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Love is Sweet (2020)

36 episodes

Synopsis from MyDramaList

Jiang Jun is a girl who is allergic to tears and has a double degree in economics and psychology. She is unrestrained and idealistic due to her family's superior background. After graduation, she worked in a philanthropy organization where she pursues her dreams. However, her father's sudden accident leaves her in a dilemma. Eventually, she decides to work in a top investment company to fulfill her father's dying wish.

In MH, Jiang Jun meets her childhood playmate, Yuan Shu Ai. However, the current Yuan Shuai is no longer her gentle protector, but her rival. In MH, where the "culture of wolf instinct" is rampant, someone is plotting against Jiang Jun while someone sees her as an eyesore. However with her kind nature and attention to detail, along with her high EQ and sense of judgment, Jiang Jun eventually attains success in both her career and love life.

(Source: DramaWiki)

~~ Adapted from the novel of the same name by Qi Zi

7.5/10

* * *

This was so much fun to watch! Coming off from a very angsty Till The End of The Moon drama with the same actors, Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu I've seen Love is Sweet mentioned a few times as their previous collaboration, so I thought I'll check this one out.

Love is Sweet is light and fluffy and full of tropes. School crush? Check. Unnecessary love triangle? Check. Second couple who no one particularly cares about? Check. Logical inconsistencies in character to create plot twists? Check.

And yet, Lou Yunxi and Bai Lu are fun to watch. They truly managed to recreate the ease of childhood friends coming back together. They have sassy, childish banter, constant goading of each other and good-natured cattiness. And it's all delightful. 

Yuan Shuai has known Jiang Jun since middle school and used to look after her because she was a cry baby and had unfortunate allergic reaction to tears, so he used to get paid by her dad to protect her, but in his mind his protection consisted of strengthening her character so he ended up constantly pressuring her into challenging situations to toughen her up, which in the end made her resent him so much that she transferred into another school. At the same time his parents sent him to study abroad and they completely lost touch.

Ten years after graduation they meet again. Unexpectedly, she is applying for a job in the investment banking firm where he works, and quite successfully too. At the last stage he kicks her out, convinced that this job is too tough for her, and in a typical mansplaining fashion tries to arrange a job for her which should be more suitable and less stressful. Jiang Jun has her own important reasons to get into his form, so she manages to get through anyway, and he is forced to become her boss.

What he doesn't realise is that the girl he used to protect, grew up and did toughen up. She is clever, methodical and resourceful, so his machinations are not taking kindly. Luckily, he is a very smart guy himself, so he adjusts to new realities and start working together with her and very successfully at that. It's really funny that at work he is this cold, ruthless businessman, but he is pretty defenseless against the girl he had a secret crush on in school as she brings to the surface his most childish parts. He basically turns into a boy grabbing his love's pigtails to grab her attention. They are pretty adorable in their interactions.

There are minor irritations here, like Jiang Jun's naiveté in the beginning, the inconsistent character of the third wheel in the relationship, Du Lei, who was wildly swinging from the villain to a good guy depending on script demands, and of course the second couple who acts as a filler and fades into background. You could easily cut 10 episodes out and still have a lovely story. Overall, though, it's relaxing and cute, and I definitely recommend it to all lovers of contemporary romance genre. 

 

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.

When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.

However, as soon as her first night falls, she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in front of her.

* * *

8.5/10

Please, imagine my standing ovation for the ending. So satisfactory!

It's an unusual listen but beautiful and fierce.

Long story short, I saw a good review for the book with the same name which also had dragons in it with a movie happening soon based on it. So, I went to look it up on Goodreads, was not impressed by the other reviews and saw that there is another Damsel. With a darker, more whimsical plot. Yeah, dear reader, I was sold on this one instead.

Ama is a damsel rescued from a dragon's lair by a prince and destined to be his queen.

Nevermind, that damsel does not remember her past life and has to believe what the Prince is telling her. Never mind his cloying, mansplaining attention, and the condescension, my god, ladies! He made me fume.

The reader guesses correctly about the damsel's origins pretty early in the book, and all that's left is rooting for her to break through her awful environment, her destiny as a vessel to a royal child and the suffocating existence in the castle.

What sells this book is that it's very atmospheric. It shows you the monotony of Ama' s new life and how it leeches her vibrancy day by day.

So, when she finally snaps out of it and fights back, it feels so damn good! I was screaming at the end. The ending was everything I wished for, and that's probably was the whole point. *smirks*

It's a very quick listen, moody and almost surreal, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. It's an adult read with some abusive behaviours described, but it felt like an important and inspiring read to me. Much recommended.

 

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi

read on MTLNovel

*Synopsis

*Sorry, guys! I can't find one with a synopsis, so just refer to my previous post about Till The End of the Moon c-drama or read this review. 

8.5/10* * *I  have many thoughts on this book, and I do love reading non-standard romance, so bear with me here.
First thought. Despite a torturous romance story, the ending makes up for it. It's absolutely wonderful and explains quite a lot of behaviours on the male character's part.
Second thought. Till The End of The Moon c-drama series brought me here, and so far I have much more satisfaction with the novel itself than with its TV adaptation despite the atrocious translation. 
I understand the reasoning for the changes, I do. If the characters and story arc stayed as they are the drama wouldn't see the light of day and would be censored. I watched enough Chinese dramas to know the strict rules of how everyone should be portrayed morally.
 Tantai Jin is a proper antihero, and this romance is very dark. If you like R.Lee Smith books, you will enjoy this one. On the other hand, Li Su Su portrayal in the drama doesn't do her character justice. Her character is colder and more ruthless to Tantai Jin than it's shown on TV. Sometimes I didn't know who to feel sorry for more, Tantai Jin or Li Su Su. And in the latter part of the novel Tantai Jin firmly had my sentiments.
Third thought, the plot is very convoluted because it involves multiple timelines (at least 4), but you can also explain it pretty simply.

