The Bishan Suspension Bridge + Temple

It's been a good while since I've updated this blog, and since then, summer has settled upon the island. The weather has turned even more humid, and rainy days are a common sight. Up here on the mountain, though, life is flourishing - birds and butterflies of all sorts are constantly arcing through the air, and all the ivy and vegetation looks like a green winter. School has been out for me for about a week and a half, and I've been taking some time to write, relax, and, of course, explore the island. 


A great note - this summer, we're taking a vacation to the Mediterranean, travelling around in Spain and Morocco. We're also going on a cruise for about a week, and the spots include Tunisia (a country in northern Africa) Turkey, and Italy. It's going to be amazing. I'm not taking my laptop, and internet spots will be few and far between, but I'll be taking lots of photos, which I'll post as soon as I return home. 

Yesterday was a national Taiwanese holiday: The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as duanwu. It's supposed to stem from the celebration of a man named Qu Yuan, who was an ancient Chinese scholar, and to remember his death, but these days it's more about the dragon boat racing, which is both fun to watch and fun to do. I didn't have a chance to head down to Danshui, where the races took place, but we did go somewhere: the Bishan Suspension Bridge. It was one of the few sunny days this summer. 


By the time we got there (about four o'clock) it was pretty crowded, full of other locals that had just the same thought as us. It didn't take away from the natural beauty of the land, though. The bridge was supposedly built to look like a "wriggling dragon bone." I didn't really see that image, but maybe I just wasn't looking at it the right way. 


The bridge itself was pretty packed, but it must have been built pretty well, because it barely wobbled as we trekked across it. It's not that long - maybe a few hundred feet at the most, but it looked quite impressive. 


At the other end of the bridge was a trail, which led onwards to a kind of "tourist" spot...actually, I'm not quite sure what it was. But there were fields of strawberries, lemongrass, and ponds full of koi and lillypads wherever we went. Flowers were everywhere - a kind of preperation for the 2010 Flower Expo, which is coming up soon. 


Anyways, we walked along the trail for awhile, watching the birds and smelling the strawberries, until we found the best part of the entire walk: the temple. 


Okay, I just have to say that I absolutely love the temples in Taiwan. They're beautifully built, with amazing carvings and colors everywhere. But this temple is by far the most magnificent one I've ever seen. 


It's called Bishan temple, which I *think* translates to "Jade Mountain" temple - it makes sense, seeing as it's so green here. I could be wrong, but that sounds pretty logical to me. One great thing about Taiwan is that the people are much more relaxed about having tourists like me poke around their temples; in China, you were barely allowed to look inside, let alone take photos. Maybe it's the island "chill" vibes, but it was really awesome. One of the temple guards told me in plain English, "Go look inside, look around." Thanks, temple guard. 


I suppose I could go on about the temple, but pictures are worth a thousand words: 

I'll be posting more pictures on my DeviantART account - there are a lot of really good ones. When I do, I'll post a link on here. Until then, zaijian. 


-Ari

Special Post: "Shinken" Review and Exclusive Interview

Hey there, everyone,

It's finally getting to be May around here on the island, which means the weather has taken a turn for the warmer, which is great. I can finally go outside without having to bring a jacket. On the down side, it's humid, and foggy a lot of the time, but we'll see how that goes. I'm sorry to go so long without a substantial post, but it's been busy (IB exams) and I've been pretty sick for the last few months, so yeah. But no worries, I'm back. 

I'm here today with a special post: a detailed review and synopsis of Shinken, a book published by a newfound friend of mine, Kaiyuh Rose Cornberg. It was published a few months ago by Outskirts Press, a self-publishing company based in the United States. I ordered the book off Amazon a few weeks ago, and it arrived last Thursday - since then, I've been reading it, and I've actually been impressed. 

Self-publishing has a kind of bad image in the literary world and I can see why. I myself usually scorn self-published books, mostly because the majority of them just aren't that good. They're clichéd, with hackneyed writing and flat characters, and the only difference between them and all the other unpublished novels in the world is that the author paid a lot of money to get it printed. But it never hurts to keep an open mind, so I decided to hold judgement until I actually read the book. And hey, guess what? I actually really enjoyed it. 

