Skip to main content

Books: The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3) by Mary Pearson

 I started this series a while ago, and was hooked. Lia is a princess who is set, by her parents, to marry a prince from a neighboring country. She's less than thrilled by this edict, and instead of submitting, runs away with her lady-in-waiting, Pauline. The first book sees them on the run, and hiding out from bounty hunters they've been told were sent by Lia's father. Assuming new identities, they find work at an inn, and when they meet two young men at the inn, things go from bad to worse. Neither men is who they seem, and this spells trouble for everyone.

I don't want to spoil anyone, so I won't go into what happens in the rest of the book, or book two, but if you're a fan of badass ladies, who are fiercely loyal, and like to buck tradition, this is a great series for you.  I will say, in parts of the book, I think the author is alluding to the fact that the Remnant (those chosen after an apocalypse wipes out all of society,) is the United States, and mention of the "ancients," lost temples and cities feels a bit meh to me. I much prefer the idea that all of the countries are actually complete fiction and not based on our current existence. I could be wrong, but it was the only off note in the books for me. Lia and her relationships with the two young men, Pauline, and everyone back in her home as well as the people she meets on her journey are well written. You get to see each of the main characters understand, work through, and eventually accept their own fate and place within the overall fate of the world. The one bummer I had was that the ending wasn't exactly as I'd hoped, but c'est la vie, right? I still liked it, and felt it made sense for the characters.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Watching Cancer Take My Mom

I’ve been snooping around my parents house, looking for old photos. I know we have them, my dad loves photography, and I know we have boxes of pictures around here somewhere. Snooping is probably too strong a word, really I’m just searching around. I’m trying to find as many photos of my mom as possible. Most of the photos that are around the house are studio portraits, or other photos of me, from school, from dance. There are few adult pictures of my parents that don’t also include a younger version of me. I want to find these photos because I want to have as many visual reminders of who my mom was, physically, before the cancer came. I want to remember her holding me while I suspiciously suss out Donald Duck, or holding me on her lap in a blue chair that’s almost just as much a part of my childhood memories. I want to remember her smiling, and vibrant, and sometimes, clearly annoyed with the photographer (my dad.) I want all of these as a constant reminder that my mom is so much...
4 comments
Read more

When The Waves are Sorrow

I know the lyric to Across the Universe goes "pools of sorrow, waves of joy," and I understand the meaning. Sorrow can feel like a deep and endless pool, but for me, lately, the waves aren't of joy so much as sorrow and grief. Life lately has been survival and attempting to get back into what is the new "normal." The challenge is, I feel like I'm standing in the ocean, waist deep. Most of the time I'm floating in those pools, or at least along with the calm ebb and flow of the tide, but some days, like on Saturday, I am knocked over completely by a wave so big and powerful it pulls me under and holds me there. It hurts, and I can feel my lungs burning as I strain to hold my breath until the current releases me. This overwhelming ache of loss and sadness. I miss my mommy. I know it never goes away. I know this, and I know that eventually the waves are less powerful, either that or I better learn how to dodge them, ride them. There doesn't seem to be...
3 comments
Read more

Fiction: Breathe

I used to write fiction all the time. I couldn't seem to stop myself. It would happen in the middle of classes, so my notebooks would be one part algebraic equations, one part poetry. I've gone through a definite dry spell in my writing over the last few years - I don't force myself to make time for it, like I used to. So, when I find things I wrote in the past, things I remember coming easily, I want to share them to remind myself to keep pushing. It may not be as easy anymore, but by working at it, it can get closer to easy again. Written sometime in 2004/2005 "You know I breathe too much anyway, I can do that anyday." - Ani DiFranco "Anyday" The weed hit rough, and she held back her cough the best she could. the boys were barely coughing at all, and somewhere in the back of her mind, that voice that always pressed into her "you must keep up with the boys." nagged. she took another hit from the blunt, holding in the smoke, feeling it pu...
Post a Comment
Read more