Tag Archives: Spiritual Warfare

Review: Forsaken by Gina Detwiler

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,
Forsaken by Gina Detwiler

Forsaken
Gina Detwiler
Vinspire
Published September 2017

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About Forsaken

He was forsaken but not forgotten.

Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.

Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.

Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.

My Review

I feel like I had a lot of strong thoughts about this book. Some things I really liked a lot. The way the author describes music really pulled me into each scene. I loved that so much of the story followed Grace’s singing (or her inability to sing) and Jared’s talent with the guitar. I wanted to sit in on their jam sessions. The big concerts felt very realistic.

In terms of the spiritual elements, I struggled with some of the doctrine. Jared, the son of a powerful demon and a human woman, had a lot of questions about his value and identity. I like that he’s a complicated character, that he wants to do good and be good despite his origin. Honestly, I think that’s pretty relatable. I don’t think it’s something that’s within the bounds of Christian ideology, though.

Music in the story has a strong spiritual component. I thought this was also pretty cool to show this spiritual component to songs depending on who’s playing them, what the songs glorify, and the motives of the musicians playing them. Early on in FORSAKEN, a mentor character shares a theory that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones artists were Satanists. He cites some interesting evidence.

I looked it up because I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be an in-the-book thing or a this-is-real thing. The individual things the character points out are true (an occult founder being pictured on an album cover and some lyrics about Lucifer), I felt like those were probably things the artists used for their shock value. I didn’t see any indication that the artists themselves had any real love or worship for Satan, so I had a hard time following that thread of the plot.

Sometimes I felt like I had missed something – I think because I started reading this series with book two. I think FORSAKEN makes a good choice for TWILIGHT or BEAUTIFUL CREATURES fans or readers who like a sweet paranormal romance. I’d recommend starting with the first book, FORLORN.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
I think all the major characters were white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to two characters having sex (off-scene).

Spiritual Content
Jared is the son of a demon and human, but he wants to be worthy of God’s love, and seems to be part of God’s plan as he has visits from other angels. Grace has a guardian angel who tries to keep her safe. At one point, characters start talking about a church where the pastor preaches that God wouldn’t send anyone to Hell because he loves us so much, and that Hell doesn’t really exist. One of the girls scoffs and responds with something like, “Why would anyone believe in God if there’s no Hell?” From a Christian perspective, I didn’t think this made any sense. I could see not believing in Jesus if there was no Hell, since his death and resurrection are the reason people don’t have to go there. I didn’t understand the point being made there, maybe?

See my review for more on the spirituality of FORSAKEN.

Violent Content
Jared has some anger issues and gets into fights when provoked. At one point, the girls venture into a dangerous part of town and a man attacks one of them. At another point, one character stabs one of the girls.

Drug Content
One of Jared’s companions uses a lot of drugs and is very often drunk. He has a girl with him who’s often high or drunk as well. Jared doesn’t participate in any of that.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing, but help me buy more books.


Review: The Delusion by Laura Gallier

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

The Delusion
Laura Gallier
Tyndale
Published on October 3, 2017

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About The Delusion
By March of Owen Edmonds’s senior year, eleven students at Masonville High School have died by suicide. Amid the media frenzy and chaos, Owen tries to remain levelheaded–until he endures his own near-death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality.

The people around him suddenly appear to be shackled and enslaved.

Owen frantically seeks a cure for what he thinks are crazed hallucinations, but his delusions become even more sinister. An army of hideous, towering beings, unseen by anyone but Owen, are preying on his girlfriend and classmates, provoking them to self-destruction.

Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: he’s not imagining the evil–everyone else is blind to its reality. He must warn and rescue those he loves . . . but this proves to be no simple mission. Will he be able to convince anyone to believe him before it’s too late?

Owen’s heart-pounding journey through truth and delusion will force him to reconsider everything he believes. He both longs for and fears the answers to questions that are quickly becoming too dangerous to ignore.

My Review
One of the reasons I’ve moved away from calling this blog a Christian blog is that there really aren’t a ton of Christian YA titles (and there shouldn’t be a great need for a content breakdown on Christian books, as I would think they would be clean, but that’s another conversation for another time.). It’s still important to me to review the Christian titles I come across, and as is the case with this one, I find don’t necessarily agree with the worldview in them. I’ll talk about this more under the Spiritual Content breakdown below.

