Bet you thought I was going to say Aren, didn’t you?

Oh, hi.

One of my favourite things about reading and writing Fantasy is the potential for adventure. Not adventures in meeting rich guys in coffee shops… not adventures in parenting, or shopping, or real estate, but the kind of adventure that takes characters away from their regular lives and throws them into something completely unfamiliar and even magical.

Big adventures.

Epic adventures.

The Bound Trilogy is a series of three adventures, but it’s also just one. Each book has its own story: Bound is about Aren and Rowan’s meeting and (as suggested by the title) the search for a cure for her binding. Torn is about SPOILER ALERT Aren’s quest to find his father and everything that happens during that time, with he and Rowan on separate adventures. Sworn is about… well, you’ll see.

But overall, there’s one massive task, which means one ginormous* adventure: Dealing with Severn. He’s the big bad guy, even if he only shows up a few times in the earlier books. He’s the challenge, the thing that threatens the characters we’re rooting for, and each book is a step closer to whatever the conclusion of that adventure will be.

Of course, life doesn’t deal out one problem or adventure at a time, and neither do stories. Adventure comes in many forms: finding love, losing it, growing up, and even the little things that distract us from our big goals are all adventures in their own right.

Sometimes adventure leads to glory. Sometimes it ends in heartbreak. And some adventures don’t end with every thread tied up in a neat “happily ever after” bow. Life is messy, and life goes on after the adventure is over. That’s another thing I love about Fantasy. Even when the story’s over, the fair dude or damsel saved, the monsters slain (or not), and the world granted a measure of peace, there’s still so much potential for the reader’s imagination to continue the fun. Unless everybody dies, the story goes on.

Life itself is the greatest adventure, and there’s always room for one more.

TELL ME: What’s your favourite adventure in a book or movie? What adventures has your own life led you to recently?

*I know it’s not a word, but it feels good to say it.