Shinken is 339 page fantasy/science fiction book that takes place on the planet of Asthekia, a world situated on the other side of our moon. In Kaiyuh's story, the people of Earth and the people of Asthekia (who look like Earthlings superficially in almost every way) have discovered each other, and have become fast allies and eager friends. People from Earth have migrated to Asthekia, and a small population now lives there, mixed in with the natives. The book itself focuses on an Asthekian girl named Sagel, who lives in the remote mountain-town of Shinken. Since it's obvious I know Kaiyuh in real life, I'm going to mention here that I'll be doing my best to give a fair, unbiased review, without slamming anyone too hard. Let's get started with the review of Kaiyuh Rose Cornberg's debut novel. 


(There are spoilers if you haven't read the book!)

The Cover

I'll admit, the cover kind of turned me off. It had distinct Twilight vibes emanating from it, just like all the recently published YA novels, and I've never been fond of the Papyrus font. Not to mention that the fact that the title wasn't properly centered....however, it's important to remember that this is a self-published book, and it's not really Kaiyuh's fault that she didn't have a team of design editors at her hand to make her book look pretty. So I'm not going to judge here. 

Plot

Shinken is one of those books can't can't really be pegged into fantasy or science fiction - it has elements of both, and integrates both pretty smoothly. The book begins with a lengthy, and, I'll admit, kind of unnecessary prologue. It details the history of Asthekia, and how the people of Earth discovered it, etc., and lists some of the facts about this world on the other side of the moon. For people who have an interest in evolution or zoology, try to suspend your disbelief here - Asthekia is basically the same as Earth, with a few minimal differences. This is where the story swings away from science fiction and more towards fantasy, but it can be let go. 

The main story is told, as I mentioned before, through a girl named Sagel, who lives in the town of Shinken. She's your normal, kind of wide-eyed, innocent protagonist, with a bit of a stubborn streak and a natural tendency towards bravery that fantasy writers love so much. Something's wrong in Shinken, though: there's a strange disease that's cropped up, and more and more people are getting sick. Even the trees are being affected. The only sign of hope is the appearance of Elenry, a wandering Medicine Woman, who learns of a cure for the disease, and needs someone to go with her to find it...

In short, the plot is basic, but surprisingly fresh. I expected a storm of cliches to barrage me, and while there were a few, many of the plot twists were unexpected, even a bit of a surprise. There's aspects of the good old Hero's Journey, but most of the book actually is composed of foreshadowing and set-up. It's kind of a double-edged sword: I was prepared to have the main characters romp through the fantasy world that Kaiyuh created for the majority of the book, but they don't get started on their journey until nearly the end of the book. Much of the story is composed of exposition, which can get a little tedious after awhile - but it's forgivable. 

Plot: 6/10

Characters and Worldbuilding

Where the plot is enjoyable, I'm reluctant to admit that the characters are Shinken aren't the most impressive part of the book. The main character, Sagel, is moderately fleshed out, but there are no defining traits that really make her stand out from other fantasy characters - at least, at the beginning. By the end of the book, there's a fair bit of character development, which makes up for the lack of detail. Other characters, like Elenry, the mysterious Medicine Woman, are more interesting - and don't worry, there's chapters from her point of view as well. The rest of the characters range from nicely written to a little flat, but overall, Shinken has a nice cast. 

The worldbuilding, in my opinion, is much better than the characters - though at first the world of Asthekia seems a little like the generic high fantasy world, it has some redeeming qualities that, in retrospect, make it pretty interesting. My favorite parts are the culture - there's some nifty writing on Kaiyuh's part here; the language of Asthekia is called Sdrawkcab (for people who are like me and aren't that good at word puzzles, it's backwards - backwards.) Other tidbits like this fill the novel, so that by the end, Asthekia is a good-natured reflection of our own rural Earth. What it lacks in originality and believability, it makes up for in charm. Some of the details are unnecessary, but it still makes for a good trek through Kaiyuh's imaginary world. 

Characters: 5/10

Worldbuilding: 7/10

Writing

I'll say it here first: I was a little apprehensive about the writing, even before I read the book. I've written and read enough prose by young authors to know that most of us are still in the stage of "more is more, and the more, the better." I used to be terrible adding in big words I didn't know (the layman's term is thesaurus rape - kind of crude, but it gets the point across) and avoiding the word said at all cost (why use it when there are words like assuage to be taken advantage of?). Thankfully, Shinken stays clear of this - mostly. There's a mention of eyes as "orbs", and describing something as an "orgy" (what?). For the most part, though, the writing is clear and brisk, without getting dragged down too much. Some of the descriptions are quite nice, but others don't really stand out. Some of the dialogue is kind of awkward (there's a distinct lack of contractions) but for the most part if flows quite nicely, and sounds appropriately realistic. 

