Category Archives: Christian World-View

Review: The Prince Warriors by Priscilla Shirer with Gina Detwiler

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,

The Prince Warriors by Priscilla Shirer and Gina DetwilerThe Prince Warriors (The Prince Warriors #1)
Priscilla Shirer with Gina Detwiler
Broadman & Holman Publishers
Published on April 27, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Prince Warriors
The battle is real.

As brothers, Xavier and Evan are used to battling each other. But now they’re discovering that there is a much bigger battle going on all around them. And it’s their turn to fight. Based on Ephesians 6:10–18, The Prince Warriors is the first book in Priscilla Shirer’s epic new series that brings to life the invisible struggle ensuing in the spiritual realm. Xavier, Evan, and their friends have typical lives until they enter a mysterious land called Ahoratos. There they meet their guide, Ruwach, who offers wisdom and direction as the kids’ initial adventure begins—an adventure filled with armor and danger and a very real enemy.

Written by New York Times Best-Selling author Priscilla Shirer, The Prince Warriors series was created for middle-grade readers and will include the fiction trilogy as well as Unseen: The 365 Prince Warriors Devotional and the Unseen app.

My Review
I liked the imaginative way the author used elements of the story to talk about spiritual warfare. I also thought it worked well to have a cast of four central characters on the quest. Brianna was my favorite, and her relationship with Levi might have been one of my favorite parts of the story.

The plot pacing was a little strange for me. The last part of this three-part book felt more like the beginning of a new quest rather than a conclusion to the story as a whole. That said, I liked the setup for future novels and the way that even though an adult becomes involved, the kids have to solve their own problems through the course of the story.

The Prince Warriors will probably appeal most to younger middle grade readers who enjoy doorway to fantasy type books. Fans of Jaimie Engle’s Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light will probably enjoy this series.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
No racial details given in the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
When characters step into the world of Ahoratos, they put on armor which has some magical abilities as well as protects them from enemies. They encounter evil creatures (metal monsters and poisonous butterflies for example) and fight them using the wisdom from Ruwach and their armor.

Ruwach shares some scriptures with them as wisdom for battle. The scriptures aren’t identified by biblical reference, but some will be recognizable. The kids learn Ahoratos has been created by the Source (which seems to be a reference to God) and they must fight an enemy who opposes them and will try to capture them.

These elements create a parallel for Christian spiritual warfare without direct explanation or reference to the bible.

Violent Content
Battle scenes contain no gore or fatalities.

Drug Content
None.

 

Review: Elsie Mae Has Something to Say by Nancy Cavanaugh

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Elsie Mae Has Something to Say
Nancy Cavanaugh
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Published on September 5, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Elsie Mae Has Something to Say

Elsie Mae is determined to save her beloved Okefenokee Swamp, but is she willing to accept the unexpected?

Elsie Mae has long treasured summers with her grandparents in the Okefenokee Swamp, so she is devastated to hear that a shipping company plans to build a canal right through it. What will that mean for the people and animals that call the swamp home?

So she writes a letter directly to President Franklin Roosevelt himself and sets off to enjoy what may be her last happy summer there with her new dog, Huck. But when she arrives, she discovers a team of hog bandits who have been stealing from the swamper families.

When her cousin Henry James, who dreams of one day becoming a traveling preacher like his daddy, shows up, Elsie doesn’t think things could get worse. But she devises a plan to use Henry and his “Hallelujahs” to help stop the thieves—and maybe just make enough noise to gain Roosevelt’s attention…

My Review

This might be my new favorite book.

Okay, so favorite book is more of an entire bookshelf than, like, one title, but seriously. Elsie Mae Has Something to Say blew me away.

I immediately fell in love with the earthy swamp folk and the relationship they have with the Okefenokee Swamp. Elsie’s the kind of character who takes you along with her, sharing her big vision for catching the hog thieves and saving the swamp. I loved watching the development of her relationship with other characters, especially Henry James. At first, she resents him taking up space in her summer, but she comes to value him as a friend and confidant. It reminded me a lot of the kind of relationship Scout and Dell had in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

The Deep South setting comes through the page so rich and vibrantly you’d almost feel like you can hear the buzz of mosquitos and the slosh of the water. Every dinner scene made me crave good southern food and long for the combination of sweet tea on a hot afternoon.

If you like southern fiction, you seriously need to put this book on your list. There’s definitely a strong Christian theme running through the book, but it’s much more the way PEACE LIKE A RIVER has that sense of spiritualism but without any preachiness. It felt very genuine and personal to the characters.

