inkky-m - Tumblr blog

[inkky-m]

These pictures are my commissions painted by 行將黃昏（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/1600127?role=painter）

Two small illustrations inspired by songs:

Vaelin: Me and My Friends Are Lonely - Matt Maeson

I know things that you don't I've met murdering folk And they took one of our own They took our innocent home So I can't open up to you

Caenis: yeti - Paris Paloma

Wе ѕwіm іn dіffеrеnt сіrсlеѕ nоw І ѕаw уоur trасkѕ іn ѕnоwу grоund Аnd dіdn't wаnt tо fоllоw thеm аѕ уоu fеll оff thе еаrth Wе'rе nоthіng but mуthѕ nоw Тhаt nеіthеr оf uѕ bеlіеvе іn

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 第28號酒店（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/1681900?role=painter）

"I think I prefer life without prophecy."

[inkky-m]

These pictures are my commissions painted by 菌宴（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

Bro...

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 山上的树（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

Rearing Horse + Strength

[inkky-m]

Thanks 遥远岑寂(https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/815090?role=painter) for painting this for me ^^

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 香煎鱼子墨西哥饼（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/176987?role=painter）

Weep for the quarry murdered by the glorious realm you've championed, and do not claim that your hands are clean of their blood. The moment you chose to walk in the wake of the man blessed by the wolf, you donned the mantle of the predator. Weep then, all you left are tears.

The deer symbolizes both Sella and Caenis.

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 山上的树（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

King of Wolves + The Hanged Man

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 香煎鱼子墨西哥饼（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/176987?role=painter）

a protagonist's destiny

一将功成万骨枯

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 山上的树（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

Coiled Snake + The Hierophant

I want to create a deck of Warrior's Bluff but it's obviously unrealistic though I guess there might be Vaelin as King of Wolves + Judgment and Nortah as Rearing Horse +Strength

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 山上的树（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

Volarian Temple

每次读到Caenis退场我都很悲伤，但是又觉得那段情节有点讽刺：信仰和王权的最忠实的拥护者竟然死在异教徒的神庙。不过说到底不管是信仰还是王权都不曾真正接纳或认可过他……害群之马，对于敌人和战友皆是如此。

[inkky-m]

Invited my artist friend 用小刀削减(https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/2261416?role=painter) to draw a comic strip ^^

Caenis was his friend after all. His best friend. Who better to tell? With assassins hunting him he would need a friend to watch his back. They would fight them together… Confide in no-one…This is a secret that could mean your death.Sollis’s words stilled his tongue, firming his resolve. Caenis was his friend it was true, but he couldn’t tell him the truth. It was too big, too important for a whispered secret between boys.

“Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, brother,” he said, crossing his arms and hugging himself for warmth.

“I always will, Vaelin,” Caenis replied. “You know there are no secrets between us.”

“Brother,” Vaelin repeated softly. “We’ve called each other that for so long I wonder if it still holds meaning. So much has been concealed, so many lies spoken.”

Who betrayed who?

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 山上的树（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

“You're a few points off,” he observed, although in truth the inaccuracy was barely noticeable. “The last few drifted to the left.” “Yes,” Caenis agreed. “My aim wanders after forty arrows or so.”

I'd love to see Caenis shoot an arrow straight to Vaelin if Vaelin keeps on nitpicking like that... Anyway happy new year!

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by nininini拟（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/699709?role=painter）

“They were expecting a brother of Harlick’s acquaintance, someone complicit in his scheme. I found him, killed him, and took his place. The assassins hired by Nortah’s father were not so easily killed, so I sent them in the wrong direction, a direction I expected would lead them clear of any brothers. Mikehl, however, was always so slow, and so easily lost.”

The emblem of the Seventh Order was a snake and a goblet. It must be blood in the goblet instead of wine.

