Books

Having recently participated in the blog tour for Andrew Peterson's North! Or Be Eaten, I was excited to get a chance to review another book with a similar target audience, Chuck Black's Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart. The author and approach are completely different, but I still found the book to be an enjoyable read that I would recommend to my friends with boys in the 8 - 12 age range. I'm sure they'd dig it.

First, the good. Chuck Black does pull together a fine story in a world beset by evil with a gradually growing force of fighters for the truth known as Knights of the Prince. Young men and women both spend time training as knights to practice good works toward others in the kingdom and defense against the dark knights and their cronies roaming the land.

This particular story follows the training of a young knight named Dalton who is done a disservice by an inadequate trainer. His trainer really serves to weaken the faith of the knights in the universal goodness of their cause to fight for the King, and as a result the knights he sends out run into trouble almost immediately upon confronting the dark knights.

The main antagonist is a fellow named Lord Drox who plays on the knights' doubts and insecurities, not just about the goodness of their cause but even the entire existence of their King and his resurrected Prince. Dalton must face down these doubts in order to flee Drox and eventually return to rescue his brothers in arms who are held captive in a prison with no doors by their fears.

What I found a little disappointing was what one Amazon.com reviewer called his "heavy handed allegory." I don't have any way to judge its effectiveness with his target audience, so maybe a 12 year old boy wouldn't mind it. However, I found in particular his propensity to simply rearrange the letters in names and places to be contrived. You'll quickly recognize Sejus as Jesus, the Tisgri as the Tigris, Nedehaven as Eden, and possibly Arrethtrae as Earth / Terra. A little more subtle use of allegory might have better served the story so it could stand on its own as a fantasy tale and not just a means to the end of passing on a Bible lesson. The study guide in the back is a great tool, and it could easily have drawn attention to a more subtle allegory in the story itself.

That said, the lessons taught are timeless and have been enshrined in allegories at least since The Pilgrim's Progress. A mature Christian must have a faith that responds appropriately to doubts, fears, and the uneasiness of those who balk at Christian zeal. The examples of Koen, Carliss, and the reformed Dalton are worthy of imitation, and the swordplay makes that lesson more than a little palatable to young readers.

As I mentioned in my Wingfeather Wiki blog, my wife and I were absolutely thrilled to come home from our second anniversary daycation to find North! Or Be Eaten waiting for us at our front door. I don’t think we've awaited another book’s delivery so eagerly since we ordered Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to read together during our engagement.

We grabbed his first book in the Wingfeather Saga, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, as soon as it came out and had a great time reading it out loud to each other. It chronicles the beginning of the Igibys' adventure, three special children who have been living in hiding (unbeknownst to them) in the town of Glipwood on the continent of Skree in the world of Aerwiar. Quite a mouthful, eh? That's just the beginning...

Andrew has created a thoroughly original, quirky world full of wonderful surprises and terrifying creatures. The peoples of Skree are daily terrorized by the vicious Fangs of Dang, invaders from across the Dark Sea of Darkness who conquered Skree while searching for the lost jewels of Anniera. The jewels, it turns out, are actually the three Igiby children, Janner, Tink, and Leeli. The first book introduces you to the children and tells of their discovery by the Fangs and their escape from Glipwood under harrowing circumstances. North! Or Be Eaten picks up with their flight ... well, North ... so they can avoid being eaten.

This second book is a treat, even better than the first, but I highly recommend reading them in order. You'll better understand why and from what the Igibys are running, and you'll further be prepared to expect the random bits of humor in the story, the personalities of the main characters, and the footnotes on various pages in the book. Speaking of humor... this book is spot on! I love Andrew's wit and feel he's really improved since the last book at incorporating it more neatly into the story. I laughed out loud several times, especially when I read about Podo Helmer "quivering in a boat like a belcher's belly" and Janner Igiby being disturbed by the superfluous punctuation of the "FORK! FACTORY!" as he was about to be imprisoned in it.

