Week one: College Life

                                       Week One: College Life


Hey guys! I just finished up week one of college, literally just stopped studying so I can go to bed in time to rest up for filming tomorrow.
It's been a trip.
For those of you who don't know, I have 6 classes this semester.

• Math- Graphing and linear equations
  This class sucks because the teacher is not just teaching that specific class but several others at the same time and gets all confused and complicates things. I have learned more from the tutor in 10 minutes than I did from the teacher in 6 hours.
• Art Appreciation online-
  I don't hate it yet. The reading is comical, in my opinion, and entertaining. As you all know I love digging into the deeper meaning of things so I am okay with this one.
• English 111 (basic English required for every college)
  I definitely don't hate this one. The teacher is great, the work is challenging but thought provoking and its going to help me become a better writer for you all and I would do anything for you ^_^ I would like to say a huge thank you to Seth and Casey, the authors of the Keys of Candor series that I reviewed. Doing that project with them helped me flex my writing fingers and challenged my critical thinking skills and I think I was better prepared for college because of it. Thanks guys!
• PE
  I thought I would hate this class.. I don't hate the physical part, the homework hasn't been too bad yet but I haven't had a quiz yet so I don't know. The book is very bland and hard to read and a little depressing but other than that I think I will survive.
• Stage Craft
  This class is home. The people in that class and the subjects are right up my alley and I couldn't have felt more in place. I love this class so far and actually look forward to it.
• ACA- this is a basic college course on how to study that I will start in October for some reason. It would have been nice to have that class before all the others but whatever...

That is all I have for you so far and I wont bore you for long about my college stuffs. I am glad to have you all here to report to, you have all helped prepare me for this experience simply by reading the blog. Thank you.

~Aki Ame Okami   

A Chapter A Day: Day 27 "Sea of Souls" by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes FINAL

                 A Chapter A Day: Day 27
                    DOUBLE FEATURE
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey there guys, tonight I am doing a special double feature plus a special treat on our Facebook page.
By double feature I mean that this is the review for the last two chapters of the book. The review has actually been done for a while but blogger has been really wonky lately and the scheduled post didn't work so I didn't realize this was so late. Sorry about that.
This is really exciting and bittersweet so lets hop to it!

~~~~~~Double the usual amount of time later~~~~

First I will do the usual hot topics and my personal responses, the more "professional" angle will be further down.

"Son of a.." What? Son of a what, Willyn? Do tell me where you were going with that. Son of a Queen who tried to helped you guys? Hmm.. It's such a shame that she was interrupted right there. I really wanted to know where she was taking that.
*Insert innocent smile*

Aft? Whats an Aft? *googles* Oh, look at this new found knowledge!

The difference between aft and stern is that aft is the inside (onboard) rearmost part of the vessel, while stern refers to the outside (offboard) rearmost part of the vessel.
Obviously the Rooks aren't a ship but they are some type of machine. I would actually be very interested in seeing a design for them.



Moving on!
The young feller that came to get Willyn is gonna die. Its bound to happen. The authors have added another heart wrench and his name is Mundi. Such a sweet and dedicated Grogan with a promising life- Oh wait. Never mind. He is dead. Sometimes being right hurts.

Luken.. Sweety, be strong. I do hope we hear more about that torture though. Haha no.. um, everyone knows I like a good torture scene but I am glad we didn't have one for Luken. I feel like if Seth and Casey really wanted to they could make a gruesome and cringe worthy torture scene and that would have been wayyy too many feels in 2 chapters.

Okay, this next part was probably my favorite.
Best. Mom. Ever.
"When I see you next, my son, it will be in a coffin!" I love it. The queen is one hard core woman and I respect her so much!! That is just the coolest thing. Put her in charge of Candor! Heck, can she lead America? Aleigha 2016!!!

Alright... Things got serious.
That's just cruel. Making Kull kill his dad in a way where he wont even remember its just... Literary beauty and emotional carnage.

Luken saved Willyn... can we just take a moment to squeal about that!!!! I think the proper fangirl text terminology is "asdfskmnejkdlsk!!!!!!!!" which basically means "The feelings I am getting from this is preventing me from functioning properly." That is a huge honor to make me fangirl. (Note* fangirl is more or less a universal term and not entirely gender strict. It is not excluding other guys from being fans it is just stating that fanning does not sound appropriate so we use fangirl.)
That was a really sweet and well delivered scene that proved this ship might sail.
Okay.. Once again I got to be right!! I was thrilled, confused and disappointed.
Hagan was not real. That was a shameful moment even for the reader. I kept trying to find the right word for the emotions that could be felt while reading and I bounced between embarrassment and a "face-palm" moment but in the end it went further than a mistake or a comical error. It was shame, she screwed up so bad that it probably can't be easily fixed.
Isphet, or Maet or whatever was going on there, is something else. Personally I find that show of power and devious if not down right deceitful nature to be majorly compelling.
(TL;DR= His attitude is hot.)

Okay major spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kull is the all important Keeper! The main protagonist has been identified! Notify the press, wrangle the paparazzi, we need coverage on that young man right now!
Let be honest though, he always screamed main protagonist. It isn't a shocking development it is just the final satisfaction of knowing the truth, what we all believed. Kull is the Keeper.

That is all of the bullet points that I noticed so now we move onto the overall progress this book has made in relation to the story.

This installment answered a lot of questions about the plot but for each one it answered we got at least two more. However this time around there wasn't a lull in excitement that The Red Deaths had a little of. The story was very fluid and did a wonderful job of linking one tragedy to the next.

Once again one of the most unique parts about this book was successful and that would be the multiple Points Of View that were being delivered. I think that over all there were at least 11 POV's that all had to make their voices heard and I still think it is one of the best qualities of this book. It is so rare to see this done properly and Seth and Casey have this form of story telling down pat.

Now I don't want you to think I am just telling you all the good things about this book, there were some flaws from my perspective.
There were a few typo's and minor errors but this book was written by humans so that's to be expected. My biggest problem with this book was the sudden discovery of cuss words at the end.
They never actually said many of the words they just led up to them. I had a problem with this because I personally don't like cussing. I don't think it is an effective way to communicate. My favorite statement on it is actually from another YA book that read many years ago. I think it was called Lion Boy by Zizou Corder and the MC in that book said something to the affect of,
"If I feel  that strong about something then no amount of curse words will convey my feelings." Now I mind you that I am heavily paraphrasing and conveying what a certain paragraph in that book meant to me. I will have to go rent that series again sometime so that I can find the exact quote.. Either way, cursing to me is a no-no so its not a flaw with the book just a difference in opinions.

Back to singing the praises, One of the best subtle details in this book was the timing of which they revealed information. It doesn't all happen at once so it you aren't overwhelmed with information. Its a nice balance of timely info explosions that keep the read fast paced and full of suspense. I do not recommend reading only a chapter a day haha.  

Overall Sea of Souls has been a thrilling journey through Candor. We have explored emotions and stereotypes that have remained untouched and/or unchallenged in YA fiction until now and we have learned so many new words.
The tides have finally turned as we look forward to the next/last? installment entitled... Dominion's End.
Just a little side note, I love the titles for all of the books. Usually every series is like "The.." this and "The.." that and it gets really annoying to say and type that word so many times. Keys of Candor has given me a lovely break from that.


With this I sign off for the last time about book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls.

Goodbye.

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 24 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                  A Chapter A Day: Day 24

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey everyone! So I had a random thought today...
If you ever feel like your worthless I just want to remind you that you have incredible worth! If you body was drained of blood that is enough blood to cool a sword, if you get cremated you can also be turned into a sword or ring, if someone were to skin you the human leather that comes from you would be very valuable and last but not least, your organs are incredibly valuable so never feel like you aren't worth much! ^_^

Now that I have disturbed the masses lets get on with the read, shall we?

