Book Review: Not My Apocalypse

Not My Apocalypse by Devon Harnois

At first, you might think that this book is a lot like Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  Like Percy, Alex Holden is a demigod, the child of a god and a human.  Like Percy, Alex has anger management issues, and hangs out with a bunch of other demigods.  But that is where the similarities end.  

Although written as YA Fantasy, I'd be careful which young adults I recommended this to.  In addition to his temper problem, Alex also drops the f bomb a lot.  Granted, in the situations he finds himself in, it fits, but if that word offends you, skip this book.  One of the funniest parts of the book is when he is hanging out with Jesus (who goes by Joshua) and has to keep rephrasing his sentences to eliminate the swearing.  

Alex has a hard life, which is quite understandable considering the fact that he lives with his Satanist mother and stepfather, and Lucifer, his father, drops by occasionally to beat him.  Alex knows that he is the Antichrist and he understands the role he must play according to the prophecies, but he wants nothing of it.  In fact,  he and his demi-god friends save the world 3 times, twice preventing Ragnarok, and finally stopping Satan from destroying the world.  

One of the fascinating things about this book is the way the author pulls in the gods and legends of many different cultures.  You get a little bit of Norse mythology, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Christians.  Excalibur even makes an appearance, and when that sword has to be returned Japanese spirits make Alex a new sword of his own.  The gods cannot interfere with the workings of the other pantheons, but these rules do not apply to their demi-god children who use whatever tools then can acquire to save the world.  

I read this book because I know the author.  I've read chapters of her other works in the writer's group that I used to attend.  Although her work is a little more edgy that what I usually read, it is also wickedly funny in places and very interesting.  I love seeing little bits of her personality coming through in the writing.  Most importantly, I want to read the next book in the trilogy.  (As you know, my two big criteria for judging a book are 1.  Does it keep me interested? and 2.  Do I want to read more about these characters?)

Book Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

I broke one of my rules in reading this book (and the book that precedes it).

Never read a book that is part of a series or trilogy until all the books are done and you can read them one after the other.  

I think that my biggest criticism of the book would not be an issue if I had read A Discovery of Witches  recently and hadn't read 40,000 other things in between the two books.  As I writer, I know that one of the hardest things to do when writing a sequel is to remind readers of all the important information from the first book without sounding like you are trying to remind them.  Harkness does get the reminders in there, but like I said, it's been awhile since I've read the first book, so those little hints weren't enough to bring back all the detail from the first book that I wanted and needed.

Overall, I found the book fascinating.  How could it not be?  It has all the elements of my favorite stories--spies, history, magic, even a little science.  Diana (a historian and witch who doesn't know how to use her powers) and her husband Matthew(a vampire and geneticist) go back in time to Elizabethan London in search of a book that holds the secrets of the creatures (vampires, witches, daemons) and may be the key to discovering how they were created and why they are now dying out.  In addition to the dangers of the possibility of changing the past and thereby changing the future, they must deal with dangers from other creatures and the fact that in both times, their marriage is a violation of an ancient agreement.

But they are not without allies.  They travel to a time and place where Matthew lived, so his friends and associates (all the big names of the Elizabethan era, and in this book, many of them vampires or daemons as well) form a circle of trusted companions.  I was excited to see John Dee in this, but disappointed that he didn't have a larger role.  Shakespeare's role is also minor, but he does get the last scene of the book.

The author, a professor of history herself, weaves an intricate tale, leaving the reader (or at least this nerdy reader) wondering how much is history and how much is fiction.  Luckily, at the end of the book is a list of all the characters with the names marked that have been acknowledged by historians.  It tells you who was real, but not how much of what they did in this book is actual history.  I guess that is what google is for.

My favorite part of the book is when Diana is meeting with the witches of the city and learning about her magic and witchcraft.  I found it interesting that Diana noticed that although she had been taught that the craft was more important than inherent magic, these women focused on the elemental magic within them. I also loved that Diana's familiar is a fire drake.  I also found familiars to be different in this book that what I had encountered in other books.  Another thing to look up more information on.

My second favorite part was when Diana was spending time with Mary Sidney working in her alchemy lab.  I love these portrayals of strong women from a time when many women were not allowed much freedom.

