Review: Light and Shadow

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

This is the review topic for Light and Shadow.

[Pahrak Model ZX]

This is off to an interesting start!  It’s very focused right now, but there’s plenty to tell us things are going to become quite grand in scale, so I’m eager to read more.  The portrayal of light and shadow is unique—the benefits and disadvantages of both are made clear from the start, immediately emphasizing the balance that I’m sure will be a continued theme, and having the light-wielder appear more dangerous than the shadow-wielder is quite a notable departure from the norm.  I do wonder though: since Jack’s attire is all black while Megan’s is not entirely white, I fear Jack may be the one who eventually is consumed by his element…of course, I might be reading into it too much.

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

Thanks! I loosely based their powers (obviously) off of Yin and Yang. Yin is meant to represent Earth, Cold and is considered passive. That's why I decided to give Jack less aggressive abilities such as healing. Yang is meant to represent Heaven, Heat and is considered active. That's why I thought Megan should be the more powerful and dangerous of the two.

 

As for their attire, I am basing these two off of actual minifigures I have in my LEGO collection. There is no direct coorelation of their powers to their outfits. But if it lets you sleep better at night, you can always imagine that Megan's pants turned white after their encounter with the Great One. =P

[Pahrak Model ZX]

*slides in several weeks late*

 

Finally got caught up on these chapters, sorry for taking so long.  I think what I enjoyed most was the explanation of the Red Dragons and Blue Lions—it adds another layer of mythology, and sticks to the theme of balance but in a different way.  Always nice to see when there are two rival groups and neither of them are necessarily wrong!  The way Jack and Megan react and talk also helps support the feeling that this is the “World 1” of their journey, with something bigger on the way.

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

New chapter!  Woo!

 

And, while the story is still in the beginning stage, I will say that there will be other worlds that they visit. 

[Pahrak Model ZX]

Nice way to deliver our first major bit of backstory!  The contrast between the familiar way everything is being described and the terrible feeling it gives Megan provides a nice little pocket of dissonance for the reader to sit in and feel curious and just a bit uncomfortable.  Megan decides to play along with it fairly quickly, just like she can kept swept away by her powers.  I have to admit I chuckled a bit at the thought of delivering pizza to an ominous villain, but dreams do often take sharp turns for the worst, and it still carries enough surprise to give the appropriate weight to the dream’s end.

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

New chapter!  Woo!

 

This one jumps back a bit.  Megan is still a frog and we're leading up to the ending of the previous chapter.

[Pahrak Model ZX]

I was kind of wondering how Megan was changed back, so it’s nice that we’re getting a look at just what happened.  I like how the fight was written: the action moved along, but there was still a quietness to it.  Love what Jack’s doing with his powers too, learning to tune into the darkness and use it as an extension of himself.