By Darkness Hid, by Jill Williamson (re-review)

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.

 
Summary:

Intended Age-Group: 16+
Issues of Violence: appropriate for teens and up. Battles, wars, sparring matches, life-threatening situations, yet all descriptively clean.
Intimacy Level: Kiss on the cheek (so harmless!) none!
Swearing: none!
Recommendation: 5 out of 5 stars

I can't help it. When I love a book, I re-read it, which only reminds me why I loved it in the first place, which only makes me want to talk about it more.

Initial Reaction: *****
By Darkness Hid, the first of Jill Williamson's Blood of Kings trilogy leaves me astounded once more. I am re-reading the series because I recently received the third and final book from Jill Williamson herself. It was just as good as the first time (though slightly less shocking since I already knew all the answers). I noticed a lot more the second round through. Now, I'm finally back on the bandwagon, but I've started the series over again. It's been over a year since I read the first two and I want to flow through all three books in one swoop. Yes, they're that amazing (hence the re-review of book one. Click to read the full review of books one and two).

Plot: *****
The book doesn't start with an explosion or secret plot to destroy the world--it begins with the main character milking goats. It took a little push through the first couple chapters, but I don't regret a single moment of it. Jill Williamson beautifully weaves in-depth characters that come to life in the reader's imagination and dreams. She spends the majority of this first book establishing who Achan and Vrell are and why you should care about them.

Writing: *****
The novel is extremely well-written and understandable. The idea of "bloodvoicing" was explained so thoroughly I even dreamed I could bloodvoice at one point (and tried to bloodvoice my fiance to tell him I was sick and needed him to come take care of me...it didn't work. Then I woke up. My fiance found it very amusing).

Spiritual Aspects: *****
This entire series is filled with focus on God in a very natural way. I especially love reading a novel that's Christian based, yet not a typical romance novel. I found myself thinking more often about why I believe in God and mentally answering different questions that the main characters were asking. Very refreshing!

Overall Recommendation:
I highly recommend this book. For my full review written after my first reading, please go here.

I encourage you to support Jill Williamson---a daring and imaginative Christian author---by reading her books, requesting them in libraries, and sharing your thoughts

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, released September 2014 from Enclave Publishing. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.

NaNoWriMo?

Welcome to November! A time of hot cider, pumpkin pies, red maple leaves, and crisp weather. Cloudy days with the temptation of words falling like raindrops and pre-Thanksgiving Christmas celebrators secretly blasting Christmas music. It's glorious. Normal people call it November. The writing world calls it NaNoWriMo.

Sound it out: Na-No-Wri-Mo

Sounds kind of dorky, doesn't it? Makes me think of Rhino's and noses. Still, this year I shall embrace the dork (only because it's the first year I've actually known what NaNoWriMo stood for). NaNoWriMo is the shortened version of National Novel Writing Month. I previously knew it as a weird name for a time when all authors-to-be freak out and try to write 50,000 words in a month.

Once I knew the true name for NaNoWriMo, my writer-starved brain instantly conjured a set schedule and a glorious excuse to write for 30 days straight. 

"You don't have to reach 50,000 words," it said to me with a crazed look. "Just engage in National Novel Writing Month and try and write more. That's all."

"But it sounds silly," I argued.

"YOU NEED TO WRITE! Your high horse is collapsing anyway."

It's true. I've been dying to write. I fall asleep thinking about writing, I count down the days until I have that extra hour on Thursday to sit before my novel. *sigh* NaNoWriMo is an excellent excuse to work myself even more to the bone (and like it!). So I chose to humor my twitching, anxious, writer-desperate brain. I handed it a cookie jar of words and started scratching out a schedule and a strategy for the month of November. 

The plan: Write every day (even if it's for 5 minutes for 5 words).

The goal: REACH 50,000 words with my current novel, A Time to Die. (I wasn't going to have a goal, but it's no fun entering a challenge without one, right?)

Starting word count: 39,182 (10,818 words to go). To put you in perspective, I've written 10,000 words over the past 5 months. *shame*

Have you ever heard of NaNoWriMo?

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo?

Are you doing it this year?

Trivia: Did you know that the recent NY Bestseller, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, was written during a NaNoWriMo?

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releases 2014 from Marcher Lord Press, the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.