The characters in this book drive the story. Sometimes they seem omniscient, and sometimes they seem to contradict themselves. This was intentional. The characters are attempting to figure out what has happened to them and who they are. In real life, we often jump to conclusions or make hasty generalizations. My characters are relatable in that way and more. So when a character speaks or writes their story, they speak as they think, which often is wrong or at the very least muddled or biased.

For example, a character in the prologue refers to someone as a friend and then does not seem to remember them or recognize some jewelry they are wearing. I am planting a seed of doubt by relaying what the person is thinking or feeling. Is the character they call a friend truly a friend? Or are they someone else? And often, in this particular book, one must question who someone truly is. And the jewelry is explained later. Of course, eventually all of the stories come together, and the reader, having been given lots of clues throughout, is eventually rewarded with a more complete puzzle than what was given to them at the beginning. In fact, someone told me that after reading it once that they were going to read it again to spot all of the clues.

It was a huge book and undertaking. It took its toll mentally because the characters drew out a lot of energy from me. And it was taxing spiritually as well. The book takes some liberty with some biblical tales and historical legends. The whole idea of what the characters know about faith and religion is this. They truly don't know anything about what happened at the dawn of time, other than the legends that were passed down. And ultimately, we learn the wisdom that the majority of what we believe is mostly about faith, which isn't a bad thing. So there was never any intention of saying, "this is how it was, or this is what happened." I do qualify these stories as simply that, stories and legends. It is, after all, a fictional piece of literature. It is a story that both the religious and the agnostic can enjoy but in different ways.

The characters learn several things by the final chapter. They are things that we all should learn. Faith, believing in yourself, living with confidence in your decisions, dealing with personal loss and tragedy, many of these life lessons are dealt with in more than one way depending upon the character. Life is a journey. And the wisdom that we all gain from this journey is not free. But it is all very well worth the trip.