Our heroine, Li Su Su is a hundred year old immortal (very young by their standards) living in a world ravaged by a devil god and his army of demons. The world has no light and the immortals are slowly getting wiped out because no one can fight the evil overlord. The immortals last hope is to send someone 500 years back into the past when the devil god was still human and figure out how to remove an evil bone from him without killing the guy (which will instantly turn him into the devil god). The choice falls on Li Su Su for various reasons, and she is sent back to a body of a human Ye Xiwu who is ironically married to Tantai Jin, a human would be devil god.
The guy is a psychopath. A. He can not feel and process emotions apart from his need for survival B. His lack of emotions, his supernatural abilities and his very bad political standing as a hostage prince turned him into an object of constant abuse since the age of 6 when he was sent to be a hostage. So, yes, this did not improve his character, just made him deadlier.
Li Su Su's host, Ye Xiwu is an abuser herself. She is a spoilt rich girl who terrifies her household and who got married to Tantai Jin because he foiled her awful plan to ruin her love rival and turned it onto her to escape his life in the Palace. She beats him, humiliates him and generally wants him to die. In fact, when Li Su Su arrives into her body, the girl is nearly killed because Tantai Jin had enough and arranged for her own killing.
We are in for a great start, right?
Li Su Su is not an abuser, she is fair and stoic and has her mission in her sights at all times, but she also hates Tantai Jin's guts for all the suffering he will inflict in the future, so her desire to make him love her and find how to extract his evil bone, to protect his life is constantly warring with her deep seated hatred. 
She is tough, and so is he. When they end up adventuring together, there is always push and pull of hate towards each other, and his inability to figure her out in all her complexities only adds to his confusion. 
They are both awful and at the same time magnetic, and her redeeming him doesn't actually change his character very much. He just changes towards her, but because of his inability to understand his emotions he does not understand himself until much later in the novel.
Su Su is so concentrated on what she has to do, she doesn't allow herself to feel anything or to give him any leeway either. Add to it many many machinations of side characters, and this novel is an absolute rollercoaster.
 I really like watching the TV adaptation too because it just adds so much more richness to this story. It's changed, lighter and has comedic moments , which annoys me at times, and the characters are much more human, but the plot is more cohesive and easier to follow, plus the cast is gorgeous, especially Leo Luo/Luo Yunxi who is exquisite as Tantai Jin.
To conclude, this is not for everyone, and is easier to digest if you are familiar with xinxia dramas, and I also enjoyed it very much! This was definitely my catnip.

 

Gals, gents, here is the thing. I've been shifting towards watching more Chinese dramas rather than k-dramas in the last few years for a few reasons. 

First, I am far more interested in fantasy, sci-fi and period dramas than modern day life. Call it escapism, but it's what I prefer in my books as well. Korean TV is limited in that regard. You would find plenty of good paranormal romance and urban fantasy in modern day setting or rarely in Joseon era, but the only full scale fantasy I've seen based in ancient times was The Arthal Chronicles (amazing series, by the way, and it's on Netflix, so go watch it!).

China on the other hand does film a huge amount of wuxia and xinxia dramas, lots of period pieces as well. And in the recent years, there were a lot of phenomenal dramas.

Secondly, there is a fantastic sense of aesthetics, tons of excellent CGI and great acting. Definitely, c-dramas have been becoming more and more pleasing to the eye.

Third, I love the rich history, culture and language. (I'm studying Chinese, so it helps.)

So, shift to these types of dramas for me was inevitable, and in the last year especially I've watched quite a few of incredible dramas, and sobbed at their endings too. This year, I'm on my third unforgettable drama, by the way. First two were reviewed on this blog already (Blood of Youth, The Starry Love).

Till The End of The Moon is my third, and it takes the cake only at 16 episodes in (it has 40 in total). Its greatness have been driving me crazy to a point when I really want to talk about it. 

First of all, people have been buzzing about this drama for a couple of years before it stated airing. The expectations were high because it's based on a popular novel and it has Luo Yunxi (one of my favourite actors) and Bai Lu. Also, Luo Yunxi is amazing in xinxia, and at playing morally grey characters. His character, Tantai Jin, is a total antihero!

This drama so far showing his whole range as he goes through a mass of difficult transformations. From a perfectly evil devil lord, to a bullied little boy of his own past unable to feel and process emotions, to a devious young man craving power to protect himself and destroy those who made him their victim (he totally reminds me a psychopath/sociopath there). As he amasses power there is one person besides him who through their love-hate relationship manages to change him and his behaviour. So, in other words, love changes him and his destiny.

Bai Lu plays a difficult character or even characters. First, she starts the drama fiercely hating Tantai Jin as their first encounter happens in the future where he destroys everyone she knows and loves while looking for an artifact as the devil lord. In order to stop him she is sent 500 years into the past, when Tantai Jin is still human and where she needs to try to stop him from dying and turning into the devil lord before she figures out how destroy the evil bone which would make him transform. Tantai Jin of the past is a weak hostage prince and a person without any political power, with strange cold appearance, bullied and betrayed all through his life by those around. Bai Lu , ironically, is sent into the body of Tantai Jin's wife, Ye Xiwu, one of his bullies, who tortures him for spoiling her devilish plans daily. Susu, the young immortal sent into the past, becomes a very different Ye Xiwu from the sadistic wife Tantai Jin remembers and hates, and slowly starts getting close to him, desperately trying to succeed in her mission. She is trying to be his moral compass and his anchor but ends up slowly falling for the would be evil god. 

There is a lot going on here, folks, and I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice to say, the plot is EPIC. The heroes pretty much live through three lives (at least the heroine), just like in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (a 2017 c-drama which started my obsession). And can I just say, that Leo Luo (Luo Yunxi) is such an amazing actor for the character. He kills it. He is fragile but fierce on the edge of cruelty, full of sharp angles. His chemistry with Bai Lu is also off the charts. They are incredible to watch together. Magnetic.

CGI, world-building and sets here, the fight scenes, the overall aesthetics all add to the excellence of this drama as well. I am hanging on each episode by the way and watching fan made videos, which means I am obsessed. So much so, that I didn't want to wait till the drama finishes airing before starting to gush about it.

Phew! I'll spam you with pics and vids here and leave it at that.❤️

Here is the trailer by the way, or one of them.

