Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

There is lot of very concerning content for Christian parents to be aware of here. First off… many authors over the last few years decided to show a non-central character or two, maybe a side character’s parents or neighbors, and lightly show or imply they are in a gay relationship. This allowed them to “get credit” from those who look at those things in a positive light and give a head nod towards unbiblical agenda’s our culture was/is pushing while hopefully not raising too many alarm bells with conservative readers like Christians. They hoped we would shrug our shoulders and just ignore it. This book takes a more direct approach. Early in the book young readers are presented with a line that references “one of her mothers” about a main character. Alarm bells are raised. The author doubles down as we find out Rue’s two uncles, who come across in a very positive light, are “married”. And this isn’t a passing reference like we referenced above, these characters come up quite often in the plot. As the cherry on the cake, we throw in comments like “Opulence, a distant cousin, was promenading through the trees with her latest beau, a stunning red-haired girl” to which we add “Merri thought they made a great pair”. Even the demons (more on that next) are no exception, as one is given “they pronouns”. Even the main characters are not exempt, with Merri shown flirting with a young girl. You take a book with two strong young female main characters, give one two “moms”, one two “uncles” who are “married”, these cousins, add in a deadbeat husband/father who abandoned the family, but hangs around and parties and it feels like yet another installment of this culture’s full attack on biblical manhood and marriage. Similarly, while a lot of books contain “magic” and related things, this is one of those that intentionally includes a bit more dark content. Quite a bit of the story revolves around demons. But what really sets this book apart from a concerning aspect is its really sad blurring of the lines between right and wrong, especially related to these demons. While the ultimate evil villain is a nasty evil demon, so are other demons who are treated almost like pets for the “good” characters. Here is an example line, after a sweet little girls says, “Everyone loves demons” Merri chokes back a gasp thinking, “All her life she’d been told that demons brought death, destruction, and pain. Yet everything about how Ba behaved with his family told a very different story”. This is actually a really sad and dangerous thing to expose our children too. This is a major focus that comes up again and again. And then there is just heavier dark content. At an early turning point in the story, Rue discovers that the battle between the young heirs of the two houses is because the loser’s soul must be sacrifice to continue the magic that keeps a super evil demon (as opposed to the pet-like demons) locked up… so there’s that… Similarly, one of the girls is told that a certain demon, one much different than the one she has at home, will make you “forget who you are, murder the ones you love, obey your mortal enemies”. Rue dreams of “the earth opening up beneath her” and a knife piercing a young girl’s heart”. Near the climax of the book, Merri believes she needs to enter “demonspace” and we are told that is “the realm of the old gods, the land of demons”. To make this really sad a sweet young girl character starts jumping up and down saying how much she wants to join in and go, like it is an amusement park. At this point things get really dark and strange, feeling more like a scary movie. The two main characters are not in any way “heroes” to look up to. They fall much more firmly into the “modern” approach to main characters. When we meet Merri she is working on potions and she casts a charm to hide her actions and lies… all within the first couple pages. Later Merri’s father has been drinking heavily and, wanting information, “she took his glass and muttered a charm to refill it. Her father was drunk most of the time anyway”. She also “decides she could lie to this boy, just a little bit” and that “no amount of lying would help her escape her fate”. Rue is no exception. At the start of the book we find she has been sneaking out for weeks. She rolls her eyes. Other items to be aware of: There is a small drawing above the 1st chapter heading. If you look close you see it is a somewhat disturbing drawing of a skull. When we first meet Rue she has a bracelet on with several skulls. Several times characters utter “thank the Scion” (in place of Thank God) Merri’s sister wears a dress said to show “much skin” Merri calls her sister a “terrible liar” There is quite a bit of content around charms, spells and potions and none of it feels “Disney light”. There are also references to “gods” and "goddesses" An elixir is called “Draught of exquisite death” A book is said to be haunted, with a character believing it has a demon’s soul in it. There is a dark practice of deriving information from bones. Merri recalls stories of people trying to sneak into her home being beheaded or snacked on by very large dogs. We find a character is a “princess born of a god and a demon”