As a self-published novel, however, Shinken lacks the typographical finesse of a traditionally published book- the only "editors" here were Kaiyuh and here father, and though they did a fine job themselves, some grammatical, spelling, and formatting errors got through. They're not abound, but they're numerous enough to be noticeable, and if you're stringent when it comes to grammar and spelling, you might be bothered a little. I myself was fine, and the errors aren't numerous enough to detract from the story. 

Writing: 5/10

Total score: 5.75/10

That's the end of the review, guys; thanks for sticking through it. Now, onto the good part - Kaiyuh was gracious enough to answer some of my questions, so I have an exclusive (it sounds haughty, but nobody else is posting this) interview with the author herself. You can visit Kaiyuh's own blog here. Thanks!

1. Where did you get the inspiration for Shinken?
Unequivocally, my dreams. I have always dreamed in vivid color and oddly developed plots. Shinken, the actual village, came to me in a dream about a beautiful village on a mountainside. I pretty much crafted a plot around that one little hole in the rock.

2. How has living in Taiwan and being an expatriate influenced your writing?
Probably subconsciously more than consciously. The characters and the feel of Shinken is pretty grounded and familiar, which is everything Taiwan wasn't when I first moved here. Of course, I love Taiwan; it has become a second home to me.

3. How long did it take you to write Shinken?
I started writing under my desk in math class in the eighth grade. Including editing, it took about two years. [Note from Ari: Just to say, she started it in 2007, and finished in late 2009.]

4. Who's your favorite character in your book? Why?
Call me cliche, but I love Elenry. She is the epitome of the person I would love to be. She doesn't settle with common-day social castes or "the way things should be done". She is a hardcore medical, and spiritual dissident. She's enlightened, and that's always a nice quality.

5. Why did you decide to self-publish? Are you glad you did?
Mostly the fact that I didn't have any other connections. Fortunately, there are companies like Outskirts Press, which is a company that facilitates the entire publishing process and makes it really simple for people like me who just like to write and walk away(okay, I've done my promoting!).

6. Do you want to be an author as a living, or is it just a hobby?
I would love to become a self-sustaining author. It is truly my dream. Actually, I am in the process of looking at a high school of the arts in Boston where I would be able to write as my main focus in school. I must apply and such, so fingers crossed!

7. Who are your favorite authors? Why? Did they inspire you at all?
In recent months, I have fallen in love with William Faulkner. Thus, in my recent writing, I feel that I have developed beyond the standard shades of young writing and am finding my own voice as I mature and read. Reading for me is an essential part of my writing. There is nothing new under the sun in literature, but if I can glean some good stuff from good writers (John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Homer, Annie Dillard, J.K. Rowling...), then I think I'll be in functional shape.

8. Do you listen to music when you write?
For Shinken specifically, I listened to a lot of Enya and, brace yourselves, Lord of the Rings. Dorky as it may be, they have really eerie melodies perfect for channeling sick little village people with.

9. Any other stories in the works?

Yes indeed. It is called The Master. It has absolutely no relation whatsoever to Shinken (i.e., not a sequel, prequel...). I don't know when I'll be finished, of IF it will be finished. That's half the fun.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time. 

-Ari 

Music: "Captain" by Biffy Clyro

Spark Progress: 122,000 words, currently editing

When Birds Attack

It was a really beautiful day today, so I decided to go up onto the roof with my laptop and stare out over the jungle and the city of Taipei as I wrote. I was only up there for a moment when - wham! There's some kind of black-and-white-and-orange bird flying at my face! 


I managed to scare it away by screaming and cowering on the ground like a little girl, which I am, and ran inside. When I peered back outside, it's hanging over the roof that covers the doorway, looking right at me. It flew at me again, and then starting swooping over my head again and again. 


Eventually, after the attack, I climbed up the ladder to see if it had a nest or not - I thought I had heard other birds chirping. Nah. 

