomeness we have the unique but pronounceable names, super great! Add that to complex personalities, struggles and pains. I was drawn ever deeper into the lives of all the characters.
And I will never believe that [character - whose name I shall not state] died unless I see the body. I refuse to believe.

This book had me literally jittering from epic-ness. The pace never slackens for a moment, and it's page turning the whole way. I can't put the amazingness into words! Everything about this book is impossibly and completely great and epic. Plus, there's now a map, triple the epic!

Songkeeper's tone is diferent than Orphan's Song. There is war all over Leira, and suffering at every turn. This book takes a darker turn, looking into the pain deeper, as the characters experience it in different ways. There is blood, there are wounds and deaths, but I was not bothered by it. The pain of the characters made them more real.

ARCs are officially amazing. I was barely able to put this book down as soon as I got it. When's the next book coming out?! Songkeeper has kept up the amazingness of Orphan's Song, adding to it, even. My recommendations for this books are flooding out over every single person ever.
Go read the book.”

Since I said I'd let you off lightly (trust me, I accidentally ranted for a whole page about this book in my last letter to my cousin) I'd better leave you with that final instruction. Read de book, see you on Friday, and (for all the Aussies) hope you have/had a great ANZAC Day.

Fair Winds!

New Story Reveal!

Here is the promised reveal of my next serial blog-story! To start with, I guess I'd better announce the title:

Swords, Sails + Scoundrels

I wanted something slightly shorter than 'If Adventure Comes Your Way' because that can be a bit of a mouthful to say sometimes, but I wanted it to be cool. And it also needed to reflect the story somehow.

As you can gather from the title, there will hopefully be quite a bit of sailing/ships in this story, as well as weapons - mostly of the sword-ly kind. I'm quite looking forward to starting so you can all find out about my brilliant plans.

Now, I have a couple new characters, and I spent ages thinking up random character profiles/blurbs that didn't give away everything that might happen but were still interesting, so I hope they'll give you a quick glimpse at what these people are like.


Louise De Corlette: 
(Yeah, I know, I know, the new ones'll come soon)

Using the cover name Conwell, she is eager to see more of the world. One time, Louise would have been daunted at such a prospect, but she is no longer the same girl that sat in the parlour with Governess Kathryn.

Now a tried adventurer, Louise finds that she has yet a very narrow field of experience. Changing status from a lady, she tries her hand at many trades; traveller, gypsy, even pirate. But her journey to Eirerandil isn’t just for fun…

Eumin Quest:

Leonora’s oftentimes companion on her Outrider missions. He's quiet and strong, the perfect kind to fight alongside Leonora’s daring courage.








Leonora Maysdaughter:

Lieutenant of the Royal Outriders and younger sister of Eumin Quest, Leonora has become well known for her adventurous ability and fencing skills

(Here come the new characters!)

Marius De Corlette:

The second of Louise’s older brothers, Marius is just twenty years of age. He and Louise were the closest of the De Corlette siblings, despite being almost complete opposites. Having left Feâ Sirih a little over three years ago to earn renown, he fell into deep trouble upon reaching the fair country of Eirerandil.

His family have heard nothing of him since the day he left.

Captain Wielder:

Infamous pirate of the Notrias Sea. Rapscallion, rebel and rascal supreme.

Although he goes by the term pirate, Captain Wielder has nothing alike with others of that kind. Since his boyhood he made adventures for himself, planning great feats and fame on the high seas. These dreams never died, and he now lives them in reality, sailing the seas in search of adventure. 

Captain Wielder is an expert swordsman, known for capturing soldiers to fight them and beat them with his gentleman-like manner – just to show off his swordsmanship skills. After which he unfailingly releases them so they can go tell the whole country about him.

Earning his widespread fame in this manner, he ceased searching for adventure, discovering that it found him plentifully without any help. Being such a renowned swordsman, the ultimate challenge for would-be soldiers is to fight and beat him. Many have tried. None have succeeded.

With gentlemanly courtesy for the ladyfolk and willing respect only for those who earn it, he sails his beloved Rift across the sea, meeting ever more famous swordsmen to fight. And beat. And release. And make his reputation grow ever more.

Gypsy Boy:

At the age of sixteen, he lived his whole life travelling the country with his parents and the band of gypsies. Unfortunate, and unexpected circumstances (a.k.a. Captain Wielder) drag him from his mother’s overindulging grasp, and send him reeling onto the wild seas.

