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A Light Shining by Glynn Young

Feb2

I thoroughly enjoyed Dancing Priest, Mr. Young’s first book about Michael Kent, Olympic cyclist, Edinburgh student, Anglican priest, and orphan with a mysterious past. Of course, it’s also the story of Sarah Hughes, American artist and also a student in Edinburgh, whose lack of faith throws a kink in the developing romance between her and Michael.

In this sequel, I was pleased to read more about Sarah and Michael and their growing families, both nuclear and church families. Michael’s and Sarah’s Christian testimony through lives lived openly and vulnerably is fresh and un-jaded. I loved the way that in their youthful enthusiasm they just did the next thing that God called them to, with prayer and thoughtfulness, yes, but without that too long attention to possible problems and hesitation that many of us (I) are prone to allow to derail our best intentions.

Mr. Young’s writing is simple and unadorned, easy to read and follow. The e-book edition of the book that I read sometimes needed some more spacing indicators to show when the point of view was changing from one character to another. There’s a shadowy terrorist villain in this second book, and I sometime couldn’t tell when I was leaving the mind and viewpoint of Michael Kent and entering the mind and world of the villain. I find this problem frequently in my Kindle reads, and it’s a little bit annoying, but not overwhelmingly so.

I would recommend these companion novels to anyone with an interest in well-written Christian-themed fiction, Anglican church fiction, adoption and street children, Olympic cycling, or the politics surrounding the British royal family. Read them in order, first Dancing Priest and then A Light Shining. No spoilers her, but all of these subjects are elements in the these two books about a vibrant young couple coming to terms with their faith in Christ and their journey to follow Him through difficult circumstances.

The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab

Jan21

A good example of what Christian fiction should be aiming for, this book dealt with religious (Christian) themes without forced resolution or unreal expectations.

Caro Mitchell considers herself practically an only child, even tells people that her sister is dead, since older sister Hannah left the family when Caro was only eight years old to become a member of an enclosed order of nuns. Caro has hardly seen Hannah since then, and she certainly doesn’t feel as if she has a real honest-to-goodness sibling. But now Hannah is leaving the convent and coming home, and Caro isn’t sure sure what to think about her family, her sister, her religion, or God.

Hannah is one of those “not very religious” people that seem to abound these days, maybe always have. I’ll admit that I don’t get it since I’ve always been fascinated by religion, both pagan and Christian, by the question of who God is and what He expects of me, by issues of sin and salvation and just theology. I don’t really understand someone who just doesn’t think much about such things. Nevertheless, I thought this book gave a good picture of a teenager who never really did think much about religion, and her own Catholic tradition in particular, until she was confronted with a sister for whom the issues of religion and God were all-consuming.

Caro and Hannah don’t really understand each other. There’s an age gap of about ten years between the two girls. There’s also an experience gap since Hannah left “the world” when she was about eighteen years old to become a nun, and Caro has been living with her parents as an only child for the past ten years. The girls also have different personalities: Hannah is fragile, indecisive, and uncertain. Caro is at first somewhat self-centered, unreliable, and focused on her own goals to the exclusion of others’ needs and wants. As the story progresses, Caro learns to care about Hannah and her parents and her friends, and she becomes a much more empathetic and mature young lady.

There’s a romance element to the novel: Caro has a boyfriend. That part, though it added dimensions to Caro’s personality, wasn’t the most interesting part of the book. It was Caro’s questions about God and about Christianity and her growing relationship with Hannah that made me keep reading to find out how and whether Caro would be able to grow outside herself and establish selfless relationships with God and others.

Recommended for those who like a YA contemporary novel with Christian discussions and themes that doesn’t preach or force the reader into predetermined conclusions.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Jan15

Impossible by Nancy Werlin. Recommended by CarrieK at Books and Movies.

Lucy Scarborough is seventeen, in her senior year of high school, with a handsome and likable date to the prom, a best friend with whom she can share all her secrets, and foster parents who love her dearly. Her life seems near-perfect. However, seventeen was the age of Lucy’s mother Miranda, when she had a baby girl and then went mad. A family curse passed down from mother to daughter in unbroken line seems far-fetched, impossible, but Lucy might have to believe in the impossible to break the curse.

I’m a Simon and Garfunkel fan from way back, so of course I enjoyed the fact that this folk tale translated into the present was based on the old folk tune, Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme (Scarborough Fair), even if the lyrics are changed up a bit from the version I knew.
Here’s a performance by Hayley Westenra of Celtic Women:

The book puts a rather dark interpretation on this old song: Lucy must perform the tasks in the song so that she can free herself and her family from the Elfin King’s curse. The penalty if she is not successful: insanity and captivity under the Elfin King’s sway.

The characters and their actions and reactions in this story were a bit off-kilter; they reminded me of some of Madeleine L’Engle’s characters and plots, not quite believable or convincing in their actions. It’s not the fantasy parts of the novel that I didn’t find probable but rather the characters’ reactions to the improbable situation in which they find themselves. Would you plow a beach with a goat’s horn, even if you did believe in an age-old curse on your family?

Still, there was something endearing about Lucy and her family and friends and their willingness to fight together against the curse. Just as the characters in L’Engle’s novels “fight against the night” in ways that stretch credibility but also enrich the imagination, Lucy makes a stand in her own way and refuses to give in to the Elfin King.

Solid Young Adult fiction for the readers of vampire tales and dark ghost stories and borderline horror.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Oct24

I read Matched, the first book in this planned trilogy, in 2011, and I had this to say about it: “Matched by Ally Condie. There’s not so much action and adventure in this book, but more romance and thoughtful commentary on the pros and cons of a ‘safe’ society bought with the price of complete obedience to an authoritarian government.”