Fans of THREE TIMES LUCKY by Sheila Turnage or A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd need to get a copy of this book quick. It’s technically a middle grade book, but just like THREE TIMES LUCKY, I think it has huge crossover appeal to other age groups. Check it out and let me know how much you like it!

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are all southern white people—down to earth swamp folk.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Elsie mentions that the men arrested for stealing hogs swear so much she even hears a word she’d never heard before. She doesn’t specify further.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Henry James, the son of a preacher comes to stay with Elsie’s grandparents. He quotes bible verses and prays. Elsie even agrees to let him baptize her “for practice”.

At one point Henry cautions Elsie that pride comes before a fall. At first, she refuses to give up her pride or agree that it may get her into trouble. She learns, though, through some painful experiences, that Henry is right and pride only causes harm to Elsie and her plans.

Violent Content
Elsie worries about gators in the water possibly attacking her when she and Henry get out of the boat in the middle of the swamp. At one point, two unidentified men fire a gun in Elsie and Henry’s direction.

Drug Content
The sheriff arrests men (strangers to Elsie) for running moonshine. Two men (strangers to Elsie) get drunk and have to sleep it off.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Historical, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Silent Songbird (Hagenheim #7)
Melanie Dickerson
Thomas Nelson
Published on November 8, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Silent Songbird
Evangeline is the ward and cousin of King Richard II, and yet she dreams of a life outside of Berkhamsted Castle, where she might be free to marry for love and not politics. But the young king betroths her to his closest advisor, Lord Shiveley, a man twice as old as Evangeline. Desperate to escape a life married to a man she finds revolting, Evangeline runs away from the king and joins a small band of servants on their way back to their home village.

To keep her identity a secret, Evangeline pretends to be mute. Evangeline soon regrets the charade as she gets to know Westley, the handsome young leader of the servants, whom she later discovers is the son of a wealthy lord. But she cannot reveal her true identity for fear she will be forced to return to King Richard and her arranged marriage.

My Review
This is off the usual path of books I tend to read, but it’s a series my daughter absolutely adores. The Hagenheim series loosely retells fairytales (minus the magical elements) as light medieval romance novels. This one is a loose retelling of the Little Mermaid, with Eva pretending to be mute as she pursues Westley, which prevents him from realizing she’s the maid with the lovely voice he felt so drawn to.

The romance elements definitely kept me turning pages. I liked Westley’s character and his sense of honor and curiosity about Eva a lot.

I felt like Eva was much shallower than other heroines in this series. She felt bad about lying, but didn’t really take a lot of responsibility for it. She sort of had tunnel-vision on things she wanted, which blinds her to some of the hurts she causes in people around her, especially her friend who escapes with her.

Eva definitely grows as the story progresses, and I liked that she does eventually come clean about her past. I wanted the backstory or conflict between her and Lord Shively to develop more—like maybe for her to find actual evidence that he’d murdered his wife and flee because she feared he would kill her to silence her. But that’s probably because I’m addicted to angsty stories. Ha!

The Silent Songbird is a great pick especially for younger readers looking for light romance. It has all the tension and satisfaction of romance without being sexual or graphic. My daughter is twelve, and this is probably her favorite series.

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Cultural Elements
All the characters appear to be Western European.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a man and woman.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer.

Violent Content
A woman accidentally injures a man with a scythe. A woman sustains injury to her hands from her work as a servant. A man tries to kill another man by pushing him into a river.

Drug Content
References to drinking ale.

 

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Review: Reintegration by Ashley Bogner

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Reintegration
Ashley Bogner
Createspace Self-publishing
Published on August 18, 2017

Author Website | Goodreads

A perfect citizen. A captured rebel. One decision could destroy them both…

As a Regulator, seventeen-year-old Katherine Holliday’s duty is to protect the people of the Federation from a group of violent rebels who have exiled themselves to the mysterious wilderness. When one of these rebels is captured within the Federation, the government leaders propose an alternative to execution, a procedure they call Reintegration. The procedure involves erasing the rebel’s memory and attempting to make him a member of society. The rebel, a young man named Matthew, is not the violent criminal Katherine expects, and she can’t help but befriend him. A few weeks after Matthew’s Reintegration, Katherine realizes the procedure failed and she is now presented with a choice no one else can help her make. Can she warn her superiors that Reintegration failed, which could mean death for Matthew? Or will she defy everything she knows to help him escape—and risk her own execution?

