Letter to the Walking Dead

Since it has come to my attention that everyone is posting their letters here, I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon :)

Dear Mr. Darabont,

My husband loves your show. He had a tradition of watching the new episode on Sunday nights and one day I sat down next to him to see what it was all about (his show before this was Breaking Bad—I saw about five seconds and never wanted to see it again). He is studying to be a clinical psychologist and I study human development, so the part of both of us that is fascinated by human behavior in unusual circumstances was immediately addicted to the realism and candidness with which your show accurately reflects human response in adverse situations. Especially over time, the development of the characters rings true to human nature, and that is probably the best thing about it.

You are a brilliant writer. Your ability to communicate raw emotions is staggering and the realism with which it all comes together is the reason behind The Walking Dead’s success.

This semester I am taking a class on media and human/family development and one of the key subjects under discussion in our class has been graphic violence in the media and all that comes with it. I realize that for a long time the research showed conflicting results, but what stood out to me most was the overwhelming surge of data in recent years demonstrating the short term (and sometimes leading to long term) effects of violence in TV and video games.

Now, I realize there are plenty more graphic and violent shows out there which I have not seen (by choice) and I am no expert on the subject like some are, but what I have noticed is the effect TV violence has had on my life. From only watching an episode or two a week, the first season of the Walking Dead I was closing my eyes for substantial periods of time just to avoid the graphic images of blood spurting and mangling of body parts (I understand that the sound effects I still heard are what make movies with such content rated R). Sitting bored in a university chorale class, disturbing images I had glimpsed of characters being eaten alive randomly burst into my mind and gave me twinges of nausea. A couple of weeks ago I had a couple dreams involving zombies and my first real nightmare in years.

An obvious response to these assertions is for me to stop watching the show, and I have (but only with great sadness because I really want to see the rest of the series!!). One might point out the fact that I am abnormally sensitive to violence, and I am. But that didn’t used to be the case. I don’t believe I am abnormal, I believe the rest of the country is. I am this way on purpose. We have been so heavily exposed to graphic violence that it does not even merit a flinch anymore. After watching the Dark Knight with some friends in the theater, I was appalled to find them laughing about the “disappearing pencil trick” when I was feeling traumatized by the psychological horrors to which a family had just been subjected. After seeing the Walking Dead for myself I understood why there is such a huge fan base. At the same time, I can’t help being disappointed in our country for creating the demand for that kind of graphic imaging on screen. It damages children, it damages adults, and the worst part is we don’t even realize it is happening to us.

Countless of award-winning films—even violence-themed ones like The Return of the King—have been created without showing extensive explicit violent content. In fact, a large portion of the audience would have been eliminated by including such graphic visual material.

My husband is waiting on tenterhooks for the next season of the Walking Dead to come out in the fall. As is my best friend. And many, many others. But my hope is that changes can be made to make the Walking Dead a better form of entertainment for us. We watch in spite of violence, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could watch without that concern? Obviously, given the nature of such a show, it would be neither possible nor desirable to remove all violent content, but so much can be communicated through implication, is it really necessary to show a beloved character disemboweled in all its gory detail? The gore is not used to make a statement, only to provide shock value, and it takes more and more to do this to an increasingly desensitized public. I find it hard to believe that a man of your talent could not find a way to preserve the integrity of the show, while decreasing filming costs due to all that…ham, I understand? And making the show one that we can watch with our husbands, or boyfriends, or girlfriends, or anyone else, and look forward to the next season. Thank you for your time and for your contribution to engaging, thought-provoking, and all around entertaining media.

A Walking Dead Fan,

Laura

General Conference

So I KNOW everyone is going to post about General Conference today... but how could we not?! It was such an awesome conference this month! I particularly loved the references to media that popped up in a few different places. One talk focused prominently on media use in church and how it distracts us from what is important, while another mentioned the valuable resources we have through media and how the way we use media will define us. I completely agree with this statement! I heard the sentiment in a quote somewhere (which I will now butcher) that we know our true character by the way we behave when no one is watching. I believe this is the crux of the media dilemma. So much of what we do is anonymous and unmonitored, and we define and create ourselves by how we use it. Happy Easter everyone!

