37 Seconds is a fascinating account of Stephanie Arnold’s near death experience. She had a premonition that she was going to die having her second child.
Stephanie did die for 37 seconds and had an amazing spiritual experience. Her religious upbringing is in Judaism which makes for a totally different lens of perception than other NDEs (near death experiences) that I have studied.
I like reading books about near death experiences and examinations of consciousness. So far, I’ve read twenty one books by folks from different religions and parts of the world about their NDE and what they’ve brought back with them to their normal, every day lives.
I found it interesting that the focus of Stephanie’s consciousness during the event was on her deceased relatives and their support of the physical world rather than on a location on a higher level where people go to hang out around their G-d for the rest of eternity.
Another portion of the account that made it different than others that I’ve read on the topic is that Stephanie accessed her memories of the time during her 37 second death through hypnosis.
Other NDE writers (Piper, Moorjani, Burpo, et al) came out of their NDEs with memories of what went down. Stephanie, because of the extreme trauma and the premonitions about her death that haunted her for months before the actual event, repressed her NDE.
Isn’t it fascinating? The study of consciousness never ceases to surprise me. It seems that not only do our lenses of perception create what we see in other modes of existence, but we can choose whether to access those perceptions or not.
I also liked Stephanie’s repeated message through 37 Seconds of trusting your own intuitions and believing in that inner voice. I feel that in modern society, we’ve advanced in so many ways both scientifically and technologically, that we discount simpler modes of understanding and knowledge.
Why try learning about why your body is presenting symptoms of anxiety and stress when we can just medicate it away? Why believe in your dreams and intuitions when educated doctors and scans show that nothing is wrong?
If Stephanie had listened to the experts, she would be dead. She is a great role model for a return to trusting ourselves. Doctors, medicine, and therapy have their place but so do dreams, intuitions, and the inner voice.
If you enjoyed 37 Seconds, try Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences: How Understanding NDEs Can Help Us Live More Fully by Penny Satori or Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives by Michael Newton.
Like Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe, Less Incomplete is about out-of-body experiences and how to have them.
Unlike Monroe’s book, there’s less personal narrative in this one and more about ethics and practical exercises for the out-of-body state.
So, in that way, it wasn’t as fun to read, but for people who are just starting out, I could see this book being an excellent place to start. I had never heard of Dr. Vieira and his work with the IAC (International Academy of Consciousness), so now, I have another resource to investigate too. Hooray!
Sandie’s reasons for writing the book: “…Vieira’s own books are notoriously sophisticated, technical and intellectual in style… My endeavor, with this book, is to make his work available to a wider nonacademic audience by presenting it in a language and format that everyone can understand follow, without compromising the integrity of his ideas in any way.” pgs 14-15
A simple explanation of other dimensions: “… when thinking about where the extraphysical dimensions are, we can say that many of them coexist and share space with the physical dimension. They are all around us. They are right here, right now. This fact is much easier to understand when we remember that we are also sharing space with innumerable invisible artificial electromagnetic waves, such as those used to broadcast television and radio and to transmit data across mobile phone networks and between aircraft and military installations.” pg 39
Other dimensions sound so normal when she puts it that way.
Sandie stresses the importance of exploring consciousness for evolutionary reasons: “If we take into account the broader, more detailed picture of what it means to be a consciousness… it is clear that physical life, rather than being meaningless or arbitrary, provides us with a sophisticated, challenging environment that is rich in opportunities to better ourselves and to mature- in other words, to evolve.” pg 162
I think it’s fun too.
Consciousness exploration is a chance to evolve, certainly, but it’s also a way to play, explore, and simply exist in a way that is entirely different from regular reality. That’s my only criticism of this book, I feel like it takes itself too seriously at times.
I was having trouble fitting my visions/meditations into the paradigm provided by this book until the chapter on Lucid Projection Techniques, section Projection through the Mental Body Technique: “Targets for a projection in the mental body are notional concepts that are outside the boundaries of ordinary life. The point of them is to break out of the boundaries of what’s known. The experience is epitomized by having an epiphany- suddenly you consider the concept of infinity or spirituality or oneness and you have an expansion of consciousness in which you grasp the whole idea. pg 254 Bingo.
Vieira doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of remote viewing: “Vieira describes it in Projectiology as “a daydream with some flashes of awareness or clairvoyance at a distance.” pg 270
I was surprised by that. It seems like, in this sort of research, one would want to consider all modalities for their possible contributions to the topic.
