Thursday, August 10, 2006

Friends, Meet Kiriath

I took advantage of some time off last week to get a little reading in. The Legends of the Guardian-King series by Karen Hancock is some of the best fiction I have read in a good long while.

The Light of Eidon introduces the reader to the land of Kiriath and its two predominant religions, the Mataians and the Terstans. Both religions claim to be the true followers of Eidon. Their approaches to their faith in Eidon are significantly different. Abramm Kalladorne, 5th son of the king of Kiriath, finds himself in a struggle to find Eidon while also struggling to survive a life of gladitorial slavery after his brothers and spiritual mentors betray him. There was only one thing I really did not like. The story seemed to rationalize and even condone an extra-marital sexual encounter that took place.

In The Shadow Within, I was rewarded with meatier spiritual truths and more relatability to Abramm as he learns how to walk the true believers life. The mystical fantasy adventure element of these books has given them a delightful twist on the traditional Christian allegory. I look forward to picking up book 3, Shadow over Kiriath, from the library on my next visit.

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