[inkky-m]

讲得太好了……我同意每一个字！

Book review:  Blood Song

The book:  Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, book one of the Raven’s Shadow series The life story of a man who grows up in a monastic order of warriors, and becomes famous throughout multiple kingdoms for his skill both as a duelist and a commander.  Most of the book is framed by Vaelin al Sorna, the main character, telling his life story while held captive and being sent to take part in a duel to the death.

Why I read it: I think it was on a list of fantasy books for fans of Scott Lynch, or just on somebody’s list of recommendations.  I wouldn’t particularly recommend it to Lynch fans though, so who knows?

The review: The plot elements may be fairly cliched, but they still held my interest reasonably well as they played out.  Vaelin is the son of a nobleman, his father is honestly a butcher who’s been given a title due to his service to the crown, he abandons Vaelin at a young age to be raised in the Sixth Order, a monastery of sorts that trains warriors.  Did that run-on sentence bother you?  GOOD.  They are everywhere in the book, at worst probably about three or four PER PAGE.  I had to mentally edit as I read, breaking them up into sentences or switching punctuation as appropriate.  Mr. Ryan, if you’re interested I can actually write it all up for you.  It’s not that hard to do but it makes a HUGE difference in how the book flows.

Apparently Blood Song was initially self-published, and it might be snobbery but I wouldn’t be quite so upset if I saw this issue in a self-published book.  But the version I read was a hardcover from Penguin!  I would kind of expect that a traditionally published book would have been, you know, edited.

(I should probably be nicer, and I did like the book overall - if I hadn’t I would have stopped reading.  And anyone who writes an entire book is hugely impressive to me, given how long it takes me even to put together these reviews.  I just really would’ve expected someone to catch this.)

So, moving on.  A little under half the book is spent with the Sixth Order.  We go through Vaelin’s training with him and his brothers as he grows from a boy into a man, deals with various intrigues and attempts on his life, and proves himself to be much more honorable than his father.

Time for criticism again.  It’s possible this one is entirely on me, given that Ryan is apparently a researcher with a degree in medieval history, but the book did not feel very well-researched.  Given that so much of the book is focused on Vaelin’s training, and that the setting seems very obviously designed to FEEL realistic, this had a big impact on my perception of the book.  One example of this is just attention to detail, and again the kind of thing that an editor would fix.  Vaelin, helping fellow student Dentos prepare for the Test of Knowledge, quizzes him on the name of the Third Aspect of the order.  Dentos, who’s had a very hard time learning any of the history, correctly responds “Kinlial”, which is supposed to show Vaelin’s growth as a leader - Dentos was originally failing history quite badly, but now is more or less competent because Vaelin has organized his dorm-mates to teach him.  Problem is, three pages later, Vaelin reminds himself, “Remember, Carlist was the third aspect in the Order’s history not the second.”  Oops.  Vaelin seems quite sure of himself, too, so I don’t think it’s supposed to show he’s nervous.

Two other points which seemed a bit unrealistic.  First, the swordsmanship.  I spent four years learning Olympic-style fencing, which is quite a bit off from the sort of fighting Vaelin would be doing, but gives me some sort of foundation to at least pretend I know what I’m talking about.  The very first day, Vaelin is given a training sword and taught to parry via the evidently effective means of the instructor hitting him until he figures it out.  In fencing, you do not get your hands on a sword on the first day.  With a really strict or traditional instructor, you might not even get your hands on a sword the second day.  You do not get to hold the sword until you know how to hold *yourself*.  In Vaelin’s world, I guess nobody bothers with footwork?

Later on in the book, Vaelin and his cohort learn horsemanship.  I admit to knowing nothing about horses, but I was sort of under the impression that it’s best to start out on a more experienced, less spirited horse so as to learn the fundamentals of riding.  Instead, Vaelin gets a two-year-old wild (but broken) stallion.  This strikes me as suboptimal.  Indeed, Vaelin does have trouble with his horse throughout the book, and it never really warms up to him.  Luckily this never has any plot impact whatsoever, as despite the horse’s incredible foultemperedness and Vaelin’s own lack of riding skill, during battle or when sneaking or just riding full out, everything is just fine.

