Shadow Hand

[H.S.J.]

Feel free to expound on your favorite parts, characters, and places of this tale! And if there's something in this book you didn't understand, be sure to let us know!

[Chelsea]

My favorite parts...Foxbrush's realizing he was a hero and Leo/Felix's interference (is that the right description?) at the coronation.

I also really liked Daylily's transformation. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of hers when she was first introduced but this book made me like her a lot more!

[J.M.]

I loved how Lark got to be the princess. :-) I cried a little when she and Foxbrush said goodbye.

And I'm so glad Nidawi got baby Lion. Now I want one.

Another of my favorite parts is seeing how the ballad came to life, and how Foxbrush realized his place in history.

[Ghost Ryter]

As Hannah has pointed out before, Daylily and Elsa are eerily similar in many ways. So, here:

A bird flies low in the Wood tonight,
But no one else here to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation is the only place that I'll be queen.
The wind is howling
Like this wolf chained inside.
Can I keep it in? Oh, how I've tried.
Don't let them in;
Don't let them see.
Follow the Plan.
That's all there was for me.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
But you say to let them know?

Let it go? Let it go?
How could I let them see?
Let it go---oh, no.
At least now I've saved him from me.
Here I stand, and here I stay!
Chains never bothered me anyway.


(My sister and I made that up, and I think it's pretty dragon-eaten good, if I do say so myself.)

[H.S.J.]

Lume above us! That IS really good!

[Kendra]

Oh, I love that rewrite for Let it Go! Very well done.

I think this is my favorite book of the series, because of the whole time thing. I just love it when books come full circle like this one did.

[Sarah]

@Ghost: That is awesome. *nods* I tried to write a version of Let it Go for Daylily, but it didn't work out. Yours is much better!

[Emily]

1eNow that I think back on the book, there are a lot of things I loved, including all of what you ladies mentioned. I also like that Daylily's mother was the mastermind behind stopping her husband's coronation. Talk about the irony! She was the one person he never suspected.

Also, beautiful song!

[Stargazer]

@Ghosty: I love that! :D Tell your sister she's awesome. ;)

So... Where to begin on my feelings? Everything everyone said up there. Especially wanting a Lion!! So cute!

I loved the timey stuff. So. Awesome.

And nobody told me Alistair was in it! Redman that is. And he got his happily ever after with Mouse, I mean Sight-of-Day! This made me super happy. I take it Daylily is a descendant of them, probably from Lark? All the cool stuff!

Also, what with timey stuff, and the end of Dragonwitch, and Lark's escapade in the clouds, I think that this series is actually capable of a happy ending. Which also makes me super happy, because I wasn't sure before and that worried me. :)

Does anyone else just LOVE Nidawi? :D

[H.S.J.]

Of course this series is capable of a happy ending! Every true Christian allegory should be! Yes, Redman was something I think everyone liked to keep a surprise. ;)

And EVERYONE loves Nidawi. :)

[E.F.]

@Ghost: That poem is wonderful! Maybe someone *nudge, nudge* should sing it for the next Goldstone Wood music contest. ;)

@Stargazer: Wasn't the timey stuff great? I don't know how Anne Elisabeth comes up with stuff like that, but she's so good at it!

I was happy to see Alistair and Mouse again too! And it was really interesting to find out that Daylily is probably their descendant.

I think Lark's escapade in the clouds (and most of the scenes with Lark, really) was one of my favorite parts. Such beautiful imagery and I was crying all over the place through the whole thing, partly because I wasn't sure if she was dead or not, but then the Lumil Eliasul came and she was ok and I just...*gets choked up all over again*

Of course we love Nidawi! She's exactly the kind of person/faerie I'd expect to find wandering around in the Wood and so much more! And now, every time I see the word "rend" I think of her, LOL! xD

While I'm thinking of Shadow Hand...Do you all remember that song near the end that Eanrin and Nadawi sing on the way back to the Haven that goes: "She is a darling, dreadful gel, if you can't love her, run pell-mell, I'll have no other, no other, to dance with me but her...etc." (Or something like that. I don't have the book nearby right now.) Was it just me, or could you totally sing that to the tune of the chorus of "Pretty Irish Girl" from the Darby O'Gill and the Little People movie?

You can hear the song here: https://youtu.be/sYGbesckhxk?t=1m12s The chorus goes: "She is my dear, my darling one, her eyes so sparkling, full of fun, no other, no other, can match the likes of her...etc." Do you see the similarity? It stood out to me so much, when I first read the song in Shadow Hand, I heard it to that tune in my head, and started grinning really big. The other people in the waiting room I was in at the time must have thought I was either really enjoying my book, or I was just really weird. xD

Heh, thinking of the music contest again, if anyone wants to steal that idea, go right ahead. I'm too shy to do it, and I also have nothing to record with, but I'd love to actually hear someone sing that. :)

[Emily]

I vaguely remember that Shadow Hand is based on an old folk tale. Does anyone remember what it is called? Something abbout a girl playing with a faerie boy in the wood and then growing up and getting captured by or married to the faerie, I think...)

[Sarah]

Not sure. I feel like I've heard of the story, but it's not one of the ones I'm familiar with.

[J.M.]

I think you mean Tam Lin. But Shadow Hand takes only part of its inspiration from that tale. The "villain" was inspired by Crom Cruach of ancient Ireland, but with Anne Elisabeth's unique twists. :-)

[Sheena]

I love when meadowlark meets the Prince. It is so sweet!

[Stargazer]

Whenever anyone meets the Prince, it's the best. <3

[Sheena]

Poor Foxbrush! He feels so rejected. It’s sad!