1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,520 This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:05,480 Find all my work at MJMunoz.com 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,840 Prepare yourself for some off the cuff book talk as I tackle another middle grade book 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:15,460 chapter by chapter. 5 00:00:15,460 --> 00:00:20,040 The Book of Three, Chapter One, or Chapter One of the Book of Three, however I should 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:25,840 say that, I don't know, was really good. 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:32,720 I think probably the most interesting thing about it is that it's able to connect us with 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:40,320 Taran as a character, show us maybe two sides of him. 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,560 I was going to say something a little bit different, but probably show us at least two 10 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:50,920 sides of him and give us a good enough understanding of his context, the context in which he exists 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:01:03,600 at Ker Daldin, and also give us a snapshot of the country of Pridain and its mythic past, 12 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:13,960 and the idea of perhaps what is the theme, which is that men need to take their destiny 13 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:25,120 and their lives in their own hands and not wait for somebody to come along and save them, 14 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:30,120 or bring about the change that they need. 15 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:37,680 And at the same time, a caution, so it was like a readiness to do that, and a caution 16 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:53,320 to not recklessly desire to be some great hero, as well as the hint and the notion that 17 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:59,560 being a great hero isn't what people think it is. 18 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:06,940 So I just said a lot there, and let me slow down and tell you that I think Taran is an 19 00:02:06,940 --> 00:02:15,360 excellent character to start with and to go on this journey with, because he is the quintessential 20 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:25,960 boy playing at being a man, playing at being a great hero, and we get to see not only that 21 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:34,520 great desire within him, but we get to see how great his immaturity is and how poorly 22 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:40,400 equipped he is to embark on this type of journey and to be this kind of man and this kind of 23 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,960 hero that he's supposed to be or that he wants to be. 24 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:49,800 And we get told that he is on the cusp of manhood, which means we think he's about 13 25 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:50,800 years old. 26 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,120 Could be a little older because of how things were back at the time. 27 00:02:55,120 --> 00:03:04,320 And we know or we learn from him that Dolben is the old wizard. 28 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:05,760 The other guy, I believe. 29 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,280 I'm not clear on these names. 30 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,960 They are still very foreign to me. 31 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,000 Unfortunately, even though I've read through the whole book once and the other guy, I can't 32 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,040 remember his name at this moment, but he's bald. 33 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:16,680 And that's what's important. 34 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:22,600 Anyway, the bald man basically tells Taran that he isn't ready to be. 35 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:28,720 Well, it was more Dolben, the wizard, who tells him he's not ready to be a hero. 36 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:38,360 And his friend with the shining pate also tells him that he's not ready to be a hero. 37 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:47,720 But since Taran is so keenly interested in that, he at some point suggests to him that 38 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,920 he give him a little bit of an education of how to hold a sword and how to fight with 39 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:54,360 a sword. 40 00:03:54,360 --> 00:04:03,000 And it's interesting because we're seeing this introduction to Taran that's unequipped, 41 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:09,840 incapable because he hasn't been tried and tested and he hasn't had the life experience. 42 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,880 It's not an insult against him. 43 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:19,000 It's just an honest assessment of reality of who he is as a character and a person. 44 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,800 But he's not equipped to do the things that he wants to do. 45 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:30,120 And to tell the truth, he doesn't even have the gumption or the drive or the and he definitely 46 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:35,920 has not put in the effort to be like what he says he wants to be. 47 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:43,280 And I got to tell you, when I first listened to this book, I'm going to say about a year 48 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:47,440 and a half ago, I felt personally attacked by it. 49 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:55,600 And in listening to it today, I once again felt personally attacked by this book because 50 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,680 I too long to be something. 51 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:00,960 I long to be something greater than what I am. 52 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,800 I long to have a name or a title of some sort. 53 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,480 And as the author suggested in his forward, I guess at this point in my life, I'm just 54 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:20,280 an assistant pig keeper as much as I want to be a child of dawn, a chief, I don't know 55 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:24,960 what they call them in this chief warlord or great warrior, whatever, like Gwydian. 56 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:26,600 But that's just not who I am. 57 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:32,160 But it's not who I am because the world is unfair or it's my destiny or my fate to be 58 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:33,300 who I am. 59 00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:39,640 It's because I haven't really put in the work and I'm still in the process and I'm still 60 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:40,640 developing. 