The killer and whale story at the very beginning

Use this forum to discuss the February 2022 Book of the month Totem: (Strong Heart #3) by Charlie Sheldon
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Katib Mahmood
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Re: The killer and whale story at the very beginning

Post by Katib Mahmood »

I think this story was shared for the sake of those who have not read the first two books. but that does not depict the third book as not stand alone. Those who have not read the prequels might have no idea that story was taken from the first two books.
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Post by Boohoo31 »

I haven’t read the first book yet, and it’s kind of affecting my understanding of this very book. But without that too, this second book did its best explain somethings to the readers.
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Post by Gifty_biblophile »

Sharing the whale and killer story is actually a good idea. Since the story is a series, Myra stylishly explains what happens in the previous books.
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Post by Bookallious »

Shakiera Reece wrote: 06 Feb 2022, 19:26 I think because the author meant the book to be a standalone read, he shares the whale story for those who haven't read the first two books.
Well said, and I agree with you. The whale story did give an sight on the prequels. And I appreciate them.
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Mmaduabuchi Eze
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Post by Mmaduabuchi Eze »

For me, I think the story pinpoints a strong connection between Strong Heart and Totem; further establishing the ties between the series. It takes one back to the "sibling book", such that while reading one, our memory of the other is being refreshed.
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Post by degoodwriter »

The author wrote the story to help those who haven't read other books in the series get acquainted with this book. Though this book could be read as a standalone
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Post by Evelyn Bioseh »

I haven't read the other published books but I do believe the story references north American myths
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Post by Sandeep Moses »

The story was unusually weird and I had a little laugh when I realized that love sprang up as a result.
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Post by Mwatu »

I think it adds a bit more depth without necessarily making it necessary to read the other books in the series. One doesn't get lost if they read the book in an order different from they way they came out.
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Post by Aeesha Bashir »

Charlie Sheldon wrote: 03 Feb 2022, 22:39 I wrote the books to be stand alone tales, and have had enough readers start with, say Adrift or Totem, and then they go back to read the first two, usually. Of course, it is best to read the books in order to fully experience how the characters and events start and grow, and how the books are linked, separate but telling one grand story. When I started writing the first one, Strong Heart, in 2013, I had no idea or sense this might be a series. None. A series, at least to me, is both good and terrible - good because you can play with many characters and complex story lines, but terrible because you are then trapped in the series, and must decide how to finish, how many books to write. When I started writing Strong Heart I used the story frame Conrad uses in Heart of Darkness - he had a group of men meet at a pilot boat and then while waiting for the tide to turn to go out to the ship one of the people, I think it was Marlowe, told the story of Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness. I love that sort of frame, stories in stories, so in my initial draft I had a lifeboat crashing ashore up on Haida Gwaii off British Columbia and the trapped sailors, in winter, marooned, unable to cross the mountains to the one known settlement far away until the weather broke,. forced to hunker down in shelter. The mate asks one of the characters, William, who is a sailor from the ship the lifeboat came from, and who was born on Haida Gwaii years before before being sent away to a government school to become like a white man, then running away to the states, to tell the others a story to keep them sane. That was my frame, but when I finished the book the tale seemed too long and so I simplified it, removed the frame and just told the story William told as a tale itself, Strong Heart. But I had all these chapters about this lifeboat and sailors and storms and after finishing Strong Heart thought, well, what about this lifeboat? Where did it come from? What happened to the ship? What happened to the other sailors? So that was when the series began, as I built those chapters into Adrift, which became the second story, happening about four or five months after the first. The third tale, Totem, is really two books in one, and I debated long about how long to make the series, and in the end decided I wanted a trilogy, something long, one grand tale, but not endless, and hope the readers will agree. In the end of course, all that is important is that the reader, in the best case, fall into the book, be there, in it, whatever order the tales are read.
This makes so much sense because I haven't read the first 2 books, I jumped straight into Totem because there was such a buzz about it I felt I just had to read it. I enjoyed it as a standalone novel but it also made me want to read the prequels which I'll definitely do .
Aeesha :techie-studyinggray:
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Post by Wy_Bertram »

Creation stories have always been my favourite kind of lore, and the story of the killer whale and the bear isn't one I've encountered before. I think, for one, it sets the mood for the book, revealing a piece of sacred Native culture which Sarah and her friends are trying to protect. It was certainly a great way to start the story.
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Post by Charlie Sheldon »

Wy_Bertram wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 03:37 Creation stories have always been my favourite kind of lore, and the story of the killer whale and the bear isn't one I've encountered before. I think, for one, it sets the mood for the book, revealing a piece of sacred Native culture which Sarah and her friends are trying to protect. It was certainly a great way to start the story.
You haven't encountered this story before - the killer whale and the bear - because it is entirely fictional, composed from my own thinking and surely influenced by all the research I did. I am thrilled readers seem to accept the story as a true-like ancient legend, that was the point. However I was extremely careful in all three of the books in the series to carefully avoid using any actual ancient legends from any tribes, as this would have been disrespectful and improper in these days of resistance to "cultural appropriation". Even the killer whale and bear legend, which is being told by a woman of the Haida people and tribe, is said by her to be a story from "before there were tribes and people" and this was intentional to make sure I was not in any way trying to assume anything in the book was linked to specific legends.
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Wy_Bertram
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Post by Wy_Bertram »

It's impressive that you were able to respect other people's culture and still create an enjoyable story set in their world. You replied to another comment of mine, stating how you researched for this story for three years, and the amount of work and creativity you put into this series is clear to see.
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Post by IconReviews »

I've read Strong Heart and I think the way the author incorporates it in this second book was creative. It makes it able to be read as a standalone
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Post by Arianne Joy Melendres »

I honestly wasn't sure of the significance of the whale story at first. It all made sense when I realized that Totem was part of a trilogy and the author included it for those who hadn't read the former books yet. I still stand by saying that Totem could most definitely be read as a standalone.
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