~~~~~~~~~~~A few not as creepy as that^ moments later~~~~~~~

First we have great news....

Willyn is alive!!!!! YES!
Ahem, the rightful leader of the Groganlands is alive and well, sort of. I mean mentally she could probably use a rest but that's beside the point.
It's no secret that I am thrilled about the continuation of her existence so everyone celebrate this with me!!

~~A few fangirling moments later~~

Okay, moving on!

She recognized the Baggers as people and showed compassion. That is huge character development! At the start of the book, are really just a few chapters ago, she would have given anything to stay away from the Baggers who seemed less than civil to her. It is very much like how a lot of people see low income families and homeless people in todays society... Hopefully it doesn't take a war for us to treat them in the same civilized way.

One minor thing, really not a problem at all.
"She had hated him them," I am just guessing but I think this might be a typo. I think they were aiming for "then" but seeing how those keys are right beside each other I can completely understand this.
Shoot, I have done it more than onxe myself.
(If you didn't just look at your keyboard to see if x is beside c then you aren't my kind of people. JK, it was on purpose.)

So this next thing gave me a headache after an hour or so of pondering.
What is going on with "Lyn" and Hagan?! Is he real or is he not? Is he evil because his little shadow peoples sound mighty evil. I really just don't know how to process this. I feel like it could have something to do with her brush in with Bastion because he is the one that initially told her Hagan was alive but I just don't know...

The likely hood that both Luken and Hagan are alive is just too low. I don't trust it but it has certainly spiced up the plot.

Next we have one new word! I was actually pretty confused when I saw this word because it is completely new to me and I thought it looked like a heart attack on a keyboard had happened.

Scintillating: sparkling or shining brightly

Just imagine confusing the masses when you compliment people.
"Your eyes are scintillating like the sunset off of the ocean."
Pair this up with Sanguine and I think I might have a new favorite word pairing.

Lastly we have Willyn's rising to power.
If she were in charge, I would follow her blindly. That entire scene was pretty emotional. This is the rallying before the war, you know that scene in Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe where the two armies start rushing each other but their is no sound. The entire thing is void and you unconsciously hold your breath in anticipation, you can feel the rush of the warriors racing to battle. That is this moment.  She is taking a moment of silence before a battle to the death at Zenith, or so it seams. (Seams, get it?)
She also pulled a Dobby when she announced that part about the Baggers. They are free from their drifting ways because she is going to try and give them back their civilization. This is certainly going to be harder than stealing a sock. 
(If you aren't in the HP fandom then that wont make much sense.)

That is all I have for today, I don't know if I will be here tomorrow. My roommates keep whispering about kidnapping me so I don't know what's going on but I assure you that I will be in no actual danger.. probably.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to our next interaction!!!

~Aki Ame Okami
 

A Chapter A Day: Day 23 "Sea of Souls" By Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                            A Chapter A Day: Day 23Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey there, I hope you have had a good day and that you didn't have any flooding! I know a lot of our state is struggling weather wise so stay safe out there please.

Alrighty, grab your copies of Sea of Souls and read with me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hmm I am afraid that there isn't much you can do to come back from fake dying on your friends.

Luken and Grifts relationship is very stressed. It's hard to see them fight but it is also very refreshing because that is a very human response. If someone you were friends with and relied on "Died" then came back you cannot honestly tell me that you wouldn't be suspicious and if their death lead to the deaths of others you cannot tell me that you wouldn't be mad. This realistic touch makes it even more emotional to read.

The Desolate?  The good guys have gods too. The odds don't seem hopelessly in Seams favor anymore.
I like this change of pace and how they waited until almost the last possible moment to flip the scales and up the antics.
So now on team good guy we have Grift, Adley, Ewing, Wael and countless other mortals, Luken, The Desolate, Pred. tech  and Aleph.  Not to shabby looking.


Grift was very emotional this chapter and because of that we got a lot of feelings out in the open and we learned that Luken can be controlled by Seam. I can't help but feel like that might be foreshadowing something terrible...
Like maybe Grift accepts Luken and buries the hatchet and then Seam controls Luken, he kills someone important like Willyn and ends up dying. **That is all my speculation and probably not at all what will happen**

Luken was sad that Willyn might be dead! I hope she isn't because that is just too cute. I still really want to know how Willyn will react to him, if she rejects him that might just break his heart.
The good news is, one of the next few chapters should be hers so we might find out soon enough.

Its about to go down! Everyone is geared up and heading for Taluum to protect/retrieve Isphet whom, apparently, is far too dangerous to be released. If the Serubs and humanity agree on something then you know its got to be the truth.
Something big is coming and the suspense is killer, be sure to join me tomorrow as we discover more questions and hopefully a few answers!

Oh also, I might be getting sick. I haven't felt too good these past few days and I may have stressed myself out to the point of illness.. Good job Aki. -_-

See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 22 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                        A Chapter A Day: Day 22
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Greetings bookworms, We are moving ever closer to the end.. I know it isn't healthy to focus on the end but I can't help feel all nostalgic about this experience.
Lets make some more memories by reading chapter 22.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Few Memories Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ma'et? I wondered what it meant so I did a quick Bing search and got, "(Maat, Ma’at, Maât; note that there are two vowel sounds in the name) The personification of the multivalent Egyptian concept of ma’et, that is, justice, truth and order, Ma’et is depicted as as a woman wearing a tall ostrich feather (or sometimes two) on her head, frequently with wings extending along her arms and usually carrying the ankh, sign of life." and I think that is just beautiful. I wonder if this has anything to do with the reasons they named the Unmighty, Ma'et and I wonder what the real reasons are?
(It spells team backwards.. I don't know what we are supposed to do with that information though.)

Ma'et's actions were kind of flashy in comparison to Stranger.
I mean, lets look at the events.

Stranger:
"You want to chop wood and fetch some water with me? I have honey!" VS Ma'et:
"ROW YOU WORTHLESS SCUM! ROW UNTIL I DEVOUR YOU!"

Which one stands out more to you? Yeah.

