Excerpt: Persistence of Vision by Liesel K. Hill (Blog Tour)

EXCERPT

The men with Marcus had fallen back, leaving him out in front of them before the oncoming Trepids. The ground was littered with those they’d already killed, but the approaching wave of violence was gargantuan in comparison. Maggie’s heart quickened with fear and she wondered what they would do. Marcus, standing twenty feet ahead of the others, still holding that wooden staff, would surely be crushed.

He stood perfectly still, staff in hand, as dozens of Trepids rushed toward him. It was an army, coming toward him like a moving wall. The other cave-dwellers were taking slow, tentative steps backward, toward the cave.

“Joan, what’s he…?”

Joan still held fast to Maggie’s wrist, but she gave Maggie a reassuring look.

With the Trepids less than ten feet from him, Marcus finally moved. He hefted the staff in his left hand, tossing it up a few inches so he could get ahold of it further down. Then he took a knee while also slamming the staff into the ground. He timed it perfectly so that his knee and the butt of the staff hit the ground at the same time. The wave of energy that radiated out from him was unlike anything Maggie had ever felt. She felt it in the ground below her. It came up through her shoes and into her body, spiking her heart rate and making her skeleton vibrate against her flesh. The very mountain quivered, as if from a seismic aftershock.

Everything was moving in slow motion; the power radiating from Marcus had caught and absorbed everything around him. His warped bubble of energy had trapped them all and, for only a heartbeat, connected them…

Then it was gone. Sudden vertigo made Maggie step backward with one leg to catch herself. It was like a dream where you feel like you’re falling until you kick yourself awake. The instant her foot hit the ground the dizziness was gone, and then there was only silence in the cave and Joan holding Maggie’s hand, looking at her speculatively.

Maggie looked out to where the battle had taken place. Her mouth dropped open. All the Trepids who’d been coming—every single one of them, and there must have been close to a hundred—had fallen to the ground. The utter silence made Maggie’s breathing sound loud, and she knew they were all dead. He’d killed them all.

Review: Hansel and Gretel by Brothers Grimm [Project Fairytale]

Hansel and Gretel are both smart, plucky, and resourceful children. They are both proactive characters whose cleverness drive the story and are the villain's ultimate undoing (Hansel's ingenuity and Gretel's trickery). It can be tricky to give children a characterization without making them seem to perfect, but I thought these two siblings were portrayed well and without Stu-like tendencies.

The bond of the "blood" family is the predominant theme in this book. It is more powerful than "hunger": for food, for power, for lust...and like in many fairytales, love is wielded like a weapon to defeat evil. The children want to get back to their father so badly, that it motivates them to kill (granted it is in self-defense, but they still kill someone and that will change them forever). It is also interesting to mention that the step-mother in this story is portrayed in a negative light, further reinforcing the trope of "evil" stepmothers in fairytales. Perhaps this trope lives on to further push the idea that the bonds of blood can never be truly broken.

It is interesting to note that Gretel is the only female to survive this story. This seems to be the case because Gretel values love over everything else. Both the step-mother and witch are shown to be selfish and power-hungry. This characterization leads ultimate to their deaths. Still, the females in this story tend to hold the most "power". While Hansel is a resourceful child, it is Gretel that defeats the witch by pushing her into the oven. Just like it is the step-mother who convinces her spineless husband (the father) to abandon the children in their "best interest"; just like it is the witch who lures children with sweets. The women's prerogative definitely drives this tale.

Finally, I love the unique depiction of the witch in this story as a red-eyed, near-sighted, cannibal who has the same sense of smell as beasts. It just makes the villain that much more scary.

Feature and Follow Friday (23)

Hello everyone! It's another Feature & Follow Friday! It's been a blast meeting everyone and following so many blogs. We hope this week will be just as successful as last week! 

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

This week's question is...

Q: Confess your blogger sins! Is there anything as a newbie blogger that you've done, that as you gained more experience you were like -- oops?

I don't know that I messed up or anything, but I tend to get overwhelmed alot with everything and the blog takes a backseat. That was one of the reasons we went on hiatus because we needed to figure out more of a schedule. We're still working out the kinks, you know? Especially when you're active in other types of social media and have to read and have real life stuff. It's a real balancing act and one hopefully we'll get down pat real soon.

Let me know what you think in the comments! Or if you want, you can just say hi!