A Chapter a Day: Day 12 "The Red Deaths" by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                         A Chapter a Day: Day 12

Reviewing "The Red Deaths" book one in the Keys of Candor Series by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.


It is a Saturday evening and for some reason you have joined me once again on this exhilarating adventure. This chapter is going to be a ton of fun so without postponing it any longer grab your books and lets read!

~~~~20-ish Minutes Later~~~~~

We are too far into the book for me to be able to not spoil anything while reviewing the chapters. That's the cold hard truth.
So there will be SPOILERS below. You have been warned.

This is just one of the cutest things from the LoTR fandom.

I laughed out loud and creeped out my roommates when I read,
"She could not help but notice how truly handsome he was. Her logic relaxed. Stop it. You're hungry and tired." Yeah, I usually think about attractive men when I am hungry and tired as well.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Seriously though, if you don't find that funny than one of us must be an alien.  I am so glad they didn't find Grift. That man needs to be free. Though it is pretty cool that he is worth starting a war over. I am almost starting to believe that Grift might actually be killing the kings. Then I get stuck between the circumstantial evidence that Grift did it and Hosp's generally evil nature. The only problem with the Hosp theory is that I don't find him capable of pulling it off. He has tried not once but twice to kill Seam and both times have failed. If he wanted him dead that badly and had already killed 2-3 kings than he would kill him already. Stuff just isn't adding up..
Willyn, What would you have done if that first morel had been Grift? All of your efforts so far would have been pointless. You really need to get a hold of that quick-draw complex. Also, in the book it says "Its red eyes were fixated on Willyn as if it knew she was the one who killed its kin." Well, the first morel did leave a  gash on your cheek so it might be a little obvious that you were the one who shot it. Speaking of that gash, when Willyn got caught in the bog I kept waiting for her to mention the way the mud stung when it lapped over her cheeks and her fresh cut, even though it had been there for around half an hour, in the pouring rain it wouldn't have scabbed over yet so the wound was still open.
She never mentioned that but I get that there was a lot going through her head with the "last words" train of thought.
Her last words would have been her calling out for Luken. Can all the shippers here just take a moment to appreciate that fine cannon.
(Ship = relationship, shippers = people who support a ship, Cannon = the official ship approved by the authors.)

Ahem... Speaking of our attractive captain.

Luken is one of The Five! The way he commanded the morels and the way he appeared to age afterwards makes me think that he is the same as Ayna!!! It also makes sense how he got back on the boat so fast when Willyn shot at him back in chapter 9. He seems to be a good guy but I think that would be really cool if one of the dark creatures lived in Candor long enough to... not want to destroy it(?). Then again he could still plan on destroying things and just have a really good poker face. We haven't had a chapter from his POV so I can't really tell how his head works. If he isn't one of them then he is definitely a Monk. I really like his character an appreciate how we have a solid character who expresses a fair range of emotions and remains strong. Who am I comparing him to? Kull and Wael mainly, Willyn too but to a less extent.
Kull is strong but his emotions are all over the place. He did mentally mature some a few chapters ago so our hero is on the rise.
Wael is strong but has no emotions at all so far so its pretty humorous to even try and compare the two.
Willyn is headstrong and I think she relies a little too much on fire power. She is doing the right thing just maybe in a more forceful way than needed. Up until we met Luken she had kept her emotions (except anger) bottled up so it wasn't really fair to add her to the comparison chart.
     There are more words below


Direct quote from page 162. I seriously need to pick pictures that fit the blog format but we all know that wont happen.


I am glad that we are seeing her grow as a person.

I read this entire chapter while picturing it in my mind and the part that I thought deserved a direct quote the best was that moment where she found peace amidst the storm.  What a warped childhood that had to have happened for her to feel comforted by the sound of explosions. This is all too real though because there are plenty Veterans of our own wars that feel at home among the roaring of gun fire and explosions and yet uncomfortable in a peaceful home environment. That is probably just me overthinking things though.
I really enjoyed todays chapter and I am looking forward to tomorrows chapter.

Now if only I will stop slacking off and go write SoulThief's chapter that is due by noon tomorrow. I made it hard on myself this week by deciding to redo the next 2 weeks of plot line. For the sake of a story things like that have to be done.
I wonder how many times Seth and Casey (or should I be calling them Mr. Ervin and Mr. Eanes?) redid parts of this book? All the authors I have met so far have changed up their plot lines and have fixed at least one chapter after it was written up, so I only feel a little bad about becoming a victim of the plotline plague.

Anyways, be sure to join me tomorrow! Have a great Sunday!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter a Day: Day 11 "The Red Deaths" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                                                   A Chapter a Day: Day 11
Reviewing "The Red Deaths" book one in the Keys of Candor Series by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey guys! I hope you are enjoying this Friday night somewhere tropical and relaxing. Or maybe you are like me and just got off of work and want to relax with a few episodes of your favorite series then sleep for eternity. Either way, our relaxation method for today is going to be reading! Grab your copies and flip to chapter 11!

