"...and, by the dog, gentlemen of the jury---for I must tell you the truth..." --Apology, 21e

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Christian sci-fi...
"The War in Heaven can perhaps be thought of as a retelling of John Milton's Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis if he'd played a lot of Warhammer while listening to Metallica. It's about a journey into and out of evil by a protaganist who is not in the least unwilling to experience everything. There's war on a grand scale, but seen from the point of view of a teenage boy who's privy to some of the angelic intrigue going on underneath. It's that old story: Boy meets fallen angel, boy storms heaven with Hell's legions, boy transformed into evil demigod while his sisters try to stop him from destroying himself.

The World in Shadow is a much darker and smaller book, even if it's longer. It investigates the petty cruelties of life in the modern world, their effects on individuals, and the way in which the forces of evil take advantage of those who are weak and wounded. The plot revolves around two unpopular boys, whose anger is twisted and manipulated by the Fallen in order to wreak havoc on the community. Unlike most people, I wasn't asking why after Columbine. I know why it happened, as did most of the kids there. This book wrestles more with with the question how."

...and the scum that write it.

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