In this second book, Cassia goes to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky, her chosen match and true love. Ky is already in the Outer Provinces where he is trying to survive in a government-controlled “war” that is designed to kill all who are forced to participate. Can Cassia find Ky? Will Ky survive long enough to be found? What will the two of them do once they have been reunited?

If Matched was about safety and freedom, Crossed, is more about trust and the lack thereof. A lot of romance and dystopia novels these days take the theme of trust and develop it as a prerequisite to a real lasting relationship. Of course, without trust there is not real relationship. However, I would say that trust develops as both partners in a relationship are given reason to trust one another by the daily sacrifices of love that are required in marriage or even any other family relationship or a long-term friendship. So beginning a relationship requires a “leap of faith”, maybe a small leap, but a hop nevertheless. Then that trust is rewarded with reciprocal trust and faithfulness, or it’s not. If not, the relationship needs mending and forgiveness and eventually another leap, or else it dies.

In Crossed and in other stories I’ve seen or read lately (Once Upon a Time), the characters seem to be saying, “You must trust me blindly with all your secrets and insecurities, and if I give you reason to doubt my faithfulness and trustworthiness, you must ignore those reasons. Otherwise it’s not True Love.” It doesn’t exactly work that way, does it? You commit to the relationship, and then you grow it little by little. And you remember that your partner is human and prone to sin just as you are, so betrayal of trust in some ways is inevitable. And the cycle of trust, reciprocal trust or betrayal, and forgiveness begins again. But repentance and forgiveness are just as necessary as trust and faithfulness are because we live in a fallen world.

The only one who is completely trustworthy, who will never leave you or betray you, is Jesus. Our human relationships are all imperfect and incomplete, no matter how fulfilling and trusting they may be.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, and I will eventually be reading the third book, Reached, which comes out in November.

Website for the Matched series by Ally Condie.

Peaceweaver by Rebecca Barnhouse

Oct23

First of all, I really like the concept of a “peaceweaver.” In this book set in a sort of mythical medieval Saxon culture, Hild wants to use her womanly influence to become a peaceweaver, someone who persuades the men of her honor-based culture to make peace, to forgive, and to overlook slights and small insults. Yet, Hild herself is a product of her own culture. She sees herself as too good, too “honorable”, to associate with slaves and people from another land who do not follow the same customs as her people. She wants to be a peaceweaver, but she finds herself embroiled in violence over and over again throughout the course of the story. It’s a fascinating dilemma, and the story of Hild and her journey through the wilderness to find her own honor and peace is a magical read, both literally and figuratively.

Hild is not only a girl who wishes to become a peaceweaver; she is also what the people of her country call a “far-minded woman.” To be far-minded means to be able to see far, into the future, but also into the minds and hearts of others. Hild uses this far-mindedness to defend others, or perhaps she is possessed by it as many of her own family believe. She must decide for herself whether her gift is good or evil, and she must also decide where her true home is and what true honor means.

Rebecca Barnhouse is a medieval scholar, and her erudition shows as she weaves Norse gods, Saxon mythology, and a coming of age story together to make a novel that will appeal to anyone who is interested in any of the above. I doubt this book will be flying off the shelves, and I do have a couple of quibbles (Why does the book introduce Hild’s older sister, Sigyn, in the first chapter and then never mention her again? And is Hild’s escape from the monster really credible?). However, if it doesn’t become a bestseller, it should find a niche with those readers who are interested in all things medieval and Norse and even feminist, in the best sense of the word.

By the way, if you want to know about honor-based cultures, at least where I got my introduction to the concept, look here in this post by Lars Walker at Brandywine Books and at this article by Jonathan Rauch called Pride Goeth Before a Brawl.

Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis

Oct5

One way to write fantasy fiction is to take an author or a genre that you like, write some fan fiction, but insert magic into the plot. In Renegade Magic, the second in a series called Kat Incorrigible, Ms. Burgis took her favorite Regency romances (think Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen) and gave them a magical twist. The result is entertaining, but I’m not sure whom it’s supposed to entertain.

Our protagonist is twelve year old Kat. Kat found out in the first book of the series (which I haven’t read) that she’s a Guardian, a member of a secret group of powerful members of society who protect the world from witchcraft and wild magic run amuck. Of course, in order to protect they have to use Magic, which is socially unacceptable. So the underlying plot concerns whether or not Kat will be initiated and become a full-fledged Guardian or whether she will be thwarted by her enemies within the group and by her not-very-understanding, social-climbing stepmother.

However, the second, intertwining plot is pure romance. Kat’s older sister, Angeline, is in love with Frederick Carlyle. He returns her affections; however, Frederick’s mother is not about to let her son become entangled with a family in which witchcraft and magic figure prominently. Kat’s mother was a Guradian and practiced witchcraft on the side. And Angeline is a witch, too. And Kat, of course, is entangled in a web of wild magic and witchcraft and her aspirations to guardianship. So, Kat’s family is not altogether fit for polite society. The romance part of the book is tame, even though it involves a rakish seducer and some Oxford students cavorting around in the baths of Bath in the nude, but it just doesn’t seem as if it would appeal to the 12 year olds who would be drawn to the book by its 12 year old protagonist.

So, young adult romance readers would be turned off by the youth of the main character, and middle graders would seem to be too young to have much interest in Regency romance. At least my eleven year old wouldn’t care about it. So, if you have a young teen who’s interested in magic tales (Harry Potter or Edward Eager’s Half Magic) and also Regency romance (Pride and Prejudice or The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer), then Renegade Magic would be the book to recommend.