Book Review: A MEMORY OF LIGHT ends an epic series… abruptly

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I don’t recall exactly when I first started reading The Eye of the World, the first novel in Robert Jordan’s A Wheel of Time series. My active Goodreads usage only goes back to about 2016, when I had read The Fires of Heaven (book five).

It has likely been 10 years since I first started reading this series, and to finally have reached the end feels like an achievement on its own.

Overall, A Mermory of Light is a great ending to an exceptional series. The Last Battle plays out with stunning complexity over 100-some pages. All of the major characters and plot threads were tied off from a narrative, and there were still plenty of surprises. Where character stories were not tied off in as much detail as I would have hoped were in the surviving characters dealing with the trauma and the aftermath of such a momentous event as the Last Battle. There was very little time spent on the emotional resonance of everything that had happened in the final act of the book.

Having read this series over the course of years, I at times felt both overwhelmed and bored by the drawn-out narrative, the twisting plot lines, and the ever-expanding cast of characters with seemingly dubious purpose in the story.

This book, and the two preceding it to include Sanderson’s completion of Jordan’s story, managed to balance the incredible web of characters Jordan had created with the streamlining necessary to bring this series to a meaningful conclusion.

Even still, while the primary plots were drawn to a close, I think the ending was rather abrupt and left too many unanswered questions about the aftermath. I fully acknowledge that the lack of definitive aftermath leaves it open to interpretation for each reader. I also recognize that a 900+ page book might not want to dedicate a ton of space to what comes after the Last Battle.

I just wanted a little more closure for the characters who were left behind — their grief and mourning, and their recovery and ambitions for rebuilding their world.

I truly enjoyed this book. And I still have questions to which I will need to devise my own answers, it seems.

Steve D

August Write Day: Routine Reset

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

July was a crazy month for us. We closed on our new house, moved all of our crap, spent another two weeks unpacking, and finally are starting to settle in. It’s been entirely disruptive in the best possible way, but I am ready to find my routines again.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Write something every other day.
  2. Move to the next stage for my stories.
  3. Read three books.
  4. Exercise every day.

Write something every other day?

No, for obvious reasons. We must have spent what felt like a full month packing every night, and then unpacking every time, so that meant less writing time. I kept up with posting on this site, which is something. Otherwise, I only spent one day on any revisions for Uprooted.

The good news is that I only have a few more notes to work through for that draft, so August will also include whatever my next step is. And, critically, deciding what my next step is.

Move to the next stage for my stories?

Oh, hey, I had a specific item for this, which I definitely did not forget about. Well, that cements it, then. I’m going to carry this goal into August and make meaningful progress on these stories. I think I will focus on revising New Earth next.

Read three books?

Yes! I managed to finish three audiobooks in July. I have also been on a bit of a tear the last week with A Memory of Light. I’m into the final final act, and I can’t really put it down at this point. I’m going to finish this book in August, probably within the next week.

Exercise every day?

No, but I fared much better here than in my writing goals. I had twenty-two days of physical activity in July. In that count I’m including basically a full week of moving boxes, a full day of moving furniture, a day of significant playtime with my boys at a picnic, and another day of playtime at a local pool.

My home workout routine definitely took a hit, but I was physically exhausted for two straight weeks with moving.

I did not change-up my routine as quickly as I had hoped, but I likely will in August. In our new home, I’m a 5-10-minute walk from a big franchise type gym. I have no excuse not to become a member there and try to workout at least a couple times a week.

Goals for August

  1. Read three books. Getting this out of the way early.
  2. Exercise every day. How my routine evolves is an open question, but I’m not going to jump headlong back into serious weight-lifting after a four-year hiatus. I want to keep up with yoga and resistance training, so any weight-training will be mixed in.
  3. Write at least every other day. Continuing the trend of not counting my haiku as part of this, meaning I have to put more focus into my stories.
  4. Move to the next stage for my duology. I think this will be a read-through of New Earth, looking for narrative, thematic, and tonal consistency with Uprooted, and overall plot.

Steve D

Book Review: TYLL delivers a winding, mystic tale

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I picked up Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin, mainly because the cover caught my eye.

I didn’t really know what to expect with this story, except that it played on historical figures of the seventeenth century and was loosely based on an old German folk hero dating back to at least the sixteenth century.

It seemed right up my alley, if a bit different from what I usually read.

Tyll is a very well-written story with unique characterizations and an interesting confluence of themes between separate but overlapping tales. The first is a drawn out introduction to a tiny village in the Holy Roman Empire where the young son of Klaus Ulenspiegel is raised. The boy shows a knack for acrobatics and an interest in the occult from a young age, causing trouble for his family until he eventually runs away to escape the clutches of prying clergymen who come to his home.

From there, the story meanders between vignettes of different characters. I found myself interested in the detailed writing style, but wondering where this was all headed. Eventually, it becomes clear that it’s following several overlapping characters across time. Certain sections seem to be arranged non-chronologically, but it’s not difficult to follow.

I feel like I will need to reread this to see all of the connections in full, but I quite enjoyed it.

Steve D

On Moving and Opportunities

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On LifeLeave a comment

We’re moving this week. We bought a new house about 15 minutes away from our current house and are now in the process of transporting as much stuff as possible over this week. Saturday is the big move-in day, with a big rental truck, and big furniture, and big plans to be living in the new house full-time come Saturday evening.

Moving to new places comes with a lot of stress, soon to be followed by the stress of selling our current house.

It also comes with new opportunities, aside from adjusting to a living space that we believe and hope will enable us to build the family life we’ve talked about for years.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how my day-to-day life can change with our new house, and I’m trying to temper my own expectations but also remain open to those possibilities.

We will have a nice front porch and back patio to relax on, readily accessible from the house and also far enough from the noise of our road to feel somewhat private. I’d like to think we will spend many comfortable mornings, and afternoons, and evenings sitting and talking in our outdoor spaces with friends and family.

We will have both a grocery store and a gym (of a reliable franchise brand) less than ten minutes’ walk from my doorstep. Will I be able to reclaim a slice of the walkable suburban lifestyle I had grown so accustomed to during grad school? I sure hope so. I’m excited about the idea of walking to the store with my 4-year-old to pick up milk on a Wednesday night.

We will have a finished basement, soon-to-be-playroom, where our sons can have a space to play and yell and make messes that do not feel disruptive to the flow of our main living, dining, and kitchen areas.

We will have sidewalks in a quieter area removed from main roads and throughways. I hope I will feel comfortable letting our kids roam the neighborhood without fear of cars speeding by every three minutes.

We will have a backyard that is a relatively flat blank slate — just a cement patio and grass right now that, with patience, we can evolve into a vibrant, welcoming, and pleasant garden and play area.

I think we have a lot of hopes and dreams for our new house, and that’s what’s exciting about it. The opportunities it provides us affirm our decision to move. It will be fun to see these opportunities play out.

Steve D