#and by traod storywriter and creator of kurtis

[positivelyamazonian]

As you reminded me "The Shadow Histories" during our epic fangirling over Eric Loren's voice, I think it's the right time to read it. You said you did so... Can you comment on that? Is it good? Did Murti nailed it again? Anything pls. Thankies 💗

Hi my sweetheart! Ok, sorry for the delay, and my apologies also to @castlekriegler who’s expecting a review to Murti’s novels since I read them last October but… they are not easy to review at all :) And also, I don’t want to make any spoilers, so… I’ll try to answer your question without revealing too much about the plot, ok?

First of all, you can purchase Murti’s novels at Amazon. They’re in Kindle format and very, very cheap - just like my personal novel, Irene - so here you have the links to buy the two published titles until this day:

The Shadow Histories, vol. 1 - The Empty Land and

The Shadow Histories, vol. 2 - The Severed Twin

So, let’s talk about these novels. First to say, they are only available in English and it’s a high level of English - wouldn’t you - so if your level of English is not really good, you may suffer a little reading it. Murti uses a complex and ellaborate language and grammar and he introduces his particular vocabulary for weapons, magic objects, races and monsters, even a new language for his characters, just as Tolkien did - in this case, a mix of Latin, French and other languages to compound his particular universe.

Also, his novels are very, very long - like if they were printed, they would be really thick books. Another thing that must be said is that the novels are considered fantasy for teens, as he himself has defined them, but personally I’d say there are even maturer, for the amounts of darkness, cruelty, and sinister stuff dwelling in those pages would make most of teens feel bad - I felt bad, and hell, I’m not a softie when it comes to cruelty and darknes. I wrote Lilith’s Scepter lmao D:

Long story short, even it you can classify this novels as teen fantasy, there are other elements - gore, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic stuff - who made the plot more complex. In the end, every reader will have their vision and for that, I recommend you to review him in Goodreads and make him now - he’d enjoy it, for sure!

Now, let’s go to the plot. The Shadow Histories are placed in a nearly futurist England, after some apocalyptic events which almost doomed humanity. Starting the action in the author’s home, Chester, the main character is a 12-years-old girl named Codi Conmar, who has really special abilities from which she’s unaware. But after several events that will put her life in risk, after losing her parents and be tossed in the run for her life, she will discover those inner special skills in her and be aware she belongs to a special kind of human, a gifted individual, whose inner powers will be decisive to fight the darkness and their minions lurking on humanity and restart a latent fight, hidden during centuries for the public domain.

Creatures similar to demons, creatures similar to angels, and gifted superhuman individuals, just like her, will accompany her through this painful and challenging journey, just to discover she is not really a young teen, but that’s only an external appearance. She’s older, much older, and she’s powerful, much more powerful than expected, and she’s the only hope to her kind and all mankind actually. And now that responsibility lays on her shoulders.

The creativeness and originality of Murti when writing this story is non-limited. It much reminds me the style of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - another AMAZING teen fantasy you should read - but Murti is darker, and gorer, and terrifying. Murti’s creatures are born of a nightmare, they are brutal, they are horrid, they are merciless, they sent chills down your spine. 

I remember one passage, one atrocious passage that made me shiver - one of the main characters, a child by the way, falls into the hands of one of those evil creatures - Bella Grendelmor, by the way, such an amazing character - and his fate is far worse than death. I’m still shocked at the description of that scene… and without any gore. 

Also, the references to TRAOD storyline are everywhere. He actually wrote these stories BEFORE TRAOD, so it’s normal he later used some of the ideas you can find in his novels - and man, that’s so heartbreaking. You can see Kurtis’ powers in Codi’s skills, but also in the other character’s skills, you can see some traces of Putai and even Marie Cornel in Grandma Bee… and so on. I won’t tell more. 

I recommend these novels if you’re into this kind of genre - as a fan of Tolkien, Weis&Hickman, ASOIAF and the rest of epic fantasy since I was a child, I’m totally in. Just be prepared for the feels and the twisted imagination and tortuous ways of thiscreative, amazingly talented writer.

Finally, the first book is a bit hard to read and follow - nothing is given you for granted and you’ve to carve your way throught the plot, but the second one is definitely more enjoyable and easy to read.

So that’s all I can say, without actually ruining the mystery. Just remind you that these are only the two first parts, for he’s working already in the sequels. Be sure to check his website to find out more information - for he wants to write 6 volumes. 

I hope my little non-review is helpful to you :) I’ve enjoyed the reading, but honestly I still prefer TRAOD storyline because Lara… and Kurtis… and my feels. But they are a great work indeed. Let’s hope that, when he’s finished with these, he may write a TRAOD novel finally. He already knows we want it! :D

[positivelyamazonian]

What do you mean by “more focused on general TRAOD lore than in Kurtis as character which doesn't surprise me anymore given what we know” - what is it given we know?

Hi, you’ve sent this question concerning my tags in the last post about Kurtis’ journal as merchandise from The Dark Angel project - just stating it for the readers that might be confused about what you’re asking about.

When I say “what we know” I refer mostly to all those - rather scarce - TRAOD/TR fans who have bothered to read every detail about TRAOD’s lore, every making off video and documentary concerning this game, every interview and beta/hidden/deleted/unused content related to all this universe - which I did. I also refer to those who have discussed all of it in this Tumblr over the past years - and honestly if you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s because, perhaps, you’re not totally up to date about it.

