What I love the most about reading a series of books by an author who really knows how to write, is when all of the story arcs come together and you get to read some truly stupendous prose.
On page 311 of the Kindle version of Devon Monkâs 9th (and possibly last) book in the Ordinary Magic series, The Brute of All Evil, is such prose.
The setting is the long awaited wedding of Police Chief Delaney Reed and her recently freed from a unbreakable contract with the god Mithra, fiancé, Ryder Bailey. It takes place four days after Delaney and a small covert team invaded The Underworld to free Ryder and put an end to the King of the Demons.
The Officiant at the service is none other than the god of Death, Than(atos), more like an uncle than merely a family friend Delaneyâs entire life; also one of those who went to the Underworld to help her rescue Ryder from a fate worse than death.
When he gets to the part of the service where he is to offer the couple some âwisdom or advice or guidanceâ to the assembled attendees, this is what he tells them:
Here then, is my wisdom: Savor.
Savor the starlight, the moon, the rise of the seasons , and the fall of light. Savor the kindness of breath, and the stretch of muscle, the spark of curiosity. Savor the laughter of friends, of songs sung off-key, the shout and giggle of children.
Life is made of fleeting moments.
Savor those moments. And in them, in the moments of life, every one, may you always find love.
As if that wasnât enough, hereâs the final page of the book:
Just as the sun winked green, just as Ryderâs breath caught in wonder, I closed my eyes, and savored this feeling, this moment, knowing there would be so many more magical moments in our lives.
But I was in no rush to let this one end.
I wasnât sure what this weekâs edition of Letâs Talk Books was going to be about. Iâve been having terribly disrupted sleep for weeks now and my days and nights are turned around. I woke up yesterday at 7:00 pm PST and am just about to head to bed now at about 6:30 am PST on Sunday morning.
Iâve been re-reading the Devon Monk Ordinary Magic series this week, because my sister wants me to read another series by Monk (Souls of the Road), and I thought Iâd get into them better if I already had the voice of Delaney in my ear as I started that new journey.
I had forgotten just how moving some of her dialogue and scenery is, because she paints such vibrant and breathtaking moments with nothing more than her words.
I know a lot of people, okay, a lot of women, admit that they cry when they watch certain movies, even if they have seen them a dozen times. I have a few of those, too, the end of The Green Mile is a heartbreaker, without a doubt.
But for me the real tear-jerker moments mostly come from a book.
I remember reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach in the late 1970s, when I was still a teenager. For anyone who never read it or never heard of it? Please do so. To be honest, itâs been a half century since I read it last, and the details are few, but the overall memory of being so deeply touched emotionally by that story has stuck with me all of my life.
So tell me, gentle readers, which words from which story have stuck with you, impacted you, changed how you looked at the world?
p.s.
A handy guide to the gods and other supernatural characters in the Ordinary Magic series: https://fangfiction.blogspot.com/2016/12/new-series-devon-monk-ordinary-magic.html
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