In the book of Song of Solomon, probably the last book of the Bible that most people would search for book inspiration in, there is a verse that inspired one of the best Christian Fantasy books that I have ever read.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
It's flames are flames of fire.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
Song of Solomon 8: 6-7 (Paraphrased for the book)
Author: C.S. Lakin
Illustrator: None
Date Published: 2011
Synopsis:
The kingdom of Sherbourne rests on the brink of catastrophe. Its king, blinded by greed and anger, leaves his kingdom in the hands of sly and suspicious counselors. The king's teenage twin children, Adin and Aletha, are desperate to stop their father from destroying their home, and when their father, in his greed, does something inexcusably selfish and wrong, Adin decides to take action to save his kingdom and sister. He travels through time using a magical map, and discovers secrets that he never dreamed of. When he reaches the final battle, and gets a chance to save his kingdom, will he be able to cleanse the seemingly insurmountable evil that has it's claws sunk so deeply into Sherbourne?
In 2010, author C.S. Lakin wrote the first book in The Gates of Heaven series, The Wolf of Tebron. While never widely known or popular, those who did discover it found one of the first books in a new era of Christian Fantasy writing. Soon after, the second book in the series, The Map Across Time, was published. The writing jumped ten levels up.
Written in the style of an old fairy tale, but adding more modern concepts of plot and character development, The Map Across Time is incredibly well-written. It is very long, but somehow the author keeps the story so well strung that you always feel like you've only been reading for a few minutes, and you can't put it down! It reminds me more of The Princess and The Goblin than The Lord of the Rings.
In this second book of the series, threads of information from the last book weave their way into the story. Just enough that they are easily recognizable and enjoyable for those who have read the previous book, but they don't make it necessary to read it before you read The Map Across Time. Adin and Aletha are AMAZING main characters. So well developed, that their personalities affect literally everything they say and do. I was really drawn into the story when they both arrived in the Sherbourne of the past. It really brought out the extra parts of their character. Sherbourne is very realistically depicted. It is not the perfect kingdom, where everything is just peachy and fine all of the time, and evil suddenly shows up and tears down the castle. It is a very realistic-feeling place, as are the lands that surround it.
I LOVED the use of ancient Hebrew as the Old Language. While some people complain that it is annoying to read, or that they don't want to flip to the back of the book to discover a word's meaning, I liked the depth that it adds to the history and culture of the land. And besides, the way the words are used makes their meaning pretty self-explanatory. The time loops that are made as the story progresses are complicated, but for me, half of the fun of reading the book was figuring out how they work!
Christian Fantasy books are not common, although there are more being written every day. It isn't a popular genre, even among Christians. But it has SO many amazing books! This book has to be one of the best, in my opinion. It's a great example of what makes a good book in the genre. I really, really enjoyed it. It's a good long read, and great for a lazy weekend, to take on vacation, or to read a little of every evening.
A note to parents or concerned readers: This is a very clean book, with absolutely no bad words or inappropriate content. It does include magic, though very little. While the rest of the books in this series include it rather heavily, one reason I am not the biggest fan of them, this book only has a few scenes where magic is mentioned. Younger readers may want to read with a parent, but this is a complicated book that probably won't be understood well until around age ten, anyway.