General Women's Broadcast

Okay, I have to say that I LOVE the new General Women's Broadcast! I was SO excited when they opened it up to all female members of the church and made it so much more diverse. Probably one of my favorite parts, though, is the videos. The Church is really good at keeping up with technology and the media, and they have put out some of the most stunning, uplifting videos that are available online. Here's just one example of one of the stunning Bible videos, in honor of Easter:

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He Lives

Okay, I have to say that I LOVE the new General Women's Broadcast! I was SO excited when they opened it up to all female members of the church and made it so much more diverse. Probably one of my favorite parts, though, is the videos. The Church is really good at keeping up with technology and the media, and they have put out some of the most stunning, uplifting videos that are available online. Here's just one example of one of the stunning Bible videos, in honor of Easter:

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate...

I've seen the vaccine debate go on forEVER and I have to say... I'm getting really tired of it. The problem isn't that people have opposing viewpoints. The problem is all the ad hominem attacks and the claims by people who aren't experts that they know better than those who are. Parents should do what they believe is best for their children, but they shouldn't try to make everyone else do the same. For example, my sister had a horrible reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine, so I didn't receive it until I was putting in my mission papers. Irresponsible? Certainly not. Granted, I turned out not to have a problem, but this is an example of a parent using their better judgment. This is not:

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

I happen to think that vaccinations are very important (look at the measles outbreaks and smallpox is coming back!!), but what gets me the most is that people are willing to accept people with no ethos on a topic as important as this without doing their own research or making a decision based on their unique circumstances, not the facts. Like I said, my family had some exceptions and that's totally fine. But what you don't know CAN hurt you.



Gorgosaurus

Daniel showed me this today:

And we busted up laughing.

And then we geeked out looking up prehistoric animals and dinosaurs for like half an hour.

Including measuring out the length of a diplodocus along the sidewalk.

There are perks to living in the information age :).

The Lamb of God

I don't know if any of you have seen this musical production, but especially as it's Easter time, I thought I'd give it a bit of a shout out. It's probably one of the most spiritually touching concerts I have ever seen. Yesterday we had a double date with Daniel's best friend to see it up in Salt Lake (my stand partner from when  I was in the orchestra for this a couple years ago was concert mistress!), and I had never before been able to watch it from the audience. The soloists were PHENOMENAL!! So... just to give you a taste, here you go:

But the best song isn't on YouTube. It made me cry! Deseret Book has the CD. Check it out!

And this is why we never find good sources on HBLL's database searches...

See it?

Hint: It's the third one down. So much for good references.

Netflix marathon

I know I'm not the first to do it. Honestly, I'm really not a TV watcher. I have a hard time staying focused through a lot of movies. But Thursday I was REALLY sick (as in, the unable to read/watch TV/anything else even if I wanted to kind) and I've been tired and under the weather since then (along with my husband), so yesterday, being the free day it was, it just sort of... happened. I don't know the last time I saw five episodes of a TV show in one day! Probably in the third grade when I was home sick or something. Anyway, I'm not proud of it, but I don't feel guilty either. That said...I feel like a lot of people champion things like binge-watching TV or eating tons of junk food because a person "deserves" it. While there may be a time and place for these things, as I would like to think this weekend was, I don't think they're something worthy of championing. It's an indulgence, and since being sedentary and eating junk food aren't good for people, I strongly disagree with the sentiment that anyone "deserves" them. Let's just enjoy as an occasional treat and champion people for things that actually require effort and self mastery, shall we? :)

Because...who doesn't love food?

Is it just me, or have recipe books basically become obsolete? I see all these collections of recipes compiled nicely into books, displayed on store bookshelves... but I really never use them. I own a few recipe books and I cook all the time, but when I want a recipe for something that isn't on my tablet's database already, I go to the internet! Allrecipes, eatingwell, yummly--plus there are a million food blogs out there, and with thousands of options for how to make a chicken pot pie, my motivation to go digging through a book for one recipe is pretty low. Modern convenience or a dying art form?

So I got married yesterday...

...and I have to say, it was nothing like I had been led to believe by my friends, parents, and especially the media. It was so much better. My mom was convinced I was going to make myself sick on my honeymoon with stress as she did, and her sister, and her friend, and many other people she knew. My friends thought it would be scary and completely different. According to every wedding-themed movie on the planet, there should be large city-crushing monsters in the forms of my mother-in-law and bridesmaids ruining everything in sight. Every magazine and advertisement on the side of my Facebook news feed informed me that if I wasn't wearing a designer dress and didn't have a full bouquet on every table with pinterest-perfect centerpieces and cake, my wedding would be shameful or not good enough or in some way regrettable.

