Poor Lyl. Yet more heartache. She tried everything she could think of, risked her life, loved him unconditionally, but still, no matter how much she wanted it to be different than it was, her efforts were fruitless. This is probably my least favorite part of life. Trying to the utmost and it mattering nothing at all. It is a deeper sense of loss, of being robbed, of being worthless, than anything else I know.
And especially when everything you are doing is 100% for the right reason, and to help a child, an innocent. You know you might not be worth saving because you can list your own vices and faults. You can reason out logically why your life is a waste, if you focus on all the bad about you, but in life, you meet some, usually children, who are pure and innocent. You cannot fathom them ever doing wrong, nor that they have ever. You cannot reason out why they must suffer, when all the goodness in the world seems to dwell in their precious hearts.
It is so cruel, and it stays with you for life, when you know someone completely without fault who suffers, and you cannot help them, even though you try; even though you love them.
It just doesn't change anything.
I'll never forget... Max.
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The best way out of a depression is to take action in attempt to resolve another's crisis.
This chapter is all about the straightforward action of trying to save someone by getting them as quickly as you can to help; so it is filled with descriptions of some of which that is passed in the rush to get to Andari.
Lyl is now finally meeting the family she inherited by becoming the daughter of Ties. (Who also don't know she's adopted).
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Betrayal after being betrayed, and yet again, by those she trusts most.
Life can be incredibly unfair and harsh, and when it becomes so, one can become delirious from the pain. Overcome, wishing she could die, Lyl finds one single thing to hold onto, and it becomes her purpose; a reason to continue breathing, to the point of obsession. A boy she doesn't even know the name of.
This book is def dark in places, but what character growth is there truly worth noting that was not the cause of someone overcoming the worst life has to offer? What hero from history, or even mythology, never had to strive for the admiration we show them?
And why not? Life can be cruel and wonderful. We are inspired by those who find good in the darkness, even if it is the smallest possible glimmer, and who build that into a light that shines through into other people's lives.
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Lyl has just come face to face with loving someone who doesn't love you in the same way in two very different extremes in a matter of minutes.
A sad truth in life is that someone you love, who you trust, can ruin your life by betraying everything you thought about them. It is as much that the horrible action is taken by someone you thought would never hurt you as the act itself that causes the trauma. Shock and pain are mixed with fear, not merely because someone hurt you, but because something foundational to your life, to everything you knew, was shattered- Trust.
Good people don't escape bad things by being good people. People who seem like good people can do bad things. Family. Friends. Lovers.
Even if you, yourself, would never hurt another in the same manor, and even would help someone overcome such an act, some will still see that as weakness and attack you. It is very sad, and very true.
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Most people are a shade of grey when it comes to being a good person. Most people have a little bad, but mostly good, and then there is a second, very large part of the human race who are dark with a little bit of light. There are unfortunately also a very small minority who are purely black-hearted, and this is all my opinion, but this book, and the people Lyl encounters throughout her journeys, display all these shades, and how I/Lyl understand them.
There are some people who are not Darth Vader, but who are his Master, and though Darth in the end still did have some good in him, his Master could never be turned toward goodness ever again. The proof was in years of unremorseful evil committed; prolonged atrocities with the only change being even worse actions of the same putrescence.
The king was the same.
There are some, very few, people, who if allowed to continue to live, would only wrought more harm with their life, and never any good. They will never add to society, only take away, never help anyone, only harm, and never even regret what they have done to their dying breath. It is sad, but true.
This king is not unforgivable because the Light would never reach out to him as much as that he would never seek forgiveness, and will always spurn the Light.
The only good thing that someone so foul could ever do is inadvertently helping another grow as a person from their abhorrence of the one who embraced only evil, and/or the inspiring of a peoples to unite and combat the unanimous wrongdoing.
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Lyl is responding to the unpleasant things in her life in much the same manner as I do. Running. Running to distractions, to books, to hide, to something she is actually capable of to help her forget what she cannot.
Good may be happening for people, and she might be helping everyone with what she is doing, but she is miserable herself, unable to find help for herself.
She is trying to focus on others, but her thoughts turn inward against her bidding, and the bitterness grows.
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So, now comes struggle again. Life will keep repeating the same lessons over and over and over again if you don't learn it the first time, and will give you trials and tests to grow you until you 'get it'.
Lyl wants to be an Entha. Thus, she must deal with the prejudice against the Entha, not only for being such different people, but also, for the fact that her own kind by birth are at war with whom she has chosen to support the cause of. If people look down on the Entha, that now means when she presents herself Entha, she will gain that persecution. Being despised by some doesn't mean you are in the wrong, necessarily, but it does mean she has to be certain enough in her choice that she is willing to be proud to be who she is, even when no one around her can support her.
Being true to one's self is rarely easy, but always rewarding.
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This book is written completely from the viewpoint of the child, after chapter one. This chapter in particular is to help the reader learn about the castle and those who dwell there, as the girl does, and to see things in the way she does.
She is much more interested in the silly animals than the details of the enclosures or notice of buildings. She sees a hall as a very large task, but the wide outdoors as a break. The perspective of a little girl.