Okay, moving on! This next part is my personal favorite of this chapter.
I was right.. Aleph. Kull has been doing divine chores with ALEPH! He is actually a lot cooler than I was expecting him to be and I really like the fact that he wanted Kull to figure it out. Most the time in situations like this it is glaringly obvious who the person is but no, this time it was very smooth and mysterious and that added such a personal touch to these past few Kull chapters.
Wonderfully done.

Our sweet baby doesn't feel good enough! I mean, um... Lets try that again but more professional this time.

The impression I got from this chapter was that Kull doesn't feel like he deserves to be in Alephs presence and he doesn't understand why Aleph would choose to spare him from an eternity at the hands of Ma'et.
Kull was a non-believer in The Red Deaths and now he is with Aleph so I can only imagine the confusion that is tormenting his incomplete mind.
The real question now is, What will Aleph do with Kull?

With only 6 chapters left I honestly have no idea where they are going with this but I get the sneaking suspicion that someone else will die before this book is over. Lets see how that turns out tomorrow!
See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 21 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                A Chapter A Day: Day 21

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.
Hello there everyone! I missed you and the book very much over the weekend! I discovered something this weekend... I don't know how to relax or have fun if it isn't considered work except by reading! So lets go and relax with chapter 21!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Many Relaxing Minutes Later~~~~~~~~~~

Kicking corpses? That is relaxing...
Seams eccentric tendencies are getting worse.

Casey and Seth did a wonderful job describing burnt corpses which was mildly concerning. Actually, very concerning. How did they make it so accurate?!


"A quilted patchwork of hell on earth" Not to be a nit-picker but  shouldn't "hell" be capitalized? It is referring to a place and a proper noun which are both eligible for capitalization.
It could still just be one of those words that, despite having an actual meaning, get used out of context and become an adjective.
(My favorite example of that is the word Schmuck, it really means brother in German however we all know what America did with it :/ )


They couldn't just let Bri die in peace could they? Why do that when you can rip out the readers hearts. I mean who needed emotional closure anyways?

Bastion gave the other Serubs hope so I am expecting him to be a really sneaky and powerful creature. I hope he does something inexplicably evil!!!


"Celestial pets"... Ownership is kinda derogatory but I don't know what else I expected from Seam.

Hmm... I don't know how I feel about Seam treating Bronson so terribly. It is completely understandable for people to not handle world destruction very well. Of course he wouldn't be able to remain sane after murdering hundreds of people for the Serubs to feed on. Seam shouldn't be so hard on one of his closest "friends". Bronson of course was never his friend but they have the most history out of everyone left alive besides Seams mother.

Speaking of Seam's mother, what is he going to do with/to her? I am guessing murder but that will be the last straw. If he does that then.. then I have to switch to team good guy. I don't support children disrespecting/murdering their mothers.
Yes, even I have morels. (Get it? Morels!)

Announcing your next target to the world is not the best war strategy out there. Sure everyone involved in the war knew it was coming but that doesn't mean you should just throw out that possible advantage.
It wouldn't have mattered anyways because Seam thinks he is unstoppable.


That is the main points from todays chapter, I look forward to reading with you guys again tomorrow!!! Stay safe out there :)
See ya!


~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 20 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                   A Chapter A Day: Day 20


Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey there everyone! So just a little reminder that this weekend I wont be here. I am taking Friday off to work on TLOST, Saturday I have AARC and Sundays are no work days anyways.
That doesn't mean that I am any less excited to be celebrating our 20th day!!! Only eight days left to spend with you Keys of Candor fanatics.. I don't know how I feel about that..
Oh well, lets just cherish out time together and read chapter 20!


~~~~~~74 minutes later~~~~

First I just have a few thoughts.
How will Willyn react to Luken? Will she be ecstatic or afraid?
I am interested in how that will play out.
I bet she will think that Luken being alive means Hagan could be alive and it will cause some problems.

You should never agree to a plan you are uncomfortable with. At least meet in the middle.
When Bri was so against it Willyn should have altered it then. If you have allies and need them to do something you should make sure that everyone is comfortable with the plan because if not things wont go well..

Which brings us to this.
Willyn should have known better.
If she was as talented at war as she claimed to be, then she should have known that wasn't going to end well.
Was time really that short?
They could have taken a path with stronger cover and a better retreat, they could have turned around when they saw the Dominion appear on the map.
It didn't have to go down like that.

But... I can't think of a better way for the protagonists to find out about Seams morel army. This was right for the plot.

I did really like the war terms and the proper maneuvers. It felt like the authors put a lot of thought into it and that helped sweep me into the book. They did a very good job with that and I appreciate the effort.

Now the bullet point of this chapter...

Why. Why must you do this? The sweet teddy bear took on the grizzly and it didn't work. Gah I am an emotional wreck because of this. 
I didn't particularly care about Bri's character. When he was introduced he reeked of "disposable character" smell and I knew it was coming but the way he died made me respect his character.
Not only did Bri sacrifice himself for Willyn but he agreed to her plan knowing that it would end up like that! Ultimate self sacrifice right there.


Okay guys, that's the end of todays review. I am looking forward to Bastions release and Willyn's reaction to Luken, hopefully we will get one of those things in the next chapter which I will be reading on Monday.
I hope you choose to join me, can't wait to see you all again! BYE!!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 19 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                              A Chapter A Day: Day 19
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, written by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Hello there everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and that you managed to stay out of the heat today! A nice way to get out of the heat it to settle down with a good book! I have just the recommendation for you. I recommend The Red Deaths by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin! That is kind of a prerequisite course for this book seeing how its the first one so be sure to go and read that one first! Now for those of you who are reading along with me, lets go read chapter 19!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~45-ish minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I love how Grift freaks out. I feel like that is exactly how a normal person would react to seeing a friend rise up from the dead.

Then when he interrogates Luken and gets no answers and he just turns to Wael like, "Explain yourselves?!" It's great because he is only making the confusion worse.

Okay, we can be serious for a minute.
Lots of people lose faith after losing loved ones. It doesn't particularly affect one faith more than another but it happens to a ton of people. When the almighty thing that you believe in lets something bad happen you lose hope and you doubt and you resent and you have never disliked someone as much as that almighty thing but in the end you know you can't feel that way about them because you have always loved them, Always.
I feel like Grift was going through that when Wael did the blessing over Rose and Eva.

"Can't say I've ever seen someone do that." - Cryic
Oh how I love that man! I lost it when he said that. I could just imagine this man who is totally confident in him self and his capabilities just sitting there lighting up a cigarette and being all chill about the fact that another human being can throw cars like pebbles.  That is how you impress and Aki apparently.

Parker? I dislike that name but the ugly face fits. If he knows about the powerful war technology then good, bring him in! Unless he wants to stop it then send him back.

The fact that Luken got nervous around the war tech makes me nervous but it is certainly a plot thickening element so that intrigues me.

That is all I have for today.
I would like to remind everyone to ALWAYS SAVE IMPORTANT FILES I had to reconstruct this review and the entire second season of TLOST because I forgot to save it. So please don't be like me :P
Oh also, we got confirmation and we will be attending Yama-Con 2016 in Pigeon Forge TN!!!!!!!!! There was actually a funny problem with it, Heiwa had registered us as well and I didn't know it so I feel awful about the confusion I am sure we caused.
See ya guys!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 18 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                     A Chapter A Day: Day 18

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

GUYS! Before I get started I just remembered something that I forgot to mention in lasts nights review.
Cyric the bad-butt bounty hunter... drives a... Jeep. A JEEP!!!

Mother of all vehicles and master of all the toys. Even in an alternate universe Jeeps exist and I will be honest.. That was a very touching moment that something I am so passionate about can transcend reality. Thank you for giving me that.

Okay, Anyways I hope everyone is well and that you are excited for todays chapter! Lets go read!

