The Great War

Prince Josiah hesitated. “Sire, it seems that Argamor is winning the battle!” Sir Wisdom stirred the embers of the fire. “Go on.” “Certain magistrates are telling us that we must not display King Emmanuel’s coat os farms within the villages, les some of the peasants be offended. Evil is flourishing throughout the kingdom. And right now a huge force of dark knights is assembling in a valley not more than five miles from my castle. If they attack the Castle of Faith – as it looks like they are planning to do – the castle and everyone in it will be destroyed! Sire, is Emmanuel not powerful enough to defeat Argamor’s forces?

Book: The Great War by Ed Dunlop, Cross and Crown Publishing, 2006

Genre: Allegory

Target Audience: Boys and Girls, but primarily boys, 11-20

Subjects: Faith, Christ’s Return, Bitterness, Loss, Anger

Summary: The end is near. There are signs of this everywhere. The enemies are gathering outside the gates with attack on their minds. The people are becoming offended at the sign of King Emmanuel and the leadership are banning it from being displayed. Prince Josiah and Gilda, now happily married with a three year old son are devastated when a loss comes. In her bitterness, Gilda turns completely away from King Emmanuel and becomes a prisoner in the Castle of Bitterness, held there by the Dutchess of Discontent. Josiah begins to wonder if King Emmanuel really has the power to defeat Argamor after all.

Notes: This is an excellent allegory. It is a series that shows pictures of the Christian walk, the beginning book talking about salvation, the ending book talking about Christ’s return. Each book in the middle uses simple allegorical concepts to show glimpses of what it means to be a child of God and follow Him. This book strikes at the heart of a person. It’s easy to understand Gilda’s bitterness when her prayers didn’t work and loss came instead. Sir Faithful did a really good job putting the right question to Josiah though: you will be serving someone. You can’t not. So you have to decide, are you going to serve Argarmor, even knowing his plans for destruction or are you going to serve the One you know loves you, even though He did not prevent a tragedy. It’s a heart issue in this book, definitely not a light easy read. But it contains a powerful message and deals with an issue that many people face: where is God when bad things happen.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Zephaniah 3:17 – The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”