Thursday, February 14, 2019

Honor: A Bookania Tag


Hey'a, everyone! First off, if you missed my late-night Facebook excitement last Tuesday: I saw Andrew Peterson in concert! It was amazing and beautiful and he played a lot of my favorite songs and I'm so glad I got to be there. Next up: another source of excitement for me this month: Honor: A Quest In! This is Kendra E. Ardnek's next book, which releases in about a week and a half! I got to alpha-read it, and I'm looking forward so much to when it comes out and y'all get to enjoy it too. In the meantime, though, Kendra made this awesome tag themed on the book, so I'm filling that out this week!

1. Have you read any of the Bookania Quests yet? If so, what is your favorite thing about them? If not, why are you excited to read them?
I've read all the Bookania Quests that have been released so far. I'd say my favorite thing about them is the sheer number of fairy tales (including some pretty obscure ones) that are woven into the stories.

2. What is your favorite fairy tale that no one else seems to know about?

"Six Soldiers of Fortune" and similar stories are some of my favorites, but most people have never heard of them. That's probably for good reason; they're kind of weird, and there's not really a hero — but they're fun to read, and they involve some pretty crazy and awesome powers.

3. Sword or Bow?
In general, swords. Bows do have the advantage of distance, but I like the style of swords better.

4. What is your favorite Fairy Tale mash-up universe?
Either Bookania or Christopher Healy's Hero's Guide series universe. I can't decide which; they're both awesome for different reasons.

5. What is your favorite fictional sword?
Oooh. That's a tough question. I'm going to say that it's a three-way tie between Sting from The Lord of the Rings (the first really significant fictional sword I encountered), the version of Excalibur from Dragons in Our Midst (because it's an awesome legendary sword that can also disintegrate people), and Riptide from Percy Jackson (because a sword that can turn into a pen is automatically awesome).

6. Name a Rebellious Princess that you felt to be particularly well-developed and compelling.
Er. I typically don't like rebellious princess characters; it's far too easy for authors to make their rebelliousness their only real trait, or else I get frustrated with them because they aren't rebellious because they're sensible; they're just as silly and petty and ridiculous as the pink puffball princesses. Don't give me a merely rebellious princess; they're so common that good, obedient princesses are the rarity these days. Give me a clever princess, one who recognizes the potential in her position and uses every assumption to her own advantage.

Anyway. All that said: Poppy from the Midnight Ball series isn't exactly rebellious, but she does know her own mind, and she does what she likes regardless of how proper it is. And Siri from Warbreaker is a bit closer to being actually rebellious, but she turns out to be pretty clever as well.

7. What is your favorite representation of Robin Hood?
Personally, I like the original Robin Hood best, but that could just be that I haven't read many Robin Hood retellings. If anyone has any particularly good recommendations, let me know.

8. Who is your favorite fictional mother?
Oooh. That's a good question. I'm going to go with Nia Wingfeather from the Wingfeather Saga, who's brilliantly brave and loving and wonderful in many, many ways. She's been through quite a lot, but she never gives up.

9. If you could learn any language in the world instantaneously, which would you choose?
Like, learn it and be able to speak and write it with perfect fluency? Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic. Any of those three could have potential practical applications (particularly the former two), but would require a lot of effort to learn the normal way because they're so different from English. Then I can continue to learn the more English-like languages like most people learn languages.

10. Who is someone in your life that you couldn't bear to lose?
My sister, my parents, my roommate . . . probably my sister most of all.

Thanks for putting this tag together, Kendra! And thanks to all of you for reading! Tell me: what language would you pick if you could learn any of them instantaneously? And do you have any really good Robin Hood retellings that you'd like to recommend? Let me know in comments!
Have an excellent day!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

6 comments:

  1. So, by "original" do you mean Pyle? 'Cause there is actually more than one "original" version to Robin Hood (I've read at least three of them, and my favorite is Chesswick. Pyle didn't include enough of Maid Marian for me. That said, I do prefer Pyle's Scarlett.) I've actually read more "originals" and seen more movies than I have read actual retellings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darn it. This wasn't supposed to go up until tomorrow. Oh well.

      Anyway. I mean Pyle, yes. That's the only "original" version I've read. I'll look up Chesswick's, though.

      Delete
    2. Wait, no, Creswick - Paul Creswick.

      Delete
  2. Bows against the Barons is an excellent Robin Hood retelling. It tells the story of a boy who joins the Merry Men in the twilight of Robin's years, just as his fight with the Sheriff and Prince John is becoming serious. I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who loves the Robin Hood legends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh, cool. I'll look that one up too! Thanks for the recommendation!

      Delete

I'd love to hear your thoughts! But remember: it pays to be polite to dragons.