~~~~~~~~~JeepJeepJeepJeepJeepJeep~~~~~~~~


They will meet again soon? Where? How? Why?
If they see eachother again soon then that means someone else will probably die.. again.. I don't want to know the details.

That was an incredibly sweet moment between Kull and Rose.
*I am going to go all stereotype ranting on you again.* 
Usually protagonists have at least one crappy parent and a tragic backstory but I just realized the we are living his tragic backstory.
He is manning up in the moment because he has to, he isn't rising up for glory and power a few years later. That is really cool to me because as crappy as life has been its realistically not that bad (I am a pessimist/realist so I didn't expect much) so this makes it easier to relate to Kull's character. He wasn't anything special and didn't have any life altering moments, he was almost human.

We later figure out that he is special and yaddy-yadda but for the time being it was really special.


Pretty birdy-kitty-puppies?
Those obsidian guards were pretty sick. In a good way.  I was all for the creepy critter description until we hit the word "Beak" and that was... unexpected. I like birds, especially birds of prey, but that just threw me off. I really enjoyed the curveball. I love that no matter how much I have figured out in this book they always surprise me.
But I would seriously like to adopt one of those lil cuties ^_^

Aleph above, is that Aleph? Is Kull doing house chores with ALEPH? I think that Aleph is essentially the Almighty in this book so basically Kull is washing dishes with God. That's kinda... epic.

Nah, I don't know who Kull is with in Mir but I do know that they are helping him so I am alright with them.

Kull so would have burned his mouth. When StrangerDanger gave him the fresh loaf of bread from the pan that was buried in part of the fire bed he would have burned his mouth. There are no ifs ands or buts about it.

So in the spirit of some of my favorite discussions on Disqus this week I was inspired to prepare a short Haiku for this.

Make friends with stranger,
The worlds at war but who cares, 
As long as there's wine.

Note: A Haiku is 5 syllables, 7 and then 5. It usually relates to seasons but it was made to fit the topic of review.

That is all that I have to report for todays chapter, it was really light and fluffy so I am concerned about what comes next!
I actually finished this post at about midnight but the internet is down once more so I don't know when it will be posted. Sorry guys :/

See ya later!!! Stay safe out there!!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 17 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                         A Chapter A Day: Day 17
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey everyone, so just another random thought that relates to the reviews. I don't know if anyone has noticed this yet but I take care to rotate which name gets spelt first for each of the authors. It starts from the blog title and then every time I mention them by name thereafter. Alrighty, lets get to reading!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Time Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter was exciting so I am going to do the least exciting thing first.... That would be the meanings of words!!! :D

Topographical: of or relating to the arrangement or accurate representation of the physical features of an area:

Abode: a place of residence; a house or home.
(Like the term, "welcome to my humble abode")

On to the seriousness!!! *My inner sarcastic voice weeps*

My reactions went from,
"Finally!!! We hear from Wael! I was getting worried that we hadn't had a chapter from his point of view." then they dropped drastically to, "no no, that's not what I had in mind O.o ".
As much as I love any chapter that features Cryic, I really didn't want to have a double feature like this however I like the mature seasoning it added to the book.

Cryic is well trained in his field and he is certainly a beast but he isn't a monster.
I liked how civil he was towards Wael and how there wasn't mindless abuse.
The stereotypical assassin/hunter (Minus the Winchesters) would have been physically or mentally abusive to their bounty, the old "They only need you alive" shtick but Cryic wasn't so that's nice.

Next up we have my um, settle reaction about the last paragraph.
I am pretty sure that we have already covered my obsession with being right, right?
I WAS SO RIGHT! I WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!
The authors used "anime logic" and Luken isn't actually dead!!!! HE LIVES!!! but not only does he live, he is The Sixth.
The one who can help them save the world has returned and boy am I glad.
Hey Willyn, I know that you can't really celebrate this but Luken is the "take home to Momma" type. Good choice and great catch!
(get it? Catch? since he was last seen falling into the ocean I think its funny but that might just be me...)

Luken my precious, welcome back! How have you been? Oh and um, I know you don't like him but please don't hurt Cyric too much, okay?


With the celebration over I need to look at how this will affect the plot. Will Cyric pursue Wael even though he is under the protection of Luken? Would it matter? The position Cyric is in will end up with him dying no matter what. If he returns to Seam without Wael he is dead and if he goes to get Wael he is dead and that is not a happy thought. I wanted to be attached to him, mostly because I thought he would live, but I will sacrifice that love for Lukens survival.
I think.. I dunno, I might add him to my group of favorite characters that also happen to be dead.

I am happy you all joined me today, I hope you had a good Sunday and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami  

A Chapter A Day: Day 12 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Erivn

                      A Chapter A Day: Day 12

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Hello there everyone, I hope that you have been well and had a good Tuesday. I still have a lot of work to do but I sat down an hour early to write this up for you all so that maybe it wont be 2 AM by the time I post it! Lets get reading!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Minutes Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had almost forgotten about the position that Willyn was in.

I feel like ever since she found out that Hagan was "dead" she had lost a certain defiant spark, it was the same spark that had drawn me into her part of the story. Her change was proven even further when she faced the Serub in Preost and he got inside her head.
Thankfully in the chapter we saw her reignite that spark and take on her old Willyn ways.

I loved the moment when she lied to Bastion. I am amazed that he believed it though, I feel like the serubs would usually be able to spot a lie a mile away but hey, what ever works.

The main stars of this chapter were the Baggers. I feel like we learned something very important about their history and the future but I am not sure what.
Maybe the Baggers know how to destroy the mirrors? That strange chant thing certainly felt like "magic" of some sort and I think that it definitely had an affect on Bastion.
What other secrets are the Baggers holding? Should I still call them Baggers or should I call them Former Rihts? Gah.. So many more questions.

Back to Willyn, Her fight with Rander is going to be great!!! As a dabbling author I am always looking for great fight scenes in written format because I always have such a hard time with even trying to write that up because it ends up really wordy and I never think its intense... then again almost 1000 people looked at the first chapter so maybe wordy is my style.

