Five Things (Almost) Every Fantasy Novel Has

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, it's been another long week at work. Finals are in progress, so a couple co-workers took the week off. But that's okay, most money for me! At least everyone else is eager for hours, so we're not too desperate.

Anyway, I've been reading the Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest... ect.) and I've come to notice a few things that a bunch of fantasy novels seem to share. And I'm not talking about the races of creatures, like elves and dwarves, as those are uniform and not expected to change. I mean small details.

1) If there is a blacksmith, he's a good guy. The more muscles, the better.

2) If there is a large mountain range, they have to have the word Mist in them. Like the Misty Mountains, or the Mountains of Mist.

3) If it starts off with an average person living in a small village tucked into the middle of nowhere, that person is the savior of the world, and that village is actually the ancient site of a once grand and very important city, which almost everyone just conveniently forgot about.

4) A character is going to get married? Better do it before that hoard of monsters come knocking at your door. (which happens to be a small village tucked into the middle of nowhere)

5) If a character needs to know something, they will not only learn it within a month, they will be a master of it, because it's 'just in them'.


Most of these examples stem from three series; Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and Inheritance. I'm guessing that Robert Jordan and Christopher Paolini both read Tolkien, and took a lot of examples from him. Not to say that they're bad books (Wheel of Time is still very far up on my favorite books list), but they do tend to follow a predictable path on these five points.

Warbreaker Review

It's been a while since I've done a review. Not because I haven't been reading, but just because I've been lazy. You really shouldn't expect much else from me...

But I recently finished a really good book, by none other than Brandon Sanderson. It's a stand alone book called Warbreaker

The magic system in this book revolves around something called Breaths. Every human is born with one, and it's basically their soul. People can live without one, but it makes the world dull and drab for them. In fact, those that have given their Breath away are called Drabs. People can collect Breaths, and use them to animate objects made from organic materials, such as twigs, grass, clothing, even corpses and bones.

As I've come to expect from Sanderson, the book is full of plot twists and unexpected surprises. You'll start to think you understand what will happen, or think you can trust one of the characters, then Bam! Everything changes. It really keeps you hooked on the book.

I hope he writes more in this world, though I expect that he's going to keep this as a stand alone novel. However, many of his books are connected, either by the same world or with characters. I feel like he's planning just one massive world, or somehow he's going to connect nearly every book he's written. He's already started to do this by having one character make a cameo in several of his books. I would be surprised if he didn't do something with this.

So in the end, I would definitely suggest Warbreaker for anyone who likes a thrilling book, that'll keep you thinking and constantly guessing about what will happen next.

Choices are Hard

I did it again, I'm sorry. I didn't even turn my laptop on on Tuesday, then I just kind of forgot. Not to mention whenever I get ready to post something, my internet decides to crash.

So anyway, one more week of school for me! It seems like everyone else is done this week, or next Monday. But I have an extra week, plus an extra Monday. Yay! Oh well, I can't complain. I only have one midterm, so at least I'm basically done after next week.

So now I just need to make a choice. I'm going to school for three classes in the spring, so I'll be at school three days a week. This means I could probably still work without much trouble. The problem is that one of my classes will require a flexible schedule, at least for the weekends. I feel like if I stay, I'll just request to work Monday and Friday. That way when I have to go to a book reading or something else for class, I won't have to worry about taking the day off of work at the last minute. I would also step down as assistant, since I feel like I wouldn't be doing enough to earn that position.

The other problem is that I just get so grumpy at work. For the first four hours, I absolutely hate everything and everyone. Of course I never show it. Even when I'm incredibly to the point of wanting to break something, I still feel guilty if I'm rude to someone (unless they're rude to me first). No matter how bad of a mood I'm in, it's not fair to take it out on someone else, since it'll probably make their day pretty bad too.
After the first four hours though, I reach the halfway point, and I actually get into a pretty good mood. This is especially the case when I open. I have to wake up at five to get to work, so you can imagine that I'm not in the best of moods in the morning. But at least the shifts go by quickly.