~~~~~~~35-ish Minutes Later~~~~~~



Hehehe... I am about to sound like an deranged sociopath but I am so happy that someone finally died! YES! The cherry on top is who died.
------------------------------SPOILER--------------------------------------



VASHTI! Our seductress is soon to be a rotting corpse only capable of seducing a rabid animal. Don't you just love it?
I was very impressed with how Seam wised up to his surroundings. I was concerned that he would get caught up in his desires and become careless because that happens way too often and his character was starting to read as that type. The way that he killed Vashti was incredibly interesting. He could have done it fast, a slit to the throat or maybe a stab directly to the brain but no. He chose to stab her in the chest, letting her die slowly. It is sort of poetic because he stabbed her in the heart when she was intending to steal his heart and stab him in the back.

Essentially the strong points in this chapter was Vashti's murder and the revealing of the mirror lady. Since "mirror Lady" wasn't given a name in this chapter I am going to call her Ayna which is Turkish for Mirror.
No, I do not know Turkish, I have only studied English, Japanese, German, Sign Language and will be taking Spanish this semester. 

Now this whole mirror thing sort of creeps me out. How exactly does Seam plan to get Ayna out of the mirror? If it was as simple as breaking it I am sure he would have done that by now. What is he going to do, put the mirror in his study and stare at her for hours on end?
I think Ayna is one of "The Five"...  She is definitely an unholy being. I like the special element she adds to the story. She is creepy, not gonna lie about that. She is going to do some evil things and I hope she is going to kill Hosp, or at least someone needs to kill Hosp.

Bronson!!! I love the bodyguard. Even though he doesn't trust Seam he is still loyal to him. I don't know if any of the readers have ever had to remain loyal to a corrupted person but I assure you that it is very tough.
Alright, you knew it was coming. Fantastic words... Yummy. In this chapter there were 3 words that stood out to me that I want to report to you!



Palpable:

(of a feeling or atmosphere) so intense as to seem almost tangible:

The best part about this word is that it gives me a chance to show you another word!!!!

Tangible: perceptible by touch:
Make sense yet? The word is used in "Bronson's anticipation to see such beauty was palpable." he is referring to Ayna's smile. His desire to see her smile was almost tangible. Now if you are as into words as I am then this is like a gentle whisper in your ear. It is a very strong sentence with great meaning.

Next word, Bellow: "(of a person or animal) emit a deep loud roar, typically in pain or anger:"
This word is used after "I am no fool!" and is referring to the way Seam yells it. I assure you that this was done out of anger and not pain. I love how this word replaces yell, yell is used far too often and I think that bellow has a much stronger meaning.

Last word! Yes, you word haters can rejoice now. 
Ravenous:  (of hunger or need) very great; voracious
Voracious: Meaning 1. "wanting or devouring great quantities of food"
Meaning 2. "having a very eager approach to an activity:"

Which do you think they mean? Yeah. I think so too. As I am sure you can imagine, this word is used when Bronson is describing Ayna's smile. It leaves a very entertaining impression of her. I think, "She is going to do something wicked and I can't wait to see it."

I know that Ayna wouldn't wear a schoolgirl uniform but
the supply of girls trapped in mirrors is surprisingly low.