If you’re looking for more books on how to do out-of-body experiences, you may want to consider Soul Flight: Astral Projection & the Magical Universe by Donald Tyson, Soul Traveler: A Guide to Out-of-Body Experiences and the Wonders Beyond by Albert Taylor, and, one of my favorites, Otherwhere: A Field Guide to Nonphysical Reality for the Out-of-Body Traveler by Kurt Leland.
This is the story of a golem and a jinni, how they discover who they are, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how, even though they’re composed of completely different elements, they may just be the best friend for each other in a human world where they will never truly belong.
As I was reading The Golem and the Jinni, enjoying their adventures and waiting to see how they would discover their origins, I didn’t consider for a moment the idea that the tale could be a metaphor for something else.
When I read the Q&A with the author at the end of the book, I was really kicking myself. Of course, it made total sense as a metaphor for cultural differences. And, when I thought about it that way, I liked the story even more.
On the other hand, this tale can be completely enjoyed and interpreted as a historical fiction/fairytale and, if you’re not in the mood to think any deeper than that, it doesn’t matter, because it’s still awesome. So, it’s a win/win book for the deep thinkers and the no-thinkers.
The Golem and the Jinni is not a fast read. Wecker really builds the characters and gives the back story for everybody who comes across the page.
At first I was like, “Do we really need to know the ice cream guy’s life story?” and I was getting frustrated with the pacing of it. But, as her characters came together and their lives began to intertwine, I began to appreciate the true artistry of the novel.
It is like an orchestral fugue in which the instruments play their themes one by one at the beginning, which is beautiful, but when the tones combine, it lifts the piece to a whole other place. That is The Golem and the Jinni. Give it the time and space to build the characters and you will be blown away by the ending. At least, I was.
Wecker has a talent for creating multi-layered characters. Though the golem is only a few hours old, the author manages to instill in her a childlike curiosity mixed with the timelessness of a magical creature.
In this passage, the golem is seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time: “The deck was crowded with people, and at first the Golem didn’t see what they were waving at. But then, there she was: a gray-green woman standing in the middle of the water, holding a tablet and bearing aloft a torch. Her gaze was unblinking, and she stood so still: was it another golem? … And those on deck were waving and shouting at her with jubilation, crying even as they smiled. This, too, the Golem thought, was a constructed woman. Whatever she meant to the others, she was loved and respected for it. For the first time… the Golem felt something like hope. pg 17 ebook.
She also describes scenes just beautifully. In this passage, the Jinni sees New York harbor: “The Jinni leaned against the railing, transfixed by the view. He was a creature of the desert, and never in his life had he come so close to this much water. It lapped at the stone below his feet, reaching now higher, now lower. Muted colors floated on its surface, and afternoon sunlight reflecting in the ever-changing dips of the waves. Still it was hard to believe that this was not some expert illusion, intended to befuddle him. At any moment he expected the city and water to dissolve, to be replaced by the familiar steppes and plateaus of the Syrian Desert, his home for close to two hundred years.” pg 23 ebook
I loved the little, let’s call them “wisdom nuggets,” that Wecker sprinkled throughout the story. Like: “A man might desire something for a moment, while a larger part of him rejects it. You’ll need to learn to judge people by their actions, not their thoughts.” pg 40 ebook. Or: “Men need no reason to cause mischief, only an excuse!” pg 172 ebook.
I also connected with this passage where the Jinni is thinking about the power of names: “To him the new name suggested that the changes he’d undergone were so drastic, so pervasive, that he was no longer the same being at all. He tried not to dwell on such dark thoughts, and instead concentrated on speaking politely, and maintaining his story- but every so often, as he listened to the chatter of yet more visitors, he spoke his true name to himself in the back of his mind, and took comfort in the sound.” pg 68 ebook.
I recommend The Golem and the Jinni for folks who enjoy historical fiction blended with fantasy, folks who love deep characters, and for anyone who loves to read beautiful prose. This book has all of that.
Something strange happened last night, but Amanda can’t remember what it was. She’s terribly hung over and she knows that she fought with her boyfriend, but that doesn’t explain why her roommate isn’t the person she remembers or why she can’t see out the window. Why does she feel like something is watching her and why does the university campus not look like it did yesterday? And, so starts The History Major.
