The Owling

“Remember what they did to your scribe friend? So play dumb. Find out what she says, go to your banquets and your media things for now, but don’t let on that you know anything. You’ll be our insider. But whatever you do, don’t you dare tell her what we just saw. And once you find out more,” Brinnin added, “then we can uh… then we can, you know…”

Her voice trailed off, but Oriannon nodded. At least it was a start. One way or another they would find out the truth, and then they would help the Owlings.

They had to.

Book: The Owling by Robert Elmer, Zondervan Publishers, 2008

Genre: Science Fiction/Allegory

Target Audience: Boys and Girls 13+

Subjects: Faith, Truth, Salvation, Jesus’ death and resurrection. Persecution, Racism

Summary: Named for their bigger eyes, the Owlings are the people who live on the shadowside of the planet. And they are friends of Oriannon’s. So when a new political figure arises with promises to help those poor pitiful people and targets Oriannon to be her assistant, her representative, Oriannon gladly joins in. Or at least she does until she finds out the truth. Sola has no intention of helping the Owlings. What she wants is to enslave them. In her mind, they are worthless creatures, good for nothing but manual labor. Soon the whole shadowside of the planet is destroyed and all of the people rounded up and put to slavery or killed. It’s up to Oriannon and her friends to save them… if they don’t become slaves or killed themselves first.

Notes: The Owlings is the second in the Shadowside Trilogy. The series is an allegorical tale of Jesus ministry on earth, death and resurrection and some of the events of Acts – the persecution of Christians and the spread of the Gospel. The story is set in a science-fiction world with spaceships traveling to various planets and scientific development being a main focus of the world.

In The Owlings, the good news that Jesmet (the Jesus figure) is alive is cautiously being told to a couple of people, but for the most part, those who follow Jesmet are hiding, waiting for the Numa (Holy Spirit figure) to come. The problem is that Oriannon doesn’t wait – she thinks maybe Sola is the Numa and starts helping Sola, thinking she is helping the Owlings, when really the only thing she’s helping is their destruction. The Owlilngs know and worship Jesmet and that’s a big reason they are under attack from Sola – who hates even hearing the name of Jesmet. Sola seems to represent Saul from the book of Acts. Oriannon seems to represent Peter with her impulsiveness and yet willingness to believe.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Acts 1:8 – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 8:1,3 – On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.