The glories, angst, and tragedy of fantasy

Am getting back into The Constant Tower. WOW!!! It's so good to be back into a fantastical world. The nobility, the beauty, the angst -- the character's lack of concern about paying mortgage! (Well, at least in this story, there are no money issues or penniless beggar children.)

Loving beautiful Ephan with his birth taint and grief.
Loving angsty angry Psal with his congenital illness.
Loving everyone. Even the evil Voca!

Oh my gosh! The joy, the bliss!

Mainstream has its virtues, mind you. But...fantasy! Well, it just leaves me speechless!

I'd stepped aside to work on Onion. Although Onion is YA, it still has my issues. It even dealt with tribalism -- in its own way. And the romance in Onion -- like the romance in Wind Follower-- was about and thwarted by tribalism in its own way. Except that in Wind Follower, the tribe that was against the romance was the tribe of the spirits. In Onion, the tribe that's against the romance is primarily the friend group to which Ben belongs...

 Now that I'm back with Onion, I just have to work with figuring out why the story feels so repressed. Not sure if it's repressed because I'm afraid of a beat-down from Christians because they didn't like the sexual stuff in WF. Or if the story's repressed because secular reviewers had an issue with the religious/Christian aspect of WF. Or maybe it's repressed because I myself am just plain repressed.  Either way...am thinking that when it comes to reviews maybe I should develop a kind of "been there, done that" attitude... and simply stop reading my reviews. In that way I don't repress and suppress myself.

So...for your pleasure -- and curiosity-- some of my fave final fantasy games...and my beloved Kokia.