This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer.
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Prepare yourself for some off the cuff book talk as I tackle another middle grade book
chapter by chapter.
The Book of Three, Chapter One, or Chapter One of the Book of Three, however I should
say that, I don't know, was really good.
I think probably the most interesting thing about it is that it's able to connect us with
Taran as a character, show us maybe two sides of him.
I was going to say something a little bit different, but probably show us at least two
sides of him and give us a good enough understanding of his context, the context in which he exists
at Ker Daldin, and also give us a snapshot of the country of Pridain and its mythic past,
and the idea of perhaps what is the theme, which is that men need to take their destiny
and their lives in their own hands and not wait for somebody to come along and save them,
or bring about the change that they need.
And at the same time, a caution, so it was like a readiness to do that, and a caution
to not recklessly desire to be some great hero, as well as the hint and the notion that
being a great hero isn't what people think it is.
So I just said a lot there, and let me slow down and tell you that I think Taran is an
excellent character to start with and to go on this journey with, because he is the quintessential
boy playing at being a man, playing at being a great hero, and we get to see not only that
great desire within him, but we get to see how great his immaturity is and how poorly
equipped he is to embark on this type of journey and to be this kind of man and this kind of
hero that he's supposed to be or that he wants to be.
And we get told that he is on the cusp of manhood, which means we think he's about 13
years old.
Could be a little older because of how things were back at the time.
And we know or we learn from him that Dolben is the old wizard.
The other guy, I believe.
I'm not clear on these names.
They are still very foreign to me.
Unfortunately, even though I've read through the whole book once and the other guy, I can't
remember his name at this moment, but he's bald.
And that's what's important.
Anyway, the bald man basically tells Taran that he isn't ready to be.
Well, it was more Dolben, the wizard, who tells him he's not ready to be a hero.
And his friend with the shining pate also tells him that he's not ready to be a hero.
But since Taran is so keenly interested in that, he at some point suggests to him that
he give him a little bit of an education of how to hold a sword and how to fight with
a sword.
And it's interesting because we're seeing this introduction to Taran that's unequipped,
incapable because he hasn't been tried and tested and he hasn't had the life experience.
It's not an insult against him.
It's just an honest assessment of reality of who he is as a character and a person.
But he's not equipped to do the things that he wants to do.
And to tell the truth, he doesn't even have the gumption or the drive or the and he definitely
has not put in the effort to be like what he says he wants to be.
And I got to tell you, when I first listened to this book, I'm going to say about a year
and a half ago, I felt personally attacked by it.
And in listening to it today, I once again felt personally attacked by this book because
I too long to be something.
I long to be something greater than what I am.
I long to have a name or a title of some sort.
And as the author suggested in his forward, I guess at this point in my life, I'm just
an assistant pig keeper as much as I want to be a child of dawn, a chief, I don't know
what they call them in this chief warlord or great warrior, whatever, like Gwydian.
But that's just not who I am.
But it's not who I am because the world is unfair or it's my destiny or my fate to be
who I am.
It's because I haven't really put in the work and I'm still in the process and I'm still
developing.
Now, that doesn't mean I'm not good at anything and I have no value.
There's lots of things I'm good at and there's lots of things that I do that are valuable,
especially to my family.
But there are things that I aspire to that I haven't reached and I really haven't done
enough to be able to say this is who I am and this is what I've achieved.
In fact, listening to this, I ended up finishing the chapter as I was just getting home from
running an errand and I thought, why aren't I what I want to be?
Why am I still at this stage?
Why when I was listening to this originally was I saying, oh, I'm going to finish this
book by X date and that book isn't finished yet.
Now that may not sound very exciting to you, but here's what's exciting.
All of that contextualizes who Tarn is as a character.
He's a boy who wants to be a man and a great hero and yet he's stuck.
He's grounded to this farm, to the orchard, to the contrave of Ter Dalvin and yet he are
and then he's given the title of assistant pig keeper and he is told when some exciting
things start to happen, a swarm of bees, the whole or the five chickens that these folks
have at their disposal all react strangely and flee and the old wizard Dalvin asks for
help in getting Henwin the irracular pig and irracular means of or pertaining to an
oracle, which means she's a pig who can tell the future or speak out oracle somehow.
But we find out that she's got these letter sticks that they're searching for when she
escapes.
Tarn has been tasked with making sure that Henwin the pig doesn't escape, doesn't run
away and he fails in that and the tension ratchets it up as you realize this adventure,
this journey, this greatness that Tarn wants to have is now upon him and he is so unprepared
for it that he cannot even keep Henwin the pig from escaping from her pig pen or whatever
it is and running away.
They need Henwin to stay there to give her sign so that Dalvin can interpret it and know
what's going on so they can avoid a greater danger.
But instead this boy who wants to be a hero doesn't do his task properly.
Now it is difficult to some extent, but it was given to him by men who should have known
better or rather who knew him better than he knows himself perhaps and he should have
been capable to do it and yet he fails in that simplest of missions and that in a very
interesting way sets up everything difficult that he's going to encounter in the rest of
the book.
And I find that to be really interesting and really compelling and I think it's a terrific
way to set up this epic fantasy story of a hero rising.
If you didn't hear the question mark in my sentence you should have because it was definitely
there because I'm not sure that that's what this is and I'm certainly not sure that that's
what the book of three is in and of itself.
Perhaps that's what the whole Chronicles of Bredain is, but that's something to talk about
in the future.
So I hope you'll stick with me as I cover this book chapter by chapter.
Then I will be talking about this book, the book of three, the first of the five Chronicles
of Bredain week by week.
It'll be the Friday release as long as things go well, but Heaven's Help every Friday will
come out until I'm done with each of the books and I'm very excited to do this.
I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you join me on this journey and I hope
you enjoy this book as much as I do as well as the others because they're all rather terrific.
I hope you enjoyed that.
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Until next time, keep reading, be well, and do good things.
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