That is not what happened.

Yesterday was the best day of my life.

My mother-in-law is one of the coolest people on the planet.

I wasn't stressed.

(Well, maybe once or twice)

But mostly, I just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed more than I can ever remember! The spirit was strong. I spent the day with my favorite person in the world, surrounded by some of my other favorite people in the world. Nothing was scary afterwards. Our reception was THE FUNNEST time I've had in I don't even know how long! I almost didn't want to leave! And I felt completely at peace.

 

When we walked out of the temple nothing felt different. It was still just us. I guess it's a good thing I like us :).

The point is, weddings don't have to be headaches. They don't have to be stressful. They can be special and fun and everything you've ever dreamed of. The media has a habit of turning some of the most beautiful and wonderful things in life into total caricatures that don't represent the truth at all.

I love my husband. (Ooo!! I just called him my husband! :D)

I love my life.

And... I got married  yesterday! What am I even doing on this computer? Ha!

Dirty Lyrics

So I'm in the group coding for sexual content in popular music and I have to say, it is ASTONISHING the things that show up in some of those songs. That said, maybe the statistic Dr. Coyne showed us in class (that only 30% of teens know the words to their favorite song) is actually a good thing. And on that note, here is a kitten to clear your mind of the trash in pop culture:

The only time I saw my fiance cry

So... I'm getting married on Saturday! And there's a lot to do. And emotions are running high. I'm really happy, but tears may have been shed in the last several days. The funny thing is, I've only seen Daniel cry once. And that was watching this video. Enjoy! ;)

The Dress

I was waiting to see if anyone else was going to post about this. That dress. No, I'm not even going to post a picture of it. One morning I innocently checked my phone as I turned off my alarm and saw four friends (without hardly scrolling at all!) on my Facebook news feed had posted about this dress that apparently is sending America into hysterics. Because some people see it as blue and black, and some people see it as white and gold. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It all depends on the exposure/lighting of the picture. If it's bluish lighting, the dress is white and gold, if it's heavy exposure, it's blue and black. I can see both. No one is right or wrong (although, the owner of that dress should probably come forward at this point just to put everyone at ease). It's probably one of the most pointless mass trends I've seen on the internet to date. I just have to wonder... who even decides the stuff that goes viral?

Facebook Ads...Creepy

I know you all have noticed this. It's crazy, but you look at something once and suddenly the ads on Facebook with that item pop up EVERYWHERE. And they never go away. Once, back in August, I looked at engagement rings. For the next two months my Facebook feed was plastered with them. Ironic, because by the end of October I was engaged, but here is a sample of what my news feed looks like today:

 

 

Are you sensing a theme here?

 

 

 

 

...Yeah. So I'm just kind of wondering... what happens in two weeks when I'm married?



The Walking Dead

My fiancé happens to be a huge fan of this show.

One day he turned it on and I decided to watch it with him.

He's studying psychology, which is also an interest of mine, so we had fun analyzing it and picking apart the behavior of the different characters.

We went back to season 1, episode 1, so I could catch up and we could watch the whole thing together.

Four episodes later, I was reading for this media class when they SPECIFICALLY mentioned the Walking Dead as evidence that violence is infiltrating even the most popular media.

It's seen as totally okay.

No lie, when I watch it I literally cover my eyes for large portions because I don't actually enjoy watching people getting ripped apart.

But it made me second guess myself.

Am I allowing too much violence in my life? I wish there were shows like this out there with a bit less violence so a person could watch a good plot line without sacrificing their peace of mind.

That is all.

One Tweet Can Destroy Your Life

We've all been warned that these days our employers and schools look at our social media to consider our applications. I've always laughed it off. After all, what kind of incriminating evidence is a company going to find on a little blonde Mormon girl's Facebook? I mean, really.

This morning I read an article (link at  bottom) about a woman who posted a satirical (somewhat out of line, but not serious) tweet before getting on a plane to Africa, and by the time she arrived there 11 hours later, her entire life was ruined. Her tweet had been discovered, gone viral, and not only was she being slammed by hundreds of thousands of people, she had threats on her life and safety, lost her job, and almost permanently shamed her family's campaign for health in Africa. She even had to cut her trip short because people were protesting outside every hotel she had booked for her trip. She was unemployed for a year and her career was ruined.

