Oh, you totally need to read it.

Every form of combat has certain rules to how a battle is implemented and won. For example, knife fighting is all about controlling the knife hand, fighting with katanas is all about causing the other person to bleed to death (not gut them or cut off limbs or anything weird like that), and hand-to-hand martial arts is all about endurance. Understanding the dynamics of a fighting style is instrumental to writing about it.

“You have to be close enough to take a blow in order to land a blow. Learned that from someone ex-military, I believe. Simply put, no matter how good you are, you’re going to take blows on a regular basis and with claws involved, you’re going to get cut… a lot.”

This just really resonates with me. It’s great to remember when writing scenes, and wow, does it ever speak to taking risks – which applies to whatever we want to accomplish. Pretty deep, the more I think about it.

Well said, Danielle. Thanks.

You’re quite welcome. I have the second book but God only knows when I’ll manage to read it. The book got me so amped up, it’ll probably take me a while to calm down enough to read the second book…

Yeah, I’d heard a lot about this book even before I read it. I’d been meaning to read it for soooo long. I found myself highly invested in the story and characters long after I finished reading.