I predict that since I am so excited for that fight, it wont happen. Either the Dominion will invade and prevent them from fighting, Bri or Wael wont let it happen or somehow they will make peace beforehand. I still want the fight but it is always good to look at your options.

Since todays chapter was pretty short I don't have that much to say about it, mostly I just have another grand list of questions. I hope that we continue to explore Nameless and the Baggers in the chapters to come.
Thanks for reading, I tried to keep it brief and to the point-ish. See you tomorrow for chapter 13!!!!!!!!


~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 11 "Sea of Souls" by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                     A Chapter A Day: Day 11

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hello there everyone! So I know this little intro is my well wishes and letting you know how much I missed the book over the weekend but I have to admit that I have been a little distracted this weekend..
Not only did I win my very first Cosplay Contest (I took 1st!!!) I also completed my placement tests for college and have all of my classes registered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I will be in class every day at 8 AM and on the campus until 8 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays but I am sure it will be fine... Sort of.
The reason I am mentioning that to you guys is because with this schedule I will be completely uprooting my life schedule and trying to make myself a morning person, that means I will be trying to write my posts in the morning and going to bed before 3 AM so in the long run it is good for you!!!

Okay with that out of the way I feel comfortable typing my signature words of, LETS GET READING!!! (Chap. 11)


~~~~~A Many A Minutes into the future~~~~~~~

Dang them feels.  I actually have a little something extra for this chapter.. I recommend this song for it.

I never thought about how Ewing would feel about Kull "Dying"... I mean, he is the one who let him go. That moment was strong and reminded the readers just how human everyone was. I just... Ouch.
Ewing, a weathered man of sound mind, will always carry the guilt of letting Kull go. This is one of those things that you regret doing and no matter what you are told or tell yourself the pain doesn't get better.
Why did you have to go all feels heavy on me today? It has been a very emotional weekend and you guys are bringing me to tears.

Dang it Grift. I don't like that side of me so please don't make me talk about it... Ugh, I have to talk about it now. I have been in those shoes far too many times for me to be this young. I am in those shoes at the moment so my next comment is going to be emotionally charged and I do apologize for that.

Loving someone who will never get better.. It changes you. As humans we have this annoying habit of hoping for things even when we know that we should give up. It isn't something we do on purpose and it's not something we can change. In the long run we just hurt ourselves even more and some of us push ourselves past the point of repair. We break with the broken ones and become something a little less than human. The armor that we spent so long perfecting cracks and the barest part of our soul and true character is revealed.

That is a hard thing to write without being emotionally invested or having previously experienced this pain to some degree so Authors, if you have been in that spot I am genuinely sorry for whatever happened. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you making this character and describing a more in depth version of this emotional state than most authors are willing to do. Thank you.

Okay, I am going to be heartless and a schmuck.
We knew it was coming, Rose was going to die. I am kind of relieved that she wont be a stress factor anymore. She released our supreme warrior of his last earthly tie so that he can unleash the beast. What comes next is going to be a mix of disaster and glory and I am glad that I will be there to see it.
I would also like to note that I think she was talking about Kull not Seam. So what about Kull would make him "Unstoppable"? This is certainly another secret that has tons of theories running through my mind that I wont bother you guys with.

We are undoubtedly about to face some hard times and I am incredibly interested to see where they take it. I do have one warning though, if Rend or Rot die I might riot. I have decided to emotionally attach myself to those characters because they are the least likely to die. Now because I said that we will probably find them both dead within a few chapters... Ah Suspense....

That was an emotionally exhausting chapter on top of a lonnggg 4 days so unfortunetly I am ending this here.
Be sure to come back and cry with me over tomorrows chapter, I am sure someone else is gonna die!!!
Just kidding, I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to seeing you again soon ^_^

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 10 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                   A Chapter A Day: Day 10
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey everyone, I am sure you noticed that Friday's post was postponed. Sorry about that, I had to travel and figure out where Shelby-con was at and I don't think I would have been able to properly review anything last night. Before we get reading I do want to say a few things about today, I entered my first Cosplay Contest and I won first place which was amazing! I will be posting the review of said con tomorrow so if you want to come back and look at it then feel free and I have also been inspired to talk about Con Etiquette and that will probably not be a passing thing because I was strongly affected by some things from today. I am going to leave that at that for now. Lets go read! (Chapter 10)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Minutes Later~~~~~~~~~~

**********Warning! I am in a good mood so there might be a little bit of hope, happiness and kindness in the review, sorry about that.*******************

This chapter speaks to me on a deep level. The first thing I see is "Where am I?  How long have I been here? Who am I?"
Is the answer Kull for $200? We don't find that out in this chapter but that's where I am throwing my chips in.

Funny thingy, so um.. Nameless can taste the Blackness..?
What exactly does Blackness taste like? Can I have some? I think that might be what my soul or heart tastes like...
No, in all seriousness I do think that that detail and section where Nameless is all disoriented is very important to help with the setting.

What is this setting? Well, like everything this is up to interpretation to everyone. I am sure the authors have their own view for it but what I saw in it was Heaven and Hell, or at least Purgatory.
Aleph is The Almighty and, I am going to make a new word, The Beast is The Unmighty. Satan. Evil incarnate, the great no-no. Whatever you want to call him it doesn't change the resemblance.
This place where Nameless has ended up seems like Purgatory.

I don't mean to go all "learning" on you but its happening so buckle up, butter cup. What exactly is Purgatory? I am glad you asked because like many things in relation to the past and religions it has a wide variety of meanings. The noun version of Purgatory is defined as "(In Roman Catholic Doctrine): a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven"
So it is basically like a holding cell or torture chamber in that sense.

But wait! There's more!

The Adjective: having the quality of cleansing or purifying: Now that sounds totally different, doesn't it? 

Another definition, ":Severe anguish or suffering."
That one is pretty good.

And another "Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine, is an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. " Now that sounds very close to the first version except it doesn't sound like a torture chamber! That combines versions 1 and 2 and makes it sound a little sweeter...

But the perfect version that I think fits this story is the version used by the wildly popular show Supernatural.
"Purgatory is a realm where the souls of supernatural creatures go after they die. Its physical location is separate from both Heaven and Hell. Crowley estimates there are 30-40 million souls there.^[1] It was originally created by God to contain the oldest creatures, Leviathans, for fear they would destroy the rest of creation" (Courtesy of the Supernatural Wiki )" OR the more colorful version, " It's like the backside of your worst nightmares. It's all blood and bone and darkness. Filled with the bodies and souls of all things hungry, sharp, and nasty." (Courtesy of Bobby Singer- Supernatural Wiki )
I think that version compliments the Candor world very nicely. Not the whole "Full of nasties" thing but I do think that it is a special realm made for the "Essences" that The Serubs Excuse from existence. There you go, you learned something... Sorry....

We have Rank and File, those names compliment each other so nicely. Okay, We have these two vile creatures/people that are the harbingers of essence and hold them captive for manual labor to keep themselves away from The Beast.
This is actually a disturbingly wonderful thing for the plot because now Nameless is surrounded by people who are probably from the last time the Serubs were free which means there is a good chance that they will know how to stop them. Remember how the Serubs usually only Excuse people who do something awful to them or their kin? Obviously the people on that boat are not innocent and know something about the Serubs. This is going to be another wonderful element and I looking forward to see how it alters the story.


One more thing about Rank and File... If this series did get turned into a movie or television series I think that the "dusting" scene would have to be altered a little... We literally have a bright light of a person that they go and rub dust all over that turns into a bare human body.  That wouldn't be camera friendly but I would laugh like crazy because that would be so awkward for the actors to do and for me to watch.
I cannot believe that I just admitted that the remake shouldn't be just like the book! Oh how I have fallen....

Alright I will leave you with the meaning of 4 wonderful words that were used in this chapter.

Detritus: waste or debris of any kind

Despondent: in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
Cur: an aggressive dog or one that is in poor condition, especially a mongrel. (I actually didn't know that one)
Dank: disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.

Okay, I didn't get into my feelings on the literary masterpieces above because I know that this post is very "Fact heavy" and  I do apologize for that but sometimes it really helps to be able to dig into the meaning of things and figure out what you are looking at or doing. Rethink this chapter where Nameless, Rank and File are all just in pitch black. It doesn't have the same depth or emotion behind it, its a meaningless fact that we brush past and forget. That is why I tortured you for what has been almost an hour to write.

I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, I wont see you but that doesn't mean that I don't want you to be happy. Lets all look forward to resuming our reading on Monday!
I am honestly going to need your reassuring presence and normalcy in my life on that day because that is the day I take the test. 

See ya!!! :)

~Aki Ame Okami





 

A Chapter A Day: Day 9 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                        A Chapter A Day: Day 9

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

Hey guys, obviously I am late today as well! I will try to work on that.... I hope everyone is doing good and that you haven't read ahead without me! I would understand if you did but it would make me a little sad.. Lets go read!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some time later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seam is losing it. He has developed such a "god complex" that I thought for a moment that I was reading a *Manga or Light Novel*!
*= Historically the majority of anime/manga/light novel villians and pretty much every villain in history has had a major god complex.


"Nyx would only need remind him of his debt to her, and he obeyed, praying that his compliance would prevent Abtren from saying anything-" Abtren? shouldn't it be Nyx? I could have sworn that
Bronson was thinking about, talking about and had made the deal with Nyx. It is a little confusing this way but I am probably just not reading it right or missing something.


Bronson's term, Zookeeper of Nightmares, has inspired me to write a story... I am very much into that plot.


Bronson, drinking and drugs are never the answer. How my favorite cinnamon roll has fallen. :/
*Cinnamon roll generally refers to the sweet innocent characters that don't deserve whatever fate they have.

Authors, good jobs depicting the different ways that people use to cope with severe stress, regret and self hate. This is probably the best description of a depressed person that I have ever seen.
Bronson is to the point where he doesn't feel like he deserves Aleph's grace. I have been there, felt like that and I can promise you that this reaction is accurate. I don't know if the authors have ever felt that way but major respect to them for this accomplishment.  I hope that we see Bronson's struggle have a good outcome but that would be too much of a happy ending...

I am happy to know what Abtren does for the creepy trio. So far we knew that Arakiel and Nyx made the morels, or at least the undead armies, but I wasn't sure what Abtren had to do with it. Apparently she is useful for trapping which I think compliments her seductive abilities quite well.
That entire process with the baggers and the serubs got me thinking... The authors did such a wonderful job creating a disposable population. The baggers are really essential to the environment and government in this book and I don't think it would flow as smoothly with out them. So lets just take a moment to appreciate our sacrificial citizens.


Seam.. tone down the control issues O.o
I don't know what was going on with that last thing. I have honestly mulled over the interactions and the trains of thought but I cannot piece it together. Good job Casey and Seth, you have stumped me and I love it.


That is all I have on todays chapter. I would like to tell you guys that I am about to go curl up in bed and get some sleep (Since its 2 AM) but I have been watching the "Wrong Turn" movies on Syfy and I doubt that I will be sleeping tonight.
I also have good news, I will be helping with props for the short film A Many A Moon and we are setting to film from the 11th-15th of next month!!! That's super exciting!
Can't wait to see you all tomorrow, or later. Whatever you wanna call it, I will still be here!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 8 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                    A Chapter A Day: Day 8
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey everyone and sorry about the title slip up yesterday, I promise you that today is the official day eight review! It is about midnight right now and I am super sorry about that. As you can tell I am obviously a night owl and that throws off my timelines. Anyways, lets get reading! I will try to not rush the review portion ^_^


