Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Lions and Demons and Horses! Oh my!


I just found this blog the other day and I think it's one of the reasons why I started my own. Ashana Lian's blog is full of good fantasy stuff. Reviews full of personal opinion that are fun to read. I especially enjoyed reading them, because she pointed out a lot of the same feelings that I felt when reading those same books, but never thought to put into words.

I really like the design of the site and especially the artwork at the top. All in all, the site is similar to what I hope my site will grow up to be one day. I'm still in the early stages of creating this blog and I might change its appearance from time to time. Might even add some cool art in the header like Ashana one day.

On another note, one of Ashana's book reviews was on "The Painted Man", also known as "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett. I really loved that book and its sequel. The world, the magic, it was all so immersive. Right down my alley. After a long wait I finally have the third book in the Demon Cycle series and I can't wait to read it. All I have to do is finish up "Lionheart" by Sharon Penman, historical fiction. It's a good read, a bit tough getting into, but also very interesting once you're in the thick of it. Really makes me want to read more about the different Crusades.

(Art by Nikola Yordanov)

Fitting to the Crusades, I chose this piece of art. The little details, like the arrows in the earth, the cross dangling from the knights neck and the fine chain mail really caught my eye. The horses face and the expression caught therein truly gives this painting its spirit. So much so that I feel the horse is the protagonist, not its rider.

3 comments:

  1. Hi again Kai. I'm glad you've been enjoying my blog; it's always so rewarding to know somebody feel that way! My blog was pretty awful in design at the start, but I had a defined purpose then. My challenge now is holding onto that initial purpose, now I've been able to grow into a clean and effective design. It's easy to become excited by the others things happening in your space and lose focus (like taking part in waaay too many tags. A lot of fun, helped readers get to know me, but didn't offer much else fantasy-related information.) I've never heard of Lionheart - I'll have to go and look that up.

    Great post. I hope you really enjoy blogging and adapt this online platform to your personal style. =]

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ashana!

      Lionheart is the fourth book in Shanon Penman's Plantagenet series. I usually hate reading a book from a series that isn't the first one, but I got it for my birthday and it sounded interesting. I thought I'd read it first and then decide if I'd want to start from the beginning.

      I'm almost done and I can say for sure, even though I've enjoyed it, I'm not going to start form the top. Historical fiction is cool, because it deals with real events, but sometimes real events can be quite chaotic and annoying. I enjoyed the intrigue, the suspense and the characters, however, it took a while for all that to heat up.

      Personally, I would have enjoyed more detailed descriptions of battle scenes, they were often over before they even began. But that's just may preference, since I quite enjoy writing action/battle scenes.

      At the moment, I'm quite happy with the look of the site, but I'm sure I'll find some things to add here and there over time. ;)

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    2. I can't help but have a certain degree of respect for a book that can stand by itself and as part of a series. Now writing my own novel, I'm starting to understand how tricky that can be to manufacture. I've come across some books where I've started reading, unaware that it's not the first one, and somewhere between the first and third chapter I've had to stop because I didn't have a clue what on earth was going on.

      That made me laugh XD What you said about the battle scene somehow reminded me of that bit in GOT/ASOIAF where Tyrion's about to fight in his first battle, gets knocked out and is unconscious during the whole thing. If it wasn't so funny, it would've been quite an obvious and clumsy way of keeping a fan favourite out of harm's way!

      Your site has a nice, clean look. They always do at the start. Keeping it that way can be tricky (Well. It was tricky for ME because I was tempted by all the funky widgets. I had to kick them all of my blog last year). Anyway, looking forward to your next post.

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