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Opening Images

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  ciscokid 
#1 ·
War.
War rolled over the world with fire and wings.
The Vir Requis marched. Men. Women. Children. Their clothes were tattered, their faces ashy, their bellies tight. As their cities burned behind them, they marched with cold eyes. All had come to fight this day: the young and the old, the strong and the wounded, the brave and the frightened. They were five thousand. They had no more places to hide.
The dying sun blazed red against them. The wind keened. Five thousand. The last of their race.
We will stand, we will fly, we will perish with fire and tooth, Benedictus thought, jaw clenched. Men will say: Requiem did not fade with a whimper, but fell with a thunder that shook the mountains.
And so he marched, and behind him his people followed, banners red and gold, thudding in the wind. Last stand of Requiem.
It was strange, he thought, that five thousand should move together so silently. Benedictus heard only thumping boots. No whispers. No sobs. No whimpers even from the children who marched, their eyes too large in their gaunt faces. The Vir Requis were silent today, silent for the million of their kin already dead, for this day when their race would perish, enter the realm of memory, then legend, then myth. Nothing but thudding boots, a keening wind, and a grumbling sky. Silence before the roar of fire.
Like other books Daniel's written, the opening image of Blood of Requiem immediately grabbed my attention. Not knowing anything about the Vir Requis, I'm totally invested in their fight. In my mind, the images painted are a blend of the movie Wizards and the 1978 Animated version of LOTR. (am I showing my age or my geek cred?) There's so much more detail supplied by my own imagination that's not included in the text itself. The heat, the haze, the jagged landscape, the dirt smudged faces, the soundtrack ....



I'm not sure I know where I'm going with this other than it feeds into my love of an opening image where I don't even have to know what's going on to enjoy it. I wanted to share my initial impression on the book and I'm also curious if it struck anyone else ... well that and whether or not I'm anywhere close to how anyone else pictured it.
 
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#2 ·
I'm with you, Geoffrey, the beginning of the book sucked me right in. It was written so vividly that I could picture it all in my mind.....somewhat like the images that you posted.  I can't remember a book ever drawing me in from the first word like this one did.  I can remember the thrill in knowing that I had a great adventure ahead of me while reading that first page. 

Toni
 
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