The first two books of the thrilling epic fantasy series by Bard Constantine are now available in a single volume set. In the loosely allied kingdom of Leodia, the fragile peace is threatened by a scheme from the shadows, where an immortal lord obsesses over curing the curse that afflicts his people, the akhkharu. Alaric Aelfvaldar pursues his agenda across ages of time, but his chase is finally at an end. The artifact he seeks is within reach, but its taking will disrupt a world ignorant of his people's existence and threaten to destroy all he has worked to protect. Nyori Sharlin is a newly appointed Shama, one of the few guardians of ancient lore that know beings called akhkharu exist. Her recovery of a powerful artifact called Eymunder
This book report discusses the plot, significant characters, setting (e.g., time of the story took place, historical background), problems and resolutions, themes or messages of the story. A reflection of the author’s writing style will be presented followed by a conclusion.
One must have hope to resist the cruel challenges such as loss that they are faced with from oppressive figures of authority, in order to achieve self wellness. This can be seen when strange men massacred Amari’s village.
The curse is branded by violence, yet at the same time the novel’s driving force is love; Abelards love for his family, prevents his daughter from becoming Trujillo’s play thing; Belicia’s heartbreaks, lead her to meeting Oscar and Lola’s father and Oscar’s search for a romantic relationship, leads him to breaking the curse once and for all. At first glance love and violence work against each other, Abelard is put in prison, Belicia is brutally beaten and left for dead and Oscar Wao is murdered. Nevertheless it is the love and violence in Oscar’s brief and wondrous life that actually come together to relive the family of their Fuku
The story line soon takes off when the reader finds Fadlan is forced to play the role of the thirteenth warrior in a quest to destroy the terror that plagues these people.
The first person narrative in the ancient kingdom of Glome, a land ruled by a tyrannical king and religious goddess Ungit. Narrated by Princess (later Queen) Orual. The first section of this novel presents itself as an open complaint against the gods, particularly the god of the Grey Mountain, who brought Orual such pain and distress over the years, yet offer no answers or explanations to justify the suffering.
The life of a dominant king who got lost in the things of the world, resulted in him losing focus on his destiny through power and time. It is a battle between man and the natural world he faced. Percy Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias, demonstrates that no matter the position one holds, in time, power can be arrogant and ruling, but cannot ultimately last for an eternity.
“Mystical Creatures of the forest,given to us by the God,I present to you the assassin of your beloved Prince,the person representing all the monsters living behind tall chambers.This monster among many others,have killed our ancestors,our families,and our beloved Prince who ruled beside me for centuries,will be killed in honour of our king in the same way my son was killed today butchered and hung as a victory sign!An eye for
In his goal to explore and understand the ambiguities of war, Doerr expands his point of view far beyond the lives of a small cast of characters. The first section of Chapter One tells the myth of the “Sea of Flames”, a diamond that blesses its owner with immortal life, yet condemns everyone around him to suffering and death. Archetypally, the prince who wishes to possess the diamond represents all those greedy for power and lebensraum in WWII. It is when Marie-Laure returns the diamond to the ocean where it was born that the war ends and Etienne is saved. These mythic reverberations expand the story in time and meaning, just as Marie-Laure “hears the bones of dead whales stir five leagues below” (Doerr 391) and explores imaginative worlds with Etienne and in her books.
Analysis: Conflict. Firdaus experiences a verbal ‘man vs. man’ conflict with the Arab prince. Within the conflict, she uses her repeated refusals to obtain power of him. In turn, he raises the price, doing exactly what she wants, and loses his power to Firdaus with every increase. It is only with the contrast of an acceptance that Firdaus gained complete power, as she had controlled a man of high status, forcing him to increase her value beyond his original offer.
Shelley’s version of “Ozymandias” pays particular attention to the details of what remains of Ramses’s statue. Shelley conveys to the reader that no matter how powerful a ruler may be, their influence will fade with time. The description of what Babylon looks like when the poem was written gives the reader a clear
The Kite Runner, a novel written by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on Amir’s journey in life, both physically and emotionally. During Amir’s childhood Afghanistan became very unsafe. He and his father, Baba, fled from the city of Kabul to Pakistan and then made their way to America in hope of a better life for Amir. "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, it was a place to mourn his." The need for Amir to "become good again" is embedded in the idea of a physical for redemption of his dignity.
“Aida” is about the Nubian princess Aida who becomes romantically entangled with the enemy Egyptian Captain Radames, and how their love is forever forbidden. The story
Shelley dwells little on the small details of Ozymandias' face, but by Ozymandias' frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, delivered in less than two lines, immediately carry to the reader a vision of a cold, callous, yet strong and determined leader who is commanding his people building his great vast statue hoping his power would be immortal. These concrete items are vital to the description, but are not as strong as what can not be seen. Shelley gives a nod to the talent of the sculptor, from whom Ozymandias received a mirror image of his personality, placed in stone because of his thinking to survive
The play, Ozidi, is set in Orua. It tells the story of a man, Ozidi who is confronted by impossible tasks. Orua needs a king. Ozidi cannot be king because his elder brother, Temugedege is alive. The latter is not fit to be king, and Ozidi protests strongly against the desire of the council of state making Temugedege king. But the Council of State goes ahead and makes Temugedege king. Ozidi demands that since his brother has been made king, the latter be honoured as tradition requires. The men of Orua go to hunt for “a prize far beyond the lion’s head” (18) to honour the new king. There is a conspiracy. Ozidi is murdered by his kinsmen, and his head is presented to King Temugedege. The play tells of the posthumous birth of Ozidi's son, the extraordinary
Only the protagonist, Karou, knows it exists, because she was raised by Brimstone, a chimera sorcerer who has her collect teeth for him (Taylor 2011: 24-83). Eretz, “war-torn, bleak,” is starkly contrasted against our world, full of carefree people and freedom (Taylor 2011: 543). The backdrop of Prague, healed from two world wars, “a fantasia of alchemists and dreamers,” is where Karou and Akiva dream of forging the new life they had once dreamed, away from the ongoing battles (Taylor 2011: 62-63). The world of Eretz, immersive as it is, feels foreign and unreachable to the reader with its thousand year war of supernatural beings. But because of this, we see the horrors wrought by the centuries-long war on both the two races, and are forced to look inward at our own society, and examine the similar effects of our own