All of the above aside, the book is really well written, and manages to make growing up in a monastery where you’re beaten every day, and could very well die during one of your yearly tests, sound quite appealing.  Vaelin’s brothers are interesting characters in their own right, particularly Caenis, Nortah, and later on, Frentis.  When the novice brothers are given a week to spend with another order, Frentis chooses the order full of mystic contemplation just to have an excuse to sit on his ass for a week, and even with those lax standards still manages to get kicked out after just two days (though the fact that he appparently sexually harassed a Sister really isn’t as funny as he thinks it is, and I’m not sure how funny the *author* thinks it is).

Anyway, debates about the plausibility aside, the Sixth Order House is a really well-written setting, along with some colorful characters.

In the second slightly-more-than-half of the book, we go through Vaelin’s military career and service to the king.  There’s a sort of Three Musketeers feel to the intrigue and skirmishes, and I actually wish this part of the book were a bit longer.  I also wish the women were slightly more fleshed out than in The Three Musketeers…and I’m really not a fan of Sister Sherin’s arc, although that’s too much of a spoiler to go into in detail.

This section of the book also allows Vaelin a chance to delve into some of the deeper mysteries he’s come across.  Is the magic known as the Dark real, and how does it work?  Who was really behind some of the earlier attacks on his life?  What’s up with the wolf that saved his life in his first test in the Order?  As this book is the first in a series, we don’t get answers to everything, but those we do get are satisfying, but still do a good job leaving things open for us to find out in future books.  We also see here that he’s not telling his biographer everything, which I wasn’t sure about at first but eventually decided is a nice touch.  Unlike, say, The Name of the Wind, Vaelin’s story isn’t over yet, and he is still living it.  He’ll share tales of his childhood to satisfy the historian’s curiosity (and make him more sympathetic?), but he isn’t giving anything away that pertains to his current mission.

With everything that’s been built up, by the time we catch up to the frame story, the event he was actually imprisoned for is a bit of a letdown.  In the Empire where he’s been captured, he’s known as the Hope Killer, a sort of vicious murderer who struck down the Emperor’s universally beloved, divinely chosen successor.  To Vaelin, it was more or less one more enemy in a battle.  Again, something that could be done poorly, but here I think it works well and sort of emphasizes just how mutually alien Vaelin and the Empire are to each other.  Vaelin is seen as a barbarian, which is obviously false in the sense that we see a rich culture and history maintained by the various Orders, but true in the sense that his values and traditions and the Empire’s have almost nothing to do with each other.

Read this book if: You wish The Three Musketeers were a longer series which didn’t end with d'Artagnan working for Richeliu, and with more magic.

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by 费雅纳罗好吃吗（https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/2133015?role=painter）

The Wolfrunners' escape from the Volarian army in Tower Lord

  疆国禁卫军奉命征战库姆布莱，南下两日后得知倭拉进犯，遂返回瓦林斯堡保卫都城。一日后在城外与倭拉军队相遇，并遭到达纳尔袭击，战争大臣战死。凯涅斯集结军团向敌方中军冲锋，强迫倭拉将军集中兵力防御，趁机带领士兵向西北方向逃往灰峰北部，尝试由阿斯莱进入尼塞尔，此时疆国禁卫军只余三千人。与此同时，维林率北疆戍卫军从北塔出发，支援埃尔托城。察觉到有近万倭拉骑兵从西方逼近后，疆国禁卫军试图躲进灰峰，但时间紧迫，只能就地防守，与倭拉决一死战。经过五天五夜急行军，维林和俄尔赫骑手及时赶到战场，为疆国禁卫军解围。两人一同解救了五个兵团，其中损失最小的奔狼仅剩三分之一兵力。

  第二部的战斗都很激烈，尤其喜欢这段。作者的表现手法很绝，把疆国禁卫军的动向藏在各处交谈中，需要仔细拼凑才能得知完整路线。

  好精彩的反击，好精彩的解围，有人会把他们载入史册吗？凯涅斯留在第六宗城堡的档案恐怕也被尤里希森林的大火燃尽了吧……

[inkky-m]

This picture is my commission painted by Maiao (https://www.mihuashi.com/profiles/1151628?role=painter)

This is... Well this is Caenis Al Nysa in my mind. I don't know why his appearance is lack of discription...