~~~~~~~~~~oh so many minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, like most of her chapters, this one was all about Willyn!

The authors and her earned some brownie points this chapter when they showed her gaining respect or at least some understanding for the Baggers. I feel like in the her last chapter she really looked down on the Baggers for their dirty and unstable lifestyle but in this chapter when they easily adjusted to their forced allegiance I think she saw a new aspect of their life and that caused her to think of them a little differently. Or I could be totally wrong and she could have over looked all of that...


Willyn you can't do it alone. I know you want to but you can't. That isn't how life works. 
Her decision to go into the mine alone and unarmed was not only risky but stupid as well. Her life isn't just hers anymore, she is one of the few people who can help stop The Dominion so she needs to be a little more careful.

BUT because of that decision we are put in an interesting position.

The Serub in the mirror can potentially save her or kill her and she thinks she is hearing Hagan telling her to trust him even though she knows better. That is a wonderful cliffhanger. I am interested to see what choice she makes because it will certainly speak leagues about her character.

I think the person descending from the gap is Bri. That is just my personal opinion but I refuse to believe that Wael would have sent Willyn out without a capable body guard so I have the utmost faith in Bri.

I know that is a pretty short review but this was a pretty short chapter and the time was stressed...
I can't wait to see you all tomorrow and read about what horrible thing Seam is doing next ^_^ Good night friends!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 7 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                           A Chapter A Day: Day 7
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes


Hello everyone and welcome back! Today has been a very progressive day for me and I hope that it has been for you as well!
Lets kick back relax and endulge in our achievements as we celebrate with another chapter of Sea of Souls!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~45-ish minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is a Queen without her King? Historically, better.
This time it has a little twist though.
What is a Queen without her kid? Currently, better.
At this point in the story it is very refreshing to have the leader(s) of the resistance exposed. I was not expecting Aleigha to have anything to do with that so it was a nice twist.

The amount of strategic war planning and complicated plans and procedures gives the impression that at least one of the authors or a close friend or family member has had military experience. It feels very authentic and detailed which greatly increases the ability to dive into the story.