In terms of the story, though, I thought the premise—a boy suddenly able to see into a spiritual world has to decide what to do or how to fight spiritual battles—was very cool. I’m not a fan of narrators who come across like they think they’re smarter than everyone else, even though I know this is a pretty popular young adult theme. So I found it hard to like Owen because he just seemed to me like he thought he was better than everyone else (partly because he saw them with chains around their necks and he had none).

I guess that sums up my feelings about the whole book, actually. The idea is very cool, but I had too many issues with other elements of the story.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple references to swearing (no profanity shown in text).

Romance/Sexual Content
Some references to sex. For instance, Owen thinks about how nice it would be to have a girl on top of him. He also thinks about kissing a girl. He kisses a girl on the cheek.
A teenage girl is pregnant.

Spiritual Content
Owen drinks water from a strange well and then begins to see spiritual beings he refers to as Creepers and Watchmen. Creepers, dark, vile creatures, attach themselves to humans using chains only Owen sees. Watchmen, beings of light, are able to chase Creepers away. Some other people don’t have chains, but instead emanate light themselves, which the Creepers avoid.

Though he isn’t a Christian himself, Owen’s visions serve as a view into a spiritual realm. He wrestles with anger at how freely the Creepers move about, harming people, and even at one point believes they must be God’s servants since He’s not stopping them. He meets a Christian girl who gives him a little perspective on what’s happening, but Owen mostly explores what he believes on his own.

Near the beginning of the story, the man who introduces Owen to the well tells Owen that suicide never happens unprovoked. To be honest, I found this implication that depression/suicide attempts or ideation are always caused by some sort of demonic presence troubling. I do believe there are spiritual happenings around us, and certainly some of our struggles arise from them. But I think characterizing mental health issues as always having a demonic root cause grossly oversimplifies a complex issue and ignores the existence of mental health problems as a biological or biochemical issue. I don’t think it’s a good idea, especially in literature aimed at teens, to have this blanket position that all suicide attempts are caused by demons. Where does that leave us with issues requiring medication or counseling? I’m just really uncomfortable with the position the book takes on this topic, and to be really frank, I’m disappointed in that it’s been chosen as a Christy Award winning title.

Violent Content
Some references to teen suicide. Several scenes show teens intending to die by suicide. One shows a girl dying following an overdose. Demons rip her spirit from her body. One scene shows several teens being shot with a rifle.
If you’re struggling with depression, I wouldn’t recommend reading this book as some of these scenes have some graphic descriptions and may be triggering for some readers.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Huntress by Julie Hall

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Huntress
Julie Hall
Published on May 16, 2017

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About Huntress
No one’s afterlife is as dispiriting as Audrey’s―at least that’s what she believes after waking up dead without her memories and being promptly assigned to hunt demons for the rest of eternity. She’s convinced God’s made a cosmic mistake; after all, she’d rather discuss the color of her nails than break them on angelic weapons.

It doesn’t help that her trainer, Logan, is as infuriating as he is attractive. And just when Audrey and Logan appear close to developing an amicable relationship, a decision made under duress pushes their hearts in a direction neither of them saw coming.

Despite her sub-par fighting abilities, an ancient weapon of unparalleled power chooses Audrey as its wielder, attracting the cautious gazes of her fellow hunters and the attention of Satan himself. With Satan’s eyes now fixed on Audrey, a battle for the safety of the living looms in the shadows.

My Review
Huntress is one of those unexpected, adventurous books that make for ideal weekend or poolside reading. Audrey is a fun character—sometimes clumsy, both physically and in her words—and yet she’s clearly a strong force to be reckoned with and a creative strategist. Her mentor, Logan, has that dark, unapproachable, aloof and handsome thing going on, which makes the perfect foil for Audrey’s big emotions. The other characters in the book are just as colorful, too—from Alrik, the Viking, to the more reserved Romona, who knows Audrey better than she’ll admit.

My biggest struggle with the book was in the plot. For most of the story, Audrey has no idea what’s going on or what her purpose or goal is. She remains a passive character until the last fifty pages or so, when she finally finds something to fight for. At that moment, I really invested in the book. I’m not sorry to have read it, but I wish I’d seen that side of Audrey much earlier in Huntress.

