My playlist for Light Keeper Chronicle #2
Playlist for Light Keeper #2 as of September 2026: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0W2t5kj9eUOo6e7N19w3py?si=ce5c53f9f3334560
I forget a lot about how frustrating waiting for feedback is.
If you’ve ever written something with the intent of making revisions to it, then you’ve probably experienced this. Handing a story off to someone and then waiting for them to gather their thoughts and tell you what they think. Especially when it’s a novel, it takes painfully long to hear back if you do at all.
Speaking for myself, there’s an unreasonable part of me that hopes when I hand something off, it’ll be praised without compromise. However, getting praise without critique is ultimately unhelpful—even if certain critiques are never addressed in revisions; it’s always worth knowing what weaknesses are in a work so you can weigh the trade off of shoring them up.
Light Keeper #2 is written and in the hands of a few beta readers. Which is great in so far as I’ll be able to hear what people think and make adjustments as needed in the back half of the year.
It is annoying to me in so far as I know the book needs changes made, but I won’t be able to make those changes until my beta readers finish.
So, for the time being, I’m catching up on other things in life as best as I can (including recovering from a move) while I wait.
In that waiting, I’ve been keeping my head in Light Keeper Chronicle mode by listening to and tweaking the playlist I’ve made for the book. (The playlist isn’t “final” since some key plot points could still change in the next few months.)
So, since I’m keeping myself in that head space, here’s my roughly chronological playlist for Light Keeper #2 and an explanation for why each song is there.
Here’s a link to the Spotify playlist if you’re interested, and below, find my explanation for why I selected the songs I did.
“Brothers” by Penny and Sparrow
This second book centers Walter—the Element Keeper of Water—a little bit more. He spent much of the first book away from the other main characters so we get to see more of his dynamics with his friends this time, particularly Zack, the Element Keeper of Fire.
I picture the first half of this song in particular applying to the two boys. I think Walter is at a place in his life where, even though he understands things are complicated, he very focused on results. I don’t think he interrogates to deeply why his friends act the way they do (especially in Zack’s case) he’s more interested in their behaviors matching what is good for him or others.
Meanwhile, I think Zack is a kid who’s going through more than he necessarily lets on and, because of that, is very close (in his own way) to his friends. I think in this book in particular, he’s seeing the first impressions that his friends are beginning to grow up and he’ll eventually need to figure out how to slot into that.
While not as centered, I could also apply this song to Lenzey and Ellean’s relationship, particularly in the second half of this book. Ellean, the Element Keeper of Shadow, finds herself in a strange situation regarding her dynamic with Lenzey, the lead character of the series. In that situation, I think Lenzey has to grapple with her own beliefs about Ellean, and does something she knows will have a lasting impact on their relationship.
“God Save the Foolish Kings” by House of Heroes
This is maybe a little bit of personal nostalgia than a song that actually fits the current iteration of the book.
“God Save The Foolish Kings” is one of a few songs that managed to work its way to becoming a corner stone of how I imagine the Element Keepers. It is how I picture the seven Element Keepers when they are fully united. Because of the nature of this book, the seven Element Keepers are together near the beginning and at the end; though they’re arguably not fully united at any point.
Nevertheless, the song deals with broken promises, violence, purpose, self-mythologizing, and pursuing truth as flawed individuals. I think all of those things, in one shade or another, are things the main characters of this book also grapple with through the series.
“Barrett’s Privateers” by The Wellermen
“I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold, we’d fire no guns, shed no tears — now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barrett’s privateers.”
This is a song about people who have promises made to them. That they’ll get the thing they want without death or violence. They are, ultimately, lead astray and there is only one privateer, forever marked by the experience, remaining at the end.
I don’t things get quite so intense in this book, but there is a crew of sailors contracted by the Warlocks in this book to carry the Element Keepers and those sailors (and all involved) end up in for more than they anticipate. In parallel, I think the Element Keepers in both books have not yet conceptualized what they are in for when it comes to the affairs of Garibain and prophecy they’re dealing with.
“Enemy” by Imagine Dragons and J.I.D
Speaking of characters not getting what they anticipate, I think a lot of the characters in this book relate to some part of “Enemy.” About half the main cast end up being betrayed in some way by someone who they did not expect to be opposed to them.
It’s difficult to talk about it more than that, but when the book comes out I think there’s two particular moments that will stand out.
“tv off” by Kendrick Lamar
I don’t know if this song will stay on the playlist since this is a book for kids and, if a young reader picked it up and started looking for more Light Keeper material, I don’t know if I’d want to point them so directly to so many expletives.
That said, I haven’t yet found a song that does what “tv off” does.
“tv off” is a song that expresses most of the shades of how the antagonists in this book are feeling about the status quo. They feel that people in charge have not been using their power well and, for at least two of the main villains, they have a personal beef with Zandar, the Warlock from the first book, and the power structure he’s defending.