And some of the OST❤️

 

The Queen's Price by Anne Bishop (The Black Jewels #12)

bought on audio

Synopsis from Goodreads

Enter the dark and sensual realms of the Black Jewels in this sweeping story in the New York Times bestselling fantasy saga of three young women who must navigate life within the powerful SaDiablo family--and come to terms with Witch, the Queen who is still the heart and will of that family.

The Queen's price is to stand against what you know is wrong. To stand and fight, no matter the cost to your court or to yourself. Especially to yourself.

Zoey, a young Queen-in-training at SaDiablo Hall, is wounded...and vulnerable to taunts and criticism. When an opportunity arises to befriend a stranger seeking sanctuary at the Hall, she puts herself and others in danger by ignoring Daemonar Yaslana's warning to back off.

Meanwhile, the witch Jillian's family prepares for her Virgin Night, the rite of passage that assures a woman will retain her power and her Jewels. The trouble is Jillian secretly went through the ceremony already. Now she has to explain the omission of that detail to her powerful and lethal family. And the High Lord of Hell's daughter, Saetien, travels to Scelt to find out about Jaenelle Angelline's sister--and perhaps to discover truths about herself.

With some guidance from Witch, these three young women will learn when to yield because it is right--and when to take a stand, even if they must pay the Queen's price.

8.5/10* * *I am so happy with this book! 
Mostly, because it was a much stronger delivery than the previous two books, but mainly, because we went back in time to Jaenelle's experiences during the war, and it was powerful. 
In the last two books, she was a secondary character as Witch which made her very distant and cold. This book brought her back as a human. I missed those days, because Daemon was much more alive with her at his side. These days he is a father and a ruler and pretty much nothing else which makes for a rigid character. 
I was also laughing very hard at Gillian's conundrum with the virgin night and her newfound friend Brenda who was a force to be reckoned with. A shame, Brenda didn't get more limelight.
The tiger girl side story didn't do anything for me, because she was barely outlined, but the trials in Daemon's Court and Saetien's transformation were very engaging to follow. Surprisingly, her story of redemption, growth and finding herself was gratifying and relatable. She went from a spoiled, lost child to a young, blossoming Queen.
As always, excellent narration on audio. If I misspelled names here, please forgive me, as I was listening to the story rather than reading.What did you think of the story? Do you still follow this series?
Overall, excellent! Very much recommended!

 

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger 

bought on audio

Synopsis from Goodreads

A sharp and funny urban fantasy for “new adults” about a secret society of bartenders who fight monsters with alcohol fueled magic.

College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who’s around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal. Soon, it’s up to Bailey and the ragtag band of magical mixologists to take on whatever—or whoever—is behind the mysterious rash of gruesome deaths in Chicago, and complete the lost recipes of an ancient tome of cocktail lore.

8.5/10

* * *

This was such a quirky gem, I loved it!

There was pure grittiness and simplicity here reminiscent of Harry Dresden world but also the eccentricity of Genevieve Cogman's Librarians.

The super power here standing against the monsters in the dark are bartenders. So, there is a lot of historical reference to drinks and how they were developed and the historical trivia attached to them. I really, really appreciated it and it enriched the story for me immensely. So reminded me of Librarians!

The characters and the plot are condensed and to the point. This is urban fantasy in its purest form.

Bailey Chen just graduated from a university and is struggling to land a job. In the meantime, she works for her school friend as a bar hand until she uncovers the hidden mission behind the bartenders' frequent cigarette breaks and is tempted to join the team.

Being the perfectionist she is, Bailey uncovers an anomaly and a conspiracy and ends up fighting the established order to save her beloved Chicago from a disaster.

I liked the girl, and all the characters around her made me think of Buffy and her crew with their snark and goofiness at the same time.

This was a surprisingly fun listen, and I am looking forward to discovering more from the author, although I'm not sure if this book was a standalone or there is more in the series.

Overall, definitely recommended. Any fan of the genre would enjoy this read/listen.

 

The Starry Love (2023)

watched on Youku, 40 episodes

Synopsis from MyDramaList

The queen of the human tribe gave birth to twin girls. Respected by the entire tribe, the older sister Qing Kui, who is gentle and kind, is betrothed to the heavenly prince. The younger sister, Ye Tan, smart and cunning, shunned by her own people, is betrothed to the demon prince. Due to a mix-up, the two sisters are married off to the wrong husbands. It paves the way for two beautiful romances and also ignites a conspiracy that shakes the four realms.

(Source: ChineseDrama.info, MyDramaList)

~~ Adapted from the novel "Xing Luo Ning Cheng Tang" (星落凝成糖) by Yi Du Jun Hua (一度君华 ).

9/10

* * *

I loved this so much, peeps! And also cried quite a few times in later episodes. This is a gorgeous xinxia comedy which is quite rare in Chinese drama land. Latest successful experiment which blended comedy with drama was Love Between a Fairy and a Devil last year. If you haven't watched it yet, what are you doing with your life?! Please do! It's amazing. And it was a huge enough hit to get on Netflix. 

The Starry Love takes a classic trope in drama land "wrong carriage, right groom" and turns it into perfection. The prim and proper sister Qingkui who was being prepared to become a heavenly princess all her life is taken into the Void Realm to become the wife of the demon prince, and her rebellious troublemaker of a twin sister Yetan who studied The Void all her life is up in the Heavenly Realm trying to clear the mess she created trying to save her twin from a loveless marriage while dealing with her groom, Youqin, who has a huge stick up his behind and infuriates her so much.

Lo and behold, Tan and Youqin are made for each other, and she is slowly falling for him, while her sister Kui falls for a cunning, manipulative Chaofeng, the third prince, who is pretending to be weak and frivolous while fighting his other brothers for the throne.

When Youqin starts warming up and feeling something for Tan he suddenly dies saving his realm from a disaster he was preparing all his life to deal with, but Tan manages to save shards of his soul to try and revive him later. The fun twist to it, that now she has to find his soul shards as men in Mortal Realm and make them fall for her so they can merge into Youqin again. Much comedy ensues, and kudos to Cheng Xing Xu who had to play 5 different characters and managed to pull this off!

