Yaniss S. Chougui's Blog

NEWS UPDATE

Happy Independence Day weekend. Celebrate the 4th of July with School Wars: The Prophecy of Light. The eBook edition of the book will be available for free from 7/3/16 to 7/7/16. Tell your friends.

https://www.amazon.com/School-Wars-Pr...

Plot (Spoiler Free)

The plot of School Wars: The Prophecy of Light is unique compared to other books. The plot is different to a cliche Science-Fiction/Adventure book. It follows a main protagonist that is well developed, a good main character cast, great supporting characters, and more. There are no plot holes in the book whatsoever and is bringing a adventure feeling to one's soul. The author places the battles in the right part of the book, while the story is not rushed at all. Danny Starlight is not your normal mainstream character. He develops his character through his actions and quotes. The other characters help progress the story including Rover. There is a lot of plot twists throughout the plot. The plot gives the characters a lot of obstacles to go through in order to reach their goal. The prophecy came at the right time of the book, developing Danny even more. The climax of the book was intense especially the final battle. There are some emotional moments through the book. Overall, School Wars: The Prophecy of Light has one of the best plots in literature.

School Wars Battles

In the book, School Wars: The Prophecy of Light, the author tries to keep the readers engaged with the book by imputing a lot of battles. There are two types of battles in the novel, a battle and a minibattle. The difference between the two is that minibattles involve a squad of soldiers facing another small squad of battles, while a battle is described as a battle between two schools with significant soldiers. I will describe each battle and minibattle in the novel (Note: I will elaborate more on each battle in the future).
Trackers vs Zoneiac Guards (Minibattle): This was a confrontation between the trackers and the Zoneiac Guards. The trackers walked into Meterozoneiac City as a guard stopped. This conversation turned into a battle as the trackers' journey is interrupted. Battle of the Courtyard (Minibattle): This was a minibattle between the trackers and a patrol of Moonrise Light soldiers.The trackers arrive at Moonrise Light just in time for a meeting. During the meeting, the trackers' cover is blown as they face some Moonrise Light soldiers.Battle of Moonrise Light (Battle): The first battle between Sunset Shadows and Moonrise Light since the latter stole Sunset Shadows's northern territory. Sunset Shadows deploy a big battle patrol in order to save the captured trackers Battle of the Alley (Minibattle): This was a minibattle between Danny, Jimmy, Marcus, Jay, and Bruce against Moonrise Light's trackers. Danny and his comrades discover some thing peculiar that it leads a fight against their rival school.Battle of Sunset Shadows (Battle): The second battle between Moonrise Light and Sunset Shadows occurs. Moonrise Light seeks revenge on Sunset Shadows by invading their school.Battle of  the Windmill (Minibattle): A minibattle between the trackers, Medical Students, and Sunstrike unit against a patrol of Moonrise Light soldiers. A rescue mission turned into a detonation battle as Sunset Shadows and Moonrise Light face each other one more time.Battle of Meterozoneiac City (Battle): No information needed

Themes (Never Give Up)

One of the most prominent themes in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light is never giving up. This theme is indeed portrayed by the characters in the novel. The most prominent character who demonstrated this message is the main protagonist, Danny Starlight. Danny's goal throughout the book is to get promoted to a beta trooper. He tries to achieve his goals through many events. Danny volunteered himself to become a tracker thinking that he could find information that could help Sunset Shadows with their Moonrise Light problem. When that failed, Danny decides to force himself to do the impossible simulation test. When he fails the test, does Danny give up? No, he doesn't. After the simulation test, Danny was told about The Prophecy of Light. The prophecy motivated Danny to reach his goal. A few months later and he keeps on working hard to achieve his goal. He fought in the Battle of the Alley, Battle of Sunset Shadows, and Battle of the Windmill which leads to the final battle of the book. Danny meets his fate as he faced a former friend in a duel during the Battle of Meterozoneiac City. When he won the battle, his goal was finally reached. He was promoted to not just a beta trooper, but to an Alpha Trooper alongside his friends as he surpassed his goal. The main message is never give up on your dreams, it can be achieved with time and hard work.