In the broader series, I feel like this is also the sort of start of the antagonists’ call to action for the rest of Garibain. In a sense, they display that their goals are achievable.
“America Made Me” by The Decemberists
One of the things I’ve continued to bring up in the series is that there are cultural differences between the magical world of Garibain and modern America, where the Element Keepers come from. As such, there are some culture clashes when it comes to the seven Element Keepers interacting with people of Garibain.
I think Walter in particular looks at a return home (a return to America) as the most overtly good for for everyone. The new set of Element Keepers probably don’t conceptualize where they come from quite as starkly as Walter, but I think—in different ways—they are aware that going back is not necessarily as good a deal for them as it is for Walter; though I think there’s layers of feelings in all instances.
“And So” Attacca Quartet with Caroline Shaw
There scenes I conceptualize in my mind with filmic sensibility while writing.
There’s a point about halfway through the book that I image this song playing over. The scene is a literal departure for one character and a quasi departure for another. As of writing this, I haven’t yet gotten feedback on the chapter yet, but I think it’s probably the most quietly horrifying chapter of the book.
The song grapples with the nature of existence and, to a certain degree, causality. The song is undeniably beautiful, but it’s performed with a delicacy that—speaking for myself—I listen to on the edge of my seat, waiting to see if it all falls apart.
I went back and forth as to whether to swap the order of this song and “And So.” Ultimately, I think it works better coming after “And So” since that tracks Lenzey’s arc a little bit better.
“Liar” is a song about someone feeling guilty after doing something and asking those judging him to still have grace. Yet, this person still can’t quite bring themselves to openly admit their wrong doing.
Lenzey is a character who is constantly trying to do the right thing. Even when it is inconvenient to her own well being, she will generally try to do what she thinks is good. The issue is, that is increasingly obscured to her as the series goes on. At the midpoint of the book, Lenzey is told she has two bad options and is forced into a choice. That choice chews at her for the rest of the series.
I think this song could arguably also apply to Walter, Michaela, and Zack—though in my current draft, I don’t know that they fully register their wrong doing.
I would also say that this song applies to at least one of the Warlocks in the book.
This song is kind of an odd pick, but it checks multiple boxes.
As a playlist, it feels like we’re in need of a more upbeat song. Similarly, the book is largely more upbeat at this moment. However, the main moment I associate with this part of the book is a little more dower.
I primarily have this mapped over a moment for Fred, the Element Keeper of Earth, in a moment where he finally confesses to Lenzey why he’s stayed in Garibain.
While the song doesn’t perfectly map over his situation or the situation of the story, I think its the closest I can find without picking a song that’s an absolute bummer and largely wouldn’t reflect where the other characters are.
“Here’s a Health to the Company” (Assassin’s Creed Black Flag)
Zack has a minor proclivity for shanty singing. When asked why he knows these songs, he explains that he learned them from a video game.
“Here’s a Health to the Company” fits the bill and is a fairly hopeful little tune as the Element Keepers wade into their final confrontation of the book.
A bit of an aside: One of the odd quirks of aspects of pop culture being in some ways circular and in other ways static over the past 20 years is that, even though I tend to imagine these books taking place somewhere in 2006-2013, things have changed or come back enough that I can make references that kinda work contemporaneously.
“Ballad of a Politician” by Regina Spektor
There was a version of this playlist that was half Regina Spektor songs.
I ultimately was able to narrow it down to just one, “Ballad of a Politician,” which I feel fits this particular book best.
There’s a moment in the book that technically happens off screen with the antagonist(s) of the book just before the climax. The main characters end up finding about what happened right after the fact. That moment ends up having wider ranging effects than the immediate climax of the book for Lenzey and her friends who are fighting for survival as a result of this decision.
“The Last Snowfall” by Vienna Teng
I went back and forth on what the last song on this playlist would be. (Another option was “Boreas” by The Oh Helloes.)
In my mind, this second book has a strange ending. It sits in this odd place of defeat for some characters, hope for some others, and leave a couple of characters with secrets that they must decide what to do with.
“The Last Snowfall” has about the right degree of hope and melancholia mixed together. The song imagines what it would be if this was the last time someone watched the snow or held hands with a loved one.
Obviously this comes at the end of a book that is not the intended last in the series, but I think there’s a handful of characters that imagine their departure from Garibain as their final goodbye even as they are explicitly told that there are people who will try to bring them back.
*****
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Light Keeper Chronicle: The Unspoken Prophecy is available for physical purchase from Schuler Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon or wherever you read ebooks.
The Wilderlands is available for physical purchase now from Barnes & Noble and Amazon or wherever you read ebooks. The audiobook is also out now on most major platforms.