The whole cast was so talented. You really couldn't choose between two sisters, their partners and the supporting characters. Their acting was chef's kiss, especially Chaofeng's assistant with his constant snarky commentary. Also, both main male characters were total eye candy. 

I can only sigh happily and wait to see these talented youngsters in more excellent dramas. They were wonderful!

Trailer

 

Smolder by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #29)

 *Review copy obtained through Netgalley*

The wedding of the century between vampire hunter Anita Blake and the vampire king of America Jean-Claude is almost here, but an ancient evil arrives in St. Louis and even Jean-Claude’s unmatched power isn’t enough to save them. Only with the return of a lost love can they hope to combat the monster and save their loved ones and every vampire in the country from being consumed by darkness.

Release date March 21, 2023

2/10

* * *

Okey, first hear me out before judging my 1-star review.

First of all, I am a very old fan of this series and I firmly believe that the quality only went downhill after Obsidian Butterfly. But. Since then, I've fully embraced the fact that the b-movie type of quality of Anita's reverse harem world is its own brand. People can love it or hate it but they still read it and get exactly what they expect from it.

Which is why my 1-star rating is fully good-natured. Yes, it was that terrible and yes, I rolled my eyes and enjoyed the predictability of the plot when 90% of action is a big, unending therapy session for Anita and her big bad puppy pile of lovers, and only 10% is an actual advancement of the plot. I read this while being stuck on a long flight and despite not having read the last 4 or 5 books in the series, I have not missed a thing, my dear readers. 

*SPOILER*

Richard is back! And it actually made me feel much livelier. I miss the time when Anita only had him and Jean-Claude to worry about and you didn't need the spreadsheet for the rest of her partners.  Ah, those were the days.... Anyway, get ready for a lot of talking, where the most amusing part of it is talking about feelings while you are in the middle of an emergency sex to ward off an attack (yes, non-fans, I know how it sounds!) and Jean-Claude already asked you a few times to stop yapping and just concentrate on getting bonked.

There is not much else going on, but the ending shows that at least a few chapters of the next book will be fun, cause Anita's family is here for the wedding. And there is a high chance I'll read it just for the hell of it.

Enjoy it or hate it at your own risk, but you have been warned.

 

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier (Warrior Bards #1)

bought on audio

Synopsis from Goodreads

A young woman is both a bard--and a warrior--in this thrilling historical fantasy from the author of the Sevenwaters novels.

Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and a rare talent on the harp. But Liobhan's burning ambition is to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. She and her brother train there to compete for places, and find themselves joining a mission while still candidates. Their unusual blend of skills makes them ideal for this particular job, which requires going undercover as traveling minstrels. For Swan Island trains both warriors and spies.

Their mission: to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has gone mysteriously missing. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted and the people could revolt. Faced with plotting courtiers and tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realizes an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobhan must make a bold decision and is faced with a heartbreaking choice. . . .

8.5/10

* * *

Yes!!! This was about my favourite healer and blacksmith's daughter and an adoptive son. And I had no idea about the connection until I started listening to The Harp of Kings.

What a gorgeous story, like everything else I've listened to from Marillier so far. I feel like her books really benefit from the audio format.

She knows how to weave magic into her stories where even names hold some power over you. 

You can split The Harp of Kings into two main plots. First is the investigation into the disappeared harp, and the second is coming back home into the fae world. I loved both, they were filled with so much love and kindness. I think this is Marillier's greatest skill: to intersperse her fairy tales with bright flashes of light, small kindnesses her heroines/heroes show to strangers like in fairy tales of old, what these acts lead to and the dark forces opposing them.

Overall, a great listen which filled me with warmth, much recommended!

 

A League of Nobleman (2023)

Tencent, China, 29 episodes watched on Viki

Synopsis from MyDramaList

Zhang Ping is an impoverished orphan who comes from a provincial part of the country. He has come to Beijing in an attempt to take the civil service entrance examination but must eke out a living by making noodles to sell on the street. While he is unsophisticated in his manners and is something of a dreamer, he is exceptionally perceptive - and also quite nosy. That means he is naturally gifted when it comes to solving puzzles and getting to the bottom of mysteries.

Meanwhile, Lan Jue is a young, well-mannered minister who hides a secret from his youth that he does not want to reveal to anyone. As Lan Jue is going about his business, trying to solve a case, his path crosses with that of Zhang Ping. Despite some misunderstandings, Zhang Ping manages to help Lan Jue solve the case - although the former also inadvertently learns the latter's secret. But this incident turns into the beginning of a remarkable partnership.

The two men develop a close bond - despite their very different backgrounds. And together, they resolve to solve all manner of mysteries, including what really happened to Lan Jue's father - and rid the royal court of corruption once and for all!

~~ Adapted from the novel "The Mystery of Zhang Guo" (张公案) by Da Feng Gua Guo (大风刮过).

8/10

* * *

This is a bromance drama, one of the first ones which was allowed to come out after the new laws came into force in China in 2021 and most of the dramas of this genre got indefinitely shelved. I watched a review which talked about how this drama had to be severely cut so it could pass a review but to be honest I haven't noticed. 

What I did notice was gorgeous filming, colours and sounds. It had a distinctive sense of esthetics and felt at times eery. I might not have loved it, but I liked its mood and mysteries.

The mysteries were beautifully presented, and I loved how most of them identified as magic in the beginning were revealed as tricks to manipulate people later on. 

Also, the pairing of the investigators was classic. A sophisticated, elegant and brilliant politician on one side and a very straightforward, abrupt and without any artistry poor guy on the other side. They messed up each others plans for awhile until they figured out that they are better off working together.

An interesting drama, and by Chinese standards not too long, at only 29 episodes. Recommended.

 

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas ( Crescent City #1)

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

Sarah J. Maas's brand-new CRESCENT CITY series begins with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.

8.5/10

* * *

Fabulous world-building but parts of the plot made me roll my eyes hard.

