{"id":41720,"date":"2023-12-11T06:30:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T17:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=41720"},"modified":"2023-12-10T16:07:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T03:07:05","slug":"the-great-wall-of-night-series-read-along-part-1-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2023\/12\/11\/the-great-wall-of-night-series-read-along-part-1-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great “Wall Of Night” Series Read-Along: Part 1 Complete!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Introduction:<\/h3>\n

Away awa’ back in August<\/a> (oh my — feels like a Middle Earth Age distant!) I blew a ta-ran-ta-ra & tooted a vuvuzela for (FB) Group Haarth<\/a> and the Great “Wall Of Night<\/a>” Series (Re) Read-Along.<\/p>\n

For those who’re new here, and otherwise by way of a reminder, Group Haarth “…was formed by and for readers who want to hang out together and talk all-things, you know, Haarth.”<\/em> \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

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Rosie Wadman<\/p><\/div>\n

As the readalong coordinator, Rosie Wadman, shared in August, the purpose is to revisit the WALL story with fellow readers on a chapter by chapter basis, with a keen eye for “…a multitude of details, from individual characters and their relationships, to the beginning of narrative arcs, world building, and of course the joy of any re-read\u2026 all the foreshadowing!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It was also mentioned that there might<\/em> be progress reports — and now Rosie has let me know that the read-along for Part One of The Heir Of Night<\/a> (The Wall Of Night, Book One) is complete. So without further ado, here’s Rosie’s report:
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Great ReRead & Read-Along Overview: The Heir Of Night<\/em>, Part One<\/span><\/h3>\n
Hello everyone! You may remember that I have embarked on a Great Re-read of\u00a0The Wall of Night in anticipation of Book\u00a04. I am aiming for a chapter a week, notebook in hand, and posting a synopsis of thoughts in the\u00a0Haarth outpost on Facebook<\/a> – do come and join in if you inhabit that neck of the social media woods!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
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USA<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I have just reached the end of Part One of The Heir of Night, and it has been such a pleasure to pick the series up again. The slow\u00a0pace means I am revelling\u00a0in the details that are surfacing, as well as remembering\u00a0how thrilled\u00a0I was to find The Heir in my local\u00a0library,\u00a0all those years ago. I had rather fallen out of love with fantasy fiction, but Malian caught my eye as I was on the way to the checkout that day. How wonderful to\u00a0find a\u00a0book that had so many of the fantastical elements I loved, as well as mystery, pace and<\/i> plot, and some excellent characters. I’ll stop now and spare Helen’s blushes.
\n<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
I didn’t appreciate the full complexity of the opening chapters the first time I read the book. I do remember knowing from the ‘get-go’ that this was going to be a HUGE and wonderfully complex story, but what I love the most is that it is also tight<\/i>. Not a word, sideways glance, or footstep is wasted. Many important characters are introduced during the first section, each given time to round themselves out and supply us with plenty of clues about twists and turns yet to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
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UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
With multiple threads loaded onto the narrative loom, some stay on the surface and others almost immediately disappear into the weave, to rise back up in later books. I really appreciate that Helen doesn’t waste any time telling us about Haarth. We find out about the Keep of Winds, and some inferences about the wider world and its history, but our horizons will unfold\u00a0with the story, as do Malian and Kalan’s.<\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
That said, if I had to pick my favourite aspect of the opening chapters, I would have to say… foreshadowing! From the very first chapter, this is such a good setup for the series, with much of it is done through the characters and their relationships. Asantir will probably always be my favourite, but this slow read has cast new light on Nhairin and Korriya for me, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them both resurface in Book 4.<\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
by<\/em> Rosie Wadman<\/span>
\nGroup Haarth<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Conclusion:<\/h3>\n

OK, I am blushing a little, but in an entirely good way. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

If any of you would like to add your own reflections on anything Rosie has said, or ask her a question, then I’m very happy for you to do so here. And if you also inhabit the Great Plains of FB, you can always rock on over to Group Haarth<\/a> and knock on the door — it’s a private group, but very welcoming of all Haarthlings — and communicate directly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Away awa’ back in August (oh my — feels like a Middle Earth Age distant!) I blew a ta-ran-ta-ra & tooted a vuvuzela for (FB) Group Haarth and the Great “Wall Of Night” Series (Re) Read-Along. For those who’re new here, and otherwise by way of a reminder, Group Haarth “…was formed by and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-my-books","category-funstuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41720"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41726,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41720\/revisions\/41726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}