Discovering what is going on is part of the fun of this short story, so I’d suggest stopping here if you have any intention of reading this yourself. Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this short story for review purposes. ***Please do not read beyond this point to avoid spoilers!! Warning… Warning!!***
For those that either have read it or are not going to read it… let’s discuss!
So, I feel as if this story, like life some would say, is all about consciousness. How aware are you of your internal worlds? Does our history define us or do we decide what has meaning? Is there such thing as the collective unconscious? And, the biggest question of all, what happens to consciousness after death?
The author begins with Amanda feeling paranoid and it sets the stage for the whole thing: “Her skin prickled again; she felt the sensation of being watched. Amanda turned around and walked backward, looking across the vast estate for the intrusive eyes. The wind ruffled the leaves. Amanda paused, searching for the discordant thing that pulled at her, but there was nothing out of place. She searched but couldn’t find the cause of her uneasiness.” loc 206, ebook. There’s a general feeling of creepiness that never goes away. I didn’t really like that part of The History Major but readers of horror might really love it. Self discovery and self knowledge shouldn’t be scary. The various dream books that I’ve read say that the way to end nightmares is to stop running and face the monster. I feel like Amanda spends far too much time running, but then, I suppose, it wouldn’t make a very good story if she didn’t, would it? Amanda discovers monster, faces monster, and is ok after all.
Amanda is a sympathetic character. I think we’ve all been there: the day after having one too many and waking up to an “uh oh” feeling. She, fairly bravely, faces the first day of college even though she knows something is not right. She even takes her messed up schedule to the secretaries and tries to get them to change her classes. But, I didn’t like how reliant she is on her boyfriend. Given her childhood history (warning, if you are triggered by childhood molestation do not read this book), I can see how she turned out that way, but I wanted her to take the reigns of her life and go for it- not fret about if walking down the sidewalk with another man will make her boyfriend jealous.
I also did not like Death being personified as a monster or the fate of Nick. I don’t believe that Death is evil or comes at us with choking hands. I prefer to view it as a doorway to another reality. As for the “hell” vision for Nick, I think that hell is a state of mind and something that we create on earth, but, this is just my opinion.
“People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” Loc 611, ebook. I thought that The History Major did a good job of using historical figures to help Amanda remember her present circumstances, but I thought that the “history” itself was given too much credit. For example, Amanda could have been watching the tv and been triggered into remembering her past by what came on the screen. Or, she could have taken an art class and been triggered by the works of art in the classroom… there are many topics that could have led to her epiphany.
So, that was my beef with this book: the frightening aspect of searching the subconscious mind, the co-dependent heroine, the nasty personification of Death and the hellish afterlife, and the reliance on historical figures who, when you consider it more closely, have very little to do with what actually happened to Amanda. But, even saying all those things, I read this short story in one sitting and was really interested to see where the author was taking it. Pick up The History Major if you’re interested in a short, metaphysical read. If you’re looking for more in-depth books about any of the history that appears in this story try: Blood & Beauty: the Borgias by Sarah Dunant or Joan of Arc: a History by Helen Castor.
The Guild is a graphic novel prequel for the internet series of the same name. I think it is a must-read for fans of Day’s show and gamers who haven’t seen the show may enjoy it too. Other readers may want to give this a pass as it deals almost exclusively with gaming or RL relationships through gaming.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I felt like Day missed a golden opportunity to present the show in a completely different way. Day could have written this as characters in “The Game” with only brief moments of RL intruding into it. It would have flipped the show on its head and, in graphic novel form, she wouldn’t have faced any production limitations. Can you imagine it? I absolutely could. Maybe that’s what she did in the next book? Here’s hoping.
The glimpses that we had of the backstories of the Guild’s characters was awesome and I couldn’t get enough of “The Game” itself. Pretty much any scene where they were in the digital world was amazing. I also loved how their avatars had their real life faces.
The “one camera confessional” scenes worked so well in show, but didn’t translate as fluidly in the book. I think the reason why it works in real life is the expressiveness of Day’s face as she talks her way through her problems. The panels in the book didn’t have that aliveness and sort of fell flat.
But, that small gripe aside, I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it. Some other graphic novels that readers may enjoy: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (fantasy world), Fray by Joss Whedon (fantasy world), or The Order of the Stick series by Rich Burlew (for board gamers and fans of DnD).