First of all, this very much reminded me of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. There was something of Mac and Barrons in Bryce and Hunt's pairing although this couple is not as dark and complex.

Secondly, I absolutely loved the eclectic mix of species in this urban fantasy. There was everything from angels to vampires and fae. And all of it steeped in magic and technology.

So, a big A+ for the world Sarah J. Maas introduced to the reader. It was incredibly tasty.

As for the plot development, it was not as strong.

First problem. Predictable but not very believable attraction between Hunt and Bryce. It felt too forced to me the way Hunt went from an unfeeling, cold facade to someone with such volatile emotions. It just didn't feel right for his age and experience.

Secondly, his involvement into the conspiracy came out of the left field for me. Like, what? It was like a deux in the machina. Nothing previously led to this particular plot development.

And the last and worst problem was the convenient villain monologue. Really? Someone just stood there and confessed all they did on record. Just their level of carelessness and stupidity was unforgivable. It was a total cope out to me where instead of showing us something we had a literal villain telling us what they did and how they did it. Disappointing.

Still, I enjoyed this audiobook very much, and there was a moment when it even brought me to tears. I bought the next installment in the series and will be listening to it very soon.

Despite minor problems, much recommended.

 

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance #3)

bought on Audible

Synopsis

Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

The one thing you never talk about while you're in the Scholomance is what you'll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it's all we dream about, the hideously slim chance we'll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I'm out, we're all out--and I didn't even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother's prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn't kill enclavers, I saved them. Me, and Orion, and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: we saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves of the world.

Ha, only joking! Actually it's gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war on the horizon. And the first thing I've got to do now, having miraculously got out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

* * *

8/10

I enjoyed this series very much, but I would say that book 1 and 2 impressed me more than book 3. The solution to their problem in the end felt like a bit of a cope out.

 Still, I have loved El, the prickly main heroine from the get go. Naomi Novik excels at writing outwardly dislikeable heroines, grumpy, cynical and sassy, but secretly kind and self-sacrificing.

The best part of the whole trilogy is its world-building. It's excellent and so engrossing, that you can't help but fall into the world of The Scholomance, the Enclaves, the never-ending squabble for power and survival in between. 

Juliet Marillier and Katherine Arden might be more poetic in their writing but Novik takes the reader to darker places and underscores how heavy and twisted the price of magic can be. She is also excellent at blending the modern world into it.

The Golden Enclaves is not without problems, but the series overall is a solid 4 star read or listen. I listen to it on audio and the narrator was fabulous. 

Much recommended, folks.

The Blood of Youth (2022)

Genre: wuxia

40 episodes

Available on Viki

Synopsis

As a disciple of the Lei Clan, Lei Wu Jie can't wait to prove his worth as a hero, but as a novice who has only just entered the martial arts world, the path to becoming a true hero is difficult, at best. Undeterred by the challenges that lay before him, Wu Jei makes his way to the great city of Xue Yue, certain that his time there will mould him into the hero he so longs to be. Unfortunately, his trip to Xue Yue is waylaid by an unfortunate mishap at the Villa of Fallen Snow.

As proprietor of the Villa, Xiao Se has all the looks of a wealthy innkeeper, but he can barely afford to keep the inn open. Struggling with his business, Xiao Se is less than pleased when his establishment is damaged by the antics of a young, wannabe hero. Demanding he makes amends for the damage he caused, Wu Jei can think of only one way to appease the grumpy Xiao Se, and that is to take him with him. With no other options, the two set off together without any idea of what fate has in store for them.

Befriending several people along the way, including Wu Xin, Sikong Qian Luo, Tang Lian, and Ye Ruo Yi, Xiao Se and Wu Jei soon find themselves caught up in an adventure far greater than any of them could have imagined. While facing countless dangers, the group stumbles upon a trail of clues that tie one of them to a battle for the throne that took place over a decade ago. The question is, is the intrepid hero ready and willing to take his rightful place as the leader of the people? And where will the brotherhood go from there?

(Source: Viki; edited by MyDramaList)

~~ Adapted from the novel "Shao Nian Ge Xing" (少年歌行) by Zhou Mu Nan (周木楠).

* * *

9/10

Honestly, this was one of the best wuxia dramas I've seen in ages. And it airdropped right at the end of an already good drama year. 

Gorgeous actors, very good fighting and CGI scenes, nothing boring in the plot, hardly any romance, all of it mostly bromance and very good camaraderie. Aaah, I was enjoying it so much!

Xiao Se is a classic, aloof, wily, keeping all his plans close to the chest, prince. I've seen complains that Li Hongyi who played Xiao Se is not very good at acting but to me he did his character justice.

He might sound selfish and sarcastic but when the situation needs self-sacrificing and bravery he gives 100% back in a spectacular fashion. You can say that the whole plot is circling around helping Xiao Se achieve justice and vanquish the enemies.

He acquires a bunch of very enthusiastic and powerful youngsters in martial world as his friends along his quest who help him fight rival princes.

One of the more interesting and flirtatious characters who work so well in all their bromance glory with him is Wu Xin, a very cunning Buddhist monk.

Sparks fly every time they spend time together, and he is probably the only one who is Xiao Se's match in wit.

There is a lot going on and I can guarantee none of it will be boring. The main villain is a little bit cartoonish to my liking but the other characters do make up for his shortcomings with their own complexity.

Overall, a fantastic Chinese drama recommended to all fans of martial arts universe.

 

The Blighted Bride by Anne Cleeland

*review copy thanks to the author*

Synopsis

It was regrettable, that Kanika of Kerala would have experienced such bad luck, despite being a prized bride. First, the Nizam of Bengal had died, leaving her a wealthy widow, and now—now it seemed that the British East India Company was going to interfere with her next marriage, to one of the powerful Hongs of Canton.

The Company was concerned, it seemed, about her motive for these alliances, and the potential effect she might have on their lucrative opium trade.

As for Kanika, she was also concerned—only she was concerned about the British Commander’s effect on her plans. The more she reminded herself that they were impossibly at odds, the more she was drawn to him. It was a shame, that he was fated to be unlucky, too.