A myna. Just a myna. Technically a jungle myna.


One really jaunty, annoying, myna. Really tiny,  really brave. I stayed on the roof for awhile, watching the birds - there are swallows, doves,white-eared sibias, and loads of these guys. I also had the chance to watch a white-tailed tropicbird wheel around the valley for a few minutes. 


Just thought it would be cool to show. There's some great bird species in Taiwan; this island is actually a prime bird-watching site. Especially my house, apparently.


I'm getting my friend's book, Shinken, tomorrow, and I'll read it ASAP - a review and interview will be up soon. 


-Ari

A Visit to Hui Chi Temple...

(Note that this post is relatively image-heavy and might take awhile to load if you have a slow internet connection. My apologies! You should know that you can click on all the pictures to see a larger version of them.) 

Hey guys. The weather here in Taiwan has been vacillating between crappy and less crappy as of late. Today it's crappy, but yesterday it was quite nice. So what did I do? Took my dogs down the mountain and decided to visit a temple that's on my bus route. Now, Taiwan is one of the most dog-friendly countries in the world, so it wasn't a problem to bring them along. You see them everywhere: in shops, restraunts, stores...and not just the little ones, either. It's great to be in a country of dog-loving people.Anyways, we went on down, and found Hui Chi Temple, which, translated, literally means "Good Fortune Temple." It's really beautiful, as you can see, very ornate but not tacky. The picture you see to the left is only the gateway to it. 


 As we walked onwards, my dogs and I saw the temple's two guardians. They're Chinese lions, and they're pretty common around temple areas, and even houses or bridges. There's usually a male and a female, and in Chinese they're known as shizi. (Side note: the two dogs I own, Daisy and Happy, are known as Shih-Tzu dogs, which is basically the American way of pronouncing the Chinese word for lion. Yes, my two furballs were actually bred to look like miniature lions...which they kind of don't, but the statue above doesn't exactly look like a lion, either. I'm not sure if the ancient Chinese actually ever saw a live lion.) 

We went through the gates, and saw that the temple had only just begun: as you can see, there are steps that lead up and up, towards the real temple. It's not much of a hike, since the steps are relatively low and very wide, but it was fun to look around. The pictures here don't do the place justice; with all the lanterns and the surrounding greenery, it looked truly magnificent. 

As my dogs and I traveled upwards (meeting many other dogs on the way, most of them Shih-Tzu as well) it began to grow darker, and our only light was that of the lanterns, as you can see to the left. They're really gorgeous in real life, and are probably one of my favorite parts about Asian arcitecture.  

Here's a closer look at the statues that line the stairway (look to the right.)  I'm not exactly sure what they're supposed to be (lion? dragon?) but they're a cross between adorable and hideous. A face only a Chinese mother could love, I suppose. 

The stairways continued going upwards, and began to twist and turn. To the right there was a beatiful garden area, filled with statues of what I'm guessing to be Buddhist deities. Buddhist deities that ride tigers for fun. That. Is. Awesome. Though the tiger doesn't look too happy, from the look of his face. There are other ones as well, including a pedophile-looking old man riding a deer (not as awesome as a tiger, but it probably takes skill) and another guy on top of a mini elephant. The tiger still wins in my book, though. 

 By now my dogs and I were about a third of the way up, and continued. It got continually more tropical as we did so, and the stairway rails started showing carved panels on them, most of which had a) dragons b) people riding dragons c) dragons fighting each other d) or tigers. If you're reading this blog and know you're not going to remember anything I'm writing, at least remember this: China and Taiwan like their dragons. And I can see why - they're awesome. Forget those nasty Western dragons, man. I want an Oriental dragon. 

By now we're finally at the top, and we've passed a koi pond, another garden, several trails, and a couple of locals who were giving me some strange looks (I'm not sure if it was the dogs or the camera, or the fact that I'm white. Probably a combination.)  By the time we got the the top, my poor dogs were panting (they're lazy) while I was doing just fine. And, let's just say, the views got even better at the top. (The picture to the right is one of the carved dragons on one of the incense burners. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a big fan of dragons.) 

