A very special Book Review Thursday.

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special Book Review Thursday. I wanted to come out of hiatus for a moment to bring you all an amazing surprise! I am joined by Oren, one of the most interesting, albeit misunderstood, characters from Joleene Naylor’s Amaranthine Series. He agreed to an interview, and I hope that you all are as excited as I am!

 

So Oren, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to get right to it. What have you been up to since we last saw you?

After the climatic events in Indonesia, Jorick has been understandably…insane. The interesting thing is that he’s not the only one, and there’s been a flurry of activity centered on retrieving his human. In fact, there was such an army that it made progress incredibly slow. It’s difficult moving more than four or five vampires at a time unless you have a van. And since we’re cut off from civilization, we don’t.

Since arriving in Indonesia, have you considered just cutting ties and heading back home? I mean, Jorick has asked a lot of you, do you think that he might be asking too much sometimes?

It’s nice that someone has noticed how demanding he is, but when it comes to fighting Malick we are in accord. It was Malick who controlled Senya and Bren, and so ultimately Malick that is to blame for…for what happened.  Killing him is essentially finishing what I began by attacking the Citadel – it’s the completion of a war Jorick refused to participate in. Interesting that he suddenly thinks it’s his idea.

Once that’s finished, though, we are returning to the States, whether Jorick comes with us or not.

Let’s say once the war is over, the council says ‘Hey Oren, we’ve seen your drive and we want you to come work for us.’ Do you think you would ever be able to willingly work at the Citadel or anything like that?

An emphatic no. I can’t believe that Jorick would ever consent to work for the hypocrites. Malick may not be in charge anymore, but I doubt the new regime will be any better. If this war, or quest, if you prefer, has taught me anything it’s that the ancients are insane power-hungry children. Their wisdom is weak and their rule tyrannical. I would no more be a part of their monstrosity than I would become a vampire hunter.

Your after life has definitely been a roller coaster, wouldn’t you say? You went from losing your wife and children in one fell swoop (and I am very sorry for your loss), to traveling across the globe with your maker. What kind of affect do you feel that that’s had on you?

Erm…thank you for the…sympathies. If you don’t mind though we’ll…erm…move along. Globe hopping. It’s tiresome. I was never one for travel, and we were quite content to live most of our afterlives on the plantation in Virginia, until…Ahem. Of course I have traveled before. I had a few makeshift dens near Claudius’ hangouts so that we could keep an eye on him, but we didn’t travel like this. I’m looking forward to going home. Not that we have a den prepared. I suppose that’s something we’ll need to consider.

You have had a very “humans cause trouble” stance when it comes to Katelina. Would you say that you are starting to come around to her and her ability to hold her own, or do you still think that her remaining human is still a hindrance?

Ah yes. Jorick’s…human. My opinion of her is, unfortunately, tied into the reaction she causes in Jorick. Were she not associated with him, perhaps she would have been…fine as a human servant. Despite my reputation I don’t dislike humans on principle, provided they know their place. I had human servants for well over a hundred years. The problem with this particular human, as I said, is what she does to Jorick. He is over protective of her, constantly concerned for her welfare, and determined to leave her on a silk cushion – only then he won’t *leave* her – he drags her with us.  If he wants her as an equal, fine, then make her an equal and stop all the aggravating fretting, and if he wants to play her knight in shining armor and protect her from the demons, then leave her home where she’s safe. He needs to make his mind up once and for all.

Once you have finally defeated Malick, do you think that you’ll return to the quiet life? Find a new home somewhere a settle down for a while?

Yes, that’s my plan. I imagine we’ll need to purchase a house legally, if we want the idiotic humans to leave us in peace. As for who will be settling down with me, I can’t say. I imagine my sister will, and Etsuko, but for the others; Micah, Loren, his new friend Ume…I assume they will go back to whatever they were doing before

 Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like you’ve been warming up to Etsuko. I know that more than a few readers are hoping for a blossoming romance between the two of you. Do you think that there potential for a relationship there, or do you want people to just leave it alone?

Erm…Ahem…Etsuko. Ah. Yes. Well. Etsuko is…She, erm. I-I don’t quite know how to handle her. I’m afraid I’m rather used to more…aggressive women, for lack of a better term. Etsuko is very…She’s…accommodating. Almost subservient. I expected such behavior when she was a human – as I said humans should know their place, and she did that adequately, but now that she’s immortal…On the other hand it’s refreshing to see someone with the proper deference to their master for a change. Yes. It is nice. As for romance I…Erm…Yes…Well…Romance…That’s…That’s another topic.  Ahem.

It looks like we’re just about out of time. Is there anything that you would like to add before you go?

Thank you for having me. It’s nice to converse with someone who understands proper respect rather than pushing horrifying questions in their visitors’ face regarding their undergarments, or other such nonsense. I hope that readers who pick up the newest installment are able to enjoy it, despite our author’s limited capacity for telling an interesting story. Then again, I may be bitter towards her for her poor plot choices.

I hope that she forgives you for saying that. Thank you so much for joining us today, Oren. And thank you to Joleene for letting you come by. I’m looking forward to reading more about you and the others in the upcoming release of Clash of Legends, which will be out March 31st, 2015.

For those of you interested in pre-ordering a copy, please check out the links below. Thank you so much for stopping by the blog!

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