seen from Spain
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Jasmine: idk I'm just not feeling it here in the city, I'll probably go back to the forest
Lief (internally): okay Leif. Be smooth and subtle.
Lief: BUT WOULD YOU STAY,,, IF I SAID PLEASE 🥺🥺👉👈
Jasmine and DOOM!
Once again, amazing designs go to @transhitman for their Deltora Vivisection project!
I'm still figuring out how tf I make my pictures better quality for tumblr but I guess we'll never know.
I love Doom so much and my people who fuck with Return to Del pages 103+ should know what's gonna come next.
(OK so.....I literally can't walk past my dad's study because that's where they're keeping the dq books.....help I'm giving in)
I finished re-reading Return to Del, and the whole lead up to the fight scene in the Place of Punishment is just like- the trauma? That Lief has from this place?? SOMEONE GIVE HIM A HUG RN PLZ!
He held out his arm, and Kree fluttered to him. At almost the same moment, through broken windows came the sound of loud, clanging bells. Lief’s stomach churned. He knew what that meant. He had heard the bells before.
The Place had been built when the Shadow Lord came. The sight of it, even from a distance, had chilled Lief from babyhood. For even tiny children were forced to witness the executions that took place there, and forbidden to turn their heads away. The Shadow Lord wanted all in Del to know the price of rebellion.
‘People of Del! Behold these traitors!’ Lief gripped his sword as the thin, penetrating voice echoed faintly down the stairwell. Fallow himself was standing on the Place, addressing the crowd. Usually, one of the Grey Guards conducted the executions. But this, of course, was a special occasion.
To one side was a huge metal pot of burning coals. Lief gritted his teeth. He knew its purpose only too well.
All were wounded. Zeean was swaying. Glock could barely stand. Fallow stabbed at them with a bony finger. ‘See them, people of Del?’ he shrieked. ‘See these strangers? See their ugly bodies? Their twisted, evil faces? Monsters! Invaders of Del! Double branding, and death!’ A sickening wave of dizziness seized Lief. He pressed his back against the wall, panting. His throat had tightened so that he could hardly breathe.
The Guards facing the crowd raised their slings threateningly. ‘Double branding and death!’ chanted the people. Lief gazed desperately over the sea of upturned, shouting faces. He saw no grins of glee or scowls of anger. The faces were absolutely blank- the faces of people beyond hope, beyond despair.
And then the next chapter, when he’s figured out the true placement of the gems and has the Belt in hand, and the cone things are lit and expose him to the people of Del but they stand with him. They refuse to expose him, they protect him with their silence because he is one of them, and they are his people and I’m crying, AHHH-
So, you finally found all seven magical gems and completed the belt, what now- or: Return to Del and the Breaking of Narrative Structure
I love Deltora Quest- this much should be clear by now. The twists and turns, the adventure and intrigue, the carefully crafted world that breathes life through its pages with each new block of world building added to the tower. The books are the perfect length to pack an entire thrilling story in without ever feeling like you got too much from it, or not enough.
Something interesting about Deltora Quest is the formulas it falls into- formulas author Emily Rodda has expertly designed to work in tandem with the story.
Let me give an example.
Deltora Quest- or at the least the original- is a series that deals in the number seven, primarily because of the driving factor that forces our characters into action- the seven gems that form the belt of Deltora. The rest of the sevens come naturally after that- each gem needs to come from a tribe and each tribe needs a territory, and then each gem needs an Ak-Baba to take it to its own dangerous location with its own dangerous guardian. Seven gems for seven guardians, if you will. So, it seems almost odd that the series itself is not seven books long.
(By now seven is ceasing to sound like a real word)
No, Deltora Quest the original is composed of eight books- the last being Return to Del. The eighth book in a series devoted to the number seven- it’s almost a little odd. Return to Del is an outlier among its predecessors, and not just because it feels like it shouldn’t fit in the maths- it should. The equation does work. It has to be here. There needs to be a book for what to do after you find all the gems. Otherwise you have to bloat out Valley of the Lost and these are meant to be short kids books. You have a structure- you have a pace. You shouldn’t detour from it.
But Return to Del stands out mainly because it is a breaking of the expected Deltora Quest narrative structure.
Let me lay it out. Here’s how each book goes. A gem needs to be found. The trio heads into a new dangerous territory to seek it out in its deadly location. They face many perils along the way but none more dangerous (arguably) than the guardian who waits for them at the end of their journey. They face them on- near death experiences ensure and then the gem is found. Nothing should come easy to the trio- this is a quest of life and death. And so they need to face a series of challenges before they reach the final one- and the final challenge should be the most deadly of them all. The differences come from the actual story told- what territory they’re in and what guardian they’re facing. The audience comes to know this format with each new book read. They expect it. And it’s good that it’s like this. The somewhat repetition works in the story.
And then Return to Del comes along, whacks them on the head and says ‘hey guys we’re doing something new now’ and by god does it also work.
Return to Del is a wild race of an adventure that guarantees you only one thing upon opening it- and that’s that Del will be returned to. Apart from that, everything is wholly unknown to a new reader. The expected narrative formula is broken and now readers have no way of knowing where the story is going to go. There’s no gem to find. No new dangerous location to explore. No horrifying guardian to either face head on or avoid entirely (Looking at you Glus). What are the trio going to do? Who are they going to meet? Will the Shadow Lord actually show up?
It is a fitting end to a series that wants to keep you on your toes. The formula must be broken in a new and exciting way so that each new twist in Return to Del will take you completely by surprise. You cannot, and you should not, get to know what is coming next. Rodda wants to take an audience who, by now, thinks they are familiar with how her stories work and show them that all they should expect is the unexpected. She is doing nothing by accident. This is all part of her perfectly crafted world, and part of that world means you don’t get to know how it’s going to end.
In other words, you finally found all seven magical gems and completed the belt, what now?
Roddacember Day 22 | Return
Title: Deltora Quest
Author: Emily Rodda
Series or standalone: series
Publication year: 2000
Genres: fiction, fantasy, adventure, mystery
Blurb: The evil Shadow Lord is plotting to invade Deltora and enslave its people. All that stands against him is the magic Belt of Deltora with its seven gems of great and mysterious power. When the gems are stolen and hidden in dark, terrible places throughout the kingdom, the Shadow Lord triumphs, and Deltora is lost. In secrecy, with only a hand-drawn map to guide them, two unlikely companions set out on a perilous quest. Determined to find the lost gems and rid their land of the tyrant, they struggle towards their first goal: the sinister Forests of Silence.
GUYS, CAN YOU BELIEVE SOMEONE WROTE A FANFIC BASED ON MY REAL DAIN AU
AND IT'S SO GOOD TOO, I'M SO HAPPY
"it brought tears to Jarred's own eyes to tell of Endon's agony when he realized how he had failed Deltora."
Aaahhhhhhhhhhh
