I fled him, down
the nights, and down the days; I fled him, down the arches of years; I fled
him, down the labyrinthine ways, of my own mind; and in the midst of tears, I
hid from him
Genre:
Fantasy
Target
Audience: Boys and Girls 12+
Subjects:
Faith
Summary:
Water, the land must have water! In desperation, King Kael sends workers out to
the desert in hopes of finding a source of water. What they find instead is a
tower, a huge tower, buried under the sand. Suddenly King Kael is unconscious,
a hole in the ground suddenly starts sucking all the sand into it, growing
larger and larger as the king sleeps, a scroll more ancient than any discovered
so far, yet with modern language on it, is being interpreted, some are hearing
footsteps that seem to be following and pursuing them, and the king’s viser has
taken over rule of the kingdom – along with the evil being that now lives
within him. The kingdom needs a savior, but where can one powerful enough to
defeat the evil be found?
Notes: Fifth
it the Gates of Heaven series, a series that constantly reminds us that Heaven
exists, that personifies Heaven, almost takes on the role of God Himself.
“Heaven favors the honest and valiant” is an example of one of these. This series is designed to be fairy tales
that teach Scriptural truths in fantasy settings. The biggest spiritual
elements in this book are God’s relentless love and His justice on the wicked.
Most of the books in this series are at least loosely modeled after a classic
fairy tale. This one is based off of a concept found in a poem instead: The
Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson. The idea is that the footsteps the
characters keep hearing are those of a God of love chasing and pursuing them, wanting
to claim them as His own beloved. The main character is very aware of what he
is hearing and fights hard against it. So all through the story you have
someone trying to run from love and being pursued by the sound of footsteps. The
second element comes from the story of the Tower of Babel,
a story recreated in this book. An 
evil character boldly shakes his fist in
defiance at God, determined to build a tower to show the whole world there is
no need to worship and follow God or any deity for that matter. Mankind is the
true power source and can rule themselves. God casts His judgment on these
characters and their tower of defiance and sends justice. Then comes the part
of the story that ties all of the other books together. In the others you
couldn’t really tell they were a series, but this one really brings them
together and shows how each of them tells about a place and a person: a Keeper
of a “Gate of Heaven”, seven sacred sites that are set up to protect the world
from evil completely taking it over.
evil character boldly shakes his fist in
defiance at God, determined to build a tower to show the whole world there is
no need to worship and follow God or any deity for that matter. Mankind is the
true power source and can rule themselves. God casts His judgment on these
characters and their tower of defiance and sends justice. Then comes the part
of the story that ties all of the other books together. In the others you
couldn’t really tell they were a series, but this one really brings them
together and shows how each of them tells about a place and a person: a Keeper
of a “Gate of Heaven”, seven sacred sites that are set up to protect the world
from evil completely taking it over.
Recommendation
Scale: 5/5
Reviewer:
J:-)mi
Deuteronomy 7:9 –
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping
his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep
his commands.
Psalm 23:6 – Surely
goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in
the house of the LORD forever.
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1 comments:
Wow. Another book inspired by The Hound of Heaven. The first I know is Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl, which is amazing. This one sounds great too!
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