I know that this review was very brief but blogger is bugging me and not wanting to format correctly. I have been messing with Ayna's picture for about 20 minutes and still couldn't get it where I wanted it. I am also very, very tired. I have a total of three and a half hours wrapped up in this review so there is depressingly little content here for that amount of time. I spent most of this review trying to figure out how this ties into the rest of the story and it is certainly building suspense for the rest of the book. I seem to be stuck in a "Great review one day, eh review the next" and I am terribly sorry about that. I am reviewing a book that is mentally out of my league and that is taking a toll on my ability to dissect this book, however I will continue to put my best foot forward and attempt to thoroughly and properly review the chapters of this book. Please be sure to come back for tomorrows "great review"!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter a Day: Day 10 "The Red Deaths" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                               A Chapter a Day: Day 10
Reviewing "The Red Deaths" book one in the Keys of Candor Series by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Hello and happy day before Friday! So yesterday I got rained out of my scheduled review so that got pushed to later in the month but that's fine. Instead of wasting the day yesterday I binge watched Black Butler with a few admin friends until the unholy hours of the morning and well... One thing led to another and now I am obligated to being a butler for a friend through my Fall semester in college. Kids, never party with admins. There are so many ulterior motives it isn't even funny. Anyways grab your books and lets read Chapter 10!

~~~~~~~30-ish Minutes Later~~~~~~

We are half way through the book.
Let's take a moment to mourn/celebrate that.

Wael my man! This Monk is just as beastly as Rot! I was very impressed with their knowledge, patience and performance. 

Direct quote from the book:this picture is huge so Blogger doesn't do it justice

First Wael schooled our dear Kull on their lands history. That was very interesting because it also gave all of the readers a deeper understanding of what all happened and just how awful the Grogans are. They enlighten us as to who/what "The Five" are/were and how they effected the story.   This development sort of helps us piece together the story and helps things fall into place.
Now my main Monk Wael and his companion Rot are simply amazing. In this chapter the Morels attacked the transport truck that our beloved runaways are hiding on.
Well, the first thing anyone should do when their transport gets attacked is lighten the load. That is just common sense and much to my delight Wael and Kull do exactly that. They ditch the lumber but at a price.
Kull... Come on! Stop getting yourself hurt! Be more conscious of your surroundings and possible dangers! It is a good thing you didn't go to the academy because, dang, that would have been bad. I am very pleased to see that Kull got over his moral dilemma when it comes to killing. It was kill or be killed and I am happy to report that we all survived another chapter! That is mostly thanks to Wael though. The Monk has impressive battle skills for something that is supposed to be a peaceful and religious creature.
I did catch a little secret tidbit when Wael somehow managed to loosen the second load of lumber on his own. Something isn't right but for now I am going to let it slide.
This chapter was mostly history and battle sequences so I don't have that much to report however I did find a few new words that I am delighted to share! Yes, I am weird and I do have a rare word obsession.

Cusp: Noun: A pointed curve where two ends meet, in particular

Now this word doesn't hold any special meaning for me but I love that it is used because it's something that I hear/read often when I am working on props and it isn't used very often in pleasure reading.

Next word!

Annexed:
Verb: append or add as an extra or subordinate part, especially to a document:
This word is entirely new to me so I get to take it away from this book and I will surely remember this wonderful experience every time I get some use out of it!

That is that I have for today. I hope you join me tomorrow for chapter 11 and I hope you have your own copy of this fantastic book!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter a Day: Day 8 "The Red Deaths" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                           A Chapter a Day: Day 8
Reviewing "The Red Deaths" book 1 in the Keys of Candor Series by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Yesterday's chapter was very promising and I can't wait to read today's so enough babbling, grab your books and lets read Chap. 8!

~~~~~~~~20-ish minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Oh my... Seam has gone off the deep end. I thought he was already there but he proved me wrong. We are only a few hours into his coronation and he is already trying to get himself killed.

We did however get to meet Bronson. This is (unfortunetly) Seam's "Captain of The Guard" so basically I think that is like a body guard.  Bronson has a good moral compass so far. He wants nothing to do with secret meetings or forbidden lands and he doesn't appear to trust Seam even though he is the new sovereign. It takes more than a title to garner trust.  That reminds me, we had some very nice vocabulary in this chapter!
We had "Staccato" which was used in a rather fascinating way.

stac·ca·to (Sta-Kado)

ADVERB

with each sound or note sharply detached or separated from the others:That was the first definition, however the second definition of the noun is going to work for the way I am going to explain it.
NOUN
A noise or speech resembling a series of short, detached musical notes:

Seam was speaking in short, detached sentences not really explaining anything and just barking orders.  I find the use of that word in that spot to be beautiful.
The other word used was Wanton. Now I haven't seen this word in a while but it is a very... suggestive... word generally. Thankfully the authors used this word in it's proper form!!! 

Wanton: (Wan-ten)  (of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked:
Now this word has other definitions but I will leave those out for the sake of the blog.

 

I am going to change the topic back to new characters. We met a new (obviously evil) girl! With Willyn it was unclear as to if she was going to be good or evil but in chapter 6 it becomes apparent that she is going to be good. She has a heart of gold so it would be impossible for her to be evil. This new girl though, she is just seeping of evil mojo. Her name is Vashti.
Ironically, I can pronounce this one.

Vashti is described in a very mature manner, and I don't mean mature in a bad way. Her description is definitely something that was written by a man and not a boy. This is a direct quote from page 112,
"Her hair fell across her shoulders in intricate curls, a waterfall of midnight. Her skin was dark like mahogany and smooth like porcelain. It was her eyes, however, that captivated the old guard, causing him to feel young and full of vigor and passion. She was exquisite."
That sounds like a well thought out and fairly innocent complement, right? I like Kull, I really do, but that is not something that his character would have been able to say. He is a teenage boy with the mindset of maybe early 20's, if he was describing her like that it would not have been believable. The authors had the right idea to give this intimidating description of Vashti. She sounds beautiful but she also sounds like a force of nature. This is the perfect build up for introducing the true enemy. So even if Seam gets Captain Bronson killed he has still served his purpose from an authors POV. (Point Of View)

This chapter also alluded to the fact that the Alephian Monks are powerful beings.
"Alephian Monks, in a swell of religious fervor, destroyed the temples and shrines of the dark place, leaving them in ruins."

