{"id":6086,"date":"2016-09-19T19:12:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T23:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=6086"},"modified":"2021-09-22T18:26:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T22:26:50","slug":"blood-of-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6086","title":{"rendered":"Blood of the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blood of the Earth<\/a><\/em> (2016) Faith Hunter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"bloodoftheearth\"<\/a>We met Nell Ingram in the Jane Yellowrock short story “Off the Grid.” (In the anthology Blood in Her Veins<\/a><\/em>). She is a very interesting character, and I can see why the author wanted to spend more time with her.<\/p>\n

Nell has escaped from the cult in which she was raised, but still lives both by many of their tenets and in fear of the leaders. She managed to escape an early marriage to the pedophile who was the leader of the church, and inherited his land when her husband died, but has remained both alone and lonely, separated from her family and everything she knew growing up, but not a part of the modern world.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d I said, embarrassed. They must think I was a little country bumpkin. Which I was, I realized. Face burning, I said, \u201cMy thanks for demonstrating the proper methodology.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I set the shotgun on the table and got out three pottery mugs. I wasn\u2019t using John\u2019s maw-maw\u2019s good china for outsiders whom I might have to shoot later. That seemed deceitful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nell is a very interesting character, and extremely different from Jane (which is good). Her accent bugs me, but that’s because it’s different from the accent I’m used to. And also because I despise you’uns and yins and anything except y’all.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019uns been out there all day. You thirsty? Hungry?\u201d <\/p>\n

They answered all at once with opposing responses. \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a vegetarian.\u201d And the strangest response, from Occam, \u201cI\u2019d gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s another thing that I especially like, and that is Nell’s reintroduction to her family and the church she left. The church was very black and white evil in the short story (it WAS a short story, so that’s not a failing) but here we get to see a far more complex and interesting group, and that things weren’t necessarily as Nell thought, once she reopens communications.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018The end justifies the means.\u2019 Niccol\u00f2 Machiavelli espoused that and he got it wrong. The end only matters because of the means.\u201d <\/p>\n

My head dropped and my eyes went wide. I couldn\u2019t have been any more surprised if Sister Erasmus had stripped naked and danced across the front porch. Her pinched mouth didn\u2019t smile, but the corners of her eyes wrinkled up in amusement. \u201cYou think you the only one a us churchwomen to get an education?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nell’s gifts are of the earth, and like Jane’s gifts, are not black and white, good and evil. They are what Nell will make of them, which I like.<\/p>\n

I also liked the way we get a glimpse of how vegetation might see the world.<\/p>\n

(O)ne tree, a dogwood, had taken root and another had tried to and died. The ground was covered in pine needles, and when I pushed a hand through to the soil, it was to discover that the lone tree was afraid, fearfearfear leaking through every rootlet and stem and reddening leaf. It had been afraid since its partner tree had died, thinking it the last tree on the face of the Earth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this also amused me:<\/p>\n

The road was full of curves that followed the contours of the earth, and I liked the road, as it had become part of the earth. I had a general location and a direction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many many roads in West Virginia have become a part of the earth, I would think.<\/p>\n

I admit I was a little nervous about this series, because I did not like Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage series, but I like Nell, and I like the complexity of the characters and the story.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by ROC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blood of the Earth (2016) Faith Hunter We met Nell Ingram in the Jane Yellowrock short story “Off the Grid.” (In the anthology Blood in Her Veins). She is a very interesting character, and I can see why the author wanted to spend more time with her. Nell has escaped from the cult in which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,48,16],"tags":[81,195,217],"class_list":["post-6086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-female","category-supernatural","tag-faith-hunter","tag-soulwood","tag-witches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1Aa","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9238,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9238","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":0},"title":"Blood of the Earth, Audio Version","author":"Michelle","date":"August 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Blood of the Earth, Audio Version (2016) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I generally don't listen to a book immediately after I've read it, so if I wanted more of Jane Yellowrock's world, I was going to have to listen to the Soulwood series. Which was perfectly fine with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/bloodoftheearth.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19489,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19489","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":1},"title":"Blood of the Earth, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"December 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Blood of the Earth, Audio Edition (2016) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (A Soulwood Novel) After helping Jane Yellowrock rescue a vampire and abused women from the compound of her former church, Nell Ingram has been waiting for the help Jane said might be coming. Because the church men\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blood of the Earth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/bloodoftheearth-e1511011392313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18883,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18883","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":2},"title":"Off the Grid, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"December 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Off the Grid, Audio Book (2015) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (Jane Yellowrock) A novella that takes place between Black Arts and Broken Soul, and introduces Nell, whose series begins with Blood of the Earth. Security was so much easier in the modern day, with access to so many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Off the Grid","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Off-the-Grid.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20145,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20145","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":3},"title":"Circle of the Moon, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"July 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Circle of the Moon, Audio Edition (2019) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam Nell is recovering from spending several months as flora instead of fauna. The farm had seemingly figured out that if I was a tree, there would be no one to work the soil and it liked me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Circle of the Moon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Circle-of-the-Moon-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13574,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13574","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":4},"title":"Spells for the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"November 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Spells for the Dead (2020) Faith Hunter (Soulwood) The fifth Nell book begins with Nell trying to sort out her life. She hopes to soon become the guardian of her younger sister Mud, and has to work all that involves into her schedule. Also, her very pregnant older sister Esther\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spells for the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Spells-for-the-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20153,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20153","url_meta":{"origin":6086,"position":5},"title":"Spells for the Dead, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"July 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Spells for the Dead, Audio Edition (2019) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam Nell is learning how to control her powers as a \"plant person\" as she calls herself. But she doesn't understand why she's called out the death of a famous country singer, whose body whose body is rapidly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spells for the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Spells-for-the-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}