Plot
The Princess of Serubel, Sepora, is the very last Forger of the five kingdoms. The spectorium she creates provides energy for everyone in the kingdoms. The King of Serubel found a way use it as a weapon and use it in war. That's the last thing, the Princess wants, and her only choice is to flee the country. She escapes across enemy territory, The Kingdom of Theoria, but her plan to hide isn't easy once she is captured and put in the King's servitude. The new King of Theoria, Tarik, is faced with a plague in the Kingdom and killing the citizens. The last thing the King needs is a servant trying to get his attention. But Sepora will not accept being ignored. Once Sepora grabs Tarik's attention the both of them form a bond that she had no intention of making. Their bond complicates both of their lives. The gift Sepora has could save Tarik's kingdom from the Quiet Plague. She doesn't know if she should trust her feelings for her nemesis or hide her gift and hope for the best. When she takes matters into her own hands and returns home, she discovers that her father was on the verge of declaring war on Theoria. Sepora creates a deal with her father and they head towards Theoria to discuss the solution to the conflict they are in.
Theme
The theme of the book Nemesis is about love. In this fantasy/adventure book, love is demonstrated throughout the whole book, in many different varieties. In the very beginning, when she is fleeing her country, she has to let her pet dragon go back home. Sepora stroked the dragon and showed affection when other riders treated their dragons harmfully. She shows she cares and love her pet dragon more than others word. In another time where she demonstrates her love, she is applying it to another creature. While she is captured, one of the two men who captured her leaves to find food and when he comes back, he has a live Parani on his shoulder. Sepora is determined to help the Parani escape because of her love for mysterious creatures. Sepora grows feelings for the young King, as does he. She uses her love as sacrifice when she runs away from the King in order to protect him. She finds her father and begs to strike a deal, when in her head, she only wants to find a way to protect the King from war. Sacrifice is what you do for love and she will do anything for love.
Style
The style of this book is more a descriptive style than the rest. The author, Anna Banks, uses a lot of details to describe the events taking place, the characters surroundings, what the characters look like. Sometimes Anna Banks uses descriptive style to focus on one important object or person. She uses details of exactly what's happening so we can create a mental picture in our minds and see what's actually going on in the book. The style that the author uses in this book provides the readers with descriptions of smells, touch, hearing, seeing, and to taste. It allows the readers to go through a book full of adventure and escape the world of reality. In this book, the way the author uses descriptive style makes sense to the plot. In my opinion, if the author would've used different type of style, the book would not be the same. If she took out most of the details, we would be lost. The this author's case, the details are the backbone to creating the entire book. Anna Banks uses very descriptive details to allow us to experience imagination through her own eyes. This author could not have chosen another style and create a book as good as this one.
Conflict
Sepora leaves her country to avoid war with another country. On her flee, she enters enemy borders and is captured by two men. Her prayers for escaping the men don't get an answer. She is sold to the Prince of Theoria as a gift for the new King of Theoria. Sepora doesn't want to be in the palace, so she finds a way to escape again. She finds herself talking to the King of Theoria and forms a connection she never intended. Sepora falls in love with her nemesis. The more she talks to Tarik, the more she finds out that she loves him. Sepora doesn't know what to do because she's never felt love towards a person she didn't know. When things get worse, she finds out that his kingdom has a plague and they need spectorium. Sepora doesn't know whether to trust her feelings with the King or hide her gift. She doesn't want her feelings towards Tarik get in the way of her idea of having no more war. Instead of showing her gift to Tarik, she flees from that country also. This time she has a goal in mind. She wants to go back to her father and create a peace treaty with Theoria and Serubel. In order for that to happen, she discovers she'll have to marry the King.