He has the typical brown hair and olive skin of his race, but his eyes are dark blue, given by a distant Eirerandil ancestor.

A quick glance shows a sullen, quiet yet arrogant bearing and a remarkable ability to annoy people without speaking a word. But inside he really wants to be wanted by someone, to be needed somehow – he realises that no one actually likes him, they just fake it. Although some don't bother to even do that.

Though he is a fast thinker and good at quickly assessing situations, he doesn’t often share it, keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself.

---

I really can't decide if I like Captain Wielder or Gypsy Boy the most...I have such plans for them both. 
So, how to they all sound? Interesting?

And here's a random synopsis I wrote up:

“Eirerandil, a once-bright land, is marred by the presence of a terrible evil. A serial killer stalks the land, and only one person has a chance to stop him.

Louise ‘Conwell’ is excited about widening her experiences, but when she reaches her destination she realises that it’s worse than she imagined. Courageously starting off things begin to go awry from the very first. When Louise is captured by the infamous pirate Captain Wielder she discovers that allies can be found in the strangest of characters.

But with wild storms at sea, shiploads of pirates, and an elusive goal, can Louise and her friends possibly stop the killer before her long-lost brother is lost forever?”

Sadly I can't share the cover picture yet, because my artist is yet to finish, but I can say that, last I saw, it looks pretty cool.

And equally sadly, I won't be starting SS+S next week. I'll be away at my crazy cousin's farm! (Disclaimer: I never said she was crazier than me. I've been told she had her serious moments.)(besides, she goes to school. Pfft, overrated thing as it is, you've got to be at least half sensible to go there and live.) I'll be getting back next Friday and doing a post about my Camp NaNo novel, so things won't be completely silent.  (Also, since I'm leaving early Sunday morning I will check for comments Saturday night, but after that they will unfortunately remain unpublished until I return on Friday. But please comment anyway, it'll give me a nice welcome home!)

My plan is to start the week after though, so unless something bad blows up (or the cover picture still needs more time)(I think my artist is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to her drawings), you can expect the adventure to begin then. 

If you were wondering what happened to Maree and Jack, don't worry, they actually did live happily ever after (for a while). All the Freespirits are alive and they went to live with Jack's family in the forest. But they yet wait for news of Louise's return.

Oh, I almost forgot, I drew (you are about to witness the most artistic I ever get. Except for when making pizza) a map -

And then Clare, dear sister that she is, made it epic -

It looks so amazing! I'm just annoyed at myself for smearing the 'd' of Pyre-ite Island and the 'n' of Raeyn...(Raeyn is the town right down the bottom of the coast of Eirerandil, if you couldn't tell)
I reckon the sea looks pretty cool, with all the currents and the swirling vortex around the compass (I was rather happy with how the compass turned out, I usually draw them in a slightly different style but I actually like this one heaps). The land's great too...so's the whole thing really. Thank you terribly much, Clare. :D

I believe that's all for now. Phew, I wasn't planning on this being such a long post! I hope you're as excited as I am for the first segment! *does a happy dance*

Dúinn aller!

Cinder & Scarlet – Marissa Meyer – Book Reviews

Recently I read the first two books in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and, boy, are they good. This is just a post of my reviews for both, so if you skip it I won't be terribly insulted (not that I'm even going to know). I admit, I often do that with the blogs I follow -- unless I know they're particularly interesting books that I have read, or want to read.
I also wrote quite a long review for Scarlet...sorry. If you've got enough time or need help with some procrastination, read on! And if you don't, then just go buy a copy of this series. Trust me, you probably won't regret it.

Cinder - Book One

Really, really cool. I enjoyed this heaps and would seriously recommend it to anyone looking for page-turning YA fiction. Cinder has high stakes, fast pacing and that distinctive un-put-down-able aspect. An epic story. Five star.
I can't think of any bad content at all. There’s a bit of romance but what Cinderella retelling couldn’t have some of that? I didn’t mind it at all.


I really liked all the characters - except for the evil ones, which I didn't like at all -and they're all really well written. Cinder is so real, and she goes through unfairness and struggles and just pulled me into the story. I really experienced the whole thing. I also just have this thing for mechanics.

