The Sands of Ethryn

Friday, January 31, 2014


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

Book:The Sands of Ethryn, Gates of Heaven Series #6 by C. S. Lakin, Living Ink Books, 2014
578941: The Sands of Ethryn, Gates of Heaven Series #6Genre: 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.
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.

1 comments:

Hannah said...

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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