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niyel 's review for:
Of Sand and Malice Made
by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Spoiler free part:
To be honest, the first part was a snooze there is something about the author's writing that makes the earlier parts of the book feel kinda slow or hard to read and the latter the exact opposite, because even though I am familiar with Sharakhai and the lore of the series( I have read all the 6 main books and this is just a novella between book 2 and 3) the book still felt a little hard to get into at first and I was supposed to read after reading the 2nd main books in the series, because the events that occurred here were referenced a lot in the latter books but I could not bring myself to abandon the latter books for anything so I had to keep this waiting till I finished the main series and after finishing the main series and reading this book, I have realised that it provides recontextualization for the other books I have read and despite the fact that I didn't read it when I was supposed to it makes sense and is still enjoyable anyways and I like the outlook this story gives to the whole series regardless especially how it showed the teenage experience of Ceda and her friends and her growing up unlike the other books which were based on her adult self and flashbacks to when she 7/8 in this book we get to experience her coming of age.
This is a story of free will,love and sacrifice(The overarching themes of the series in general) about how a human being(Çeda in this context ) constantly has to battle a supernatural Godlike being( Ehrekh) who preys on the stories and memories of people and seeks to takeover the protagonist's body and later in the series we are actually provided context that the Ehrekh(Rumayesh) did it for love in order to be with someone she loved yet in this story it tries to forcefully impose it's will on the protagonist(Çeda) and it almost suceeds but the love she has and her will to protect those closest to her grants her enough fortitude to withstand the Ehrekh and overcome it, it creates an internal conflict within her and greatly affects her mental health but the threat of seeing her loved ones suffer spurred her back to reality despite the offer of the Ehrekh to surrender seeming more pleasing, I also enjoyed how she had a mini breakdown from trying to get away from the taint of the Ehrekh and gets drunk and sleeps with another man but still cant get over it yet when she sees the person she loves most (this is me declaring that I am a big fan of Çemre(Corny ik) and their romance and how they are always there for each other although they were in denial about their feelings initially)get threatened she is immediately reminded of her will to protect those she loves.
I believe that the most important theme of the story is how strongly freewill prevails when you believe strongly in something and in the protagonist's case it was protecting the people important to her.
Non spoiler free part
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
Also, the foreshadowing this book does is very interesting,several themes and concepts that weren't fully explored until the last book in the early series were subtly referenced all over this book, a good example is the rocks in the desert where Meryam summoned Ashael(although it was mentioned/referenced in A Desert Torm Asunder multiple times that Adzin was exploring a different type of supernatural force and the ifin were used in like the 3rd book when Adzin helped Macide, Emre and co to escape and I had no idea about their detailed backstory then until Meryam went to summon Ashael and not even that did the type of justice that this book did, also we get a glimpse into Brama's backstory(knowing his character conclusion before reading his backstory makes it hurt 1000 more times btw) and how Rumayesh came to become entangled with Ceda and Brama and how it all started
To be honest, the first part was a snooze there is something about the author's writing that makes the earlier parts of the book feel kinda slow or hard to read and the latter the exact opposite, because even though I am familiar with Sharakhai and the lore of the series( I have read all the 6 main books and this is just a novella between book 2 and 3) the book still felt a little hard to get into at first and I was supposed to read after reading the 2nd main books in the series, because the events that occurred here were referenced a lot in the latter books but I could not bring myself to abandon the latter books for anything so I had to keep this waiting till I finished the main series and after finishing the main series and reading this book, I have realised that it provides recontextualization for the other books I have read and despite the fact that I didn't read it when I was supposed to it makes sense and is still enjoyable anyways and I like the outlook this story gives to the whole series regardless especially how it showed the teenage experience of Ceda and her friends and her growing up unlike the other books which were based on her adult self and flashbacks to when she 7/8 in this book we get to experience her coming of age.
This is a story of free will,love and sacrifice(The overarching themes of the series in general) about how a human being(Çeda in this context ) constantly has to battle a supernatural Godlike being( Ehrekh) who preys on the stories and memories of people and seeks to takeover the protagonist's body and later in the series we are actually provided context that the Ehrekh(Rumayesh) did it for love in order to be with someone she loved yet in this story it tries to forcefully impose it's will on the protagonist(Çeda) and it almost suceeds but the love she has and her will to protect those closest to her grants her enough fortitude to withstand the Ehrekh and overcome it, it creates an internal conflict within her and greatly affects her mental health but the threat of seeing her loved ones suffer spurred her back to reality despite the offer of the Ehrekh to surrender seeming more pleasing, I also enjoyed how she had a mini breakdown from trying to get away from the taint of the Ehrekh and gets drunk and sleeps with another man but still cant get over it yet when she sees the person she loves most (this is me declaring that I am a big fan of Çemre(Corny ik) and their romance and how they are always there for each other although they were in denial about their feelings initially)get threatened she is immediately reminded of her will to protect those she loves.
I believe that the most important theme of the story is how strongly freewill prevails when you believe strongly in something and in the protagonist's case it was protecting the people important to her.
Non spoiler free part
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
*spoilers for a Desert Torn Asunder and a Veil of Spears*
Also, the foreshadowing this book does is very interesting,several themes and concepts that weren't fully explored until the last book in the early series were subtly referenced all over this book, a good example is the rocks in the desert where Meryam summoned Ashael(although it was mentioned/referenced in A Desert Torm Asunder multiple times that Adzin was exploring a different type of supernatural force and the ifin were used in like the 3rd book when Adzin helped Macide, Emre and co to escape and I had no idea about their detailed backstory then until Meryam went to summon Ashael and not even that did the type of justice that this book did, also we get a glimpse into Brama's backstory(knowing his character conclusion before reading his backstory makes it hurt 1000 more times btw) and how Rumayesh came to become entangled with Ceda and Brama and how it all started