The scariest part is, her story isn't a fluke. There was a 22 year old girl who wore a rather tasteless Halloween costume and was completely demonized online, eventually leading to her termination at her job as well. A lady posted a photo of her (disrespectfully) mocking a sign at Arlington National Cemetery...but it was an inside joke with a friend about disobeying signs. It was discovered, brought to the attention of thousands of strangers, and the woman ended up fired, spending her days inside, suffering from depression and PTSD.

It certainly makes a person wonder, doesn't it?

How easy is it to jump in on a crusade and ruin a person's life...and then completely forget about it the next day, moving on with our own? How easy is it to forget that there is an actual human being at the other end of every twitter account, every facebook picture? In high school (I'm almost afraid to admit to this on here now) my best friend and I dressed up as hobos for Halloween:

Notice the comments. Also that there are only two. We went to visit my sister at Duke that night and ran into groups of low SES kids trick-or-treating there and one little boy told us that his uncle was homeless. We were mortified and got home as fast as we could to change out of our ill conceived, yet innocently intentioned, costumes.

This is why these sorts of occurrences bother me so much. I was a goody-two-shoes. I was an LDS girl, volunteered at the soup kitchen sometimes, raised money for habitat for humanity--and in one small lapse of judgment we did something that may have offended some people. We're human and it happens. But social media takes these momentary, minor fails, and turn them into something unforgivable, and certainly something that can never be lived down.

It's a doubly tricky situation, because technically these people are operating under their freedom of speech. It would be difficult to make a case for libel when they are using a direct quote. But the punishment does NOT fit the crime. And how could we make a policy to protect those on social media? It's checks and balances! Without the ability to call someone out, people could do atrocious things and get away with intolerable offenses against people without consequence.

But could we all have a little more tolerance for others? Maybe a little forgiveness? In some ways I guess the message is to be careful what we post online, but it would be awfully nice if the bigger message was one where there was a little more compassion in the world. Reputations are hard to recover and we've all been there.

Social media is turning into russian routlette and we're all holding the gun.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=2

Virtual is the New Reality?

Let me begin by saying that I am NOT a gamer. I can count the number of games I've played on one hand, and the times I've played them on two. I an sometimes catch allusions to popular games, but even Mario Cart is beyond me. I don't know the difference between a Nintendo and a PlayStation.

So with that, imagine my bewilderment upon walking into the 1:30 segment of the video game conference, purely for extra credit (Dr. Coyne's was the one I genuinely wanted to see, and I was unfortunately working during that presentation).

I learned a lot of things during this hour.

First, the contrast between the gamers and the scholars in the room was almost comical.

Second, there are people that celebrate New Years virtually on a video game in Times Square, instead of in person at Times Square (or wherever else they may be).

Hyundai was the first to have an interactive advertisement in which people could play a video game on a massive screen in Times Square and the winner for the week won a car.

There were three boys sitting behind me that never stopped playing video games on their phones the whole time we were there (case in point?)

'Damsel in distress' themes are another way of unintentionally awarding women 'object' status.

And finally, our world is far too blended between the virtual and reality. If people spend a substantial amount of their lives in a virtual world, could it be considered real? What happens when they are presented with a moral dilemma? And to win the game they have to choose...wrong? What does that do to people?

I am content to keep my life centered on my own, physical world, but even those of us who don't play in the virtual ones cannot deny that they leave their mark on our lives.

To be a SEAL

My cousin is at Buds. He's been on my mind a lot recently because sometime today--maybe already--hell week begins. Derek is in training to become a Navy SEAL.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for people in that line of duty. It's always been very interesting to me, and I have read multiple memoirs and biographies of Navy SEALs or other men serving in the special forces. But I have to say, there is something about reading these stories second hand that separates us from these people. When we read a story about someone, we put them on a pedestal, on a different plane from the rest of us. We hear what they tell us, but complete the picture in our minds without even realizing it. They create their story based off snapshots of their lives, and inevitably it is a biased rendition because there just isn't time to tell everything. We feel like we know them, but really we don't at all. We don't know the intimate details of their lives, we don't know what it really felt like to see the things they've seen and do the things they've done. In some ways it getting a glimpse almost feels worse because of the sense of entitlement we as readers feel, like we are authorities on their lives in some way.