Lets talk about Grift. I am certain that he had to have been one of the best and well trained soldiers that ever existed. That means he had to have been trained to emotionally and mentally cope with the loss of loved ones and friends! I don't want to belittle his character, because the struggles that he is going through are certainly tougher than anything in our world, but come on man! You can't just back out of a rebellion!
"Welp, everyone I love has died. Guess I am just gonna go hide in a cave and wait to die." No! Just no. Go get your flipping revenge! Make them rue the day the were born, show them what true fear is and just when they think you will free them from the suffering and pain of this life, make them experience a fate worse than death. Don't just give up...

I adore the use of the word Rend for a name. I absolutely love it and it is something that I would name a child. It gives the impression of attractive, strong and edgy.

I have one typo, sort of, to report and one funny thing.

So the typo..... When Grift was talking about leaving Rose he got all chocked up... Yep. Chocked. I am almost 100% sure the authors were going for Choked but hey, they could have been suggesting that Grift had a "block or wedge placed under something else to keep it from moving" that was breaking his sentences caused by severe emotions. 
By the way, that is the definition of a chock. It is an actual thing used to stop tires and such. See, you are always learning when you come here to read.  (Page 92)Now the funny thing!!!  "Ewing's hands shook. He nodded his hands, his tongue licking his dry lips. "I understand.""
That is a uh.. nice habit that you have there Ewing. What exactly does the nodding of hands express? Now it is entirely possible that this is what they meant to put and that it isn't an error. One of the definitions of Nod states: "signify or express (greeting, assent, or understanding) in this way:" and that could have been his expression of understanding. A Nod means to understand, regardless of the body parts used to do it.

Okay, that is all that I have to report on the chapter but before I go I want to give you a little "heads up" on this weeks schedule.
I will be doing the reviews through Saturday but on Saturday I will be attending Shelby-Con in Shelby, NC and will be reviewing it. Because of the conflict of review schedules I will be posting the review on Sunday the 17th even though it will have been written on the 16th. I also have a really important test for college sometime this week so I don't yet know how that will affect the schedule.
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!!! Stay safe out there :)

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 6 "Sea of Souls" By Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                      A Chapter A Day: Day 6 Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin


Hello everyone! I am happy to be back after an unexpected 2-day weekend break. I hope that I didn't make you wait too long to review chapter 6. Lets end the waiting and get reading!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A hop, skip and a jump later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This chapter started with a bang! Or 4 to be more specific. Referring to humans as disposable is a mix of despicable and exhilarating. Seams villainous appeal has been majorly upped in this chapter. He is hardly comparable to the man who had trouble killing his assassin.

What I have to say next has to be said.
As much as I would like to refer to the authors as my friends and overlook things, I do have to keep true to my promise of an honest review. I found an error...

Page 77, "His rubbed at his wrist..."

This is the second page of the chapter and isn't as easily read over as "The Kull's hair". It does slightly effect the seriousness of what just happened in The Mine.
I personally like to interpret that as a result of how excited the authors were to write this chapter. 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, almost every book has an error or type-o of some sort even though we strive for perfection.

Lets not linger there...

We met a new assassin! It appears that in Candor being an assassin is a pretty good job.
The new mystery man's name is Cyric. I am going to start with the results of a quick google search of his name. If you value your eyes I DO NOT recommend looking at The Urban Dictionary descriptions. Some DnD nerds got on there and um.. left their mark.

Speaking of DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) that was the other most frequent result. Cyric is a deity in the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting, a branch of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Cyric is known by many titles, including: the Prince of Lies, the Dark Sun, the Black Sun, the Mad God, and the Lord of Three Crowns. I also found a ton of things talking about how the DnD Cryic was self centered, powerful and more.

So his name has certainly given my a few expectations though I am sure that whatever happens will just serve to better compliment the story.
His character has appeal. He is described as mysterious, attractive, witty and dangerous which is always certain to pull in admirers.
His objective now is to capture Wael and bring him to Seam. Normally I would say that Wael could handle it and that I wasn't concerned but in a previous chapter he was described as having a limp. This does worry me but it excites me even more, that fight will be legendary.


In this chapter there was an intriguing interaction between the Serubs and Seam. I also think that this was the first time that we have gotten to see them with a more humanoid way of acting.
They expressed feelings. Arakiel, as always, expressed anger. It is no secret that he dislikes Seam. Abtren expressed concern for Arakiel after Seam sapped his energy. Nyx expressed fear of Isphet, Apparently he never shared his energy gaining secrets.
Nyx was also shown flirting, or I guess poorly seducing, Seam.
Note: He turned her down.

I don't really think that this new way of acting is vitally important but I do think it was neat.

There was a wide variety of interesting words in todays chapter but my favorite was Sable. Apparently it is a color that was named because of an animal called the sable whose fur is not only pleasing color wise but is also nice to touch and is frequently compared to or mistaken for Mink fur. Fascinating!

We learned the name of the last Serub. Bastion.
Allow me to be a polite nerd who will stray back into the literary realm of todays youth. Aki Likey.
Seriously though, with this name they have broken another stereotype! Usually the male to female ratio is pretty solid with them being even but this book checked another stereotype off the list! We have a ratio of 4-2 in favor of males! Has anyone complained about that yet? No, and they probably wont. Why? Because the female protagonists in this book are also not the stereotypical females. They have had absolutely zero boy trouble so far and they have proven themselves extremely capable in all other aspects.
It evens out.

One last bullet point and then I will leave you with a quote.
Hosp committed a no-no. This honestly wasn't that big of a shocker, we all knew he would do something stupid. If it gets him killed in a horrible way, or perhaps excused, then I am fine with this.


I wish you all the best, good luck with your Tuesdays! Stay strong :3

Here is your quote: "I was raised up to believe it was not wise to interfere with the affairs of monks." He pulled down the scarf covering his face, revealing a grin. "But for a million credits I can bend." ~Cryic The Assassin (Keys of Candor-Sea of Soul- Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes)

That was the quote that sold me on Cyric. Good or bad I am on his team.

~Aki Ame Okami
 

A Chapter A Day: Day 5 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                           A Chapter A Day: Day 5
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

 It has been a busy day so I am thankful to be able to unwind with Sea of Souls. This might sound unrelated but I am so happy there aren't any Titans in this book...
(Attack on Titan the anime/manga/game has been on my brain)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~meh minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The first few paragraphs had me confused but I do like this possible plot twist. This provides readers with new questions.
"How loyal will Willyn stay to Wael and Grift?", "What would happen if Hagan was still alive?", "Is this the Serub in Preosts doing?" and my personal favorite, "How could she doubt Lukens word?"
I think she will stay loyal. She may have a temper and be trigger happy but she has never given us a reason to doubt her loyalty.

If Hagan was still alive.. I don't know. It is exciting to think about but at the same time I feel like that would give more problems than answers.

Oooh Isphet, Serub of Chaos, could certainly do something like this.
He got in Willyn's head and now we have no idea how connected he is to her. This could be a glorious set up that Isphet and the other serubs communicated and arranged.

