Re-Reading Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress: The Good, the Bad, the Interesting
As I mentioned in my last post, I am planning to re-read all of the Cassan Astor series, starting, obviously, with book one: Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress.
I just finished my re-read. So what did I think?
It’s been awhile since I read this book, but obviously, I know it pretty closely. Starting with the good: I was impressed by how well-paced and tight the book is. The story moves along really well. With the exception of the middle, where it does slow down a bit, the pace keeps moving overall and keeps the reader engaged. It all wraps up really well with no unintended loose threads that I could find. By unintended, I mean there are parts that are obvious cliff-hanger setups, but the main plot is totally wrapped up. Which brings me to another point – that the story is actually pretty simple and follows only a small amount of characters. That is VERY different from the later books in the Cassan Astor series, which juggle such a big cast of characters and plotlines. I think that’s in large part what helps this book move so well and feel so well-put-together. There are a few perspective chapters here and there with other characters, but for the most part, the book follows either Empress Isis, Cassan Astor, Sir Timothy, or General Aharon the whole time. There are also not so many references to other kingdoms, other families, or the greater geopolitics of the world. It’s a more contained, compacted story in scope and characters.
The bad: Reading one’s own work is always going to have a “did I really write that?” feeling. One thing I noticed when reading this, especially in the early chapters, is that some of my choices in when to make a new paragraph were… interesting. Re-reading this now, I probably would have sorted my paragraphs differently, especially in the earlier parts of the book. Additionally, the chapter in which Sand Snake visits the ape men in the forest feels like it needed another edit, like it was written maybe too quickly and not refined enough. Overall, there are some things I might have changed, but let’s keep in mind that this can be said of any writer who has ever worked on any project ever. At some point, you have to just say “it’s done.”
On a different point, I did notice two typos, which I will try to get updated for future prints of this book. Typos and creative choices are two different things. In the case of typos, these are just flat-out wrong. But other than the two typos, like I said earlier, you just have to stop working at some point and accept that this is the manuscript you’ve written.
The interesting: People evolve. Voices change. And one way I notice my writing has changed is in certain word choices. Specifically, the verb I use when referring to hypotheticals in the past. What do I mean? Well, in Desert Empress, the book is full of phrases such as: “He gripped the edge of the seat as it if were a railing in a storm.” My verb is “were.” Today, if I wrote that same sentence, I would write it as: “He gripped the edge of the seat as if it was a railing in a storm.” The word “was” just seems way more appropriate here. And in the newer Cassan Astor books, I definitely use the word “was” for situations like this. It’s an interesting example of how my writing style has changed. You can even see it within the pages of this book itself, as the last chapter does use the word “was” in this context towards the end. This “were” vs “was” thing is just one example, but in general, I do notice a few differences in my writing style and I can see how my voice has evolved in more ways than one over the course of this single series.
As far as the story and characters, it is fun to see a much less mature version of Cassan. When the first two books came out, one criticism I got was that Cassan takes too long to grow up. But as I re-read this book and see how immature and young he is, I cannot help but disagree and feel like this is paced really nicely. Cassan’s story, growth, and evolution is not meant to occur over the course of one book. Far from it. And this is exactly where he needs to be at this point in the story. Knowing what I know and seeing how he grows organically, I actually feel like his growth is handled really well.
So… what are my overall thoughts?
My main takeaways are this. Revisiting this book, I am reminded how well-paced, tight, and focused this story is and I think that’s one of this story’s biggest strengths. I also see how clunky some of the paragraphs are and how unfinished some portions of the book are. But I approach that knowing that I’m viewing that with “author assessing his own work vision,” which is always going to be critical. I know reviews have been overall positive on this book online, which is great to know and it’s good to see that people seem to enjoy it!
If you want to read Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress, you can buy a copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/Cassan-Astor-Desert-Empress-Andrew-ebook/dp/B0C4QD2G8Q
Next up for me, I am going to re-read the next part of the series, Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens!
