Feb 26, 2021
Of Blood and Bone, Nora Roberts
Thoughts, observations, quotes etc
I finished reading this novel, ‘Of Blood And Bone’ by Nora Roberts, and I've been itching to share interesting things I found therein. I decided to write about it.
About the book
Thirteen years ago, a catastrophic pandemic known as The Doom killed billions of people. For those left behind, it is a chance to build a new world. But The Doom was no ordinary virus. In some survivors, known as Uncannys, it awoke strange powers — gifts that can be used for good or evil. (from the blurb)
Does this ring a bell? There are a lot of similarities. The Doom killed billions of people. People were quarantined, to protect them from contracting the virus. It was a deadly virus. They say, literature is a reflection of society.
The novel, ‘Of Blood and Bone’ was published in 2018. A year before Covid-19 . Had Nora Roberts forseen outbreak of covid-19?
Fallon Swift has the responsibility to save the world. She is 13years old when she goes away with Mallick, to be trained. The training takes two years. Nora spends a good section, two-thirds of the book or thereabout narrating on the training. They say, “Good things take time”. That may sound cliche, but isn’t it true that indeed good things take time?
As I read the book I came across statements that I found inspiring, interesting, intriguing, name it all. Let me share them🙂.
- Even with food, with shelter, with clothing and weapons, even with magicks not all survived. Not all would in the times to come.
Some things will be lost. They cannot be redeemed. And that’s okay. Let them go, and move on.
- Sometimes we think and plan and weigh. Sometimes we feel and act. And always, always, you trust what’s in you.
Trust your guts.
- He(Malick, the instructor) had not known of the place. Mallick thought. But She (Fallon Swift) knew. Because she’d asked, peppered others with questions, dug for details like a girl with a shovel.
Just a little curious.
- A broken spirit is more debilitating than a broken body.
- I’m glad I never had to be in charge. It carries a lot of weight. You’re a soldier, that’s hard enough, but it’s a lot harder to be the one giving all the orders. So let’s be good soldiers and obey the orders.
Sigh. For those in leadership positions, so much respect. We need you.
- No, it’s (world ) not going back. But it can, and it will go forward. It’s harder and slower to go forward if there is no one in charge, and if people only mind their own.
- A few visible bruises serve as a reminder to be faster, stronger, smarter the next time.
- Those who complain and push against change ignore what happened to the world that was, and learn nothing from it.
- It will take time.
Saving the best for last. This is my best statement.
Fallon was taken to a place with no bathroom. She so badly wanted the bathroom: shower, toilet, sink with hot and cold water running. She talked with Mallick, her instructor, to conjure a bathroom. Mallick refused. Instead, he gave her three quests. Only after successfully completing them that’s when she will have the bathroom.
She is almost to complete her second quest, finding a white wolf. Her friend, Mick, incites her to trick the wolf. She had the powers anyway. “…Dogs and horses and cats are easier. He(the white wolf) is powerful, and he’s not ready to let me in. It’ll take time”, Fallon responded. Just a little more patient. Eventually, the wolf finally followed her.
Just a little more patient.
Sadly the story comes to the end. It leaves me suspense. But isn’t that how stories end? What will become of Duncan and Fallon? In two years she plans to attack D.C. Will the world be restored? Will the world be cleansed of the dark magic? This and more in the next and last book in the Chronicles of the One Trilogy, ‘The Rise of Magicks’.
SOLAS DON SAOL(light for life)