The chapters in this little book are shorter, and every third ends with a drawing, usually, so, mostly, the commentary for them might also be short. :) For the most part, everything is explained in the writing itself.
Which, is how it should be.
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The Wilder is not where people go to dream. It is not a dream world. It is where the spirit lives when your consciousness is elsewhere. To physically manifest in a spiritual realm adjacent to the physical, means that you become the anomaly and therefore, as that which does not belong, you are that which can be harmed, in much the same way as an invader is attacked by the white blood cells in a body.
The Wilder is for those crazy, bold, adventurous enough to believe they actually could, people. The majority of the populace will never see the Wilder, because most people can't get outside the box they dwell in, and are content to merely dream.
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Friends, no matter the initial connection, can sometimes be temporary things. It is sad, but true. Deceit and betrayal are hard to overcome, but even more than that, it is hard to stay friends when one person moves on to other things, while the other remains, or worse, both people move, but in different directions.
I have had people move in and out of my life constantly, even people who saved my life, even people who held me through tears and struggles. Lyl has never had a friend until now. It is a hard thing to learn; that loving someone with all your heart won't necessarily keep them in your life.
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Lyl is amongst some of the most powerful women alive, yet is still herself. She has the courage to remain true to her nature in a lot of ways. She is not so intimidated by them as to not hug things she would have hugged if the Heldani were not there, is not a coward, instantly giving into their demands and questions. She doesn't think about this, but it is her nature.
:)
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The importance of this meeting and the changes this causes are kind of self explanatory. It is this chapter that defines and introduces the rest of the book. There really isn't much to comment about, other than, that I always envisioned the Power sitting in the dark, in a dress so white that it seemed to glow in the darkness, with silver hair to her toes and being a wise, kind faced African woman, even when I was a kid. Shrug.
I will note, that I may or may not get to post next week, though, due to some things happening in real life. Sorry in advance if I cannot manage to get something up here.
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Lyl is like the majority of people, in that she has to find her own strength, and not depend on a hope that she has some intervening miraculous 'something' that will make her life all right and fix everything. She will have to find the courage to figure it out and find her own talents and abilities. Life does hand some things to you, and sometimes people do help you with random acts of kindness that were not expected, but for the most part, Life can be outright cruel if you don't understand that YOU have to try.
Lyl is not really brave, so much as willing to try, even if it has a chance of not working, because it also has a chance to work, if she just dares to make the effort.
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I love Alga and Berta. They constantly add sweetness and comic relief in all that they do.
I spent a lot of time when I was younger being friends with ,and learning from, elderly women. This is a very good thing for children, from my experiences. They have only good lessons to teach: Be content with the ups and downs of life, leave a legacy, enjoy all the small, simple things in life, understand that naps are not just for toddlers, and they have a better comprehension of mortality than anyone. I was never afraid of death my whole childhood, because of some of the wonderful older women I was around.
They also love to be 'adopted' grandmothers, and always dote on the young. When I went off at 18 years old to move away and find my place in the world, the women gathered together and sent me off with gifts of their combined money to several thousand, just because they loved me and wanted me to have something to start a good foot forward with. That was so huge to me at the time, and helped me get through a rough time and my first year of college.
Never take the elderly for granted. They are some of the most amazing people you will ever know.
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This is huge because I realize some people will not understand the concept of having zero emotional interest in the family that birthed/raised you. Nor will the same people probably understand immediately emotionally attaching to a new family. But this happened to me, and remains very significant to my life.
This also shows off some of the Entha 'traditionalism' and their obsession with honor. And that there is nothing wrong with crying. Crying is not a sign of weakness, whining is. There is a HUGE difference. Crying is something that if more people did it, for good reason, or over the people totally worthy of the tears, people would be less stressed and happier in their day to day lives because the grief wasn't left bottled up within. Honest tears are a relief.
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Sooo, I am gonna go ahead and read this book. I made the decision based on a couple things.
Firstly, I like this book. It is short, but I do.
Secondly, I don't have to require myself to read it every week or anything. That makes it easier to want to read it.
Thirdly, I realize the more I read What a Wild Spirit Brings, that there are semblances with the Wheel of Time, and NOT all my writing is like that at all. I think this would help contrast and prove that :D.
Now we are to the castle in the story, and you can see, where, as so often in my writing, the meanings of names are important to me. :) Also, if you want to see the drawings in this book, again, you should just splurge the 99 cents, cuz this is only me reading. :D
Anyhoo, that is about it for this chapter commentary.
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So, now Lyl has met the Entha. The Entha have been at war for 4 years now with Caldorcan. The best way I can describe the Entha garb is "I Dream of Jeanie" outfits, but only sometimes with the veil, and never the hairdo :D.
