Book Review: King

  Hey, I just finished this awesome book! :) It's the last book of The Books of the Infinite series, by R. J. Larson, and it ended quite wonderfully! ;) Now I need to read her Realms of the Infinite series! EEE! I wonder how I'll get them though, since even the kindle edition is pretty expensive? :| Hmm.

  So, read my review and everything, and then read this wonderful, non-magical allegorical fantasy series! =D

ABOUT THE BOOK

  Akabe of Siphra, I have brought your enemies low and lifted you out of the dirt

    Against his wishes and desires, Akabe Garric has been chosen by his people to be king. A warrior at heart, he'd never dreamed of such a swift, unexpected rise to power. Determined to prove his worth to the citizens of Munra and honor his Creator, Akabe undertakes a monumental task: to rebuild the Infinite's Holy House in Siphra.

   Only this I ask: Restore My temple and let Me dwell again among the people.

   Akabe soon discovers that the land he needs is held by the Thaenfalls, known Atea-worshipers, who will give up their claim only if he marries into their line. Though he seeks direction from the Infinite, his pleas are met with silence. Frustrated, Akabe makes an impulsive decision, sweeping his nation into a lethal storm that threatens his plans for the temple. As questions of faith and love become tangled with lies, ancient feuds, and treacherous plots, can Akabe, his mysterious queen and his trusted friends, Ela and Kien Lantec find the Infinite's path, or will they fail as so many others before? 

   Will your faith hold strong when I am silent? Child, can you be My king?

  

MY REVIEW

   Oh my, what a GREAT ENDING! My brother bought me Judge and King for my birthday, so now I got to read the last in the Book of the Infinite series. It was a great end, another fantastic book by R. J. Larson! Now I HAVE to read her other books!

   Despite being a reluctant king, Akabe of Siphra strives to do something honorable: rebuild the Infinite's temple. But when his plans are disrupted by Ateans, Akabe makes a rash decision without getting the Infinite's approval. This leads to one catastrophe after another, threatening the lives of himself, his new queen, Kien, Ela, and many of his people. Will his actions make him a failure king so soon after being annointed?

   Like the previous books, King was full of more dangerous adventures. We get to know Akabe better, as well as Caitria, a new character. I quite liked her. :) Our dearest Kien and Ela are still main characters, which is a must. ;) The four get into some very dangerous stuff, I tell you! Confrontations with assasins, and Bel-Tygeon, along with fights and lethal wounds- oh, poison too! :P

   There was more elements of romance in King, than in the other books. Kien and Ela's relationship... continues, and there are also some new couples. It's just a little more of a mature theme than in the other books. The epilogue of the book was soo happy! You'll see! :D 

   There was violence and blood, as in the other books. Maybe more in King? There was quite a lot of death, but nothing I couldn't handle though. :P Only be worried about it if you're REALLY sensitive to that kind of stuff. 
   Also, Bel-Tygeon, an immoral king who says he's a god, has lots of ladies, and he isn't married to any of them. 

   King also has little bits of humor (what book couldn't with our Kien and Scythe? ;D), which is the BEST. :) 

   Thus, my review! I hope it prompted you to give these books a try! They're really good, you know! ;)

Recommended to: Non-magical-(besides the Infinite's power, which isn't magic) allegorical- fantasy- lovers, adventure-lovers, and those who enjoy meaningful, clean romances. :) Ages, tentatively, 15+ 

MY REVIEW OF PROPHET

  Aaand I haven't even reviewed the second book, Judge, on Goodreads! :P Seriously! I think I may have written up a review on paper, though- I'll have to dig around and find that! In the meantime, I'll tell you that Judge was also a great book! Kien! <3 :P This cover is probably my favorite! The sword on his back, the cloak... ahh. :)

  Until next time, people! *salutes*

My Trip to the West Coast, part 4: LAVA CANYON

  Part four of my trip to the West Coast! :)

  On this day, my aunt and uncle and their family, and my family went to a canyon where Mt. St. Helen's lava had flown through. 

 We got there, used some horrid smelling outhouses (isn't that normal? Ha, these were bad :P), and started out on the trail. Eating the huckleberries that we met. ;)

   Pretty soon we came to this awesome swinging bridge! :D We had to wait a while for the other people crossing... some rather scared. :P Then we crossed. I went back out to take some pictures...

It's a pretty skinny bridge. 

 And yes, it is definitly a swinging bridge, especially when people run across it, if you can imagine. :P :D

  Leaving the bridge we continued our "hike", and then went off the path at this spot for a bit. With this giant rock. Why didn't I climb that, anyhow? Sometimes when I'm trying to take pictures, I forget to live. :P

Little waterfall. :)

 On we continued! We stopped to get some pictures in front of this big, fragmenting rock.