不理解，真的非常不理解，为什么凯涅斯全书一句特征突出的外貌描写都没有……既然Caenis这个名字出自希腊神话中由女变男的英雄，他还是全书惟三被形容为“漂亮”的男性，进行一个凯涅斯是美女的编排【其实最开始有怀疑过这个角色是女扮男装，但是显然没和作者对上脑回路×

面部：

  •“他的下巴缝了八针，处理伤口的第五宗兄弟说，这道伤疤肯定要跟他一辈子”，恭喜角色凯涅斯•艾尔•奈萨获得道具“惟一的外貌细节”！

  •头发的话参考一下其他被形容为“英俊”的角色，诺塔“一头金发在风中飞舞”，麦西乌斯“一头红发恣意飞舞”，海盾“蜜金色的长发犹如雄狮的鬃毛”，达纳尔“长长的黑发系于脑后”，看得出来疆国男性以长发为美。发色不打算考虑金色、红色、黑色等显眼的颜色，个人比较喜欢灰色，看起来像安静的小老鼠。感觉以他的身份和性格，平常不太会随性散发，高马尾又太张扬，束低马尾的可能性比较大。

  •眼睛也应当不会引人注目【但凡颜色独特也不至于一句描写都没有……】，于是设定成最平凡的棕色。暗处会显得发黑，因为用多天赋双眼流血的时候应该很漂亮。以及好想加入使用天赋时眼睛色泽变亮这种设定，如果棕色亮成金色的话真的又美丽又充满威胁。

  •泪痣纯粹是私设，好看就完事了×

服装：

  •“凯涅斯穿着第六宗兄弟的装束，但他死的时候是第七宗的宗老”，凯涅斯不穿第六宗蓝斗篷是一种ooc×

  •斗篷上的白色饰带有点神职人员的感觉，毕竟信仰战士。

  •不知道他会不会偷偷标明第七宗的身份，宗师们几乎全知道格瑞林和他是第七宗的，说不定会吧。“蛇和高脚杯，我敢打赌，这是第七宗的象征”，饰带上的花纹出自此处；反正“很早就废弃不用了”，凯涅斯了解很多古老的故事，第七宗的旧标志被他加在稍微显眼的地方似乎也合理。

  •“凯涅斯从来不以气场取胜，如今竟有一番堂堂的风范，或许是因为那枚缝在深蓝色斗篷上的鲜红钻石”，红钻在第六宗是宗将的标志，比原文里的华丽了好几倍真是对不起×【凯涅斯这时候30岁出头，已经能率领兵团并且和麾下相处不错，按照宗会18岁正身、服役15年后有资格封宗将算， 他受封的时候年轻到不合常理。

  •里面的衣服，宗会发的是“棉衬衣、紧身裤、靴子”，他在马蒂舍森林穿过一套“黑貂皮猎装”，感觉后者听起来更好看。

有的没的其它细节：

  •凯涅斯应该是脸瘦身上不瘦的那种，估计每天拉弓挥剑的也瘦不了。

  •声音沙哑……这也画不出来啊×

补全计划：

  •整点儿带武器的，第六宗标配直剑、个人擅长的长弓和飞刀、宗会标配+适合ranger设定的猎刀、步兵用的盾牌和战戟……都想看看呜呜

  •维林再见他时有形容他“双鬓夹杂了些许白发”，想看间杂白发( ´艸｀)

[inkky-m]

wrote something about Nortah and Caenis... the fact that Caenis haunted Nortah haunts me :::3