"There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time." Wheel of time; A Memory of Light.

23 years. 11,575 pages.

I cant believe its finally over. What a ride.

I finally got around to reading the last book in The Wheel of Time series, "A Memory of Light". I can't believe how much I loved this series.  That's the only way I can explain how I read a 900 page book in 18 days.  I've never been a fast reader, but when a book grabs a hold of me, it doesn't let go.

Understandably, not every one likes the series.  Most complaints I hear is the size of the series.  Granted, its huge.  But that's one of the reasons I love it.  I don't like when series that I love end.  People also have said that they don't like his writing style or they cant connect with it.  And that's a fair criticism.  It actually took me a few attempts, spanning over a couple of years, to read the first book.  But its not a perfect series.  At times, it feels like the story got away from the author, Robert Jordan.  But I just love the scope of it.  The history of the world just seems epic to me. 

I can see myself rereading the Wheel of Time series.  Ive been tempted to see how fast I could read the whole series from start to finish.  Its most likely going to take the better part of a year.  I'm OK with this.

But until then, what do I read?  Luckily the series has made me a fan of a new author, Brandon Sanderson.  For when Robert Jordan died 5 years back, they got Sanderson to take over and finish the series.  I've read close to a half a dozen of Sanderson's books so far, and I got to say I'm pretty impressed with his work.  Especially with the book "The Way of Kings".  And apparently its going to be another huge series of 10 books.  Which just goes to show that there is no endings to the Wheel of Time.

"Winter is Coming" - Stark family saying

As many of my friends know (or they should if they pay any attention to me), Im really excited for the HBO series of A Game of Thrones, based on the fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Its one of the best Fantasy trilogies that Ive read in recent years. The world feels... old. And Martin does a great job in describing the world. And its so brutal! Main characters seem to die more often than not, and this seems to differ from a lot of authors Ive read. They seem to shy away from killing off the main stars of the book. I love it and I would recommend it to anyone. Go here for the Trailer for the HBO Series
Its kind of weird that Ive been posting Blogs for almost 2 years now. It hasn't seemed that long to me. Time is known to fly like that sometimes. Ill try to do a post something on the 2nd anniversary when it comes up. Cant really promise anything though.
I find it kind of odd and funny that when i don't post for a great period of time, people get after me to put something up. I find this really ironic when it comes from people that don't Blog for some reason. 'Cause they don't hold themselves to the same standard they hold me. It kind of makes me irritated and not want to put anything up when they bug me about it. I blog when I want to and when something comes to me, not when the masses demand it. Just saying. Sorry for the rant, but there it is.

'First Lord's Fury" brought to you by the Hallmark Channel...

The other day I finished reading a book that went by the name of ‘First Lord’s Fury’. No, this book didn’t have any religious connotations, and yes, this is another book review (well, more of a just my opinion and own rantings), so deal with it. All and all, I can sum up the book with one word: Meh. Yea, that’s right. Meh. And here`s why.
Let me start off by saying that a lot of endings to book series I`ve read don’t really stand up to what I expect the grand finale of a series to be. They seem to fizzle out with they ‘live happily ever after and the bad guys dead.’ Kind of like a wet balloon that suddenly goes limp from lack of air after the sudden gusto that it had for life. Granted these endings have great moments, but they don’t quite do it for me.
I want to have an explosive ending. Like when someone takes a pin to a fully inflated balloon. I don’t necessarily expect or want the ending of a series to be glazed over with happy feelings like a funnel cake. I don’t mind a little Happily Ever after, but I want them to pay for it. So I guess what I`m trying to get at is that I what a little bit more mayhem and tragedy in my endings. If the main character gets hitched at the end, I want him to be missing a leg or Hilary Clinton to be the Mother in Law. If they win the day, whole cities will have to have been laid waste to do so. I don’t mind the good guys winning. I just want them to have something bad happen to them so they learn something by the end.
To me First Lords Fury had some good qualities. It had pretty good pacing. Through the whole book there was a sense of being constantly being pushed back, to struggle to survive against a vast horde of enemies, and making shady deals with other enemies to help the cause against the enemy of all. But when the end came, and when everything was beginning to wrap up, the sugar coating started to appear. All the main characters survived. ‘Tis a shame I say, but what are you going to do? The last epic fight was just that until the last note, when it wasn’t. There was no limbs lost, no emotional turmoil they had to deal with for years. It was just done. All wrapped up in a neat little package.
That said, there were a few characters I really liked and connected with. Overall, the characters from the series seemed really human, and popped out. The series as a whole was pretty average with some great parts. I just thought the ending was kind of underwhelming. I’ll probably end up recommend the series to friends, ‘cause it was decent at the core. Now to find another series to take up my time.

