I started this year out with a bang finishing my first book, Prince of the Blood, in the first two weeks of the year. Prince of the Blood is the first of two books in the Krondor’s Sons series, part of The Riftwar Cycle written by Raymond E. Feist.
I was a little wary going into the book as it takes place some 15 years after the main set of novels and as such centers around some new characters. By the end I was reminded that I should never doubt Feist’s writing. The intricate character development that Feist puts into his writing is what places him among my favorite authors.
Prince of the Blood follows the twin sons, Borric and Erland, of Prince Arutha. Having grown up in the prince’s court the two boys have never known a hard day in their life. They’re brash and irresponsible. Arutha fears they are ill prepared for the duties of the nation when one of them inherits the King’s throne. Arutha decides to send them as ambassadors to the Empire of Kesh for the Empress’ birthday celebration. Along the way they become entangled in a plot against their lives and the Empress.
The personal growth of Borric and Erland during the course of the book was what made reading Prince of the Blood a pleasure. I also enjoyed the new characters that were met along the way. A highly recommended read in The Riftwar Cycle series of novels.
Reading
For the past few of years I’ve had a New Year’s resolution to read more. My goal was centered around reading the many fantasy novels I have on my bookshelves. The original resolution was to read 30 minutes each night. I managed this for a couple of weeks but it proved daunting. Finding the time to read every night was difficult at times. Furthermore when I read I tend to read hours at a time so when I would only allot 30 minutes before bed I always wanted to read more and would end up staying up way too late. So I altered my goal to reading at least one novel per month.
Over the past couple of years I’ve wavered quite a bit at keeping this goal. Usually doing good for the first few months of the year after making the resolution again. Then things would distract me and I’d fall behind on reading. Last year I started out in a slump and hadn’t read any books. Taking a look at my bookshelf and all the books I have to read, as well as all the books I’ve started reading then haven’t finished, I decided to push myself a little harder. I managed to finish 3 books before the end of the year.
This year being no different I’m renewing this resolution. In an effort to add a little motivation I’m also planning on writing reviews of the books I read here. Looking at the books I want to read leaves me with a bit of a daunting list. My plan is to read Prince of the Blood and The King’s Buccaneer, to finish the section of The Riftwar Cycle I’m at. Next I need to read Brisingr, but I think I want to go back and re-read Eragon and Eldest. They are pretty easy reads so it shouldn’t be bad. Then I have the Lost Chronicles trilogy that I want to read. I’m debating on going back and re-reading the Dragonlance Chronicles as part of that. If I do, that puts the current list at 11 books. So that’s the plan currently, subject to change based on new releases and book purchases.
Exercising
I, like every other person on the planet, make the the resolution to exercise more every year. I usually fizzle out on this one pretty quick. I tend to get bored of it after only a few times. This year one thing I’m hoping to do is start riding my bike to work when the weather warms up. It’s a good way to get a little exercise during an already set aside time period. Another thing I’d like to focus on is meditating more. I’ve meditated off and on for years now and have always found it beneficial. I would like to spend more time pursuing the teachings and practices of meditation.
Projects
It’s been over 2 years since I posted about my 3D project. Not sure where the time went. This year I want to focus my energies on just a couple projects. The first is getting back to doing 3D animation again. The other is a CouchDB project that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. I hope to minimize distractions so that I can focus my time on these 2 projects.