7/10

* * *

Anne Cleeland has a skill of creating of a very intriguing backstory for her characters and then only feeding us crumbs of it. I kinda love it and hate it at the same time.

This is a very fast read, folks. I wish it was a thicker book with more details because come on, how many husbands/fiancés this woman had before? And one was a pirate? I was sold just on that one little detail.

Kanika and James have very good chemistry in this read. They seem to show their appreciation for each other in more things that are left unsaid and not done instead of words, which ends up being much more expressive as a declaration.

Hanh, Kanika's partner in crime is an intriguing man as well. Is he getting his own book, I wonder?

Overall, a nice, easy read. Especially, because it's refreshing for a Regency romance fan to read about events happening outside England. My only regret is that I'd have loved to have a meatier book, heavy on details.

While we can certainly be forgiven for not seeing our personal wounds as jewels, our most powerful wounds often have as many facets and hidden depths as an exquisitely cut gemstone. They are sharp, with hard edges that not only reflect back light but distort it somewhat.

As writers, we know that our character’s wounds are some of the most fertile ground for creating a rich, fully realized protagonist. But before we can explore this with our characters, we have to understand it ourselves. And because we have all been wounded in some way—and those places are always tender—it can be uncomfortable to look too closely.

In order to use our characters’ wounds to full effect, we need to understand that wounds aren’t simply an attribute to be filled in on a worksheet. They are the rocket fuel for our character’s backstory, the backstory that drives their motivation and colors their world. It must be deeply organic to that character and so intricately woven into their emotional DNA that it distorts the way the see the world and themselves.

While everyone’s wounds are uniquely theirs, they are also universal in that they’re something we all share.  What differs is their nature, how we carry them, and the many—often unexpected—ways they shape us and our behavior.

Because of course the impact of any given wound isn’t limited to that initial injury. I was reminded of that last week when I was out walking and twisted my ankle. It was nothing serious, but by the time I’d limped around favoring it for a day or two, everything else was out of whack as I contorted my body to accommodate the injury.

Emotional wounds are just like that, only worse by orders of magnitude.

Even when we know our character’s painful past, we often don’t use it to full effect. We don’t manage to weave into the very essence of who our character is—because make no mistake, wounds fundamentally shape us, especially those incurred in childhood when we are so defenseless. With wounds of the heart or soul—the ones that violate some deep fundamental part—it is the repercussions of that initial wound that create the most scarring. The blame, the self-doubt, the suffocating shame, all serve as a way to cut us off from our core self.

Emotional neglect, a betrayal, a rejection, a lie, are all painful enough, but often become the lens through which we see ourselves. We accept that rejection. Believe that lie. Justify the betrayal due to something fundamentally flawed within us rather than the betrayer. Or worse, we don’t see it as a betrayal at all, but simple evidence of how flawed and unlovable we really are.

The emotionally abandoned child believes they are undeserving of love.

The abused believes they deserve the abuse, that love will always hurt and often comes coated in shame.

The child of addicts learns to fundamentally mistrust the safety and stability of the world around them.

The child raised in a religion that vilifies all human behavior will inevitably see themselves as sinful and unworthy.

Any kind of abuse—emotional, physical, sexual—is often the starting point for a long, twisted, distorted journey from our true selves. And our worldview takes shape around that bad information we’ve deduced because of it.

One of the biggest challenges we face as writers is how to hook our reader emotionally and forge a connection in those first few pages without becoming the literary equivalent of the stranger in the checking line, blurting out every gory detail of the drama of their lives without even having been asked.

The secret, I think, is to show or hint at the character’s contortions and defense mechanisms that have sprung up around that deeper wound. As readers, we’re trained to look for clues and hints, so we’ll spot those coping mechanisms and be intrigued—we’ll want to know why.

So as writers, we need to ask ourselves: In what ways does our character limp through the world? How do they favor that wounded place inside? What distorted belief do they cling to with both hands?  What ways do they disassociate from parts of themselves that brush too closely to that wound? In what ways do they wear their wound like a chip on their shoulder, insisting to the world it has made them tough, impervious to future wounding?

And why are these characters indelibly scarred by these events, when others might brush them off or take them in stride?

I believe the answer to that last question is that because for some, the psychic soil has been well prepared and cultivated—their soil broken down and covered in so much manure before the wound even shows up—that the individual is supremely susceptible to the final blow.

But what about characters who don’t have a tragic or traumatic event in their past?  What about lesser, garden variety wounds? The kind we acquire from the simple life lessons of growing older or growing up? Because the majority of the time, these shaping wounds are incurred early in life—either in our childhood, teen, or early adult years.

These less traumatic experiences still shape us, although to what degree will vary widely from character to character and will depend on things like the psychic equivalent of adrenaline, momentum, individual pain thresholds, and how cultivated the soil was.

We all have memories from our childhood, of playing with other kids, either on the playground or in the neighborhood, then taking a fall, skinning our knee or scraping an elbow. Chances are we bounced right up and kept on going, utterly impervious to any pain. At least until it was time to come inside and wash up for dinner. THEN we could feel that sucker throbbing and stinging.

Science has also shown that pain thresholds within the same person vary depending on how stressed our systems are. When we are under chronic stress, our body produces a lot more of some chemicals and fewer of others. The reformulation of our brain chemistry intensifies pain response—both physical and emotional.

So even if the story you’re writing does not involve characters with large traumatic wounds in their past, common everyday wounds can be equally fertile ground for deepening character.

• Why does a character have a gambling problem?
• A shopping addiction?
• Why are they terrified of clowns? Cats? Blimps?
• Why do they feel the need to be perfect?
• So competitive?

Each of those behaviors could be fueled by either a traumatic wound or a common every day one. It is the tone and theme of your story that will decide which it should be. Or rather I should say, it is the nature of your character’s wounds that will determine the tone and theme of your story.

We are often our own worst enemy—there is no denying that. Many writers feel that their character is his own antagonist, and that is likely true. Our desperation to avoid acknowledging our wounds, to avoid awakened that old pain and our deeply held beliefs about the nature of that pain are often an enormous component of getting in the way of our own happiness. It is hard and scary to look that deeply inside and reorient our world view, even it if ultimately frees us. It is scary to be thrust back into the same powerlessness and vulnerability we had in that moment. That is why we need stories to show us how.