In addition to imagination and humor, Andrew has filled North! Or Be Eaten with plenty of action. The plot is basically a series of clever escapes from trouble punctuated by short periods of recuperation and reflection. The character development kept me turning the pages just as much as the action. Janner's continued maturity is front and center as he grows into being a proper Throne Warden. On the other hand, Tink's spur of the moment immaturity brings a lot of heartache to the story as he rebels against his future as the High King of Anniera and gets himself in a boatload of trouble.

Speaking of boats and trouble... we learn a lot more about the mysterious past of Podo Helmer. He's just as tough, funny, and tender as always, but we also see his fears from his past catching up to him as the Igibys get closer and closer to the Dark Sea of Darkness in their flight from trouble.

Like all good fantasy children's literature, the Wingfeather Saga provides weaves sound moral instruction and personal character development into the stories (see the Chronicles of Narnia and the Chronicles of Prydain for other good examples). The characters are seen to grow in a number of virtues, including responsibility, love, faith, forgiveness, courage, intelligence, and much more. We get to see them fail, as well, and learn how they get back up to make wrongs right. I can't wait to read these books to my children and help them wrestle through the very same problems and growing pains.

To summarize... I'm a fan. A huge fan. And I want you to be one, too. I can only entice you with so many awesome things from the books before you're overwhelmed, so it will be much better for us both if you just read the stories and let Andrew introduce you to the wonderful world inside his head. You won't be disappointed.

For more fan goodness, you can check out my wife's review of North! Or Be Eaten (it's more thoughtful and complete with pictures) and the official Wingfeather Saga site. I'm trying to kickstart a fan site called The Wingfeather Wiki but never seem to have time to stoke the flames.

One of my favorite novels and certainly my favorite science fiction novel is Frank Herbert's Dune. I highly recommend it and will probably blog about it here and there as I travel through it again. Herbert's writing style is captivating, his imagination is immense, and his characters and inventions are unforgettable. Here are a few quotes from the beginnings of the book as the Atreides family leaves their home planet, Caladan, to take control of the treasured but deadly spice producing planet, Arrakis.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has passed, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." - p.8, Paul Atreides

"A world is supported by four things... the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling." - p.30, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

"You must teach me someday how you do that," he said, "the way you thrust your worries aside and turn to practical matters. It must be a Bene Gesserit thing." "It's a female thing," she said. - p. 51, Duke Leto Atreides and the Lady Jessica

Lullabot's new Drupal book, Using Drupal, is getting quite a bit of coverage and has already garnered at least one solid review. (Thanks, Steph!) What's particularly exciting about the book for me is that this marks the first major appearance of Ubercart in print! I was informed about the chapter a bit before the book was announced publicly and was totally excited by the news. What made it even sweeter was that webchick did a thorough technical review of the Ubercart chapter and flooded our issue tracker for a couple of days with bug reports and usability suggestions. Isn't it great how that works? The book gets a better chapter and the community gets a better Ubercart. At least one person believes that the chapter devoted to Ubercart is worth the price of the entire book. If you've been waiting for a chance to get a solid overview of and introduction to installing and configuring Ubercart, then Using Drupal is the book for you.

Close friends and family are well aware that I am a huge fan of Alexandre Dumas, particularly of his books The Three Musketeers (and sequels) and The Count of Monte Cristo. You will find no greater adventure story in all of literature than The Three Musketeers, and Monte Cristo continues to be one of my absolute favorite books. Dumas is the king of characterization, an endearingly humorous and witty author, and a masterful storyteller. Seriously... every chapter leaves you begging for more (he wrote these books as serials after all!). So, I was totally stoked to read in the news this morning that a final book of Dumas has been found and recently published! The title is The Last Cavalier, and it promises to be yet another swashbuckling good time. Unfortunately, it was never finished by Dumas himself, but one man's interpretation of the ending has been added to the translation. I wonder if any alternate endings will surface... :D

Well, a couple days ago I finally got around to reading a children's book I randomly picked up at the library, The Little Prince. Little did I know this was an international hit, one of the 50 most popular books in the world with more than 50 million copies sold in over 160 languages!¹ Apparently, this charming book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French aviator, is quite the children's classic... and I had no clue! I put off reading it so long I had to renew my rental from the library, and I now having read it I think I should've read it five times during that time. :)