Because, at the top, we saw the temple. The actual temple. Yeah, all the preceeding stuff was just a precursor to the big show up on top of the mountain. Needless to say, I was kind of impressed. The cool thing about living in Asia so long is that I've been able to see how temple styles differ in various countries. In Korea, they're very bright and have a lot of woodwork; in Thailand, there's a lot of gold used; in China, the style is darker in color but much more ornate. Taiwan is like a mix of all three, and the resulting buildings are beautiful. Very colorful, very ornate, with some beautiful stone and wood carvings. It also smells great. 

After wandering around the courtyard area for awhile (see the link below to see all the photos in the album, since too may on here will overload the post) I tied my dogs outside and decided to take a look inside. Since this is one of the more "touristy" temples, I didn't have to take off my shoes or anything, and even though taking pictures wasn't exactly condoned, nobody yelled at me for doing it. I just tried to look nice and innocent while taking a look around. 

The inside, obviously, was quite lovely. Besides smelling strongly of sandalwood incense, it was really quite beautiful. I don't know...it had this kind of aura around it, I guess. Even though I'm a pretty devout Christian, I couldn't help by be impressed by all of this. Within, there's a large statue of Buddha; around there are more minor gods. There's a place where people can kneel and pray and burn incense and give offerings. I kept walking forward, and found another koi pond, as well as a pretty cool dragon engraving. It kind of amazes me, how much effort that people put into this temple, which is kind of out of the way to see. 

After a few minutes of quietly looking around, I went back outside to find some pretty impatient dogs waiting for me, so I decided to take them back home. Back down the stairs we went! By this time it was getting pretty dark, and the lanterns had started to light up properly. They have the name of the temple painted on them: Hui Chi Temple. The character on the bottom looks kind of like a temple, I suppose. 

That's all for now - until next time I go out and find some other part of Taiwan to explore. If you want to see more of the pictures, you can view them at my Facebook album, here. (If for some reason you can't get onto my album, comment and I'll see what I can do.) 

Until next time, guys. 

~Ari

Spark Wordcount: 120,00 words, currently writing the ending
Music: Vienna Teng, Recessional 

Poetry Slam

Yesterday my school had their first "annual" (I use quotations because I think it will be the last of its kind) poetry slam. Being a somewhat enthusiast, if sporadic, poet, I decided to sign up, even though I despise being on stage. But I figured, "Hey, I'm a good writer. Maybe I'll have a chance of winning this thing." Unfortunately, all the "judges" were random people in the audience, and about 75% of them were seniors...and friends of the seniors who were performing. Being a lowly junior, I didn't even make it into the second round. Only seniors did. Oh, well - I got some darn good poetry out of the thing. 


We had to write three poems: the only guidlines were no lewdness or language. I'm posting one here on the blog for the funzies, but you can view the other two on my DeviantART account, here and here. 


This one is titled "Bird Bones" - yes I have a fascination with skeletons. Enjoy. It's a little long. 

Upon the ground against the sand
I saw it: the skeleton of a bird long dead. 
Sightlessly staring at the sky. 
The cage of its ribs gleaming white,
its keeled breastbone, strung 
in perfect harmony
against those outstretched bones of wings,
scrubbed clean by constant rivertide
‘till flesh is but a memory,
yet still contains the yearning, 
the aching memory of flight.

I stopped to look at those old bones
huddled on the river’s edge,
like fledglings too afraid to fly. 
Within, I saw their hollow chambers,
cathedrals in a dust-bound world.
Sacred geometry, delicately forged, 
gossamer webbing against the dark.

The bones began to speak to mine;
whispers, just the barest voice.
Let me tell you, so they whispered,
let me tell you of the story
when my old kind first took the leap,
and crossed the gap from ground to sky.
Let me tell you of my story,
when these old bones once dreamt to fly:

Shallow seas act as a womb; 
a cradle; the stirrings of life contained
in its evanescent hold. 
Armored ancestors tread the sand
as seas conjoin and landscapes shift;
to suit the ever-present wish,
the need to overtake the skies.
How bones and carapaces are the ballast
a constant temperance to their flight.  
And even now, as time has passed
and as the old ones have turned to dust,
the dream to fly is still kept beating
a dream forever realized. 

The bird’s old skeleton lay untouched
save my careful observations.
I blinked, and saw them as they were: 
simple bones they are no longer,
instead, the path to something more,
something old and uncontained:
the children of a careful plan,
evolution at its best
designing this uncanny blueprint
to celebrate the joy of life.
That croon their secret words to mine,
their story of the urge to fly,
and simple ballast, the reminder,
that we can always find the ground.

