Follow Friday - There Are 86 Metals on the Periodic Table of Elements

It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and two Follow Friday Features Bloggers each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow both of the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow the two Featured Bloggers of the week - Novel Reveries and Oh! Paper Pages.
3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
5. Follow, follow, follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "Hi".
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the love . . . and the followers.
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If you're new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

And now for the Follow Friday Question: Activity! Who is your to-die-for book crush? What do you think they look like? Add an image to make us all happy.

Questions like these remind me how far outside of the mainstream of book bloggers I truly am. In short, until I saw this question, I never really thought about any characters in a book as a "to-die-for book crush". I suppose I could go with the obvious option and pick Eowyn of The Lord of the Rings as my book crush.

Eowyn confronts the Witch-King

After all, Eowyn was probably the first female character in a book that I really noticed and even remotely considered in a semi-romantic way. On the other hand, I was about ten at the time I first read The Lord of the Rings, so I'm not even sure if that qualifies as a crush. But I've always loved Eowyn, who refused to accept the fate that her gender relegated her to, but instead disguised herself as Dernhelm and rode with the Rohirrim host to the Battle of Pelennor fields. Who, when all others deserted Theoden and fled in fear from the Witch-King, stood her ground and became the fulfillment of a 1,500 year old prophecy, although she was grievously wounded in the process, having her arm broken and being struck down by the "black breath". The only down point in her story is that once she became romantically involved with Faramir she had to give up her shield-maiden status and settle down to the life of domesticity she had spent the previous portions of the book fleeing. In effect, at the end of the book Eowyn gives up much of what had made her an interesting character. So even though I am a big fan of Eowyn, I don't think she's the right choice.

Eilonwy with her Bauble

A more magical choice, and probably a more interesting one, would be Eilonwy, from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. We first meet Eilonwy in The Book of Three (read review), where she has been made a ward of the evil Queen Achren who is in league with Arawn of Annuvin, the main villain of the series. And it is here where she begins to shine. It is Eilonwy who rescues Taran, and inadvertently rescues Fflewddur Fflam. It is Eilonwy, and not Taran, who recovers the sword Dyrnwyn. It is Eilowny who convinced King Eiddileg to help her and her companions. Unfortunately, after this promising beginning, Eilonwy more or less morphs into a headstrong but fairly standard fantasy princess who serves as a damsel in distress and a supporting character for the hero. She tags along with Taran in The Black Cauldron (read review) but doesn't have much impact on the story. She is kidnapped in The Castle of Llyr (read review), and has to give up her magical inheritance in order to defeat the villain. She doesn't appear much in Taran Wanderer (read review), and in The High King (read review) her primary contribution to the war against Arawn is to sew a banner for Taran. In the end, Eilonwy must surrender all of her magical abilities in order to stay with Taran. Once again, much of what made Eilonwy an interesting character is leached out of her, and at the end, she can't even remain as a practitioner of the magical arts, but like Eowyn, must give up those things that make her unique and take up a life of domesticity in order to wind up as a suitable partner for her chosen man. And so, like Eowyn, I think I have to pass on Eilonwy as my chosen crush.

Raederle meets Morgon with
the skull of Farr in her hand

So who can I choose? How about Raederle from Patricia McKillip's Riddle of the Stars trilogy. Raederle is the Princess of An, and her father King Mathom had promised her hand in marriage to any man who could win a riddle game against the cursed ghost of King Peven of Aum. Despite being offered as a prize in a riddle-game, Raederle is a powerful woman, and becomes determined to aid her promised husband Morgon. In Heir of Sea and Fire she embarks on a quest to find Morgon and rescue him from the evil wizard Gisteslwchlohm. Through this book and the next, Harpist in the Wind, Raederle takes an active role in the story, first gaining power and understanding, and then using them to help defeat the antagonists. In the end, while she doesn't end up as the land ruler of the entire region, she doesn't have to give up her hard-won powers and surrender her own identity to gain the love and respect of the man she desires. So, for being a feisty and independent woman who will fight for causes she loves, and for refusing to give up herself to be subsumed into someone else's identity, Raederle is my book crush.

Go to previous Follow Friday: NGC 85 Is a Galaxy in Andromeda

Go to previous Follow Friday: Lincoln Mentioned "Fourscore and Seven Years" in the Gettysburg Address

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