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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

They are the last line of defence against the darkness - Buan: The Perfect Mortals by Reece Bridger

Published: September 2014

Description:

During a ceasefire of a war that has taken more lives than could be considered just, there are shadows of betrayal and deceit lurking in the rays of the morning sun. Something is lingering on the horizon, and it's hell-bent on destruction, despair and death. 

Whatever it may be, it's driven the Goddess to some very desperate measures. 

Life for the Harmon siblings has been hard enough, but now they face responsibilities that they never asked for. They never asked for power. They never asked for a world of monsters. They never asked to come face-to-face with demons, the corrupted of their own people, or their own mortality. 

But that is just what they will have to do. They are the chosen heroes of Cornelia, the final hope for order and sanity, the last line of defence against the darkness. 

They are the Buan. 
GUEST POST

‘The Perfect Mortals’ has been a ride and a half for me. It’s been a six year journey that’s taken me to Heaven in back creatively, and it’s helped me find my true course in life. Being a writer isn’t just a job or a career; it’s a calling, and writing ‘The Perfect Mortals’ and its sequels has helped me realise that. That’s why this blog tour and even this guest post is such an exciting thing to happen to me. It’s like my life’s calling is finally being realised, and I’m fulfilling the role that I was given since the day I was born. It’s a pretty magical feeling, and I’m glad that I can share that experience on this blog with whoever reads this post.

I came up with the idea for ‘Buan’ when I was 13 years old. Back then it was a standalone book about a family with magic powers who killed demons, called ‘Tales of Cornelia: The Book of Harmon’. It took me a year to write that in 100,000 words, another year and a quarter to edit it, and then I decided to do a total teardown and start the story fresh. And, out of that, the ‘Buan’ trilogy developed into what it is. The plot changed dramatically, though some elements definitely remained and got carried over into the ‘Buan’ continuity, though some new characters and a lot more political history were introduced to make the world more believable. The religion and mythology were also heavily developed between incarnations, and instead of being a standalone book, the original story has turned into not just a trilogy, but the first part of a fourteen book saga.

The characters themselves are a lot like they were in the original story, but I feel as though they’ve been fleshed out a lot more and given their own unique personalities. In that sense, they are not based off of anyone I know in real life, directly; if anything, they are inspired by the original archetypes that were fleshed out into their human sides. There was Alexander, the muscular strongman with not a lot of intelligence; Aurelia (previously named ‘Cheryl’), the quiet and emotional caring type; Fantasia, the punkish rebel who always got herself in trouble; and Weylyn (previously named ‘Gordon’), the bookworm genius and all-round brat. After I ditched the original story, I found myself more readily able to make these characters seem more human, give them more interesting affectations and personalities, and make it so that things weren’t always so perfect in their family. The characters now make the story themselves; I decided that I wanted to create characters that the reader could side with rather than lead them to one character’s opinion or perspective, and I think a lot of that comes across in ‘Company of Heroes’ specifically.

‘The Perfect Mortals’ is not without its arguments, though; like all families, the Harmon siblings squabble and have fights, and I think that’s part of what makes them such a believable, realistic group. And as the series progresses, they’ll have to face more of the challenges that come with being the age that they are, full of hormones and high on life but weighed down by the responsibilities and powers laid out before them in ‘The Perfect Mortals’.

About the author:
Reece Bridger is a firm believer in not letting the little things hold you back; conquering both his young age and his Aspergers, he wrote ‘The Perfect Mortals’ as a firm first step in the direction of his dreams.
With another nineteen books already planned and no foreseeable social life, he has a lot of work ahead of him. In his downtime, he dabbles in voice acting and the bass guitar. He’s also not very good at writing short descriptions of himself. 


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