You don't say! This is further fueling the fire of suspicion that I

have for the Monks. If our own daily society has taught us one thing it is that nothing can be that peaceful and maintain absolute respect and religious rights. I am interested to see what little tidbit secrets are in the next chapter.

Alright on a more domestic note, someone asked me "Why do you do these day to day projects that eat up the majority of your time?".
I will be more than happy to answer that in a separate blog post at the end of the month once I am done with this project. The answer is rather personal and kind of long so it simply doesn't have a place in this blog post.
Also on a personal note, I will be out of town tomorrow so the chapter review is going to be written today and published tomorrow. I cannot even begin to guestimate a time for when that will happen so just be sure to check out our Facebook Page (Thats me) for the most recent updates.

Thanks for reading along with me! Hope you come back for tomorrow chapter!!!

~Aki Ame Okami  

A Chapter A Day: Keys of Candor: The Red Deaths By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                A Chapter a Day: Day One
            Keys of Candor: The Red Deaths
            (By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin-Available for purchase on Amazon)


I want to try something new. We had an amazing response with the "Cosplay In 20 Days Or Less" segment so I am going to basically do a book review one chapter at a time and then I will do an over all conclusion on the book in its entirety, how I feel about the characters and where I think it is heading and what the book meant to me. This strange segment will be called "A Chapter a Day" and I really hope that you follow me through the mental mind trip that reading can be. If you want to go a step further and join me in this adventure you can purchase your own copy of The Red Deaths on amazon at This link right here.  Or if you are a "kindle unlimited" person then you can read it for free. I don't know what that means but the word free was there so I thought it would be good to mention. :P
Lets get started!

~~~~~Twenty Minutes Later~~~~~
Chapter One was brutal!
I am no stranger to tragedy and chaos but this was organized in such a beautiful way I couldn't help but be reminded of the movie Red Dawn (the original).
The first chapter introduces you to Grift and Kull, a father and his son. My first reaction was love. I adore the names even though mentally I am pronouncing Kull as Cole which I don't think is right but whatever. I might email the authors to find out... also, I am going to sound really weird for a second but the way they describe Grift, that's right I am talking about the father, in the first scene is very attractive. He radiates confidence and knowledge while still being skillful and in control.
You clearly understand a lot about Kull right off the bat. He is being groomed for a "glorious" future. His father is important and strong and is training him to be the same way but Kull doesn't resent him. He admires him and wants to be like him. He is determined and motivated to succeed, but this is all a flash back.
Then this chapter gets intense.
That happy, promising life that you were expecting.... Well, it died.
(This isn't a spoiler because it is mentioned on the blurb on the back of the book)
War has broken out across the realms and Grift was called to the front of it. Kull's dream of becoming a soldier and joining his father got replaced by taking care of his mother who has fallen ill.
This sort of hit home with me because I understand how it feels to take a step back from what you want to do with your life to take care of someone else. It's hard to properly convey that feeling, especially when writing, but Seth and Casey did an amazing job.
You don't really know what to feel, its not anger or sadness or anything.... The world just seems bleak and colorless and you just want someone else to be there to help you handle it.
The authors conveyed that in less than a paragraph. 
Above I mentioned that this reminded me of the movie Red Dawn.
The reason for that is because since Kull couldn't go off to war, they decided to bring the war to him! Burning everything down and killing hundreds in the process. Do you guys remember the scene in Red Dawn where they kill Jed and Matt's father?
Yeah. It could be worse. What if the father lived? I don't know if that is what happened but I have a feeling that it is..........

Note: this is fanart of I don't know who. That is a paraphrasing of a quote from the book.

Character shout out:
Hang in there Kull!!!!



GRRRR I don't want to spoil this book but my reactions to this chapter is just... gah. I am developing a severe emotional connection to Kull and it is only the first chapter. I want to hurry up and read to where the bad guys are because I like being able to love the bad guy. There is no sadness when they die/get defeated because you see it coming from a mile away but I will remain strong and read only one chapter a day and I will report back to you immediately so that we can all process (and cry), debate (and cry) and fangirl/fanman (and cry) together!  :)

I promise that day 2 will be a better assessment of the chapter, I can't possibly be emotionally attached to two characters in a row. Right?! O.o
Thanks for the read!!!

~Aki Ame Okami