Katya lives in a futuristic world where everyone and everything is linked to the web. Her AI speaks in her ear and fills her vision telling her about the people around her, their histories, past business deals, and anything that could be of interest to her in her job as an “Authenticities” (basically antiques) dealer. One day, on her way back from a purchase, she sees a man shoot a deer (very illegal) and realizes that her connection to the web has crashed, leaving her marooned in the real world with a potential maniac. What’s he doing and is she going to survive?
I see where Kowal was trying to take this novella, but it didn’t really work for me. She wrote as her narrator, trying to recount a story without the use of computers, which, in this world is particularly difficult as everyone in the future uses computers to remember anything, and shows her discomfort at her disconnected state by inserting misspellings and typos. But, she didn’t do this consistently… it was just random enough for me to forget that she was using this device and say to myself, “Typo!” and then remember that it was supposed to be there. So, it turned into this annoying distraction.
I was most interested in Katya’s job as an Authenticities dealer, but, when Kowal moved the story off the grid, that essentially removed that element. In this passage, Katya’s analyzing a typewriter: “It looked to be from the mid-twentieth century, though without picking it up or using my loupe, I couldn’t confirm that. The fine dust caked into the grooves around the base seemed real enough, though. Most people who print fakes know enough to add dust to make it seem older, but they usually put it on too thickly and without regard for the use patterns of everyday objects.” pg 7, ebook. The parts that I loved the most read like a futuristic Antiques Road Show, which would have been awesome if the story had continued along that vein.
The novella reached for depths that it never really explored, but this passage caught my attention: “It feels like he wanted me there to bear witness, but maybe it was just an opportunity that presented itself because I stopped. If I hadn’t, if I had biked on through, would I have known that this was a cusp point in my life? Probably not. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, how many other cusp points you sail through in life without any awareness.” pg 11 ebook. I do wonder about that. Life seems to be a series of stumblings and fortunate events but is it really as random as it seems? If you take one road, instead of another, does it even matter? Aware or not, life unfolds… I don’t know. What do you think?
What ruined this short read for me was that I didn’t get the ending at all. I essentially had to go back and read it all again, but then I still had a moment of “Huh?” Katya describes my over-arching feelings well: “There were so few things that made sense about the whole experience; I’m not sure why I expected events to suddenly appear orderly and rational now.” pg 25, ebook
I do not recommend Forest of Memory unless you’re looking for a puzzling sci fi read that raises the question of reliance on AI at the expense of everything else. And, if you find deeper meaning in it than I did, please do explain it to me. Thanks for reading!
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking entered my life at a particularly low moment.
Allow me to set the scene: I had been on vacation for a week and a half. We were in Colorado, visiting my husband’s family, some of whom I had met before, others whom I had not. I knew I wasn’t going to be entirely comfortable being around people the whole trip- I’m a huge introvert and I’m self aware enough to know that I need downtime, and quite a bit of it, to feel as if I’m functioning normally.
But I didn’t realize that my husband, who is just as introverted as I am and who I was counting on to help me through all of the introductions, dinners, conversations, etc, was going to immerse himself in Pokemon Go a majority of the time and essentially leave me to my own devices.
As Susan Cain would say, he found a “restorative niche” for himself in a digital world. It was hard on me as I didn’t have that escape.
So, here we are, visiting a friend’s home and my daughter, who strangely enough is a huge extrovert (the exact opposite of her parents), is struggling. She’s tired, out-of-sorts, and throwing a sulk every ten minutes.
I’m meeting yet more people, trying to hold trite conversations, and steer my child, all the while just wanting to retreat into a cave and not talk to anyone for a very long time. Honestly, I felt that way before we reached the party, but things seemed to get much, much worse the moment we arrived.
It had been building over the course of the vacation, but that day, my internal clamor reached a boiling point. My husband was oblivious to my growing discomfort as he’s catching Pokemon, again. (I don’t mean to sound bitter here, but I suppose that I am.)
I had forced myself for ten days to be social, keep the smile on my face, keep everything flowing smoothly. To my horror, I realize that I am about to have a panic attack in the middle of this crowd of people, more than half of whom I don’t even know. I grab my keys and leave.
I drive a couple blocks away, castigating myself for not being able to handle it and just pissed because, once again, like many times in my childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, I feel like I’m failing at life because I’m not a social butterfly.