Characteration
There are two main characters in the book. Princess Sepora or Serubel and King Tarik or Theoria. Characterization is when the author tells the reader what the personality of the character is. Anna uses characterization indirectly to show what the characters personality traits are. The author shows us that Sepora is hard headed because of what she says and her attitude that goes with it. We learn that when she thinks in her head, she likes to think that she is winning whatever conversation she is in even if she isn't. She does not like to lose and will do anything to win. Other people think of Sepora as careless because of her actions towards others. Sepora has silver eyes because of her gift for creating spectorium through the palm of her hands. The other main character, Tarik, on the other hand is the opposite. Tarik travels outside of the palace and disguises himself as a servant to blend in with his citizens. He likes to see what is outside of the palace to see what his people need. He gets along with children well, which tells us he's caring. He talks with gentleness towards the kids and helps the old. When he meets Sepora, he changes her attitude but she still is hardheaded.
Setting
The setting of Nemesis, takes place where there are kings and queens but in Egypt. Where Tarik lives there are giant cats as their pets/guards. Whereas, in Sepora's kingdom, they have snakelike dragon they use in war or flying. Sepora and Tarik both live in Egypt. Both kingdoms use spectorium as their energy source because when it's fresh, it lights up brightly. The brightness fades when it starts to get old. They don't have slaves, or lower class people. Sepora's kingdom is known for war, while Tarik's kingdom is known for making theories, hence the name. Although they are separate kingdoms, they have a river that runs along the edges of the two. There are hills here and there but not often. The whole setting is connected to Egypt. To the pyramids (even though the pyramids are made or spectorium), to the clothing style, to the eye make up. This is an Egyptian fantasy world and it's written well. Everything about the setting relates to Egypt in some unique way. The author creates a fantasy world for Tarik and Sepora can live in. Anna made the setting in Egypt thing really work out. She uses details to describe the setting in the book.
Point of View
In this book, there are two different point of views. The most important point of view is Sepora's. Her point of view is in first person where it involves the pronouns "I" and "we". Since every other chapter is either Sepora's point of view or Tarik's point of view, we get to see how they react and how they feel towards the same thing. The second most important point of view is Tarik's, which is also in first person. We get to read what Tarik feels towards Sepora and what he has on his mind. If this book were only in Sepora's point of view, we wouldn't really know for sure what Tarik is thinking. We would only know what Sepora thinks Tarik is feeling. If we only knew what Sepora assumes of Tarik's feelings, this book could've gone in a completely different direction. Since every other chapter is either Sepora or Tarik, we get to know what is going on in their hearts and minds. In books, point of view is very important, considering the stories that are being told could go in more than one direction. If there was no point of view, there would not be a story to be told.
Mood
The moods I experienced throughout the book are anxious, angry, cautious, fearful, worried, scared and sad. This book made me experience many moods. It's because of the way the author uses descriptive words to create those moods. Mood is a temporary state of mind or feeling. The emotions I listed are the temporary feelings I felt when I read the book. If the situation was represented in a different way, I probably would not have felt the same emotions. Everyone is different, but when I read this fantasy/adventure, those were the emotions I felt at the time being. There were times in the book, when I felt more fearful than other emotions because of the situation Sepora and Tarik were in. Every element of literature is important to create the mood that the reader feels. If the author left out her descriptive style of writing, I would probably have to reread some parts of the book to make sure it makes sense. Anna Banks uses words like a puzzle. She puts so many different varieties of words to create the masterpiece. Her paint she uses are the words and her canvas are the papers. All her work will then be created into a book.
Tone
The tone Anna Banks created in the book she wrote was meant to be intense. She created so many problems with Sepora's and Tarik's lives when they began to start feeling love for one another. The two of them have to hide their emotions when they are in front important people from the palace. Also, the way she uses her descriptive style indicates that she wants her book to be seen as intense. Her tone could also be difficulty. Sepora creates trouble wherever she goes because of her attitude. When Anna gives us the background information of the characters before they meet, it tells us that how difficult their lives were. But when they met, their lives became even more difficult because of the secrets that are involved. In books, the specific words determine how we see things and how the author sees them. Sometimes it's different interpretations but sometimes they are the same. Everyone has their own way of thinking about a situation and what it means. If my assumption or the author's tone is not the same as the author's, it does not mean it's not right. There are different tones and the way the author uses their words to describe is what we are going to think.