King's Warrior Read-Along: Chapter 7
Good evening and welcome back to the King’s Warrior Read-Along! I hope you had a lovely weekend. We’ve made it about a third of the way through the book, now, and I hope you all are having as much fun as I am! Thank you so much for all your comments, questions, and support. I really appreciate it, and I’m loving the discussion!
Today’s chapter has some danger and excitement, and we unveil a few mysteries - though perhaps not the ones you were expecting.
Darby’s coughing fit. Interesting that Darby has this moment right as Brant is actually about to answer a question. What does she not want Kamarie to know?
Okay, one of my favorite things ever is how convinced Yole is that he is going to end up getting eaten by a dragon.
“Their enemies were simply men.” This scene is incredibly important for Kamarie’s character development. First, we see that she truly is as brave as we had hoped - notice that her first instinct is to grab her sword and gets ready to defend herself and her friends. However, we also get to see her carefully constructed imagined scenario of death and glory and battle come crashing down around her ears as she is confronted with the brutality that is the reality of those things, and as she sees her enemy as a young man, not much different than herself.
It’s also a big moment in the relationships between our travelers. Brant may be mysterious and aggravatingly close-mouthed, but he is also brave and swift to act. Kamarie gets to see him in two very different roles in a short amount of time: with a child falling asleep on his lap, she gets to see him as a tender father figure; and then in one swift motion, she also sees the unhesitating warrior.
Darby/Dylanna. This was another one of my favorite moments to write. I had to go back in the re-write and add in the bit where Dylanna reminds Brant that they have met before - since it wouldn’t make sense for them to never have seen one another, though Dylanna would not have made a huge impression on Brant at the time - they were both far too busy with other concerns.
Calyssia. She was one of the hardest characters to write in the first draft, to be perfectly honest. I think that’s mostly because I didn’t really know her. After I wrote Second Son, I was able to get a much better handle on her.
And that is where we leave our intrepid heroes. Tomorrow, they will venture where very few humans have ever gone before.
Q&A
Jack wants to know: how strong did The Lord of the Rings influence this story? Did your ideas for Brant and Oraeyn come from Aragorn?
I'm not sure how to answer this question. I am sure that The Lord of the Rings influenced my writing a lot, because I love it so very much. I wasn't really thinking about Tolkien's books when I was writing my own, but most people who have read my books have at some point or another mentioned that it is obvious from reading them that I have read Tolkien or have said that my books are kind of a "Tolkien-Lite" as they are written for a younger audience. I take that as the highest of compliments. Did Brant and Oraeyn have roots in Aragorn's character? Probably. It makes sense that a story I respect above most others would influence my writing, even if I wasn't consciously thinking about it or attempting to write a "Lord of the Rings" type story at the time. I was merely trying to write an adventure for my family to enjoy, the sort of thing that I would like to read... so it definitely stands to reason that I would have written something along similar lines of the stories I love the most. It's sort of like my faith. I am a Christian, but I did not set out to write a "Christian Fantasy" or an allegory, or "Christian Fiction." I would hope that my beliefs are deep enough and my love of Christ is strong enough, that it would come through in my writing without me having to work to put it there. (Nothing against stories that ARE purely Christian Fiction or authors who attempt to write allegories, I love both - but that was not my intent with my books).
I don't know if that answered your question or not...
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think Darby’s coughing fit was on purpose? If it was, what information do you think she was hoping to prevent Kamarie from learning just then?
- What did you think of the scene in the hayloft? Do you think the Dark Warrior was one of the men involved in the massacre of Peak's Shadow? How could Brant be so certain that this man was, in fact, a Dark Warrior?
- What do you think of Oraeyn’s sword? Did you notice the two times it allowed him to see through an illusion in this chapter?
- General reactions to Darby’s transformation?
- Any favorite lines?