My Review

Ashley Bogner’s debut novel, Reintegration, calls to mind some of the best dystopian books of our age–books such as Ally Condie’s Matched trilogy, Nadine Brandes’ Out of Time Trilogy, and The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron. It also follows the dystopian pattern of three, being the first of a trilogy. The sequel is set to release in 2018.

Reintegration‘s strongest suit is its characterization. The reader is deeply immersed in Katherine Holliday’s point of view, and experiences the entire plot through her eyes. It was impossible for me not to connect with Katherine on some level, because while reading this book, I was Katherine. I was thinking her thoughts, feeling her emotions, and following along with all of her actions and reactions.

The deep characterization did lead to some drawbacks, however–for the first 60% of the book or so, I felt like the plot was spinning its wheels a bit. Katherine rehashed the same issues over and over, without coming to any real conclusions. It wasn’t until she decided to stop worrying and start acting that Reintegration hit the ground running. Once the plot stopped revving its engine and got started for real, it took off at light-speed and never looked back.

The last quarter or so of Reintegration was especially phenomenal. I could not read fast enough to find out what was going to happen! Bogner packs a lot of punches into those last few pages, making up for the slow beginning several times over. There are a lot of secrets hinted at through out the book that weren’t explained by the final page, and some major surprises that I wasn’t expecting. Miss Bogner has chosen to play her cards close to her chest, and there’s no telling what will happen in the following books.  I’m rating Reintegration 3.75 stars out of 5. While Reintegration dragged some through the beginning and middle, the end made up for it with non-stop action and surprises. I’m hoping that the sequels will keep the action going, and get off to a flying start.

Recommended for Ages 13 and up

Cultural Elements
None.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None. 

Romance/Sexual Content
Some light kissing, hand-holding, and hugging. 

Spiritual Content
Matthew is a Christian, and shares his faith with other characters in the book, resulting in one or more conversions. The Federation teaches relative morality (that there is no “right” or “wrong,” and everything is a matter of opinion), and intolerance is a punishable crime under the Federation.

Violent Content
One violent death. Several injuries (some by  use of a “stunner”–a taser-like weapon, and others by fist fights.)

Drug Content
Matthew is drugged to forget his past. A character takes a medical drug later, and experiences painful side effects.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Bullied by J. D. Jacobs

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Bullied
J. D. Jacobs
Published April 2, 2017

Amazon | Goodreads

About Bullied
When tragedy destroys Ricey Kennedy’s family, Fear is never far behind. Forced to leave everything she’s ever known and move to New York, Ricey thinks life can’t get any worse. But then she meets Katrina, the high school’s mean girl. Day after day Ricey suffers the humiliating onslaught from the smooth-tongued bully, and it doesn’t take long before her self esteem is crushed into nothingness.

Struggling through life, romance is the last thing on Ricey’s mind when she meets the cute Tom Wilson. But Tom is determined to show Ricey that she could have a real chance at a new life and love, if only she can face her biggest fear of all . . .

My Review
One of the most intriguing things about this book was the author’s description of the story being narrated by fear. I thought looking at bullying through the lens of fear and how it affects victims and perpetrators alike would make for a really deep and unusual story, and in a lot of ways, I think that’s true here.

I wouldn’t call the story entirely narrated by fear, though. There are sections where we get this kind of sidebar update on how Fear interacts with each of the characters and why that’s significant. But for the most part, the story follows the point of view of a large number of characters, often hopping from one perspective to another without warning, and gives insight into each one’s thoughts and feelings.

On the whole, I liked the book. Toward the middle I felt like the plot dragged a little bit with some repetitive scenes. I wished the scenes from the teacher’s and dad’s point-of-view had been left out as they interrupted the flow and purpose of the story, in my opinion.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Characters appear to be white, often from affluent families.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Ricey begins to feel attracted to Tom and worries about him possibly betraying her. Their relationship isn’t the focus of the story, but it does become an important component as the story progresses.

Her teacher’s dating life also has a role in the story. Again, not the focus, but she worries about being single forever and feels pressure to find a husband, fast.

Spiritual Content
Ricey recalls her mother asking her to promise to keep loving God no matter what. A couple of times Ricey has significant conversations with mentors about her anger toward God. I thought these got a little bit clichéd.

