The Summer Sacrifice: Volume 1 (Master Game)

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Oak's association with the gods of thunder may have come from the phenomenon that oaks are often split by lightning being the tallest trees standing in the landscape. One of the book's strong points is the world-building, despite being dystopian, the world is quite colourful and vibrant in parts and it has its fun moments. The illustrations are really good too, though some of them didn't really add much. Here we have the finished piece, which is five inches wide by seven inches tall and is called Summer Sacrifice. In total it was completed in a little over five hours over two days, but could easily have been completed in a single session.

I loved the setting. Pity Me School reminded me of an evil Hogwarts and I found a lot of the magical side of the story had touches of Harry Potter about it (which can only be a good thing!) The way in which the Grand Hall was described had me picturing Hogwarts & the caped teachers sitting at the front on a stage. Then there’s the ‘Pity Me Perfects’ who do all of the teachers spying for them and appear where you’d least expect them. Is it even a party if there’s not a punch-up? Not when it comes to solstices! A prevailing theme of solstice celebrations is the eternal battle between light and darkness as the wheel of the year turns. The Oak and Holly Kings are relatively modern additions to this archetype and during summer solstice the Holly King wins. He reigns over the dark half of the year while the Oak King recovers, winning the rematch at the winter solstice. Whilst I love to read most Young Adult genres, fantasy is not one that I have really sampled. However I was drawn to The Summer Sacrifice because I run a reading group for children at my library and from the synopsis I thought that this might be the kind of read that the older ones would enjoy. So I put on my YA hat & started reading with an open mind… Oak has a long history of folklore throughout Europe and was sacred to many people, including the ancient Greeks, the Norse and the Celts.masterpaper on An Education on Art Education Yes, sometimes studying can be very difficult. For me, the biggest difficulty is writing written works. It’s good that I was able to find specialists… Rowan has many associations with magic and witches. One of its English names is witchwood and its old Celtic name is fid na ndruad which means wizard's tree. In the days leading up to the summer solstice, ancient Romans celebrated the Vestalia festival, which paid tribute to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. Rituals included the sacrifice of an unborn calf removed from its mother’s womb. This was the only time of the year when married women were allowed to enter the sacred temple of the vestal virgins and make offerings to Vesta there. Ancient Chinese

As I built the piece up, I continued to glaze in the darks and then tighten things that I felt needed to be kept crisp, while allowing the softening to happen elsewhere. At some point close to the end, I signed the piece, but it turned out not to be done. I still needed a glaze or two and a couple more minor tweaks. The story focuses around the students (known as the ‘Juvenites’) of ‘Pity Me School’. Various students are put forward for ‘Takings’ at the school whenever there’s a full moon and are sent to a ceremony at an area called Dancing Ledge. Those with clean souls will survive, but any Juventie who is deemed otherwise is sacrificed and taken to the Underworld (in other words they’re taken over the cliff in the belief that they are atoning for their sins). However, something’s not quite right…the Takings seem to be happening more and more often and even the most conscientious of students are being sacrificed. It’s around this time that Pity Me student, Jamie Tuff, learns of her ability to ‘Dreamweave’. Basically she has a power that allows her soul to jump into other people’s bodies, but she discovers this much to her own downfall as people start to question her about these mysterious Takings thinking that she is somehow involved. Then when one of Jamie’s close friends, Ella, is Taken at Dancing Ledge, even Jamie’s friends Seveny, Max and George start to doubt Jamie’s innocence as she is put on the notorious ‘Gifted and Dangerous’ register at Pity Me. The characters are easy to relate with and well thought out. Each character has some role to play in this story and the plot is nicely brought together at the end. All the twists and turns in the story are tied up with a sensible explanation at the end. The story is one of self-discovery as well as the strength of friendship and trust. There are some interesting lessons that a teenager or child can learn form this story and the author has brought them out really well. The author has also briefly touched upon the existence of superstitions and the kind of effect they can have on people.When Jamie Tuff survives her Taking, she thinks her worst nightmares are behind her. But then her soul starts wandering into other people’s bodies, and she discovers that the Island harbours a deadly secret. After a couple hours, I’d gotten it to the point above and I was forced to set it aside in favor of working on some commercial work. But I returned to it the next day.

Another feature of this book that I just have to praise is the illustrations. They are amazing (some are downright creepy!) and they add that little extra to each chapter and the atmosphere of the scenes. I noticed that it was Holly Hinton herself who drew these illustrations…she is one talented lady! writer 24 on Ethel Reed: The Art Nouveau Artist You Don’t Know Every writer at writer 24 is ready to help you with your academic assignments at any moment. Regardless of deadlines, complexity, size and many others… The folklore surrounding elder is wide and often conflicting. It was thought that if you burned elder wood you would see the devil but if you planted one by your house it would keep the devil at bay. Apparently, it could charm away warts and vermin.

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Now, she must save her little world from a fate worse than— well, worse than what the Goddess has already done to it. Our lives have been so closely linked with trees since prehistoric times, they've been the subjects of legends, folklore and mythology.