Some of our character’s most transformative moments will come from facing those wounds, freeing themselves from the weight of them, and beginning the healing process. And of course, the stories we write aren’t about the wounds—but how we can overcome them.

We need stories to show us that being wounded or broken doesn’t lessen our character’s—or our own—humanity in any way. It is, in fact, what make us deeply human. The best stories show us that having been wounded doesn’t mean we are less than, or broken beyond repair, or unworthy. Instead, they illuminate all the different shapes wounds can take and the many different paths to healing that await us, if only we have the courage to look.

Do you know your character’s defining wounds? Can you brainstorm three to four ways these wounds create behaviors that readers can see on the page?

 

(Originally published on Writer Unboxed April 13, 2018)

 

Hoping to find an ally from the convent, Sybella instead discovers yet another initiate who has been misled and misused by the former abbess of Saint Mortain. But with long held secrets exposed and allegiances revealed, Sybella must form an uneasy trust borne of desperation to combat enemies at the French court who would have them branded as traitors and heretics.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed—that is Genevieve’s growing fear. Though she may have been a fool, she is no coward and will do whatever it takes to set things right and ensure her Queen’s—and Sybella’s—safety. It will take all of Genevieve’s strength of will and cunning, along with Sybella’s willingness to embrace her growing power. But even that may not be enough.

Plans fail, fragile loyalties are tested, and bridges burn in this riveting conclusion to the Courting Darkness duology. Here, the Daughters of Death finally embrace the full depth of their power—and try to make whole that which has been broken, including themselves.

 

Want to read more? You’re in luck! My publisher is providing an e-sampler of the first eleven chapters. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it! (And if you get so excited that you feel like pre-ordering the book–be sure to save your receipts! There will be a pre-order gift. Details coming soon!)

As I wrote Dark Triumph, I wanted to be sure and populate the book with some of the colorful characters from the Middle Ages that I had come across in my research, and yet it had to feel organic to the story and not wedged in there.

As Sybella and the wounded knight were racing through the countryside, trying to escape pursuit, I had to do some serious thinking as to who they would actually run in to, and of those people, who would help, who would hinder, and who would turn them in in a heartbeat for a reward. Since they would need to slip into the forest to evade capture, I decided to draw from those who lived in the forests or obtained their livelihood from the woods, and settled upon a group of charcoal burners.

Oddly, it is often the outcasts in society who are most accepting of other outcasts. Their very disenfranchisement sometimes makes them more willing to challenge the status quo or thumb their nose at rigid authority. While charcoal burners were not (probably) true outcasts, they did keep to themselves somewhat, confined by their livelihood to dwelling in forests and tending their charcoal fires rather than living in cities or villages.

In the middle ages, one of the most efficient fuels at the time was charcoal. Coal itself was rare and difficult to mine with their technology, but charcoal could be made through the slow burning of wood, then stopping the process before the wood was fully burned to ash. Charcoal burning was a tricky thing, requiring fairly esoteric knowledge of how to build the fire pits just so, how to pile the wood so it wouldn’t burn too quickly, and how to read the smoke to discern when the charcoal was ready. There were a number of occupational hazards, primarily involving collapsed fire pits and burns. It was also an occupation full of hazard, for a stray spark or ember could start a conflagration in minutes.

As I continued to research charcoal burners, I came across a curious mention of the Carbonnari, a branch of Italian charcoal burners. They started off as a guild, as many medieval trades did, and developed into an organization or brotherhood similar to Freemansons, only with their charcoal burning trade being at the center of their rituals and organizations. While their organization and political involvement was most evident in 19th century Italy, it is believed the groups’ origins began in the middle ages. When I learned they had a French counterpart called the Charbonnerie, I knew I’d found my outcasts.

As a writer, a dozen questions immediately went off in my mind. Who were they? What would compel them to become political and engage themselves in the affairs of the kingdom? How would they make those decisions? And, most importantly in a world populated with patron saints, whom would they worship?

Any deviation from normal church doctrine in the middle ages was rigorously opposed, so it made sense to me that they would worship someone not approved by the church, one of the older gods who’d not make the transition to patron saint.

Dovetailing nicely with this was my personal fascination with the concept of the Black Madonna. There are various theories for the origin of the Black Madonna, whether it was simply the color of Jesus and Mary’s skin before Renaissance artists reimagined them as fair skinned and blonde, or an origin that spoke to possible African roots. There is some speculation that the huge popularity of the cult of the Virgin Mary in the middle ages was a redirecting of earlier earth/mother goddess worship.

But interestingly, over the years I’d also run into mentions of the Black Artemis, rumored to have been worshipped by the Amazons, or Black Demeter, the aspect of the earth goddess when she was in deep mourning for her daughter Persephone. I took all those threads and swirled them around until I had the Dark Matrona, the unsanctioned aspect of Dea Matrona, the former earth goddess now patron saint. I decided that her darkness would be of a more spiritual nature, not unlike the Egyptian god Osiris, for in the Egyptian pantheon, black was not only the color of the underworld, but regeneration as the rich dark silt from the Nile river allowed them to grow their crops each year, and so black was also the color of regeneration, which dovetailed nicely with the book’s themes of finding hope in the darkness.

 

While the Nine Old Gods of Brittany are my own invention, they were built on a number of historical, geographical, and ancient theological precedents, so I thought I’d share some of those here for those of you who are curious to know what my inspirations for world of His Fair Assassin were.

As the Catholic Church struggled to gain acceptance among people who were reluctant to let go of their own pagan beliefs, it made a conscious decision to actively subsume those beliefs into Christianity, white washing and Christianizing them along the way. They felt it would make it easier for people to accept the new religion if they could recognize parts of their old beliefs in it.

Brittany was also home to the last remaining group of druidesses, called the Gallinezae, who were said to possess mysterious power. Additionally, Brittany had nine bishoprics, or districts, that were based on the nine earlier Celtic tribes who inhabited the land.

