Lays of Anuskaya

Bradley Beaulieu's sweeping and epic fantasy series The Lays of Anuskaya built and evolved and developed over the course of the trilogy. From The Winds of Khalakavo to The Straights of Galahesh to The Flames of Shadam Khoreh. A vivid, layered, and enriching story that was unique and pulled me into every battle, every scene, every nuance. When I come to the end of a series, more often than not, I feel a tinge of melancholy as I am forced to say goodbye to a world that I have become a part of. If I can have such feelings in a parting, I can only imagine what the authors go through when they have to move on and say their farewells.

I read an online piece by Beaulieu in which he talked about having to leave behind a world that he had invested so much of his life in. This trilogy was spread out over many, many years as he struggled with ideas and points of view and the message that he wanted to leave.Years of internal struggles and questioning. Writer's workshop after writer's workshop came and went as he tried to find his literary voice to overcome the inertia of not being a writer his whole life to finally taking the plunge.

In the aftermath of his trilogy, two additional novellas sprang forth from his pen, Prima about the return of a spirit lost to the aether and its longing to be part of humanity after so long away. A story that takes place some 20 years after the conflicts in Shadam Khoreh. Also To the Towers of Tulandan about a young sherpa who had, for a time, lost her way and began to embrace a path of violence and conflict. However, ultimately her heart and her mind were purified and reclaimed toward a path that she had never really let go. Great pieces with which to spend a reading session.