We rode on the winds of the rising storm. We ran to the sounds of the thunder. We danced among the lightning bolts and tore the world asunder. - Crossroads of Twilight

I’ve been a fan of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan for a little over a decade now. For most of that time, I’ve been a disgruntled acolyte of the vast and rich world that Jordan had created. By the time I picked up the first volume, The Eye of the World, half of the current 14 books had already been published.
I’m going to say the first 5 or so books are the best written of the series by far. Jordan gives us a world full of scope and history, with characters that you come to love and hate, and doing it all that very descriptive way that only can do. Then from about book 6 on is when the Train wreck happens.
At this point, it just seems like the story as whole just gets away from him. He throws in so many plots and subplots, that it just becomes a convoluted mess that takes books to sort out. Plus there’s the fact that major characters don’t even bother to show up in some of the books. At one point, I just kept on reading just because I wanted to see it through to the end of the series.
When I first heard the news that Robert Jordan passed away a couple years ago, I admit I was kind of angry, frustrated, and disappointed that he wasn’t able to finish the series. I know that was a little self centered at the time, but I got over it. Especially when I heard that he took some really detailed notes right before he died so that someone could finish were he left off. Enter Brandon Sanderson.
I’ve never have read any of Sanderson’s books, but from what I’ve heard, he’s pretty competent at what he does. And being a fellow Utahn, I guess I could support him. Sunday I finished the latest Wheel of Time book that came out last October, The Gathering Storm. It’s the first of three that Brandon Sanderson helped put together and that will wrap up the series. And I’ve got to admit, I really enjoyed it.
It still had the Robert Jordan feel and vibe to it, with a little Sanderson flair. I’m liking it because it didn’t have the sense of being bloated like the last few have been, but it had a sense of finality to it. Things are starting to wrap up. Plus, it just seemed to flow better as well.
If you were one of those people that became disillusioned with the whole thing, I implore you to at least read The Gathering Storm. It’s made me a believer again.

"Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books." - Bell Hooks

What good is a great imagination if you cant write it down and share it?  I love reading. Especially books from the Fantasy genre. I’m a sucker for them. It helps me escape to a grand, mythical realm of dreams and possibilities. It’s a universe of books that, admittedly, I need to expand my habit of reading from. But there has been so many great authors that he journey with me through their books. I realize that a lot of ideas in Fantasy writing have been blatantly rehashed and reused with abandon and without apology. Which The Fantasy Novelist Exam kind of puts into a light. Some I like, some I didn’t, and very few had something original and refreshing. And I’ve come to terms with it, and always return to this type of writing because it’s a style I grew up with and have come to love.
I’ve always been tempted to start writing my own work of fiction. A full blown novel? Not quite yet. That’s a little above me at the moment. But to do something of the likes of a short story? It’s been gnawing at my subconscious for a good while now. There’s a few things that have been delaying me. I’m inherently lazy. Why I should I start writing when I could go play a game or watch TV? And another is where do I start? That aspect just seems so daunting it kind of puts me off it all together.
I want to do something original, but what? Do I just want to start off easy and do a piece of Fan Fic? It can get overwhelming. Which reverts me to the first dilemma. The gaming publishing company Paizo did a design your own adventure path a few years back. I didn’t hear about it until it was too late, but I did a portion “Design Your Own Country” on my own. This is what I came up with:

Realm of Blackire

"Beware the Ire of Black"

Alignment: LN

Notable Settlements: Iron Hill (pop. 11,445), Brass Hall (pop. 12,600), The Steel Warren (pop. 13,266), The Market (approx. pop. 1500)
Ruler: The Council

Government: An elected council of 9 Dwarves which is contrived of each City sending one senior delegate from their respective Military, Religious, and Arcane guilds.