I can’t stand to be around strangers for extended periods of time. I’ve always been this way- overly sensitive to others, noise, motion, events. I really dislike groups, parties, places where I have to circulate with a bunch of people who don’t know me or care about anything that I have to say.
The tears fell down my cheeks as I opened up my tablet and began reading this book. And I discovered that about half of all people are just like me.
Thank you, Susan Cain. Your book gave me the courage to drive back to my friend’s house and face the rest of the evening. I am not a pariah. I am an introvert and perhaps I can do a better job figuring out when I’ve reached my socializing limits before I meltdown.
Many of the positive attributes of introverts which Susan describes, I have, I’ve just never considered them as worth the trade-off of the extroverted personality.
I notice small details, have a great memory for conversations and events, long past the time when others forget such things. I think carefully about problems and people, devoting time to taking apart small nuances of books and movies, that other people don’t even consider, which makes me a good reviewer of media- perfect for my job as a librarian.
Susan nailed my general feeling about myself in the introduction: “Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we’ve turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.” pg 34 ebook. Yes!
My role at the reference desk calls for an extroverted personality but I muddle through it, because I care about the job and helping others. Usually, I come home from work, totally worn out and in need of quiet time to unwind.
Susan helped me understand that sometimes “faking it” is worth it, if it for a cause that means something to you and that others do the exact same thing that I do.
Pull out the mask for the job, but then allow yourself the freedom to be who you really are at home: “According to Free Trait Theory, we are born and culturally endowed with certain personality traits- introversion, for example- but we can and do act out of character in the service of “core personal projects.” In other words, introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly.” pg 391 ebook.
My favorite parts of the book were about sensitivity and social situations. Take this passage: “…maybe we didn’t choose … social accessories at random. Maybe we’ve adopted dark glasses, relaxed body language, and alcohol as signifiers precisely because they camouflage signs of a nervous system on overdrive. Sunglasses prevent others from seeing our eyes dilate with surprise or fear; we know from Kagan’s work that a relaxed torso is a hallmark of low reactivity; and alcohol removes our inhibitions and lowers our arousal levels. When you go to a football game and someone offers you a beer, says the personality psychologist Brian Little, “they’re really saying hi, have a glass of extroversion.” pg 277 ebook.
I may use that in my life. “Please hand me that glass of extroversion.”
I also really enjoyed learning the differences in thinking: “Introverts and extroverts also direct their attention differently: if you leave them to their own devices, the introverts tend to sit around wondering about things, imagining things, recalling events from their past, and making plans for the future. The extroverts are more likely to focus on what’s happening around them. It’s as if extroverts are seeing “what is” while their introverted peers are asking “what if.”pg 323 ebook. Yeah, I do that too.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It saved an evening for me, but more importantly, it changed the way that I view myself. There is power in knowing that you’re not alone. Again, thank you, Susan Cain. Some read-alikes: The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World by Sophia Dembling (for introversion) or Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson (for more instances of social anxiety).
“This is the story of a bloodstained boy.” That’s the first line of this strange and fantastical tale of giant creatures that “swim” in the earth’s soil and the brave and flawed “molers” who chase them for profit and life purpose. Miéville has created a dystopian world covered in railway ties with skies poisoned by chemicals and filled with monstrous, alien creatures who feast on those who get too close. But, there may just be something beyond the rails, if the characters in this story are determined and lucky enough to see their way through to the end of the world… Though based off of the tale of Moby Dick, Railsea is an engaging adventure and coming of age story that reads like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Miéville has blended together steampunk, dytopian, and fantasy elements to create something completely different.
Sham is a boy on the cusp of manhood who can’t quite figure out what he wants to do with his adulthood: “Sham felt sure there was something he fervently wanted to do & to which he was excellently suited. Which made the more frustrating that he could not say what it was. Too vague about his interests for further study; too cautious in company, perhaps a little bruised by less-than-stellar school days, to thrive in sales or service; too young & sluggish to excel at heavy work: Sham’s tryings-out of various candidate activities left him het up.” pg 36, ebook. Anyone who has ever been lost about what path to follow in life will be able to empathize with Sham.