I would recommend to catch up  - and those are long hours of reading - with all this content so you can have the whole picture of what I’m talking about, but just to reduce it to the point that concerns us now, it’s not surprising Kurtis’ journal was gonna end being just a TRAOD lore concept art compendium than a Kurtis focused item as character because:

1. It was always announced and marketed like that. Murti Schofield has always stated the journal was gonna be a compendium of fresh TRAOD concept art - it’s not old, the old one you can find it in the notes I pledged for in the Kickstarter - more focused on Konstantin Heissturm - Kurtis’ father - character than in Kurtis himself. 

2. Murti also said there’s no content related to the game itself, but a collection of data and lore prior to the events of the game.

3. He also said there was not gonna be big notes or textes or written lore, mostly concept art, maps and short data file about some characters he didn’t have space to develop more in the final version of the game, such as the Cleaner. 

4. Finally, that most of the present lore belonged to Konstantin Heissturm and not Kurtis Trent. The journal belongs to his father in origin and he receives it from him. 

Now with all of this is not surprising the journal has turned out like this, but to be fair I must admit I, myself, was expecting a bit more because, after all, it’s called Kurtis’ journal, not Konstantin’s journal. I wanted it to look more rough, used, and worn out fitting not only Kurtis’ hazardous lifestyle - as it was marketed - but also Konstantin’s himself. But it’s Murti doing it, and Murti Schofield is extremely delicate and polished in his calligraphy and design. So in the end it’s more a Murti’s journal containing lore of the game than some item in-character. For me, it looks like more like an add-on to the old notes I pledged for than a whole new product.

Again, though I’m a bit disappointed - because I wanted to see more of KURTIS himself in here, not Murti/Konstantin - I am not surprised of the result and here’s the point you’re asking about: Murti was never that interested in releasing more lore concerning Kurtis himself. If you’ve paid attention to all of his interviews, statements, and the way he sees the whole TRAOD project itself - I am now talking about the game released in 2003, not the Dark Angel music project - which I did because I’ve been in some contact with him recently and also following his activity due to my backing of the project, Murti wasn’t the only creator of the story, neither he was of the characters, Kurtis included.

In fact, the final version of the story we see in the game has much more to do with Adrian Smith and Richard Morton’s involvement and creative decisions than with Murti as storywriter. Soon you realize he cares much more about Konstantin - a character that barely appears in the game because he’s already deceased, not even his name’s mentioned - than about Kurtis. That doesn’t mean he isn’t involved in his bio and lore and other details, because he absolutely was, I just mean that the final version of what we saw is a teamwork, not just Murti’s ideas. Even Murti is not at all behind the dynamic between Lara and Kurtis - the delicious dynamic we all know about - this being a product of the creative ideas and process of Morton rather than Murti.

From the moment only Murti Schofield was involved in TR Dark Angel project and not other Core Design members, I’ve had very clear in my mind than only a part of the final lore of the game was gonna be present at the project. And it’s fine, I don’t mind, it’s amazing they gave me the chance to meet this fantastic writer. But as I’ve been following all the content related with the project and the game I realized he doesn’t know everything or could answer to everything he was asked, because, naturally, he could only respond to the parts he was involved with - and that’s perfectly fine, and he had no problem to admit it, and nothing otherwise was expected!

This means many details about what Kurtis is, looks, and we enjoy about him were born by Richard Morton’s decision. So I knew this part was not gonna be present in the journal. Also, if you explore Murti’s activity and statements, he’s been recently working more on the past lore of the game. He’s been talking and headcanoning more about Konstantin than Kurtis, he’s been talking about more of the Nephilim, the Lux Veritatis, and producing content for Morgau and Eckhardt rather than for Kurtis and Lara at all. And it’s because he handles the part in which he was involved, the lore of the game, not the game content itself. For that, they should have included Morton or Smith, as far as I’ve found out.

This means Lara was never gonna be present at the journal, neither Kurtis as personality, because it was Richard Morton who created this personality - he chose the final name, I think, after all! Murti wanted him to be called Vance Renner - and of course Murti has been more seduced and interested recently in Konstantin as character than in Kurtis himself. And more invested in describing artefacts, power devices and other lore definitely not present in the final version of the game because he left the team before the game was released, since his task had been concluded: giving lore and plot. 

As you can see, this way, it is not surprising the journal is not a piece of merchandise that responds 100% to the final version you saw of what Kurtis is in the game, nor I expected it, but rather a recently crafted product that reflects more of the immediate past of the game’s universe, than the game plot itself. I would say it looks, at most, as if Kurtis has just gotten this diary from his father and the blank pages are still to be filled by him.

Which again, despite it was noted in advance, and we all could see photos of the inside pages, and nothing that wasn’t marketed was delivered, I still would have preferred it to look like a Kurtis’ journal, not a TRAOD lore concept art compendium whose pages don’t even look aged. But yet again, if you’ve been digging and listening to Murti’s part in the whole project, it was expectable in a way. And all of this I am not saying in a derogatory manner. It’s natural. TRAOD was the result of a teamwork, not just one single man. This one single man, thus, gives you his part in the story, but not the whole picture at all.

I hope I’ve made myself clear with this. Sorry for the long post, and I recommend you to read the whole content around this game, because it’s worth the time if you care about such things.

[positivelyamazonian]

Awesome set of TRAOD main characters’ drawings -Lara, Kurtis and Eckhardt- made in April-June 2016 by Murti Schofield, AOD’s storywriter. 

Some of them are going to be included in the 20th year Anniversary’s book previously announced. There are 12 so far. He’ll be sharing more over the next weeks.

Shared with Murti’s permission. Please, credit him if you share them.