“Her family refuses to fight the war. But Isla refuses to cower, no matter the cost.Isla is outraged at the damages the Norvege war has caused to her own country, and she refuses to turn a blind eye. As the rageful warmonger focuses on finding the rest of the Prophecy before Lanaria, Isla joins forces with the countries fighting to end the war. Labeled a rebel, traitor, and runaway, she takes control where her clan leader would not, and recklessly leads a group of zealous soldiers into battle. But pride has a deadly cost. And when Isla falls to rock bottom, she’s lured to the darkness her ancestors once worshipped. Will she succumb to death, or will she emerge victorious?
Inspired loosely by the biblical story of Deborah, grab this compelling story of conquering darkness and following God’s path no matter the cost.”
Series: Book #3 in the “Legends of Lanaria”. Review of Book #1, Here! and Book #2 Here!
Spiritual Content- Isaiah 60:1-2 & Judges 4:14 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; This story is loosely inspired by the Biblical story of Deborah; There is a strong Light overcoming darkness theme in this book; God is called Dhia and I Am & Jesus Christ is called Iosa Criosd throughout this book; Prayers (including Isla praying that if God “can hear prayers from sinners like [her]…”); Talks about God (Dhia), praying to Him, following Him, His will, & Deborah in the Bible; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Isla is new to her faith in Dhia & doesn’t think He will want to hear from her (which someone quickly corrects); Isla’s brother says that Satan has his eye on her because of her challenging evil; *Spoiler* Isla prays for God to not take someone dear to her and attempts to do the miraculous prayers she saw done in Book #2, but it does not work and she is distraught; She questions others’ belief in Dhia and in her anger, she says to just let the enemy win and doesn’t believe He is with her; This is corrected a couple of chapters later *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of people praying, receiving salvation, & their eternities; Mentions of a preacher/minister & a church; Mentions of a Prophecy & a woman having the gift of prophecy (Book #2); Mentions of being Blessed; A few mentions of miraculous healings (Book #2); A few mentions of sins & sinners; A mention of saints;
*Note: Isla says that her brother believes that will-o-the-wisps are “spirits of darkness we’ve allowed into our country”; Isla’s brother tells others not to serve Dhia and also consult druids & when someone else says that it “can’t hurt to communicate with all the spirits”, Isla has strong words to say about that it can hurt; There’s a legend of a woman taming a dragon/mythological beasts and her followers try to resurrect the beasts of old by doing evil rituals (*Spoiler* They are almost successful, but Isla and her group pray for intercession and there is a lightning storm that puts the cave they were in into the ocean, killing every person and creature in there; Isla says that she believes that “if Dhia bade the creatures to fall into the sea of extinction, He will not permit their resurrection” and that while the creatures are not necessarily evil, those people played god by using something for evil that was created by God; Another says that the witches do not have the power they say they have and only win “when the children of the Light cower and turn a blind eye. Darkness only wins when God’s children refuse to fight against the dark of expose it.” *End of Spoiler*); *Spoiler* Isla is worn down after certain events and gives up, believing and saying that evil will win; Someone tries to reason with her but she won’t see it until a couple of chapters later *End of Spoiler*; Will-o-the-wisps try to tempt Isla at one point, telling her that they can help her (*Spoiler* and while she’s tempted for half a second, she decides she knows too much about Dhia to pray to the false gods; Someone else comes and rebukes the darkness and evil spirits in Jesus’ name over her *End of Spoiler*); Many mentions of witches, their wickedness, the darkness/evil they serve, the occult, tokens, other deities/false gods, dryads, druids, will-o-the-wisps, & talismans (all portrayed negatively); Mentions of Banshees; A mention of a miracle not being magic.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bloody’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sissies’, two ‘hush up’s, two forms of ‘stupid’, three forms of ‘hang it all’; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Isla curses a couple men under her breath (not written and not implied as witchcraft curses); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Killing one enemy, Seeing two deaths, & bodies (including a loved one dying, up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Battles, Attacks, & Being held at sword-point (up to semi-detailed); Helping an injured wolf (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Isla has killed others in battles and has a lot of pride in her battle experiences; Isla wishes she could die instead of someone else dying; Isla’s team captures an enemy solider and then tortures and kills him for information (off-page, barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of wars, battles, attacks, fights, taking prisoners, torture, murders, deaths, bodies, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & pubs (including Isla teasing her brother about her knowing a pub but correcting that she’s only passed by it when he disapproves of her comment); Mentions of lies; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of rumors & gossip; A few mentions of hangings & executions; A few mentions of a dead animal (stag, up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of hunting (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of a possible kidnapping & ransom threats; A couple mentions of robbers; A mention of jealousy; A mention of crass jokes (not written out); A mention of eavesdropping;
*Note: Most of Isla’s family does not stand up for her or support her, which makes her bitter towards them and disappointed.
Sexual Content- A few mentions of an illegitimate son; A mention of a young boy pinning after Isla;
*Note: A mention of a woman dying in childbirth.
-Isla, age 16
P.O.V. of Isla
133 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Minus up to a full star for those sensitive to battles/attacks}
I’ve been looking forward to continuing this series as the books release and this one was very different from the prior books! She’s an actual warrior which was different to read—albeit at times she did act like the teen aged girl she was. She did have her moments of pride and bitterness that I figured would force her learn some lessons. I will say that while it was different to read about an actual warrior, I didn’t feel connected to her—probably because of her being a warrior and that this book is building up to more for the later books in the series.
I did struggle to remember all the details of wars and countries and such from the prior books, but the more I read, the more the author gave hints and mentions of past events which was helpful. I do think that it would be best to read them closer together, though.
I got goosebumps at some of the leadership speeches, and I really did like the strong faith shown in this book. While the battles and killing were never detailed, it did make me uncomfortable—even though that’s what a war entails—so my rating is 3.5 stars, personally. The faith content was super strong and well done, though, so I can see many that would enjoy it. There’s a major importance on Light overcoming darkness and I really liked that element. A lot of events are setting up for future books which makes me excited to see it all pan out and see these characters again.
Also, there’s no romance in this book, so that was a nice change to read. Hints to a possible one way off in the future, but nothing in this book. Looking forward to continuing with the next book when it releases!
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
No comments:
Post a Comment