Also, they wear browns, golds, and sometimes rust colors. Each Entha wears an earring since they were 5 years old, a silver sphere denoting which clan they belong to. Many others earn 'Rights' which are acts of heroism or fighting prowess, to give them a red sphere on the other ear. Entha are desert people, warriors, and look down on the weaker 'Greenlanders'. They value honor above all else, and are very traditional. The best way to describe them are 'Jeanie Aiel Navajo Ninja' :D
Also we meet some of the spawn of Shaeolum. I always liked Greek mythology, and liked minotaur as 'bad guys'. I also genuinely like bats and wolves. So, I made them into combined creatures, and gave them a bond, kinda master and slave. Yes, a lot like Fades and Trollics. This book, the only really out of all my books, has some inspirations from the Wheel of Time, but it is also about Lyl, and I wanted Lyl to be in the first book I published. Besides, we all know I love me some Wheel of Time. :D Shrug.
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Treasure in the Snow is a book about a girl who ends up enslaved to a witch, and she is forced to serve in a dark, foreboding castle. A monster lives outside, and the other people of the castle have all lived there so long they have become a little disturbed. Their lives are very changed and their character flaws revealed by the innocence of the little girl.
There are drawings in the book (I draw), but it isn't for small children.
It is on Kindle for .99usd, so if you liked the first chapter, might as well get it. I don't know if I intend to finish reading it on Youtube or not, but prob not. I am more focused on finishing What a Wild Spirit Brings at the moment. Just being honest.
The book is like most of my writing- Dark Fantasy with a focus on character growth.
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FINALLY!!! The action starts up :D Also, I do not get sea sick in real life, but I have known someone who does, and so I always think of them, even though I don't have the same problem. Shrug.
Chapter 4 also denotes some of the damage sexual abuse does. 1 in 2 girls have been sexually abused and 3 out of 5 boys. That is horrific, and I don't care if it is dark, it is the truth, and someone needs to show that it is wrong and can poison people's lives, even if that someone is little me. If you are a 1 in 2 or a 3 in 5, I send you hugs, and want you to know that there are people in the world who are on YOUR side and know that it harmed you in more ways than physical. I hope you can overcome someone else trying to steal away the good in you and be a good person yourself, for yourself, and your loved ones, even though someone was not a good person to you.
You are precious, no matter what anyone did to you. I am so sorry that they did.
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Chapter 3 demonstrates very well the main way I wanted this book to feel, and that is as if you are viewing the world from Lyl's viewpoint. You only notice things she notices. You only hear things she hears. I don't want to give the readers more details or information than Lyl herself has, and this chapter is full of examples of this.
It is much more obvious when she is looking at the world from the viewpoint of a pet, crouched down like a dog.
Also, up until this point in Lyl's life, she always was by herself, and always loved only being away from the village she grew up in, and only her drawings. This is her first experience with enjoying other people and other activities with people. It means so much to her.
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Chapter 2 introduces two things close to my heart.
When I was a kid, if something bad happened or hurt me or anything, I would run away. I either ran away physically, outside in the woods, and pretended I was a wild animal, or just a wild person, and didn't know the modern world existed, sometimes only taking something to draw with, or else mentally, to a fantasy world, often the world of the Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan.
So, you meet the fun of pretending to be wild, and you meet the Heldani. As you keep reading, yes, It is a nod at my fave author of all time, because the world he made, saved my life a couple of times, and the comfort he wrought for me will always be something I appreciate. I have several books with nods to him, in the way of powerful women, but they never use the One Power, always some tool or something to cause the elements to bend their will; in this case, runes that are attached to hoops on the belt by thin, silver chains, that can be very short, when the runes are stowed, or very long, if the runes are alight and floating, showing the Heldani is using the element of according color.
More about all that will occur later on in the book, and, though the Heldani feature in the book decently, they are not the point of the book in the least, so don't get all caught up in excitement about a Wheel of Time fanfic if you are a Robert Jordan fan. :D
I could never thank him enough for the precious world he gave me even if he were alive to hear me say it, so this is my attempt at a thank you. That his women of power inspired me to create my own, to be one myself, but not in the same way... ;)
I do not have the Gift, but I have a Gift, all the same.
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Chapter 1 of What a Wild Spirit Brings is not like most of my chapters in most of my books. Usually, I get right into action, or suspense or something. This one, I let it drag on a little, and didn't start with her running away, to reveal some history, some animosity, some of the reason for why she was running as a foundation so you could better understand her, because it will help you understand the reasons for her actions from here out. This is by far not the shortest book I ever wrote (it has 62 chapters), and introducing her a little was needed.
I actually made the book description when I put it up to publish "She grew up in a small village where each day was like the last; hard labor and an unfeeling family. If only she could run away. If only she could be somewhere else, anywhere else, with another life, any other life...
Her mother always said she had a wild spirit, and it was true.
What does a wild spirit bring? Adventure? Love? Torment? Excitement?
She would be happy if it just brings her escape..." which is basically the sum up of chapter 1. :D
Also, I drew the cover myself. I thought about adding more details to the dunes, or to her, but my gf loved it sooooo much, so I left it be :D
I do have a world map, and about the author and such in the book, as well as a dedication, that might befuddle a few. So, if you bought it for 4.99 and were like ??? about the dedication, yes, the book is dedicated vaguely to myself. Maybe I will explain more at the end of the book :)
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