Book Review: Legacy, by Cayla Kluver

I think that spring has truly and finally arrived upon my little island. The sun has finally broken free of the fog that entraps my mountain, and the day's been entirely blue and clear. In the bright light, all the tropical foliage looks pristine, almost like a picture. I took my two dogs, Daisy and Happy, out on a walk this morning at about seven down a trail near my house, and it was gorgeous. It leads down, past a valley full of growing vegetables, and down more steps to a beautiful waterfall. If you go another way, you can head onto this other trail that I love, as seen to the left. It follows a 1940's waterpipe around the mountain and leads to a beautiful river that you can cross by foot. I'm so glad I live on this mountain. 

A few more things before the book review: 

1. My new friend, Kaiyuh, has written and self-published her book, Shinken. At first I was admittedly wary of the premise of her self-publishing, but after learning more I've become rather impressed, instead. I'm ordering the book off of Amazon (you can as well!)and I'll soon be reviewing it on here, with the additional chance of an interview with Kaiyuh. 

2. Schools' getting to that point where teachers realize how much crap they have to stuff into our heads, which means many projects, papers, and homework. Which means less blogging time for me. D: 

3. Saw How To Train Your Dragon. Loved it. Love the music. Want to own it. So should you. 

Without further exposition, here's my new bi-monthly book review. Today I'm looking at a medieval romantic fantasy by the name of Legacy, by teen writer Cayla Kluver. I'm not usually interested in anything medieval nor romantic, being more of a gritty steampunk-esque (think China Mievelle here, you guys) kind of girl, but I'm always interested in seeing what people my age are turning out, so I've looked into it.  

Legacy, the first in a planned trilogy, was originally self-published by Cayla and her family, and was later picked up by Amazon's new publishing industry (yes, Amazon's become a publisher now), called Amazon Encore. I read it on the school library Kindle. 

First off: I'm rather opposed to teen publishing. Yes, yes, I know it sounds a bit stupid, seeing as I'm a teenager myself, but I honestly think that most teenagers don't have the skills to be properly published. But ever since Christopher Paolini opened the door, there seems to be a growing number of teens getting published. And most of them, while definitely showing talent, need to improve a lot before they have the skills to be real writer. It's not their fault - they're young, and there's a certain amount of experience that's needed to be gained before I think they can produce worthwhile stuff. Anyways, on to the review. 


Plot 
Though Legacy is sold as a fantastical romance, there's very little of the fantasy element added in, at least until the very end of the story. We begin with a suspiciously specific prologue, detailing the story of two countries with names that are totally not innuendos, Hytanica and Cokyri. Apparently thirty-or-so babies were stolen from Hytanica sixteen years ago, and only one of them wasn't found dead. There's also mention of a Blood Moon. 

The main story, however, is told through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Alera, who is one of the two princesses of Hytanica. She's being forced to (what a surprise) marry someone she doesn't love, and this person is the son of the Captain of the Guard, Steldor. Meanwhile, a hot new love interest crops up from the Hytanican enemy: Cokyri. *snort*  as a prisoner, dragging along the plot. The story revolves around Alera and her struggle to make a choice: marry the man who was brought up to be a king (Steldor) or sacrifice everything and go with Narian, the Cokyrian boy. There's also something about an ancient blood feud.

Like I said before, the romance factor wasn't what brought me in, and I was pretty disappointed to see that there wasn't much of a fantasy element in the story. To the book's credit, though, I kind of got into the whole "Alera having to choose" factor, mostly because both Steldor and Narian were jerks in their own right. However, it was too bloated; there were too many wandering chapters that didn't really lead anywhere, which made the book hard to get through at times. For a character-driven novel, this can be a problem, but experienced authors know how to deal with it. Unfortunately, Legacy doesn't do that. 