Recently I have been rereading one such memoir called the Heart and the Fist (excellent, by the way), that was highly impactful to Derek's decision to become a Navy SEAL. The difference is that this time as I read it, I see Derek in his actions and I hear Derek's voice in my head as I read it instead of the man who wrote the book. I know him. He is human. He is one of the best people I know, but he is human. It feels much closer to home.

I'm really grateful for the opportunity we have to gain some amount of insight into the lives of some truly amazing people. We need to learn from their stories and apply what they have learned doing things we will (hopefully) never do to our own lives better. I admire my cousin Derek for his hard work, mental strength, and his commitment to being an upstanding individual in spite of extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Maybe it puts my life in better perspective. Maybe I can try a little harder.

(PS--He made it :) )

The Apartment Downstairs

 

There is a couple that lives in the apartment below me. I can only assume that the people in this apartment really love The Office, because the theme song shakes the floor of our living room every afternoon and evening at thirty minutes intervals. The first time I thought it was funny, but the more it happened, the more irritated I became (after all, who blasts The Office of all things loud enough to vibrate the floor), but then I realized something. I am SO blessed that Daniel isn't the kind of person who comes home, plops himself on the couch, and disappears into a TV show all evening. He pays attention to me and works hard and runs downstairs to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer just so I don't have to. I've never been a TV person, but Daniel has his shows that he enjoys--still though, he makes sure to be respectful to me about it and always first tells me he is available to talk any time I need and then lets me know he's going to watch a show for a few minutes to unwind. Shows can be such a black hole for time, and by extension a huge liability in a relationship if not kept in their proper place.

Of course, there is a place for TV within a relationship. Following a show with your husband or boyfriend (or even roommates!) can bring you together, provide a break from life, and be just dang fun. TV can be great that way. But when it is a constant presence, I have my doubts as to its benefits on anyone's life. To the couple in the apartment downstairs, I hope you enjoy your show together sometimes and I don't mind that it shakes the floor. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm looking forward to the end of the season ;).

Internet--Good or Bad?

I have a feeling that if I were to poll BYU for opinions on the internet I would get a consensus that it's pretty terrible. There certainly is a lot of destructive content that has been made easily accessible. I was on the phone with my mom this morning and she happened to mention that she had copied some of our messages to each other on Facebook--as a journal of sorts--and they totaled 73 pages. It struck me as how remarkable it is that we can even communicate that way, and so instantaneously, from the complete opposite side of the country.

On Friday night I was on my tablet while my fiancé was doing homework, and I ended up on the Church's family search site, looking at the pictures and information I had inputted and copying some for a history book I got for Christmas. I happened to click on the 'reserved' tab, with a list of all the family ordinances I had reserved for my family to do. Spur of the moment decision, I 'shared' one of my Hungarian great grandmothers' names with my sister, and received the following day this text message:

"Thanks for sending that name to me! I keep thinking I should follow up on those emails from family search, but I still haven't done it. But now I've done a baptism for a family name for the first time!"

Turns out I sent it the day of a temple trip for her singles ward in Texas.

Basically, I can't believe the internet is bad. It all depends on how we use it! I don't mean to say that we need to be constantly listening to General Conference to make our internet time worthwhile, but there's a lot of good we can accomplish there. Let's do it right :).

Textbook Bonding

It's funny to consider textbooks as a form of media, but they completely are. It's probably unusual, but Daniel and I have started doing some of his class readings together--the really interesting, deep, and somewhat-difficult-to-understand-if-you're-not-totally-focused-on-them ones. Probably counter intuitive and lots of people think I'm crazy because I have plenty of readings to do myself, but it's been really cool. I LOVE the way they generate discussions and we both learn, while he gets to practice explaining things to me he learned in class that I don't know :). As isolating as media use can be, using this one to bring us together has been strengthening to our relationship. Yay... school?

I Saw This Video Today...