So yeah, that's the update for the week. I figure I'll tell my manager that I might be willing to stay with limited hours. If I say Monday and Friday, I'm sure she'll be happy, because that's when we need people the most. I suppose I'll keep the weekend open, just for emergencies.

School and no work?

Everyone who has read most of my blog posts should probably know by now that I'm not the most organized person. So of course, when I tried to sign up for classes, I found out that the ones for fiction and non-fiction needed some classes that were only offered this semester.

No big deal though, I was told I could get into the poetry class, and while talking to the head of the creative writing department today, to suggested another class. The Business of writing. It sounds hard, gruelingly hard, with a lot of homework and some future headaches. But, it's exactly what I need. I can write (or at least I like to think I can), but it's the organization, the part that comes after the writing that I'm stuck on. So this class will definitely help me out. Hopefully...

However, like I said, it will have a lot of homework. I'm also hoping to get into a third year English class, so in total, three third year classes. So, I've made a choice. Before next semester starts, I'm going to be quitting my job. I'm really not working much right now as it is. I work Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the very rare Sunday or Monday morning. Either way, my role as assistant manager is pretty limited now, as I don't work any of the important days (order day or delivery day). I'm going to give my manager, and the store manager, a lot of warning. I think they already know that I'll be stepping down, but I'm sure they're forgotten by now. I guess I should look up how to write a letter of resignation...

So that's the big update for now! Looks like school will be getting harder, but hopefully I'll have more time to concentrate on it, while having a bit of a social life still. The funny thing is, even with no job, I'll still probably be the richest one of all my friends... It's probably a good thing; we'll be more likely to do cheap things when we get together.

Publication Number Two!

Good news, everybody! A while back I mentioned that I had a short story that was supposed to be published in my college's anthology, but because of a miscommunication, it never got in. Well guess what! They have room in this years anthology, so it's getting in!

I'm no longer attending the college where it's being published, but if I'm not working on going to school, I might attend the reading night for it. I haven't actually gone to one of them yet, despite being published before. It might be fun, and a hear there's free food.

So that's been my highlight of the week so far. Let's see if it can get any better. I have Friday off work, which is pretty rare, so it's turning out pretty well.

Thank You

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday; I barely had time to turn my computer on.

I feel extra bad for not posting something yesterday, because it was Remembrance Day. However, I know that a lot of people of my generation and younger will not care, which is really a sad thought. I know, through all of elementary school and part of middle school, I had no idea what was going on, or understood why we were remembering something. The concept of war was unknown to me, and though I knew a lot of people had died, it didn't really sink in until later.

Even then, it took a while for me to realize that we are not just remembering the soldiers from World War I and World War II, but also from the multiple other conflicts and wars, even up to the one that is being fought this very day. Unfortunately, there are still people, grown adults, who don't see this. They will wear a poppy to respect those that died in the World Wars, which is great, it's the reason and tradition. But please, don't forget those men and women who are giving up their lives now. They're not doing it to protect us. They're doing it for a much more selfless reason. They're protecting those that need protecting, just because it's the right thing to do.

So thank you, to the most courageous and honorable men and women.

Early To Bed

Ugh, I am tired. I am not a morning person. If I have to open at work, I will be grumpy until at least 10:30 am. Unfortunately, I've opened twice this week. I really shouldn't complain, everyone has to open once in a while, but I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep at night, and I need a lot of sleep. And normally I would be happy to get off work early, but these two shifts I've been working until 3:15, so my day is basically over by the time I get home. And to top it all off, I still have to work on Saturday and Sunday. I have to work the whole weekend, which is pretty much the only time that I'm definitely able to see my boyfriend. I guess not anymore.

I really need to remind my manager that I'm not supposed to work over 24 hours a week...

Anyway, I think it's time for bed... at 8:15...