RES 😃
Dearest Nyna 🤗
I am sorry for my delayed response, time seems to be in short supply nowadays and I needed a decent amount of to respond to this beautiful piece of work! I always knew that if you wrote something on this Forum, it would be superb and I was right! 😃
Firstly, I absolutely love the concept. The whole idea of a love so profound that it spans time and space and lives through the ages, across parallel universes and beyond, is something that has always fascinated me. With a couple we would define as epic, this idea is so captivating and you so masterfully portrayed that there! 👏 I am in awe of how you managed to bring out all that in this superbly constructed piece so take a bow! 👏⭐️ Oh and the Wheel of Time quote- set that perfect tone! 👏
Coming to the stories, I was in raptures as you combined almost all of my favourite genres in one lovely piece! Sorry if my comments are rather scrambled, there is so many thoughts this has inspired so I may flit here and there to try and express! Apologies if it irritates .
I am a HUGE fan of all forms of fantasy fiction so you had me from the word go there. The Archini and Aakrand story had me immediately hooked. There is something so powerful of times of yore, in an other-wordly setting of ancient Queens and Knights and the "magic" that bound them- skills lost across the ages but still echoing somewhere to be heard through tales like these. Each story you wove is different and there can be no comparison as such but this one in particular called to me. Something redolent there of Atlantis? I am massively fascinated with tales of Atlantis (and my other all time obsession is always Troy but I'll not diverge to that here for now). Have you ever read any of David Gemmell's works? IMO- he is totally underrated but anyone who is a true fantasy fiction lover cannot help but be obsessed by his stories. I think I have read all his works and I have most of them in my collection too. The whole concept here of an ancient warrior queen, and her Aegis, but one who was a king-maker, not a King and their poetic equation, right down to the vivid imagery of Aarkand practicing his "dance" with the sword- transported me to that world. Lovely!
The other mention I make now is to the Aria and Erik story, which I love came next in your sequence too! My other obsession (yes, I have a huge amount of them, most connected with historical times!) - Vikings! I was literally a growing child- must have been before my early teens too when I had read a slim book about Vikings. I cannot remember the name as I may have been say 11 or 12 and at that time probably unappreciative of the mad hold books would always have over me. The point is, that began my love affair with vikings. I vividly remember scenes from that book, it was a story of a viking boy and his growing to be a ferocious warrior but it opened up the world of Odin and Thor and of Valhalla to me- I was captivated and have been since. Digressing again but wondered if you have read Bernard Cornwell's incredible series- The Warrior Chronicles? I have the collection and along with his equally amazing "Warlord Chronicles", an alternative take on Arthur Pendragon, is something I can never get enough of. So here, reading of SwaSan in a different age in that time was thrilling.
Not to say, the rest were any less- be it the tragedy of Dante and Tonia, or the sadness of the lost chance of Aiden and Sophia, the tragedy of Kiyoshi and Sayuri (name immediately brought Memories of a Geisha to mind!) or the pathos of Sidra and Tarrin- each one so poignant and aching you leaving for a union the ages denied them. UNTIL you finally made it right, with our very own SwaSan, truly a match fated but having had their incredible love tested, not just in this lifetime but for eons before. Reading the SwaSan union was such a soothing balm and basically, I am now repeating myself but I think you get the picture- yep, loved it!
Oh and should have said- the tangential references to the likes of Ragini and Lakshya plus others across their other lifetimes too was perfectly blended in.
Basically a story with such delicious layers, I am grateful to you for sharing it. Please, please write more! 😳
Lots of love always,
Shru xoxo
Edited by tootiefrootie11 - 9 years ago