61 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,520 Now, that doesn't mean I'm not good at anything and I have no value. 62 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:50,320 There's lots of things I'm good at and there's lots of things that I do that are valuable, 63 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,200 especially to my family. 64 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,680 But there are things that I aspire to that I haven't reached and I really haven't done 65 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:03,080 enough to be able to say this is who I am and this is what I've achieved. 66 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:10,160 In fact, listening to this, I ended up finishing the chapter as I was just getting home from 67 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:16,120 running an errand and I thought, why aren't I what I want to be? 68 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:17,960 Why am I still at this stage? 69 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,900 Why when I was listening to this originally was I saying, oh, I'm going to finish this 70 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:25,280 book by X date and that book isn't finished yet. 71 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:30,720 Now that may not sound very exciting to you, but here's what's exciting. 72 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,840 All of that contextualizes who Tarn is as a character. 73 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:40,800 He's a boy who wants to be a man and a great hero and yet he's stuck. 74 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:52,600 He's grounded to this farm, to the orchard, to the contrave of Ter Dalvin and yet he are 75 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:59,920 and then he's given the title of assistant pig keeper and he is told when some exciting 76 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:05,160 things start to happen, a swarm of bees, the whole or the five chickens that these folks 77 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:18,680 have at their disposal all react strangely and flee and the old wizard Dalvin asks for 78 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,880 help in getting Henwin the irracular pig and irracular means of or pertaining to an 79 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,960 oracle, which means she's a pig who can tell the future or speak out oracle somehow. 80 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:32,560 But we find out that she's got these letter sticks that they're searching for when she 81 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:33,560 escapes. 82 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:39,000 Tarn has been tasked with making sure that Henwin the pig doesn't escape, doesn't run 83 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:48,100 away and he fails in that and the tension ratchets it up as you realize this adventure, 84 00:07:48,100 --> 00:07:56,240 this journey, this greatness that Tarn wants to have is now upon him and he is so unprepared 85 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:02,640 for it that he cannot even keep Henwin the pig from escaping from her pig pen or whatever 86 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,040 it is and running away. 87 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:12,680 They need Henwin to stay there to give her sign so that Dalvin can interpret it and know 88 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,820 what's going on so they can avoid a greater danger. 89 00:08:15,820 --> 00:08:20,760 But instead this boy who wants to be a hero doesn't do his task properly. 90 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:25,800 Now it is difficult to some extent, but it was given to him by men who should have known 91 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:31,040 better or rather who knew him better than he knows himself perhaps and he should have 92 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:38,080 been capable to do it and yet he fails in that simplest of missions and that in a very 93 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:43,200 interesting way sets up everything difficult that he's going to encounter in the rest of 94 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:44,200 the book. 95 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:49,040 And I find that to be really interesting and really compelling and I think it's a terrific 96 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:56,080 way to set up this epic fantasy story of a hero rising. 97 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,960 If you didn't hear the question mark in my sentence you should have because it was definitely 98 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:05,640 there because I'm not sure that that's what this is and I'm certainly not sure that that's 99 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,560 what the book of three is in and of itself. 100 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:11,920 Perhaps that's what the whole Chronicles of Bredain is, but that's something to talk about 101 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:12,920 in the future. 102 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,480 So I hope you'll stick with me as I cover this book chapter by chapter. 103 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:21,680 Then I will be talking about this book, the book of three, the first of the five Chronicles 104 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:23,520 of Bredain week by week. 105 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:28,360 It'll be the Friday release as long as things go well, but Heaven's Help every Friday will 106 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:34,200 come out until I'm done with each of the books and I'm very excited to do this. 107 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:38,760 I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you join me on this journey and I hope 108 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:48,000 you enjoy this book as much as I do as well as the others because they're all rather terrific. 109 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:49,320 I hope you enjoyed that. 110 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,560 Please remember to like, share, subscribe. 111 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,080 I invite you to comment, ask questions, and share your thoughts with me. 112 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,040 It's always more fun when you're part of the conversation. 113 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,640 Until next time, keep reading, be well, and do good things. 114 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:09,120 Visit MJMunoz.com for more of my work and help me build up the fortress fiction.