Fear comments several times on working for the Boss, which we assume to mean God. In the story, Fear behaves in the service of God, sometimes driving the other characters toward healthy behaviors by a survival instinct. Other times, Fear directly challenges them, providing opportunities for growth. While I think this worked on a practical level, I occasionally found it difficult to reconcile this with Biblical principles. I wished there had been an aside clarifying how the story world fits into the Biblical worldview. Just to reduce any confusion readers may have.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Ashley remembers drinking wine at a family wedding and making choices (befriending a guest) she regrets later.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Day Moon by Brett Armstrong

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, New Adult 18up, Sci-Fi, , , ,

Day Moon
Brett Armstrong
Clean Reads
Published March 26, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Day Moon
In A.D. 2039, a prodigious seventeen year old, Elliott, is assigned to work on a global soft-ware initiative his deceased grandfather helped found. Project Alexandria is intended to provide the entire world secure and equal access to all accumulated human knowledge. All forms of print are destroyed in good faith, to ensure everyone has equal footing, and Elliott knows he must soon part with his final treasure: a book of Shakespeare’s complete works gifted him by his grandfather.

Before it is destroyed, Elliott notices something is amiss with the book, or rather Project Alexandria. The two do not match, including an extra sonnet titled “Day Moon”. When Elliott investigates, he uncovers far more than he bargained for. There are sinister forces backing Project Alexandria who have no intention of using it for its public purpose.

Elliott soon finds himself on the run from federal authorities and facing betrayals and deceit from those closest to him. Following clues left by his grandfather, with agents close at hand, Elliott desperately hopes to find a way to stop Project Alexandria. All of history past and yet to be depend on it.

My Review
Ever since I read The Giver in probably fourth or fifth grade, dystopian stories have held a special place in my heart. I loved this premise about knowledge being stored and then used to manipulate others. It reminded me a bit of the Matched series by Ally Condie or The Great Library series by Rachel Caine.

I had kind of a love/hate relationship with the voice of Day Moon. On the one hand, Elliot works as a software engineer, and the way he talks and thinks reminds me a great deal of the way my husband, also a software engineer, communicates. So it felt really authentic. On the other hand, it also tended to be very passive and use a lot of words to say things. I think that kind of writing weighed the story down and kept me at a distance from scenes that should have been super intense.

I enjoyed the use of Shakespeare and the search for clues from Elliot’s grandfather, but sometimes the plot seemed to jump around and leave important threads hanging. For instance, near the beginning, Elliot’s superiors close in around him, demanding he produce the book his grandfather left him, the book which he lent to his friend Lara. Elliot never seems to consider whether this places Lara in danger, even as the guys looking for the book become more and more sinister. For a long stretch, it seems he forgets about the book altogether while he gets wrapped up in the search for his grandfather’s clues. I kept reading scenes thinking, okay, yeah, but where’s the book?! Who has the book?! Are the bad guys about to get it? Where is it?

I also struggled with the timeline of the story. It’s supposed to be set in 2039, which is only about 22 years from now. Elliot recalls stories from his grandfather about driverless cars and combustion engines when it seems like these would be things familiar to his parents’ generation as well. I didn’t understand why everything seemed tied to his grandfather when so little time had passed. Maybe Elliot never knew his father? I don’t recall any explanation on that in the story.

One of the cool elements in Day Moon was the way Elliot and Lara connected over a shared passion for artwork. I liked that they were students in an accelerated program, which gave some reason for them to act a little less like teens and more like college kids. On the other hand, though, I didn’t feel like they had any real teen issues at all. Neither of them lived with parents or seemed to feel close ties with immediate family members. I didn’t get the sense that they were breaking into adulthood, but more like they were experienced participants, so I don’t think I would really classify the story as young adult. It’s more like clean new adult fiction.

While this wasn’t my favorite book, readers looking for a dystopian story featuring a character with strong software talents will find it easy to identify with Elliot’s gentle, sometimes awkward character. Shakespeare fans may enjoy the way quotes and elements from Shakespeare’s works are woven into a sort of scavenger hunt. The light romance between Elliot and Lara may appeal to readers looking for a bit of summer love, too.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Not a lot of ethnic or cultural details in the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man and woman frantically kiss on top of a hotel bed, but separate before going to sleep. Elliot feels conscious of his attraction to Lara, but also committed to Christian virtues in relationships.

Spiritual Content
Elliot prays for help in times of need. At one point, he pauses to examine his behavior and worries he isn’t being very Christ-like.

Violent Content
A man knocks someone unconscious with a shovel. At one point, Elliot and his allies leave a man tied up in the trunk of a car while they figure out what to do next.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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