5 Details You Might Have Missed From The Curse of Broken Shadows
I’ve been having a lot of fun lately writing the prequel to The Curse of Broken Shadows. It has me reminiscing on the creation of this series and how much fun it was to build this intricate world (which you can read about on the series page). Since it has been a few months since the release of TCOBS, I thought I’d drop in for anyone who has read or has TCOBS on their TBR list with some details you might have missed (or, things to look forward to).
The female MC and male MC have reverse roles
All the fantasy books I’ve read lately have the mysterious male lead who is tall/dark/handsome and seems to know all the answers while the female lead is the inexperienced yet increasingly capable fighter who has their life changed by the male lead.
Let me make it clear: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! I love those books.
But I wanted to write something different. I didn’t want another brooding book boyfriend… I wanted a book girlfriend. I wanted to have the snarky, put-together female who is five steps ahead of everyone and ends up changing the life of the male.
Now, Cason isn’t inexperienced or incapable when we first meet him, but his view on life is drastically altered by meeting Brela. And that’s not to say he hasn’t made an impact on Brela’s life, either, but we finally find a female lead who has her shit together on page one.
Empress of Chaos
One of my favorite titles that Brela has is Empress of Chaos. You might have not noticed all the little quirks and sly moves she makes the first time you read the book. Sometimes a detail feels inconsequential, but it’s there for a reason. She lives for chaos, and if it isn’t present, she will make it herself. It makes her the most entertaining creature.
Brela is always five steps ahead in everything she does and says. Some of my favorite moments are when she accomplishes some task and leaves everyone gaping at her—example, when she somehow steals a decanter of wine and a dagger while handcuffed (or is she?) in front of the king. Or perhaps you noticed that she played three pranks on Boelyn within the first 12 hours of being in the castle? Or what about her casual campfire stories?
Pay attention to each little move she makes, especially because Cason notices them but can’t decipher the meaning until she’s already done something chaotic.
A new take on the desert
The Crystal Desert is not just your average fantasy desert. There always seems to be a correlation between desert, sand, and fire, but when I created the Crystal Desert, I wanted something new.
Magic related to these climates seem to prefer fire, but I took another approach. What about crystal?
Enter the Sand Sprites. Instead of the typical fire-bearing creatures of the desert, I quite literally used the desert to mold these glass men and women. Giving them human-like qualities while still having an air of fantasy (black sand eyes, glass features, pink sand for blushing, etc) made for a lot of really interesting interactions.
Add onto that the vaarasuxa, the beast that roams the desert sands. Their strength comes from lightning, not fire. Their crystal armor and repelling/attracting bones made for such a fun atmosphere and a really new take on what a fantasy desert is like.
Chapter titles
Something new I explored with this book was using chapter titles. Some of them are serious while others were absolutely hilarious to me and made the entire chapter stand out.
Now, some don’t read chapter titles, but let me share a few of my favorites to see if I can convince you that it might be worth it:
To Catch a Night Terror (how exactly do you chase down an assassin?)
A Shit Rescue (really, it just goes terribly)
The Shadow Wolf Under My Bed (which is a children’s story in my world)
The Silent Treatment (a chapter where a character literally can’t speak)
Favorite Knife (because we all have a favorite dagger)
The answer to what Brela is is answered in Serill’s chapter
While there are hints dropped throughout the entire book as to what the shadow wolf calls her and what she is, the answer still isn’t obvious by the end of the book. I promise, the answer will be revealed in the first chapters of book 2, but if you’re impatient, there’s a chance you might figure it out beforehand.
Serill spends his last chapter enjoying one of Brela’s final pranks, but it inadvertently pushes him toward figuring out the shadow language and learning what, exactly, the shadow wolf calls Brela. And, if you remember, whatever it is prompts him to run to Cason immediately in a panic, saying that she is in some serious danger. So, are you thinking about digging into that last chapter again to see if you can uncover the clues? Once the answer is revealed, I bet you’ll notice a lot more of those little hints throughout the book that you didn’t think much of the first time…
And if you want to keep reading about the series, here are a few of my favorite blog posts about it!
Excerpt | Drinking Game | Character Interview | 5 Facts
Read the prequel before everyone else: Patreon
