Greater Oceans than Thine by Nelson McKeeby

Javier al-Rasheed is once again taking the crew of the Tea Merchant Remarker on another adventure, seeking riches, fame, and of course, tea. This being the third book in the series, we are shown more about the other crew members aboard the ship, their previous lives, and how they came together to form a sort of “found family” community among the crew. They would do anything for their captain, including following him into the great unknown of Ocean, seeking to find a lost island that is not on any map in the hope of obtaining an extremely rare tea that cannot be found anywhere else. However they only have a very old journal to try and guide their way on this adventure, meaning that the odds are not in their favor. And failure will likely mean the death of the entire crew if they cannot find a place to replenish whatever supplies they run out of on their trip.

I read a review copy of this book, and I enjoyed the story. I loved learning about many of the more minor characters aboard the ship, as well as their lives and adventures, both on the ship and in port. I found their stories fascinating and also enjoyed seeing the brief glimpses of their interactions with the captain, who has changed somewhat from who he was before the last grand adventure and has settled more calmly into the role of a ship’s captain.

This was a somewhat different story than what I expected, and seemed in some ways to be a collection of stories about the crew of the ship, but realized that isn’t that what actually does make it a continuation of the same tale? If we don’t know who the characters are and why they choose to follow the captain, potentially to their deaths as well as his, then we are missing out on an important aspect of the story.. The crew of the ship are “found family” to each other, and that is something very important to the tales we read about the Remarker.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will be looking forward to reading the next book in this series, which I believe is supposed to be the final one. I should warn you that this book does end on a sort of cliffhanger, for though the story in this book is complete, it sets us up for a very dramatic-seeming final book. Also, while it does not occur in this story, there is a reference to the previous rape of one of the characters, as well as another character who was both abused and raped (slavery) when hearing about her tale.

Amazon requires me to state that I have an Amazon Associates account that I use to generate the links to the books on their website. Purchasing something after following those links will earn a few pennies for me off the sale, though as of yet I have not earned anything from my Amazon Associate links.

How to Write Dazzling Dialogue by James Scott Bell

This is a book that was required reading for a class that I am taking. Despite it being part of my course materials, I enjoyed reading this book; it didn’t feel like I was reading a textbook. I found it to be very informative without being boring. It offers a lot of information and helpful advice about what causes many dialogue problems for writers and a variety of ways to fix these problems. As there is no one correct way to do anything when it comes to writing, there are a variety of exercises described for writers to try in order to improve their own dialogue writing skills.

Dialogue is something that a reader wants to flow naturally without feeling forced or obvious. There are many ways to do that, and while it may seem a simple matter, anyone who has sat down for the first time, trying to write natural sounding conversations that won’t leave a reader wondering why you are choosing to include it in the story, but that are also not so ‘right in your face’ obviously meant to get vital information to the readers likely already knows how difficult it can be. I like the way in which this book approaches the subject and offers a variety of different methods for a writer to work on improving something that is often more difficult to get right than readers may realize.

The exercises and suggestions offered in this book are fun and interesting, as well as varied. Some of the ideas may work better than others for different people. I enjoyed reading this book and giving some of the exercises a try. I think that anyone who is a writer, an editor, or who hopes to become either at some point in the future could benefit by reading this book and practicing some of the suggestions that Mr. Bell gives us.

Amazon requires me to state that I have an Amazon Associates account that I use to generate the links to the books on their website. Purchasing something after following those links will earn a few pennies for me off the sale, though as of yet I have not earned anything from my Amazon Associate links.