Since Brittany was originally inhabited by the Celtic tribes, I built the mythology of His Fair Assassin on a Celtic foundation. It’s also important to note that I drew from Continental Celtic roots for my mythology rather than the Irish Celts.

Trying to accurately recreate any Celtic beliefs is tricky however, because the Celts themselves did not create any written record of their beliefs or practices; it was all passed along through the oral tradition. In fact, druids in training were required to study for twenty years in order to learn all their lore and history by committing it to memory.

Consequently, nothing of the Celtic religion or spiritual beliefs and practices was written down until they were invaded by Rome. In addition to viewing the Celts practices with scorn, the Romans often interpreted other pantheons according to their own, thus a mother goddess must be equated with Zeus’s wife Hera, or a god of the Underworld with Hades, etc. This Interpretatio romana colored everything we knew about Celtic practices up until fairly recently when improved archaeological techniques and methods began revealing a more complete and accurate picture. The funny thing is though, by the middle ages the myth and folklore of these earlier Celts would have been very much written over and ‘tainted’ by the Romanization of those myths, so that those living in the 15th century would have been more familiar with this Romanized version. Since I set the story in that timeframe, I wanted to be true to that worldview rather than our own, more knowledgeable one.

Here is a list of the Nine Old Gods of Brittany along with their Roman/Greek or Celtic influences/inspiration:

Saint Mortain – god of death. The Celtic equivalent to Dis Pater, the Romanized Celtic god of death, with some similarities to the Welsh Arawn. Greek and Roman counterparts would be Pluto and Hades, but the Celtic Dis Pater had other aspects to him that tied him to older beliefs that enveloped not only the underworld, but the entire cycle of life and death. Also inspired by the Breton figure of personified death, the Ankou.

Dea Matrona – Gaulish mother goddess, responsible for the earth’s bounty. Similar to the Celtic Anu or Ana.

Saint Amourna – daughter of Dea Matrona and one of the twin goddesses of love. Amourna is the gentle aspect of love. The Celtic pantheon had no goddess of love per se, so she definitely has aspects of Aphrodite or Venus. However, the idea of twin sister goddesses representing the dual aspects of love was my own invention.

Saint Arduinna – daughter of Dea Matrona and goddess of love’s sharp bite, protector of virgins. There was a Celtic goddess Arduinna who was a goddess of the forest. Boars, highly revered by the Celts, were sacred to her. Similar to the Gallo-Roman Diana.

Saint Mer – goddess of the sea. While there is no known Celtic god of the sea, there were many deities of springs and lakes, most of whom were goddesses so I decided to make the deity of the sea in my world in keeping with the feminine representations the Celts seemed to favor.

Saint Camulos – god of battle and warriors. Wears a corona of oak leaves and ram’s horns. The Romans equated him with Mars, but I also drew slightly on the cult of Mithros.

Saint Brigantia – goddess of wisdom; brought medicine and healing knowledge to mankind. Based on the Celtic goddess Bridget, who is one of the most widely known pagan goddesses to have become a saint. Her Greek and Roman counterparts would be Athena and Minerva.

Saint Cissonius – god of crossroads and travelers. I took the Celtic Cissonius, god of trade, and expanded on it a bit.

Saint Salonius – god of mistakes and patron saint of bastards. Ah, this is my most historically tenuous god. I have always been a fan of the trickster god who appears in so many pantheons, and I saw a fleeting entry on the Wikipedia Celtic Gods and Goddesses page that reference Salonius, god of mistakes. Alas, when I later went to reference it, the entry was gone and I couldn’t even find it in the Google cache search. Although it seems fitting that my god of mistakes might have been born of one of my own.

Anne of Brittany was a real historic person. At twelve years old, upon the death of her father, she inherited one of the last remaining duchies in Western Europe. By all accounts, she was a remarkable girl. Groomed since birth to inherit the duchy, she was reading and speaking Greek and Latin by the time she was five years old.

Her substantial inheritance was complicated by two things. One, she was a woman at a time when traditionally women did not inherit kingdoms. Since the time of Charlemagne, Salic Law had been invoked to prevent women from becoming rulers. When Anne became Duchess of Brittany, it defied all the conventions of that time. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, not only was she unmarried, but her father had promised her hand in marriage to at least half a dozen European nobles, if not more. As he plotted and strategized, trying to keep his lands and title safe from the French Crown, he dangled his daughter (and her substantial dowry) as bait for the aid he needed from other princes and dukes. Consequently, when he died, she had been promised to more than one suitor.

To say that this created problems for her in keeping her duchy independent is an understatement. Which is why she needed the help of assassin nuns. What? Doesn’t everybody call for assassin nuns when they’re having political difficulty? If not, they should….

 

In preparation for the publication of COURTING DARKNESS, and because I realize not everyone has time for a re-read of the original trilogy, I thought I would put up some “refresher” posts to help readers reacquaint themselves with the His Fair Assassin world before diving back in. First up: the legends and folklore of Brittany that planted those first seeds in my imagination, lo those many years ago . . .

As I combed through history, looking for the perfect setting for this story, four things caught my attention and eventually solidified into the world of His Fair Assassin. The first was a twelve year old duchess who inherited a kingdom, that inheritance hugely complicated by the fact that she had been promised in marriage to half a dozen princes and nobles.

Next was a mention of the Gallizenae, nine druidesses who lived on the Ile de Sein off the coast of Brittany and possessed mysterious powers.

While Googling for images of the Ile de Sein, I came across of photo of a small, medieval chapel standing next to one of the old, pagan standing stones that are so plentiful in Brittany. It was such a vivid illustration of one of the things that has always fascinated me—how the Catholic Church was so successful at absorbing bits and pieces of the older, ancient religions.

I also learned of a Breton folklore figure call the Ankou, a personification figure of Death.

 

Then lastly, I read about the Passage de l’Enfer—a Breton folktale of fisherman who receive a knock on their door at midnight and were required row the souls of the dead across the ocean at night. Those legends soon became intertwined in my mind and the story idea began to take shape . . .