Luken... She is still firm in her belief that he wouldn't have lied to her and as much as I like Luken, and you know I do, I can't rule that out.
His all around personality is great but we have to remember that he was kinda hiding Grift from her. If he thought it was in her best interest to believe Hagan was dead, I think he would tell her that. 
So on a happier note we have received a new sacrificial character!!!!!!!! *The Serubs laugh at my bad joke*
Bri, The Giant. His descriptions makes me think "Biker" but his personality makes me feel "Hagrid" (Harry Potter).
He hasn't spoken in proper sentences yet but I feel like he is much smarter than how he is acting so far. The description of his tattoo was fascinating. It was simple and not very special word wise but Willyn thinking this and that it is written in italics then it leaves an impression. It must have a special meaning.


I hope that you all have a wonderful Friday, I hope that you join me tomorrow on Saturday as well but I wont be reviewing the book on Sundays because you aren't supposed to work on Sundays and I had totally forgotten that for me blogging is also work so that was my mistake.
when you take into account the fact that this is
Have a good night ^_^

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 4 "Sea of Souls" by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                                                                   A Chapter A Day: Day 4 Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey there everyone! Seeing how it is 1AM on the dot I am obviously a little bit late with todays review so I am terribly sorry about that. Let's continue like I am not horribly late, K?
As always I hope you are doing well and excited to join me in my reading/reviewing. Grab your books and lets read chapter 4!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~25 minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter was short which is a blessing in disguise, I have to sleep and be awake in 4 hours but don't tell anyone that.

Bronson "The Cinnamon Roll" Donahue is such a good guy at this point! He deserves better :/
So Bronson is on team good guy and appears to know Ewing.
Adley and Ewing are safe and both still in Vale working. That is all good news to me because I was severely concerned about all of them, especially Adley.
One of the highlights for the Ewing/Bronson interaction was just the straight up trust between them. I might be reading into this a little too much but during their brief conversation Ewing agreed to hide Bronson's family, he did ask why but he would do it no matter the answer. That is a huge sign of trust and loyalty. In a normal, non-war cursed world hiding someone's family still requires a reason so the fact that Ewing will spend those resources and probably use a few favors to do it is special to me.

Speaking of our elderly, (no offense intended, maybe slight sarcasm. 50 is not old.) We got to learn a little bit more about Grift's military days!
Just a little teaser information about how he started his military experience 40 years ago. However, somehow in that 40 years he missed the "How to spot a trap" class.
When you find a small town with no lights on and looks like it may have been abandoned... That is a prime example of a trap.
At first I thought that it would have been set by the military because they knew he would be looking for gas for the rook but when he started "seeing things" I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
I think that adding the town full of Morels was a good call on the authors part. This adds a reminder for the readers that not even the once populated and protected towns are safe, Seam isn't the only danger to Candor. This chapter does an excellent job of hinting at that.
With all that being said, I think that this series would make a wonderful movie series. Provided the movie was the same as the book. It has all the desired elements for a quality film. We have War, Politics, bloodshed, lies, monsters, strong bonds and exotic and unexplored worlds. I hope that this one day becomes a thing, except if it did happen and the movie wasn't just like the book I would be that one person who constantly says "In the book-"
Ah sweet, sweet nerds.
Thank you for joining me for todays chapter! I am so sorry about it being late but it was... unavoidable. I hope to see you again tomorrow, or later today I guess.
Have a good day!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 3 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                            A Chapter A Day: Day 3

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday! I hope that you have had a wonderful day and that you have been wondering about todays chapter as much as I have! I seriously got so distracted thinking up fan theories that I totally forgot about working on my Attack on Titan harness... Oops :/
Oh well, there is still plenty time left in the day! (typed at 9:25 PM)

Lets get reading!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~20 minutes-3 hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so first things first, Seam and all of them are on a Frigate. That is a type of ship (Obviously) so if you are a gamer or book nerd then you probably thought the first thing I did, which is this glorious Frigate to the right. ----->


However, considering the fact that this book has already shown us complex machinery, advanced medical treatment options and they have discovered the fine art of diving I am willing to stand out on a limb and say that they are referring to this kind of Frigate which is a lot more intimidating.



I could definitely see Seam having at least two of these babies tucked away somewhere.  (Yes, I know that the picture is off center but the "large" version was half the size of this and hard to see the details on.) I don't know if this is something that the authors or other readers have discussed or pointed out before but as always, I thought it was worth mentioning and at least you learned something new.

Bronson. We saw a lot of character development for him in this chapter..... Gah that was actually very stressful to read. He made such a brave and honorable decision to try but it was all in vain. Now he has a fate worse than death by Seam. Now he is stuck with Loyalty to Serubs. I just.. Man I feel bad for him. From a fan standpoint I want to save this sweet "cinnamon roll" character from this book that has a lot of warfare and transplant him into a book about... I don't know, cooking? Romance? Something where he can't die.
However, from a critics point of view I think that this chapter was a wonderful move towards what the ultimate goal is. Obviously with an unstable person like Seam in control something just wont work so I think that something will happen to Seam and the Serubs will be in charge, at least that is the "Worst case scenario."
So that leads me to believe that the Serubs now have 2 "faithful" pawns, Bronson and Hosp. Who would be better to kill Seam than Bronson? Seam thinks that he has Bronsons utmost loyalty which would make the double-cross all the sweeter. 

Lets touch base a little more on the contradictory loyalty between Bronson and Seam. Seam was so threatening when trying to get him in the water but at the same time he was willing to kill the four divers if they failed to retrieve him. Is that the definition of a love/hate relationship?
This is the actual definition:

A love–hate relationship is an interpersonal relationship involving simultaneous or alternating emotions of love and hate—something particularly common when emotions are intense. The term is used frequently in psychology, popular writing, and journalism.
That sounds about right. Loyal when it suits him, or kill him when it suits him. Either way it just goes to further prove why Seam shouldn't be in charge of a country at this point in his life.  

So speaking of Bronson Donahue. We learned his full name... That is classic "This character is important and will suffer a terrible fate.". *Cough* Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore *Cough*
I do like that the authors are letting us get more attached, then again this is why my generation has attachment issues...

New Serub = New name.  Introducing the black haired beauty with angel blue eyes, Nyx!
Heck yeah! I have always adored that name. I actually have a story that I am currently writing with a cat whose name is Nyx (I think with that spelling...) and I have also named multiple things from my childhood Nyx so I am going to be unfairly attached to her.
She is going to be a tricky one. The way she hooked Bronson and didn't rat him out plus the way that she instantly brown nosed Seam leads me to believe that she is a very devious creature.
I look forward to seeing how these new developments alter the course of the book! I hope that there are new surprises for us in tomorrows chapter and with that I wish you all a good night. ^_^

~Aki Ame Okami
*(End post time 11:50 pm... yeah, there is no time left in the night XD)