Miéville’s story, like Moby Dick has layers of meaning built into it: “Edging such places is the railseaside, called the littoral zone. Those are the shorelands. Port towns, from where transport, freight & hunting trains set out. Where lighthouses light ways past rubbish reefs breaking earth. “Give me the inland or give me the open rails,” say both the railsailor & the landlubber, “only spare me the littoral-minded.” pg 51 ebook. Clever, no? A warning, if you don’t enjoy reads where the author makes up words to tell the story, you may want to skip Railsea. There’s a bunch of creative adjectives and nouns mixed up in this one.
The religions of this world were a fascinating too. I wish Miéville had explored them more: “He muttered in his head to That Apt Ohm, the great rotund boss-god, one of the few deities worshipped across the railsea, whatever the peculiarities of local pantheons. Bollons was ecumenical, granted church-licences to any deities whose worshippers could pay the fees. But the disrespectful worship of That Apt Ohm was taken more seriously there, pursued with more verve, than at most stops on the railsea. Sham had no idea quite what, if anything, he believed, but there seemed little harm in a quick silent word with one of the few gods whose name he remembered.” pg 100, ebook.
Part of the homage to Moby Dick, finding a captain’s “philosophy”: “How many of these philosophies were out there? Not every captain of the Stereggeye Lands had one, but a fair proportion grew into a close antipathy-cum-connection with one particular animal, which they came to realise or decide-to decidalise-embodied meanings, potentialities, ways of looking at the world. At a certain point, & it was hard to be exact but you knew it when you saw it, the usual cunning thinking about professional prey switched onto a new rail & became something else- a faithfulness to an animal that was now a world-view.” pg 130 ebook. What’s your white mole?
I enjoyed Railsea but I can see how this writer might not be for everyone. He uses fragmented sentences and ampersands (&) to move the story along. The chapters are incredibly short which also kept the pace rolling but it could also be viewed as making the novel choppy. Sometimes, Miéville breaks through the fourth wall and addresses the reader directly. I thought that device was charming, conjuring up images in my mind of storytellers sitting in front of the fire or at a pub. But, again, this may not work for everyone.
Some read-alikes for Railsea: Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness or Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig. Thanks for reading!
Dear readers, there are some spoilers in this review, but they’re necessary for a thorough discussion of the comic. Please, if you haven’t read this one yet, go pick it up from your local library and then come back to this review. Thank you 🙂
The Princeless series continues to deliver strong female characters, beautiful (child appropriate) artwork, and storylines with meaning. Each time Adrienne and Bedelia venture out to rescue one of Adrienne’s sisters, a facet of relationships is dissected and examined. This volume dealt with abusive relationships and gender roles in government.
Now, it’s not that cut and dry on the surface- the story itself is really fun and engaging. Adrienne and Bedelia have to survive a cannibalistic tribe of goblins in a monster infested swamp in order to reach Angoisse’s tower. On the way, they befriend unlikely allies and encounter a plant-like terror.
While this is going on, Adrienne’s brother, Devin, refuses to embrace traditional gender roles and activities, which continues to infuriate his tyrannical father. Their relationship illustrates the eternal struggle between parent and child. Parents think they know better and push their child in the direction they believe they should go, while children want to follow their natural inclinations. In the push-pull dynamic, somehow everything works out fine, but with more bad feelings on either side than there need to be.
The abusive relationship portion is tactfully presented in the interactions between Angoisse and Raphael. Sometimes people act a certain way because they want something out of you, other than your company. Kids get it. But in an era of Twilight idealization, I think the presentation of a “vampire” who acts out of self-interest rather than undying love is an important topic to discuss.
Teen relationships are just as thorny and prone to abuse as adult relationships and, because they are some of the first experiences that teens have, they have the potential to color the rest of that person’s lifetime and set the stage for the relationships to come.
Angoisse is a victim of Raphael but also her own beliefs. She’s always thought that she needed a man to complete her and she was going to do whatever it took to keep that relationship intact, even to the point of giving up her humanity or betraying her own family.
It didn’t take a very smart predator to see that she could be manipulated through her feelings. Sadly, such people actually exist. Thank you, Princeless for opening a door to the discussion of how to remain true to yourself in relationships and a powerful example of how to leave the ones that have soured.
The story is not too complex and adult readers may find it rather simplistic (unless you dig deeper into the underlying meaning), but it’s perfect for the 8 to 12 year olds. This comic will appeal to reluctant readers of either gender. I highly recommend it.
This is the story of a golem and a jinni, how they discover who they are, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how, even though they’re composed of completely different elements, they may just be the best friend for each other in a human world where they will never truly belong.