Description:

The great Cities of Blackire are carved out of the bellies of three extinct volcanoes that, when looked upon, roughly form the shape of a triangle. The great valley that once nestled in the central hub of these great mountains of fire no longer exists as a natural feature of the landscape. Where these volcanoes once joined is now a great strip mine of great proportions. So much Obsidian was found here, it is the single most influencing factor of this area. Through dwarven ingenuity, major buildings are built from it as well as their military weapons and armor. The later are of such great quality and durability that they are only brought to life from their secret rune forges that they only have deep within the cities.
One would think that such a mine would leave a quit significant scar where it was mined, but through the brilliance of dwarves mining and constructing methods, it has been transformed into the regions largest open aired market that is practically a small city itself. As the raw, excess material was being removed from the pit, it was being put to the use of constructing the three great walls that linked the volcanoes and raising the multitude of buildings that are within the market. If you would look from above, it would look like a great, fortified coliseum.
Rising from the bottom from the very bottom of this Dwarven made wonder stands a magnificent tower of which only the hands of the most skilled dwarven architects could erect. The purpose of this tower, which has been named ‘The Black Sentinel’, is not only for Political decisions and for Military applications, it is also the main channel through which the flow of goods, services, and people runs to the three cities below. Three major shafts spread out from below The Black Sentinel to each of the cities: Iron Hill, Brass Hall, and The Steel Warren.

Obsidian:
The most common ore found within the area is Obsidian. The creating and forming of this particular substance is the most guarded secret of the Blackire Dwarves. Because of dwarven magic and their natural attunement and connection with the very earth itself, obsidian is brought to life in their buildings and forging. When it is applied to a more militaristic application is when the secrecy deepens. Through the ranks of the Military, Religious, and Arcane guilds flows a secret and ‘unofficial’ guild who’s only purpose is the forging of obsidian weaponry and armor. It is only through the combined efforts of the guilds are the strenuous art of combining obsidian and Rune Forging are possible. For one small mistake will render the brittle ore unusable. The secret of this process makes it possible for the dwarves to make a relatively common brittle material into a substance hard as steel to outfit their armies with.

The Market:
The Market is the hub of the three cities and the only access for foreigners to enter the underground. Considering that The Market is the “front door” to the cities underneath, it has the most variety of races then your standard dwarven establishment. Shops and their owners’ dwellings sit snugly up against the wall of the wide lane that corkscrews and winds its way down the bottom were The Black Sentinel sits. The Black Sentinel is one of the dwarven populaces’ most prized accomplishments; for it is made totally out of Obsidian, which helps to give it its name. The tower has rooms running along the inside of the outer wall with a staircase spiraling upwards connecting them all. The top most room is the largest and most spacious, and it is where The Council Meets. The central most cavity is a concave shaft that houses the giant operating lift system called by the local populace “The Sky Well”. The Sky Well is connected to the giant bridges that stretch from the side of this great tower to different levels of The Market to help the flow of services and goods to the different areas of the old mine.

The Cities:
The cities are, as you would suspect, is comprised mainly of dwarves. They are an open dwarven society compared to others from having a massive market place sitting above their heads. The one and only subject that they are fairly guarded about is the process of their making Obsidian related items. Iron Hill and Brass Hall both make heavy use the natural vents and chambers of their respective volcanoes for city development, but The Steel Warren had to be made by more of a conventional and traditional means of dwarven underground city making. The Cities are named after the most extracted metal from where each stronghold now resides.

Surrounding Area:
The Cities of Blackire sit within a large and rugged mountain range called The Demons Back Range. The main road the runs through Blackire, The Backbreaker, are one of the few major roads that run all the way through the range. As such, it is also a Trade Route of notoriety because of the bandits and wild monsters inhabiting the dangerous countryside. Law and order are still enforced though for the reason that there are frequent and well-armed patrols sent out from Blackire.

