The Hero’s Lot

Errol took his arm. “Let me have it all, Martin.”

Invisible hands pried Martins jaws apart. “Somebody has to die.”

Errol shook his head.

Martin vomited the words into the confines of the cabin. “The kingdom can only be saved by blood. You and Liam must fight on behalf of Illustra. One of you must die.”

 The bent thing in him broke with a soft snap in the depths of his mind. No physical death could touch him now. He was dead inside already.

Book: The Hero's Lot, (The Staff and the Sword Book #2)  by Patrick Carr, Bethany House Publishers, 2013

Genre: Fantasy/allegory

Target Audience: Boys 13+

Subjects: Good vs. evil, Holy Spirit, sacrifice, trust in God, love

Summary: One enemy may be gone, but the battle is far from over. The church leaders, ruling in the absence of the dying king, put Errol under yet another compulsion – this time to hunt down and kill Sarin Valon. As he journeys in search of his enemy, Martin and Luis make their own journey in search of truth. The truth they find is enough to turn the whole kingdom upside down though. The identity of Errol is revealed, a strange group of people is revealed to be the ones who know the truth of the deity the kingdom worships, the casts for who is to be king continue to fail, and a compulsion is made that could be the final destruction of Errol.

Notes: Second in The Staff and the Sword series, A Hero’s Lot deals largely with the issue of truth. Generations ago, the book that allegorically represents the Bible in this story, was lost. And in this story, not only is it found again, but the solis – a strange group of outcasts reveal that the deity representing The Holy Spirit is actually knowable and works through humans to control, convict and guide. That’s a huge spiritual element in this story as Martin, the priest, wrestles with that and the ramifications it will have on the church and the whole kingdom all throughout the story. The other spiritual element is when Errol learns that either he or Liam, likely him, will have to die to save the kingdom. When he learns the news he just goes through the motions of living and stops caring, stops putting any trust in the deity. Then he receives a chance to read the long lost book and has an encounter with the deity that changes him, gives him a chance to place his trust more solidly in the deity.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

John 14:16-17 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.