The Godarian Son
by Steve Shanley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Jess and his friends, Allah and Mhose want to travel from their group of planets and find a new uninhabited planet that they can establish and create a world without wars and prejudices. They are sure they can do it if their parents will just let them. Lor, Jess's father and Asha, Allah's father give them permission and the friends set off to find a new plant, the trip is uneventful, except for a brief slip past some demon ships. They find the perfect plants and call it Eartus. They return home only to find the Demon ships in their way, They take their computers, and when they find out who Jess is, The Godarian son they run but threaten to be back. The friends return and present their findings to Lor, and they are granted to permission to inhabit the planet. They are able to report back to Lor that it is working, but every time they leave Eartus, the Demons ships return to mess with what they created, so they return to fix things. While this is going on, the original plants where the friends came from are still warring among themselves and the plant that Jess and Lor are on have signed a long-term peace agreement not to interfere. Stephen Shanley weaves the story of creation into a new light with this tale.
Read this story aloud if you can, because as you say the names of the people in the story you will stay to understand the similarities. You will see where Stephen Shanley was going with this story, each person and place relates to something in the real world, if you look close. If you look close enough you will see two parallel stories happening, in two different solar systems, anytime Jess is away from one there are problems in the other. The Godarian Son might be a fanciful play on creation, but I find some many things that could be explored and talked about, where the followers of Jess and Allah realized they wanted the same things and they shouldn't fighting each other! I would recommend this to young and old with and open mind and an open heart.
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The Crystal Key
by T. L. Howard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Do we believe in tolerance or is it one way or no way? In The Crystal Key we travel to a fantasy world created by brother and sister God's, but at the moment one rules and the other is completely left out. The time for the choosing, which one will rule has come and only those high in the temple even know it is real, not just a myth. This follows Rasmusen as he tries to become the Chosen for the brother God and the path his journey takes him on to the Choosing. We also follow Mirah, a young girl as she makes her journey to the Choosing learning and coming to terms with being the Chosen. All through these two tales of travel T. L. Howard weaves a story of true faith and what happens when we let power and greed get in the way of faith.
Of course neither Chosen one could journey on their own, so you have to meet a whole cast of characters for each set of travels. T. L. Howard writes it in such a way that it almost looks, in my mind, to be a medieval knights and castles kind of place. You easily come to know who to route for and who is a traitor. It's so easy to come to like the people, wishing they were real. The Crystal Key is a long book, about on par with a Harry Potter book, but it really didn't take that long to read, it kept me going to the end. Teens and adults alike will enjoy this story and it's strictly g-rated too! Even a better plus for the book.
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Plain Peace
by Beth Wiseman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Plain Peace is the latest novel in the Daughters of the Promise series by Beth Wiseman. I have to admit that this is the first of this series that I have read, and normally I hate to do that but at the time I picked this book I wasn't aware of the series. That being said, if you haven't read the series, you can still pick up this book and the story makes sense all on it's own, you don't have to have read the previous books. Although if you are like me, now having read this one, it makes me want to go back and read the others.
Anna is the bishop's granddaughter, and although she is growing her grandfather may be a little blind to that, along with a number of other things. Bishop Byler is old-fashioned and strict, some think too strict, but his strictness has a reason and it has purpose for him. Anna's parents died when she was young, in an auto accident as they were being driven by and Englisch. Anna has never minded his strictness, she has always felt loved, until now when it starts to effect her future and courting.
Jacob and his family are new to Paradise. The move was to be a fresh start for the family, yet it seems that they have brought all the brokenness with them. Jacob doesn't know the Bishop and so he tries to court Anna, the only person in town willing to try, despite the fact that she is sweet and beautiful. As Anna and Jacob develop a friendship, can she help to heal his family's hurts.
This is a story of life. So many things happen in lie that influence the decisions we make and the people we become. This story shows how the Bishop was influenced by his son's death. How the Bishop's wife rebelled in secret, and how all the people of the town mix together to heal each other. No one character stands on it's own, in fact they are all so intertwined together, I found myself flipping to the family tree's at the beginning of the book over and over again.
I have always enjoyed Amish life stories, and this was no different. I love the deep sense of family and connectedness that seems to come in that community. Sometimes I think that is what is wrong the world today, too much emphasis on self and not enough on family. I will have to say that this book does introduce a great deal of Englisch technologies into the Amish community, more than I have ever seen in an Amish book before, but it also has some sound reasoning for most of it. I didn't think it upset the story in any way, in fact it may be a more accurate picture of how the Amish have to deal with today's world. Whether it is or not, the story still focused more on the family and the influences of past events on their decisions and choices.
Anyone who is looking for an uplifting story, one to remind you of the value of family and being together. Working through all problems and finding faith and a way in the world, then this is for you. It was a sweet and enjoyable read.
Reviewed for +Book Sneeze.
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