Yeah, it’s a rough sketch at best and needs work. But I love Dwarves, so I decided to do something with them. I’ve come with Ideas for a world for it to inhabit that I need to put to paper. Writing is an art that I need to explore more fully. There’s a fair chance that it would be any good, but I know I should do it because it makes me happy.
I did start on a story set in this realm for National Writing Month (which is forthcoming in a sec) entitled Shadows of an Obsidian Flame, but I got distracted and didn’t get very far. I only got like 500 words, if that. I wrote the following:

The main tunnel echoed with noise from the multitude of people coming and going as Thorick Shadowforge made his way up from the dwarven city below. On his way to the entrance of the large tunnel, a view of The Market with its thousands of hectic people opened up before him. As he continued walking, his eyes couldn’t help taking in the large tower that dominated the view of the entire skyline. And that’s to where he was summoned.

“Why can’t we dwarves build smaller things” Thorick grumbled to himself as started his long walk to the top of the big structure. In the middle of the Market, the Black Sentinel stood more than five hundred feet in the air and it shown like a black mirror . Made from pure Obsidian and reinforced with magic from the very earth itself, it was the hub of the three underground cities that surrounded it.

Walking through the one of the two large gates at the base of the Tower, Thorick started the long climb upwards. As he ascended, he couldn’t help to be amazed at the ingenuity of the construction and architecture of The Sentinel. There was a large vertical shaft that ran the length of the building that commerce and supplies were trafficked. A system of pulleys and gears lowered and raised large containers full of goods to different levels in the tower. From there they were transported to that level of the Marketplace over sky bridges.

Thorick couldn’t help getting a little vertigo by climbing the stairs, for they lined the wall of this shaft as they spiraled towards the top. Hundreds of corridors led from the staircase to different parts of the structure. As he got to the top waiting chamber, the dwarf was quit out of breath and was a little glad that the two guards stopped him before entering.

“What is your purpose here? “ asked the senior of the two guards.

“I was called by the council, more importantly I was asked for by Regdor Morlaki to come and meet with him.” Thorick replied breathlessly. The Senior guard nodded to the other, which entered the room. The guard came out a moment later and said, nodding towards a nearby empty room “They are in Counsel right at the moment, and you can wait in there.”

The room provided an excellent view of the Marketplace below. From above, the land looked like an Elder God had taken a giant corkscrew and twisted it into the earth below. The valley in which the marketplace and the Sentinel sat was a byproduct of dwarven mining. It was an old strip-mine. Most visitors that came here could never tell, for peoples shops and houses lined the spiraling, every widening road upwards. Were there was gaps in the terrain, the Dwarven masons had used the mining debris to make fortified walls so it looked like on big bowl.


Like I said, I didn’t get very far. I should just start on it again and just go for it. With enough prompting I just might. But as of the moment, it’s something that is always there that my fickleness can always come back too.

"Heroes are what you make them, and where you find them" - Bhazo

I just got done reading a book suggested to me by a couple of friends that goes by the name "Villains By Necessity" by Eve Forward. They told me its one of thoose books that stick with you and you want to read every year or two. I can see why. Its a great book. An easy read, yet with a fresh idea.
The Good Guys have won, theres little, if any, evil in the world. By unknown forces, a rag tag group of villians that are on their way out, are gathered together to save the world from its glorious self. I like it because it makes you think.
How does one define a Hero? Or a Villian for that matter? And who decides? Theres a little passage that I absolutely loved from the book I'll share:

"There's more to people than some defined Label," said Arcie. "There are more than straight good and evil, aye, even more than law or disorders or fence-sittin'. There's prejudice, whimsey, affection, superstition, habit, upbringing, alliance, pride, society, morals, animosity, prefernce, values, religon, circumstance, humor, perversity, honor, vengance, jealousy, frustration... hundreds o' factors, from the past and in every present moment, as decides what some one person'll do in an individous situation." ..... "Sometimes there's other reasons for helping, other than personal gain of benefiet," added Sam softly. "Friendship, companionship, trust and love are not confined to light alone... they are harder won, fewer seen... but no less real."

So what does shape a person into a person he becomes? Lots of factors. So I say lay aside your prejudice judgment of things different from you, and get to know whom you would judge. You might be more similiar than you would think.