Was this an absolutely amazing, can't put it down book?  No.  Was it good enough that I'm annoyed that I can't just jump right into the next book.  Yes, especially since we're back in the present time and DNA will be playing a big part again, I hope.

Book Group: Emotional Freedom Chapter 1

This chapter is still pretty much introductory material.  The author present a little more detail about why we should want to find emotional freedom.  And once again, she emphasizes that it is about helping our love to evolve.  It's also about connecting to who we really are inside.

She shares stories, including one about her own experiences as a patient in a mental hospital.  In another story, she tells us of learning to trust her intuition.  She had been in a session with a patient and had a feeling that the women would attempt suicide.  Because there were no other indications beyond her own feelings that this was the case, she ignored it, and the woman did try to take her own life.  From this, Orloff learned that she had to trust her intuition, even if it seemed contrary to everything else.

Orloff tells of her experiences of finding a spiritual teacher, and finding her own voice and power.

The chapter wraps up with an emotional freedom test that allows you to assess how you are doing right now, and a short and very careful discussion of how men and women generally respond differently.  Any discussion of differences between men and women has the potential to blow up in your face, but I felt like she did a great job here of explaining general tendencies and the fact that these tendencies occur with "many (but not all) women" and "many (but not all) men".

I liked the emotional freedom test.  It consists of "20 questions for reflection." (I love that focus on reflection).  You respond to each question by checking Not true 0, Sometimes True 1, or Mostly True 2, and then adding them up to get your score.  It was interesting for me to see how much different my answers are now than they would have been 10 or 15 years ago.  I'm moving in the right direction.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.  Would you be more or less likely to trust a former mental patient as a dispenser of wisdom about emotions?   Why?

2.  How do you feel about intuition?  What does intuition mean to you?  Is intuition different from promptings from the Holy Ghost?  If so, how?  

3.  Who have been the spiritual teachers in your life?  Is there someone that you go to for guidance and instruction that is not part of your Sunday worship experience?  

4.  Are there areas in your life where you think you have found emotional freedom or are moving towards it?  Are there times that you still feel trapped by your emotions?  

Book Group: Emotional Freedom Introduction

In her introduction to Emotional Freedom, Judith Orloff defines emotional freedom by framing it in love and compassion, for ourselves and for others.  She had me right there.   Even if the "how to" of emotional freedom hadn't made sense to me, the focus on love and compassion did.  One of the other things I loved right away was that she didn't talk about eliminating negative emotions;  she talks about transforming them.  Think about that for a minute.  This isn't about making bad things go away; it's about taking something negative and transforming it into something better.  

Orloff then goes on to explain a little about her journey, and the way she approaches psychiatry. Dreams, intuition, energy, and traditional medicine all feed into her practice.  Our emotions change our energy, and that energy moves beyond us to influence others.  Your spirituality is also tied in with your emotions and energy.

It is impossible to grasp how we tick emotionally without a cosmic perspective; everything about us, including our biology, is an expression of the divine.  Seeing emotions as a training ground for the soul frames every victory over fear, anxiety, and resentment as a way to develop your spiritual muscles and be better able to love and cultivate goodness.  Anything that keeps you from your light distances your spiritual connection too.
(page 4)

Emotions as a training ground for the soul.  I love that!

She gives a brief outline of what she will cover in the book.  She also encourages readers to make small and simple changes.  Do little things that move you in the right direction.

Small changes.  I'm getting better at that, but it still needs work.  I'm going to move through these chapters at a pace of about one chapter a week, focusing on 1 or 2 small things the week after the post.  You don't have to follow any particular schedule.  Move at your own pace.  The posts will be here when you are ready to discuss or reflect.  And as always, you're free to comment on something in the posts, even if you haven't read yet.

Questions for discussion or personal reflection:

1.  What emotions are you interested in transforming?  

2.  What do you think about using dreams and intuition as sources of wisdom?  Is that completely natural to you, or does that feel like weirdo, out-there, crazy stuff?  (By the way, there is plenty of good advice from Western medicine and psychology in this book too, so if the other stuff is too much for you, you can still get something from the book.)

3.  How have your emotions affected your spirituality?  

4.  What did you like in this Introduction?  

5.  What things didn't sit well with you or bothered you?