141: Blade of Secrets & Escapism vs Representing
The Good
I. Anxiety Representation
A. It represents anxiety, putting into words what it looks like.
B. Anxiety + Fantasy
There is something nice about representing anxiety in a fantasy novel it is like it makes it not so scary or strange. Normalizes? It is so important to instill hope that you can have a good life with anxiety.
C. It could have punished our main character for experiencing anxiety (which most stories usually do or try to fix them) but it did not.
II. Fun Adventure Fantasy
It is not a drag just because the main character experiences anxiety. At times it can feel with many stories that having more representation of things can drag the story down or be in opposition to the fun.
I want to emphasize that this was a fun adventure journey type of story that had a good premise that followed through.
III. Magic – in general Ziva powers was interesting.
I liked how the sword was used in the story.
I would be interested in seeing more magic users in the world.
IV. It has good pacing.
The Bad
Does it feel like a checklist on all different feelings of anxiety at times?
The Meh
Does this feel unfinished? The ending just ended. It should have been a standalone instead of duology? I will say I definitely am looking forward to the next book.
Thoughts
I. Anxiety
Manifests itself differently for different people.
II. Escapism vs Representing
-escaping from anxiety vs representing
a. needing/enjoying representation of someone experiencing anxiety.
b. needing to not be in space of anxiety if it is something you experience. It can feel like you are in duress in real life and in fiction.
c. For some the escapism of reading can settle/calm them out of an anxious space.
d. A conversation about escapism is important but also actually having stories that you can escape into is important.
III. Miscellaneous
-It is important to represent worlds that love and support folks.
-wanting to see more low-level fantasy that is not life & death
IV. this would be a good book to get into if you like Wheel of Time-esque stories. It can feel like these types of stories are in short supply at times.
I. Anxiety Representation
A. It represents anxiety, putting into words what it looks like.
B. Anxiety + Fantasy
There is something nice about representing anxiety in a fantasy novel it is like it makes it not so scary or strange. Normalizes? It is so important to instill hope that you can have a good life with anxiety.
C. It could have punished our main character for experiencing anxiety (which most stories usually do or try to fix them) but it did not.
II. Fun Adventure Fantasy
It is not a drag just because the main character experiences anxiety. At times it can feel with many stories that having more representation of things can drag the story down or be in opposition to the fun.
I want to emphasize that this was a fun adventure journey type of story that had a good premise that followed through.
III. Magic – in general Ziva powers was interesting.
I liked how the sword was used in the story.
I would be interested in seeing more magic users in the world.
IV. It has good pacing.
The Bad
Does it feel like a checklist on all different feelings of anxiety at times?
The Meh
Does this feel unfinished? The ending just ended. It should have been a standalone instead of duology? I will say I definitely am looking forward to the next book.
Thoughts
I. Anxiety
Manifests itself differently for different people.
II. Escapism vs Representing
-escaping from anxiety vs representing
a. needing/enjoying representation of someone experiencing anxiety.
b. needing to not be in space of anxiety if it is something you experience. It can feel like you are in duress in real life and in fiction.
c. For some the escapism of reading can settle/calm them out of an anxious space.
d. A conversation about escapism is important but also actually having stories that you can escape into is important.
III. Miscellaneous
-It is important to represent worlds that love and support folks.
-wanting to see more low-level fantasy that is not life & death
IV. this would be a good book to get into if you like Wheel of Time-esque stories. It can feel like these types of stories are in short supply at times.