Prince Kai is cool, and I’m not afraid to admit that I reckon he and Cinder were so perfect together. If only Cinder could have just said yes! Kai’s situation is just as bad, if not worse, than Cinder’s and he has the weight of an empire resting on him, how he rises to that just made me like him even more. I just loved his character.


The wit in the book is just my style, and Cinder is by far one of the most unique retelling of Cinderella ever (drawing on a close tie with A Wish Made of Glass). This is the kind of series I want to see on my bookshelf. I’m really wanting to read the next book now.

Scarlet - Book Two


A great, amazingly written sequel to Cinder. I'm only giving this four stars (rather than five) because of two reasons.


• The Wolf-Scarlet relationship

I mean seriously, one day? They met, they ran, they fell in love. There’s only one or two kisses and it doesn’t go into much detail though, so that side isn’t too bad – too bad, as in, I still love the book.

• The Violence/Blood-and-Gutsy Stuff

Violence and fighting and doesn’t bother me to a certain level, but those wolf-warrior-villain dudes had some interesting (‘interesting’ = ehh) methods of killing (to put it nicely), and it was almost worse because they still looked mostly human. So the ‘gross level’ went up since Cinder.


Now that I’ve gotten the bad stuff over with, I can head over to the good stuff!


Naturally, as the sequel, it wasn’t quite as good as Cinder but I still enjoyed it. The stakes are raised, the deadline draws closer and basically the whole world is at stake. Page-turning and full of tension, Scarlet follows on directly from where Cinder left off. The villains are wonderfully villainous and totally freaky. I’d better not forget the important twists that I was to engrossed in the story to notice until they were right in front of my eyes. Hey, give me a break, I’m short-sighted after all. :)


The characters, new and old, were all interesting (‘interesting’ = cool/amazing/these guys totally rock/eeeviilll/well written in general), but Cinder remains my favourite. Her struggles with how to use her power drew me in, and although I’m not pleased about some of the things she did, I can’t help root for her even more than before.

Captain/cadet Thorne is strange. I kept switching between not liking him, to thinking he wasn’t so bad. He considers himself a ‘ladies man’ and voices it often enough, and he’s got some funny things to say a lot of the time. I can’t really think what exactly it is that puts me off him, but there’s something that banishes him from the ‘coolest characters’ bench. I’ll allot him a spot in the ‘still working on me’ section.

I must admit, the Kai chapters frustrated me, ‘CAUSE HE STILL DOESN’T KNOW!!! But I still like him heaps anyways. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention: Adri Linh is eeeviilll.

Wolf. Now there is a complex character. He’s good…He’s bad…He’s good…Okay, what side is he on? He kept me guessing, and fulfilled my darkest suspicions near the end. But he’s intriguing, and incredibly so. He seemed so capable and yet afraid. I really wanted to learn more about him.

Scarlet (the character, not the book) is rather impulsive and quick to anger. She has her sweet moments, and I liked getting to know a new character.

I’d better stop rambling before this review becomes a complete novel in itself. To summarise: I want to read Cress!

As you can tell, I really liked these books. I think it's cool how they're all retellings of different fairy tales. I'm quite amazed at how long my review for Scarlet was...the longest I've ever written I think! Anyway, I'd better actually do some schoolwork now. Just for a change. :)

Fare Thee Well!

Brotherband Book Six: The Ghostfaces

Okaaay, so this post has taken a while in coming because I've been slack on my 'Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband new books Watch' so I only recently (as in, about half a month ago) found out more than slight rumors.

Here is the cover...

Meh, no cover yet, but I'm sure it'll turn up soon enough (and quite possibly I'll do another blog post on it). 

But here is the synopsis. This'll probably change and be refined slightly before the release date but it's all I've got so far.

(Wait for it...)

When the Brotherband crew are caught in a massive storm at sea, they’re blown far off course and wash up on the shores of a land so far west that Hal can’t recognize it from any of his maps. Eerily, the locals are nowhere in sight, yet the Herons have a creeping feeling they are being watched.

Suddenly the silence is broken when a massive, marauding bear appears, advancing on two children. The crew springs into action and rescues the children from the bear’s clutches, which earns them the gratitude and friendship of the local Mawagansett tribe, who finally reveal themselves. But the peace is short-lived. The Ghostfaces, a ruthless, warlike tribe who shave their heads and paint their faces white, are on the warpath once more. It’s been ten years since they raided the Mawagansett village, but they’re coming back to pillage and reap destruction. As the enemy approaches, the Herons gear up to help their new friends repel an invasion.