I was doing homework this afternoon when this video popped up and I HAD to watch it:

Then I saw that this other video along the sidebar had 59 million views and had to rewatch it:

Which reminded me of this other viral video I saw way back when that was super funny, so I looked that one up too:

That might be one of my favorite videos of all time, but this one that popped up on Facebook was pretty fantastic too:

See what just happened? Suddenly half an hour of your life is gone. My homework was sitting unfinished on my table, and I had an appointment in twenty minutes. This is how the media is addictive. There's some great stuff on there, but if we aren't careful, it will eat away our time and we will be left with nothing to show for it except a longer "history" on our YouTube channels and a late night catching up on unfinished work. Here's to being more careful next time.

Weight Loss Ads DON'T HELP WEIGHT LOSS

One has to wonder with all the diet and weight loss craziness floating around the internet... is anyone really buying into it? So many ads on the side of every webpage, so many "secret" ways to lose weight.

 

If you stop eating this one food (never mind if you weren't eating it before), the pounds will magically fall off! If you eat this bizarre fruit that looks like it was photoshopped into existence, you will look like a supermodel! Or, if you take the exercise route, in just five minutes a day you can lose 20 pounds in two weeks!

 

 

Why isn't everyone 110 pounds by now? It's obviously as easy as shelling out a hundred bucks a month!

 

 

 

 

I think it's pretty terrible that we are bombarded by all of these products whether we want to actually lose weight or not. Body image is a serious issue in today's society, and most of us are pretty conscious of ours, but not everyone wants a weight loss miracle. And how does a person who HAD a healthy body image feel when they are reinforced day after day that they do need to lose weight? Fact: the women in these advertisements don't even look like these pictures.

 

The thing is, a lot of these methods teach people to ignore the way their bodies feel, and that leads to further weight problems. If a person denies their body something it needs, eventually everything will bounce back.

 

I've lived in Europe before and in many places people are naturally thin, and surprise, it isn't because they know some secret that they are hiding from everyone in America. They just eat real food instead of our processed junk, they don't snack all day, and they do a lot more walking than we do here. Where are the ads from mypyramid.gov? Where are the ads for sales on local produce? When it comes to health, there is no magic to it. All of these one-trick solutions are lies. And as long as these advertisements keep insisting there is, our health problems here are unlikely to improve.

In Which I Rant About an Offensive Article...

Yesterday one of those Facebook "news" sources recommended an article to me about "female privilege." (found here: http://thoughtcatalog.com/mark-saunders/2014/04/18-things-females-seem-to-not-understand-because-female-privilege) and it really got on my nerves. The whole article was a list of 18 reasons why women have an unfair advantage in the world.

I find a lot of this content on the internet--articles written by people with little to no cited expertise on their topics, specifically created to incite an emotional response, thereby gaining more views.

This article is subtle. It starts with a few points that are pretty universally accurate. But then it moves into controversial territory and publishes half-truths in the guise of fact. Toward the end, some were sexist and a couple were downright false. Take number 12, for example:

12. Female privilege is being able to be caring or empathetic without people being surprised.

Very unfair to men. And of all places one might expect number 13 to be true, any female at BYU could easily discredit it.

13. Female privilege is not having to take your career seriously because you can depend on marrying someone who makes more money than you do. Female privilege is being able to be a “stay at home mom” and not seem like a loser.

The response article was no better. It seems like more and more, people have to take an extreme position when the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Everyone is born into different circumstances and has different advantages and disadvantages because of them. And there is no generalization that can be made to every woman in the world that will hold water without exception. The best part? It was written by a man. If one person breaks his leg, you don't break his friend's to make it "fair." Maybe someday people will learn to use their differences and circumstances to complement those of others instead of pointing fingers.

Reading with my Ears

I go through phases with audiobooks. Sometimes I listen to them for hours a day (walking to class, folding laundry, at the gym--not wasting the day away. Ain't nobody got time for that!) and sometimes I go months in between. The last two weeks I've been listening to the Mistborn trilogy.

I read these books a few years ago, but they're one of those series that is so engrossing you read it too fast to remember what actually happened. They are SO GOOD!! I love how in the midst of world-shattering events and the fall of kingdoms and natural disasters, the characters go through very real human moral conflicts and struggle with their relationships in very human ways. One moment the heroine is conquering armies, and the next she feels small and vulnerable and afraid of rejection by the man she loves.

The violence is pretty graphic, but all things considered, this is one of the best developed trilogies I've seen. Read. Heard. :)