While the story itself is off the map in terms of Christian understanding of Heaven and the afterlife, it’s pretty solidly framed within an Evangelical understanding of scripture. Demons attack humans and whisper lies in an attempt to destroy them, but humans make the choices themselves. God sends angels (and in this case, Hunters) to intervene, but their response and power depend on God’s will and the faith of the people under attack.

I’ve heard the book compared to Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness, and in the sense that it has angel and demon characters, yes, it does have a connection there. Whereas Peretti’s book focuses on the human characters and uncovering a huge, focused plot against humans on earth, Huntress is more about Audrey and her role in the Hunter team as well as her angsty relationship with her mentor, Logan. It reminded me a bit of I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan because it has some of the same lighthearted voice and connection with family.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. Audrey uses faux swears like “shoot” and “gosh.”

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Later Audrey learns that kissing in Heaven is more significant than it is on earth in that it creates a bond between two parties and is meant to lead to marriage.

Spiritual Content
Most of the story takes place in Heaven. Audrey briefly meets Jesus (though she doesn’t recognize him and he calls himself Joe) and angels. It’s based in Christian doctrine, but there are some big departures. For instance, Audrey and others are assigned to a strict physical training regimen for service on a team called Hunters. These Hunters go to earth to battle demons.

When Audrey wakes up in Heaven, she knows she’s dead, but has no memories of her life or her relationship with God. She rediscovers God’s existence and begins to learn about him through experiences with other characters and a face-to-face encounter.

There’s some discussion about how demons prey on the minds of humans, feeding them ideas or leading them away from truths about God. At one point, Audrey and her team intervene in a high school where one student has a gun.

Violent Content
Audrey spars with a training partner and battles demons using a sword. Some of the descriptions are graphic in terms of fighting and injuries/gore. One sequence of scenes shows Audrey and her team intervening in a school shooting situation. The story doesn’t show students being injured, but does show a student with a gun firing shots.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Hawk’s Flight by Carol Chase

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Hawk’s Flight
Carol Chase
Baen Books
Published May 1, 1991

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About Hawk’s Flight
When Taverik Zandro impulsively befriended a struggling young fellow merchant, he had no idea of Marko’s desperate secret. Something of a black sheep himself, he had no desire to become involved in affairs outside the ordinary. But after that first helping hand, Marko’s turbulent past entangles Taverik in a world of high politics and dark magic, and turns his own comfortably materialistic way of life upside down in more ways than one. When it is proven to him that he has been chosen along with Marko to defend the land against an encroaching evil that seems inexorable, Zandro wants nothing to do with his god-given role. Of course he has no choice…

My Review
Hawk’s Flight has been one of my favorite books since I was in seventh grade. I’ve probably read it more times than any other novel, and I hate that it’s out of print.

I hadn’t read Hawk’s Flight in years before picking it up now, and while the story still drew me in from the first page to the last, I did wince a few times at small contradictions or awkward writing in a few places. Honestly, though, I love the characters and the story far too much to care very deeply about that stuff.

The spiritual content is pretty pronounced, and follows a pretty strong parallel to Christian faith. Both Taverik and Marko realize they can’t sit back and be simple merchants anymore—they are caught up in a spiritual battle and have to choose a side. I loved Taverik’s quick wit and the way he hid what was important behind his cavalier humor, and the way Marko saw straight through all that. I loved the dynamic between them. I felt like they had great balance in strengths vs. weaknesses.

The cast of characters with point-of-view scenes gets pretty large as the story unfolds, but I didn’t have too much trouble keeping track of anyone. There is a character glossary in the back of the book to help in any case. The story also contains some interesting Pakajan language terms. My favorite is a strong insult—ikiji—second best. I thought it was cleverly used.

So… this book is out of print. I’ve never had trouble finding used copies for sale online, though. I’ve probably bought at least four or five copies over the years, mostly because I end up lending my copy out and buying another when it isn’t returned.