  Pretty high. Someone had died here the other day, which helped my mom not worry about us when we went near the edge. Right? :P 

  But isn't that pretty? :)

 This is such a cool river, flowing in between these gray rocks.. are they lava rocks, maybe?

See the cool blue color? I wonder what made it like that...

  After we finished our walk through the place, we drove down the road to another place where lava had flown.

 This gray path filled with rocks is the lava path. And that's a road bridge going over it, over there. Or maybe that's pretty obvious? :P

  Beautiful Mt. St. Helens in the background of it's destruction!

  It was hazy, so my pictures weren't the best. It was clearer earlier, I think. At least I got pictures this close, though! :)

  We just walked around for a while. I found some pumice, and it's just sitting down on my bookshelf now. :P But it floats, which is cool. :) And now I can say I have rock from a Mt. St. Helens lava path! ;D

  As we were walking back, someone came across this bird. It just sat there as we looked at it. Then we saw it's chicks! :)

Little fuzz balls! :)

  Then we went home. On the way we saw a herd of wild elk in a field. :D I tried to take a picture, but they were too far away and my camera doesn't zoom very far. :\

  If you missed my last West Coast trip, my mountain hike, then be sure to check it out! It's really long, with a lot of pictures. :)

  HAVE A FAVORITE PICTURE ON THIS POST? :)

My Trip to the West Coast, part 3: A MOUNTAIN HIKE

   Hey! Part three of my West Coast trip! =D This one is totally a photography post, with all the pictures I took. 

  So as I've said, it was the first day of our family reunion. I rode up there with a bunch of cousins in my aunt and uncle's van... we played "Mafia" during the drive. :D

 When we got the the place where we'd start hiking, we got out and ate our packed lunches. Then we started up the trail. 

Indian Paintbrush

Tiger Lily...?

Early part of the trail.

Of course, there were lots of things for me to photograph. :D I'm glad they turned out, though it seemed like too bright a day. ;)

There were soo many flowers! :)

   Around this area, we split into two groups. I went the harder way- and more scenic. :) But everyone went way too fast! Me and my sister died on the uphill, sunny areas. :P Also, I think going slow and enjoying the scenery is better anyhow. ;)

My group heading down the harder trail.

Here's the "flower ridge" part. :) (Next few pictures.)

PANORAMA LOVE! ;D

  See our trail? A long hike. It was tiring and hot. I drank all my water before reaching the highest point (the highest point that I went to. :) ) But worth it, of course! :D

We were walking on the edge of death, people. ;P Ha,ha!

Rock everywhere.

  And huckleberries! :D We enjoyed those, for sure. I think there were wild blueberries as well.

   Then we reached the "little" rock arch. Isn't it cool? There was a bigger one, but I didn't go to it. Maybe I should've...

                                          Close to the cliff. 

Red-faced me. ;P

See the person up in the gap? :)

  After a climb through some trees, we dragged ourselves up onto the rocky point called Sawtooth- the second highest point.

                                And what a view! :D

...And a deadly drop-off. :P

   The almost treeless ridge that we traversed. :)

  Some of the group continued on to the top of the "mountain", but I started down. 

                            

                              The "cliff" we stood on. 

      

   I think on the way down from Sawtooth, I took this picture of the bluebells with the rocks in the background. :) I also almost lost my camera's lens cover. Did I find it lying on the ground somewhere? Anyhow, yea. :P

  Here's Sawtooth from the path that we were going back down on. Just a big rock. :)

                   Down the mountain we went.

Looking back on the trail.

The trail ahead.

  A couple of my cousins we picking bouquets, so I decided to pick one too. :) After all, there were plenty of gorgeous flowers around! So on down the mountain, we picked flowers. ;)

   Here's my bouquet. :) (I'm sure I added more to it!) Aren't those mountain wildflowers GORGEOUS?! I love them! :)

  So, we hiked back down. Me and a bunch of cousins (and siblings; they're usually there too. ;) ) squished in the back of my uncles truck and rode down the rough terrain in there. It was fun. :D I enjoyed all the times during this vacation that I got to ride in the back of people's pickups. ;D

 Then we had to go inside a vehicle for the rest of the trip back to my grandparents. 

 That was my awesome hiking trip! :D Be looking for my next post on my West Coast trip!  

DID YOU ENJOY THE PICTURES? WHICH ONE OF THE MILLIONS IS YOUR FAVORITE?