In this sixth book in the action-packed Brotherband Chronicles, the Herons find themselves in unfamiliar lands and prepare for battle with a ruthless, unknown enemy.

It sounds kinda interesting and strange at the same time. Also sounds just slightly similar to stories about Leif Erikson discovering America...Hmmm, I wonder...

I'm really looking forward to reading it though. But wait! I haven't told you the release date! There are slight conflicting resources on this point. Random House Australia says that it's in May but other places say June...I'll just go with the May one 'cause Random House is the publisher so if they don't know I'll start getting worried. (Also, the June one might be American but I really dunno.)

16/05/2016

That is the hopefully, maybe release date of Brotherband Six - The Ghostfaces!!!

Read this series everyone, I'm telling you for the...er...somethingth time, but you really should. 

I also discovered here that apparently there's going to be another book about Will and Maddie and at least one more prequel. I reckon there should be something about Gillan's apprenticeship, because that sounds extremely amusing...

Anyway, I'm keeping a half-watch for the cover and will hopefully do a post to show you all what it looks like. Anyone else dying (not literally) to read it? And, if not dying, really looking forward to it?

Fare Thee Well!

Ranger's Apprentice the Early Years: The Tournament at Gorlan ~ Review

Here it is! The first Ranger's Apprentice Prequel is published! Actually it was published on the 16th and I even got my copy that day too (Which was awesome) but I've only just got around to doing this post.

I had great fun reading this, Halt and Crowley are so funny. :D I was actually brave enough to attempt another multiple-paragraphed review, but first I thought I'd let you watch the book trailer thingy:

And here's the review:

I really, really liked this book. It was cool to find out about Halt and Crowley's history and everything that happened before The Ruins of Gorlan. I found it quite fun to hear about 'young baron Arald' and other 'young' people who are older in other books.

Halt's character is really well brought out and his humour is hilarious! I give him the Favourite Character award for this book. He and Crowley are so funny together. Halt is a very real person and his character is intriguing and mysterious. I loved finding out more about him. Plus, when Halt meets Mistress DuLacy for the first time it's so, so funny. And when he gets his horse...

The story line, although, since I've read the Ranger's Apprentice books, I knew some of it, was well planned out and page turning. The ending was a little sad but it just added to Halt's character, and I know there's more to come.

The Tournament at Gorlan really shows Morgarath's evil side in clearer light, and his villainousness is well done. He's a decidedly unlikeable person. His arrogance and just plain evilness adds to the tension in the story, showing that he wouldn't shy from killing to get his way.

I'd say this book is better to read after all the other Ranger's Apprentice series, but it would work either way. All in all this book is definitely as good as John Flanagan's other ones and I can hardly wait for book 2 of Ranger's Apprentice, The Early Years.



I can't get over how funny a gloomy Halt can be. Crowley's almost as funny but not quite. I now have a new supply of quotes to quote at random intervals in general conversation... For example:


"Are you always so insufferably cheerful?" Halt asked.

"I suppose I am," Crowley admitted. "Do you always travel around as if there's a big, black thundercloud over your head?"


When I finished reading the book, my sister Clare started it and then, when she finished, Alice started (but hasn't finished as of yet) to and then I have three other friends that I'm loaning it to afterwards. So my copy of The Tournament at Gorlan is going to be well read! Oh, that's not mentioning that I'll probably reread it after everyone else's finished... :)

Another cool thing is that I have a signed copy, and that just adds to the awesomeness (I bought it from Booktopia). I'm now going to have to keep waiting until I can discover when the next prequel is coming out...

Just after I got the book someone wise told me that I was acting like an idiot fangirl but I don't care! That's normal. You ask who the wise person was? My sister? No. I think it was me actually. I can be very wise at times. (That was a quote by the way...and also true.)

A few years ago I'd never heard of Ranger's Apprentice. Back then I was reasonably sensible. Now? No way! Ask anyone who knows me and they'll agree. I never used to be crazy about weapons and the such, but then I read Ranger's Apprentice...And now I am. And proud of it too.

If you haven't read any Ranger's Apprentice, Brotherband or Early Years books then you seriously need to go do it. Now. I mean it.

Fare Thee Well!