Our Thoughts

The copy of this book we reviewed we found in a church library in the Young Adults section. The book binding labels it as Juvenile Fiction (i.e., a kid’s book). Then later in the same copy of the book, in the advertisements at the end, it again described it as a YA series. After reading it, this tension around where it should be listed actually feels appropriate. This series is certainly lighter than the adult books this author writes. But it is also noticeably “heavier” than the newer series he has been producing with his daughters (Rachelle and Kara) and another writer (H.R. Hutzel), such as the one we recently reviewed (And They Found Dragons). It is probably best to consider this series for mature teenagers. --- Now the most interesting thing about the discussion around who should read it is the “why”. There really is not much concerning content here that would, in and of itself, keep less mature teens from reading. The advice on keeping this for older teens is really just based on the “heaviness” of this compared to what most Christian children and younger teens will be (should be) used to reading and watching. This Christian allegory, like similar works of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, takes evil very seriously and attempts to get us thinking about The Story we find ourselves in by penetrating our outer defenses through myth. Since we brought up the parallel, the intensity of the action and fighting is probably between what you see in Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, but a bit closer to the latter --- The delivery of several aspects of this Christian allegory is really interesting. There is the shady evil one that lurks behind the evil we see on the surface level. There is the small remnant of good that cannot be defeated, no matter how dark things look. This remnant has their religion based on love. There is a life-giving water that those in that remnant must bathe in daily to avoid being transformed by the evil of the world. There is the fact that those who do transform into that evil form are instantly deceived to hate and fear that very water that is the only thing that can save them. There is the dry, dessert land that was once luscious forest, but changed after an event referred to as “The Great Deception”. There is a younger generation who has been told of all of the legends of old, but must decide for themselves if they really believe it. There are creatures who represent God’s messengers as well as dark counterparts. We also see a brief glimpse that this all ties into our daily, this-worldly life as well (expect more explanation of this comes in the later books). Probably the best thing about this book is that it shows children an extremely vivid example of how critical it is to obey what God has spoken to you personally no matter how crazy it seems, no matter what anyone else thinks and no matter what it costs you.