Plot: 5.5/10

Characters & World
Like most other medieval fantasy books, Alera, the protagonist, tried hard to be the spunky, rebellious princess that we know so well. At first this deterred me, because the "rebelliousness" read more like "annoyingness", but I grew to like her a little more, mainly for one reason: she made mistakes. Big ones. It shows a lot of potential for character growth in later books, and since this is a trilogy, I'm willing to let her go. The rest of the characters ranged from nicely written to plain annoying (I liked London, Alera's bodyguard, but Tadark, her other bodyguard, grew grating after a few chapters of complaints.) As for the two love interests, Narian and Steldor...well, both seemed kind of like douchebags in their own right. Steldor was the stereotypical aggravating, pompous man-boy, and Narian was just kind of insolent. If I had to choose, I would say I liked Steldor better, actually. In general, the characters here weren't great, but most of them weren't too terrible, either. 

 As for the world...well, if you're a history buff, don't get your hopes up. Cayla tries to create a fantasy world, complete with names like Emotanya (it's a country full of sad people, I presume), etc. But there's a lot of inconsistency. The character names vary from your standard fantasy names (Alera, Miranna, Steldor) to the pseudo-Asian (Sadhienne, etc.) to just...weird. (London?) Even though it's supposed to be a fantasy world, there's mention of Christianity (both God and Christmas are referred to) as well as Latin. Alchemy is used as a substitute for all things science, and the economy/worldbuilding is nonexistent.  In short, Hytanica is a very shallow world, a backdrop for the characters and nothing more. 

Characters: 6.5/10
World: 3.5/10 

Writing Style 
This is where the ball drops, people.  Cayla Kluver, as reviewed by Amazon, is thought to be "marked by witty, rapid-fire dialogue and dramatic complexity that belie the writer's age," This must be for a different book, because I found no such thing. Much of the story is bogged down by unnecessary descriptions, adjective-loaded sentences (e.g. "He stroked my long brown smooth hair.") and "look-at-me-I'm-a-writer" words. Cliches are abound ("raven hair" and "startling blue eyes" are only the beginning) and the rest of it was so boring I wanted to skip. Many of the descriptions were out of place for a fantasy novel (calling one dress "fun and flirty".) As for the dialogue...well, it would have been good if the author had made up her mind. Everyone kept switching back from Ye Olde Medieval speech to stuff you would hear in a shopping mall. It was jarring, to say the least. 

The biggest sin, however, is Cayla's tendency to tell versus show. She obviously knows the difference between the two, but for some reason would use both in the same sentence. (Narian looked surpised, mostly because I knew that he knew that something was wrong...). It was unnecessary and redundant all at once, and made for an annoying read.  if you're a critical reader or writer, it will make you want to scream at times. 

Writing: 3/10

In short, if you want an easy, if verbose, romance, this is the book for you. It's not bad, and in several parts it's quite good, but the inconsistency makes it hard to keep up the suspension of disbelief. Like I said before, if you're a critical reader or a history buff, this isn't the book for you. As critical as I've been, however, I will say that I enjoyed it, despite all the errors. With some practice and a little more research, I think Cayla Kluver can turn into a great writer. As for now...well, this is a darn good first draft. 

Total Score: 4.6/10   

Cheers,
-Ari 

My Works: Current Writing

If you ask me what I am, my first answer will probably be "I'm a writer." Okay, I get it, that doesn't really make me special. Lots of people like to write. Lots of teenagers like to write. Yeah, well, me too. The cool thing is to see how much my life as an expat has influenced my writing. If I lived in America my entire life, I probably wouldn't have a fantasy story taking place in the ruins of Shanghai with a Han Chinese girl as my protagonist, or an Arabian faerie-tale that takes place in Marrakesh. So yeah. Here's a rundown of my main projects, from biggest to smallest:


Spark 
A five-part book series that I've been conceiving, writing, and creating for several years. I recently finished the first book, Spark, and I'm now working on the sequel (steampunk!) called Ironsong. This is my main project that I've been working on for about four years, and I love it. Snippets of excerpts and more information are available on my main blog. 


Chiaroscuro
A single-standing novel about a boy with PTSD and depression who sees a monster whenever he looks in the mirror, and can't stop killing people. 


The Night Dance
The story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, rewritten from another point of view. Ora is a serving girl in King Pierus' castle, and is chosen to follow his nine daughters when they travel each night to another world. 