Themes (Teamwork)

A second theme to the novel School Wars: The Prophecy of Light is teamwork. Teamwork is shown a bunch of times throughout the novel, whether it's strategies, planning, or tactics. This theme is mostly portrayed from the trackers, and the mini battles in the book. An example of this is shown in the battle between the trackers and the Zoneiac Guards. Throughout the battle, the trackers needed to use a big tactic  to beat the experienced Zoneiac Guards. The big tactic was two trackers startling the Zoneiac Guards by shooting on the ground near their feet, while the rest of the trackers shoot the startling Guards dead. In the end, the tactic worked as the trackers won the battle. This tactic is a fine example of teamwork between the trackers. Another plan that established teamwork within the characters was during the Battle of the Windmill. In the Battle of the Windmill the trackers, the Medical Students, and the captured Sunstrike unit had to work together to destroy Moonrise Light's base. They came up with a detailed plan to destroy the place, which involved splitting up into two groups. The plan worked as they ended up obliterating the base, but it cost the small group three soldiers. Overall, teamwork could lead to success as shown through these two examples. That is why teamwork is one of the themes in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light.

Themes (Loyalty)

There are many themes in the novel School Wars: The Prophecy of Light. One of the main themes in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light is loyalty. Loyalty is either shown from the characters, the events, the quotes, etc. For example, all of the soldiers attending Sunset Shadows are loyal to their school. They demonstrate their loyalty to the school by defending their pride in battles against other schools. They also trust one another strengthening the loyalty between the brave soldiers. In my opinion the most loyal characters in the book are Marcus Wells, Thomas Hernandez, and Dillon Sunshine. Out of these three characters Marcus has been developed the most in this area. Events in the book especially in the final battle demonstrated Sunset Shadows's soldiers loyalty to their school. When Danny and his friends cracked the code to the computer chips they learned that the infamous organization was going to invade Sunset Shadows. They told the whole school of this unusual discovery and they planned to attack Meterozoneiac City. That led to one of the greatest climaxes in literature history. That is the main reason why loyalty is one of the themes in this novel.

Characters Part Three

This post is a continuation of the last few posts. I will once again talk more about character development in the novel School Wars: The Prophecy of Light. The next character I will talk about is Dillon Sunshine. Dillon is a very popular beta trooper at Sunset Shadows. He is one of the captains of the famous unit, Sunstrike. Dillon may not have appeared in the book a lot compared to the others, but the readers know that he is loyal to his school. One of his famous quotes was "I would do anything to protect Sunset Shadows" symbolizing his loyalty. Near the climax of the book Dillon's loyalty was put to the test when he learned the dreaded truth about Sunset Shadow's president. Dillon decided to eliminate his loyalty towards the president as he joined the Resurgents. Dillon has evolved into a loyal leader to the Resurgents and to his school especially after figuring out the truth about Sunset Shadow's president. The next character I will talk about is Mr. Mount. Like Dillon, Mr. Mount is not featured in a lot of chapters in the book, but he still was a well developed character. Mr. Mount is known for his anger and strictness. He is the AVICT teacher in the novel. Throughout the book the readers witness Mr. Mount's anger especially towards the main protagonist, Danny Starlight. Later on in the book,  the final battle occurred. Sunset Shadows or the Resurgents needed all of its soldiers to fight in this battle including the Alpha Teachers. We learned that Mr. Mount is not just some angry teacher. He is a brave, strong, and loyal Sunset Shadows soldier. His bravery in the Battle of Meterozoneiac City earned Mr. Mount a promotion. Another character that has been well developed is Thomas Hernandez. He does feature more in the book than Mr. Mount and Dillon. Thomas, in my opinion, is Danny's greatest ally in the book. Thomas supported Danny's decision to become a tracker, was also supportive of Danny during the Battle of Sunset Shadows, Moonrise Light, and Meterozoneiac City. He has also been loyal to his school just like the other characters in the book. Overall, if I had to describe Thomas's personality in one word it would be supportive.

