As Bob Dylan said so long ago, the times they are a-changin’, and as we’ve noticed in Hollywood though the times might change but the eyes that were once raised to see the possibilities are being continually kept lowered to the same expectations and designs that have been proven and tried and deemed as true throughout the years. That’s all well and good when something works, but if it’s broken and needs fixing the denials that come in the forms of sequels, reboots, and remakes of old ideas that people can no longer get behind is not the solution. As Matthew Wikfors of Pascack Hills Trailblazer might agree with, Hollywood is running out of ideas. Ask just about anyone in Hollywood why they don’t visit a library or a bookstore to gather new ideas and you might get the answer that this is starting to happen, that show business is starting to branch out, and that new ideas are starting to roll in. But in some cases it might be that we need a complete and utter revamp of the entire system sometimes.
You want something new and exciting? You want a story where women are equal and, in some cases, superior to men? Strength and Honor: The Sanu’te’ Chronicles part 1 is just the first book of a series in which a rogue female knight, yes, a FEMALE KNIGHT, turns upon her former order in a quest for vengeance as she cuts her way through one opponent after another in an attempt to reclaim a life that was stolen from her. You might say that it’s just another revenge story, that there’s nothing new here, that it’s something masquerading as another individual throwing a hissy fit because someone did something to do them, but it goes quite a bit deeper than this. Pronounced as cursed from birth due to her unusual eyes and mixed lineage, Sanu’te’ was initially a slave girl within her own tribe, an outcast among her own people, and a curiosity to anyone that didn’t know any better. Her father, a wayward priest from an order that eventually catches up to him, abandoned her not long after her mother’s passing, and it was this same order that would take Sanu’te’ as one of their own, to train and to harness as a weapon for their holy sect. Honed and conditioned to be their strong right hand when it was needed, Sanu’te’ knew little more than the purpose that her life was given.
It sounds a bit like Conan the Barbarian, right? Well, to learn more you might want to read on as the story goes that Sanu’te’ eventually turns on the order, slaughtering those she once fought beside, betraying the very precepts that she upheld, and with little to no reason that anyone could divine. The damage she leaves in her wake is enough to set the entirety of the order upon her, but there’s on big problem, she was trained to do more than fight, she was also trained to disappear when needed, to survive in ways that most knights would feel is beneath them, and to strike from the shadows without warning. Apart from being their deadliest weapon, Sanu’te’ is also the order’s biggest and most virulent secret as she represents a prophecy told centuries ago that foretells the downfall of those that would attempt to stand in her path. For her own part Sanu’te’ simply desires vengeance, and there’s little that anyone can do to stop her once she’s set on her course.
People want more stories that are female-driven, well this is one of them, and it’s one that will shake the world in which it exists to the core as more than Sanu’te’s vengeance is at stake in this rapidly changing landscape as the order finds itself beset on more than one front as old grudges from the past begin to take shape and the many races of Zasalarel begin to converge once again as the prophecy begins to unfold. Sanu’te’ and many others take center stage as the crumbling of civilization and the showdown between the rogue knight and her former order begets a confrontation for the ages that will consume any and everyone caught within its path as the final confrontation between Sanu’te’ and her former order is only the beginning.
It’s new, it’s exciting, it has a female protagonist and many female warriors that are every bit as tough and resolute as their male counterparts, and in many ways it is one of the stories that people should at least take a look at and wonder what might happen if it were brought to TV or the big screen. While it might not be as proven as other stories it’s still very much worth the risk if we’re supposed to accept movies such as Killer Sofa and other such ideas. It’s time liven up the fantasy genre yet again, and this among many needs at least some consideration.
Follow Us