England + Spring

Spring has alighted over Taiwan; a few months later than I'd prefer it to, but I'll take what I can get. Up here in the mountains, a mist has settled over everything, just like before, but there's notable changes - the birds are starting to herald me in the morning. There's one bird in particular that's endemic only to Taiwan, called the Formosan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea) It's one of the most beautiful birds I've seen, and I had the pleasure of seeing one on a hike a few weeks ago. They're called the blue-tailed faeries of the forest over here, and you can see why: 

 They're really quite lovely, aren't they? 

Now, onto the reasons I haven't posted in two months: 



- Going on a weeklong trip to London and Stratsford-upon-Avon with my theatre buddies
- Preparing for college stuff, IB exams, and getting up to par on my homework
- Revising and editing Spark.

First off: England. I got back about a week ago, and I'm still in awe from it. I've been to England and Scotland before on a family trip, but this time it was just me, my friends, and a very cool brownie-baking theatre teacher. I can still taste it. We saw a pack of musicals and plays, including Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, Sister Act, The 39 Steps, Romeo and Juliet, and more. Not to mention the shopping. It's always a strange feeling, going somewhere that uses English as its predominant language. A foreign country. Living overseas turns everything around, I suppose. 

Now I'm back in Taiwan, rooted in my own geography. School's been going for a week, and I've found myself trapped beneath a mountain of makeup homework, projects, exams, and college prep. Writing is the only way I can breathe, and I've been hard-pressed to find any time to do that. Three or so weeks ago I sent in the first five chapters of Spark in to an international writing contest after some encouragement from the local writing teacher. It's a pretty big contest; about 500 novels are entered each year, and only one gets to the top, where there's the chance of publication. I should be notified of whether I've gotten into the first submission process soon. 

Spark: 116,000 words, currently editing

-Ari 

Long time, no see (literally)

If anyone's been reading this (and, judging from some comments, a few people have - thanks) my apologies for the long lapse between updates. I've been pretty busy, but that's not a very good excuse...anyways, not much has happened that would be interesting enough to blog about. In short: 

- Semester exams have come and gone
- Christmas (and my birthday) has also passed - I'm seventeen now. 
- Been pretty sick. Got better. 
- I've found that the weather in Taiwan can get pretty interesting. 
- Taiwanese parties are probably the strangest things I've ever witnessed, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. 
- I freaking love Chinese New Year. 

As for the joke in the title - it's been "no see" because up where I live on Yangminshan it's so foggy I can barely see outside my window. It's kind of cool, actually. If I can get a good picture, I'll post it. Meanwhile, I have to look for some better jokes. 

Now, to answer a question I saw in the comments - why am I trying so hard on a blog that pretty much nobody reads? 

1. For myself. It's a fun way to keep tabs on my life as an expat, and it'll help me remember details I would otherwise forget. 
2. It's fun writing practice, and God knows I love to write. 
3. Could be a helpful tool for someone moving to Taiwan. 
4. Why not? 

That's all the answers I can come up with for now. Onwards. 

As I mentioned above, I've found that Taiwanese parties are...strange. Haven't been to one myself, but last night my dad had to go to an "end-of-year party" for another company. It included (and I'm being completely serious here): 

- KTV (karaoke) - sung by grown men, no less. 
- A woman testing to see how sober a man was (and subsequently how fit he was to drive her home) by running towards him and jumping - he had to catch her with his thighs. Yeah. 
- Dried jellyfish skin, an apparent delicacy. 

I'll just say that Asian parties in general usually have something like that going on. They sure know how to have fun. It's going to get better this week and the next, since Chinese New Year is right around the corner. If you don't know what that is, it's basically the Asian equivalent of Christmas, Fourth of July and New Year's Eve all rolled together. The older Chinese calender proclaims that the new year actually starts in February, instead of January, and that every year has a different animal horoscope. This year it's the tiger. Oh yeah. In short, there's a lot of red-gold decorations, money-giving, and fireworks. It. Is. Awesome. 

One last thing - I just saw (seriously, I'm looking at it as I type) one of Taiwan's endemic species of birds. I looked it up; it's called a White-eared Sibia (Heterophasia auricularis) and Wkipedia says it lives in temperate forests...like the one surrounding my house.

There were two of them. They're kind of cute, huh? Anyways, that's all I have to say for now. Stay tuned for next week - it's Chinese New Year, and I'm heading over to Shiiin Night Market. Hilarity should ensue. 

Story Wordcount: 122,000 (currently editing) 
Music: A Very Potter Musical Soundtrack