Characters Part Two

This post is a continuation of the last one. I will be talking more about the character development in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light. Next character on our list is the comic relief character, Rover Muller. Rover is definitely not the brightest character in the novel. He has came up with a lot of stupid moments now famously known as Rover Moments. Throughout the novel Rover met his soulmate, Maria, during the quest to Moonrise Light High School. When (spoiler alert) Maria got killed as the book progressed, Rover showed his angry side to the whole school. Rover really developed into an emotional character showing of glances of his anger throughout the book, while keeping his comic relief personality.

Another character who had a major character development was Marcus Wells. At the beginning of the book, Marcus is only known as the weapons and computer guy. Though he is still knowledgeable about weapons and computers, Marcus has turned into one of Danny's biggest allies. In the final moments before the climax of the book, Marcus was one of the few soldiers who supported Danny and Bruce during their speech. Marcus has developed into the most loyal character in the book. Another character that has had character development is Bruce Chang Long. Bruce is an Asian who is instructed by The Fig to tell the prophecy to Danny. Bruce became wiser and wiser as the story progressed even after the prophecy was revealed. He like Jay was also an underrated soldier at Sunset Shadows. He trained Danny Starlight and turned him into a real soldier. Bruce has developed into one of the wisest character in the novel.

Characters Part One

The characters in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light are amazing. A lot of the characters in the book got great character development throughout the novel especially the main characters. For example, at the beginning of the book the main protagonist, Danny Starlight, was a little warrior with big dreams. Throughout the book Danny Starlight started getting developed into an amazing soldier. From his time as a little warrior to his time as a tracker, the reader can notice Danny's development. He became a soldier no one ever wants to pick a fight with especially after the final battle. Another character whose character has been developed is the shadowy figure himself, JayTron or Jay Tron or just plain Jay. At the beginning of the book no one knew of the shadowy figure except for Bruce, Anthony, and Alec. All of the characters in the book indeed judged Jay badly, saying he was only a shadowy figure. Even Danny blamed Jay during the quest to Moonrise Light even though Jay wasn't part of the quest. Throughout the book Jay proved to the other characters that he is one of the best soldiers Sunset Shadows got. He showed his power during the second half of the book. The characters never judged Jay again after that. Another character that got some character development is Travis Brodes. At the start of the novel Travis is just the vice president of the tracker program. Little was known about him. Throughout the novel we learned that Travis has a really big heart caring for all those around him. He was the one who witnessed the death of one of the character's love interest alongside Bayern. He comforted the character, Rover, after he told him that his love was gone. He also expressed his other self in a quest when tractors reunited his heart with farmers and cowboys.

Inspirations

In order to write a novel, you must be inspired to create one. Inspiration can take minutes, weeks, months, or even years to come by. Many authors have great, honorable, and even weird inspirations to start writing a book and that is good. Suzanne Collins's, author of The Hunger Games series, inspiration for her bestselling series, The Hunger Games, was the Vietnam War for example. The author she idolized the most was none other than Edgar Allen Poe. In fact, School Wars: The Prophecy of Light's author, Yaniss Chougui, has a kind of a great/weird inspiration for writing his debut novel. It came during his sophomore year of high school (Yes, Mr. Yaniss did publish his book when he was a teenager).  He was on his school's Track and Field team, in which he mostly ran long distance. One day during a mile warm up, he noticed something. He envisioned that he and his colleagues are part of a battle patrol, protecting the school from danger. This imagery later became the iconic trackers, who are sent to spy on other schools. The inspiration continued during the beginning of Yaniss's junior year. It was during Cross Country season. His fellow runners inspired the Sunset Shadows's tracker unit. On top of that, the football players were also an inspiration for Yaniss writing his novel. During a three mile race, the Varsity football team were still practicing when he imagined the football players being the popular soldiers in the military. Some of the pads even inspired the schools in Bellum's armor. The fictional school in School Wars: The Prophecy of Light, Sunset Shadows, is based on Yaniss's high school, Raymond S. Kellis. Most of the characters in the novel are based on Yaniss's friends from high school. The funny part is the main protagonist of the book, Danny Starlight, is based on the author himself. Yaniss finally decided to start writing his debut novel on September 2014. It was published on December 2015.