Six of Crows fans should check out this title. If you like fantasy with strong spiritual content, high adventure, and great romance, you definitely need to get a copy of this book. It’s been a long time since I read it for the first time, and it’s still one of my favorites.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Racial tension runs high between the native Pakajan (feels like a Nordic-type people) and the Massadarans, who’ve colonized the land and imposed restrictive laws against the Pakajans. Massadarans have dark hair and gray eyes—maybe more like Southern Europeans? A third race of Bcacmat people is a war-like race with harsh rules concerning women’s conduct.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used moderately frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man tries to check a companion’s chest wound only to discover that his friend is a woman. A few kisses between a man and woman. A couple teasing comments about masculinity or whether someone is gay. At one point a man makes asks his friend if he’s slept with a woman.

Marita worries about her menstrual cycle. One man refuses to touch her when he learns she’s on her cycle, claiming she’s unclean.

Spiritual Content
Very strong Christian parallels in the spiritual content. Pakajans (and Massadarans) traditionally worship a creator God called Zojikam. Taverik begins seeing signs of a cult who worships a black eagle and interacts with other lesser spiritual beings. The story follows a spiritual battle as well as a physical one, and Tav and others find they must choose a side as the spiritual battle spills over into their lives. The villain, who serves the Black Eagle, has several out-of-body experiences as he travels as a giant eagle, serving his master. They hear rumors of human sacrifice in the name of the Black Eagle. At one point, Tav and his friend encounter an angel-like being who helps them escape an evil spiritual being sent after them by followers of the Black Eagle. At another point, a giant Black Eagle attacks Taverik and he calls on Zojikam for help escaping. Tav and others attend prayer services honoring Zojikam and more than once a priest shares a prophecy.

Violent Content
Several battle scenes and fatalities. Bandits kill a boy during a caravan. Assassins kill several people for political reasons. Mostly these are sword wounds and knife fights. The descriptions aren’t grisly, but there are multiple scenes showing battles.

Drug Content
Taverik and others drink ale, wine, or brandy (they are of age). At one point Marko plans to get some rude students drunk so they can slip away without further trouble from them. She drinks too much brandy at one point and regrets it when her head becomes thick and she winds up with a headache.

Review: The Prince Warriors by Priscilla Shirer with Gina Detwiler

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

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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: Battle of Beings by Nita Tarr

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Battle of Beings by Nita Tarr
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When Gregory finds himself the winner of a large lottery, he knows there’s only one thing he wants to do with the winnings. He will travel to the Congo to help children. Greg and his two friends make the long journey together, but when they finally reach the mission, something isn’t right. The mission director acts suspiciously, and the children are simply too quiet. Greg and his team need to find out what’s really happening to the children at the mission and rescue them. Greg isn’t acting alone, though. All around and unseen, angels aid his efforts, waging war against a legion of demons who would stop at nothing to destroy every child in the mission.

I liked the way Tarr brought the story into the jungles of Africa. It was a fresh setting that definitely shined through the story. Greg and Jenny were a really cute couple, and some of their antics made me laugh – perhaps even ones that were supposed to be serious, though? I’m not sure.

As for the rhythm of the story itself, I felt like I was reading an early draft. There were characters and scenes that really weren’t well-integrated into the story as a whole. Scenes felt choppy. Characters were, at times, unbelievable. For instance, in one scene an angel character is having a conversation with Jesus and Jesus is clarifying that he indeed made up this word or that idea (all the ideas, because he’s God) and I felt like, the angel has been around for a long time. I couldn’t see him still wondering, hey, did Jesus make that up? Because surely it’s not the first time he’s thought about it after all this time?

On the whole, a lot of the story was interesting. It had a pretty solid plot. The Christian elements are pretty deep, and sometimes written in that sort of church-speak that some readers may find inaccessible. Readers with some familiarity with other novels featuring angels and demons may find this story most interesting and easy to follow.

Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Sexual Content
A boy grabs a girl’s chest and pressures her for sex. She tells him he’s crazy and begins to pray for him.

Spiritual Content
Angels and demons are characters in the story and behave according to Christian ideas. Jesus makes an appearance, having conversations with angels on top of clouds and later disguising himself as a human and participating in a fighting ring. Demons control humans, causing them to harm one another. Prayer and angelic warfare casts them out and returns the human to his or her normal self.

Violence
A creepy guy wears a necklace with human pinky fingers strung on it. Children are forced to take up guns and participate in an army led by a warped man. Giant spiders attack people in the jungle. Angels use swords to fight demons. Demons use canes and other weapons.

Drug Content
None.