The Christian Fantasy Review

In fact this book is doing pretty well on Amazon (very well for a self-publshed book) and is getting favorable mentions by fans on the Internet. But it is only available on the Internet, and so would-be fans like my sons have been missing out. I hope the current situation not good enough for Young, and he pushes harder for a wider audience, even if he gets fewer royalties in the short run.–Phyllis Wheeler

So the Avatar is a tale with a moral compass. It is full of well-developed characters, including plucky kids
who don’t give up. There is a satisfying happy ending. But the tale also has some Eastern mythology underlying it. You can decide whether to expose your kids to it.–Phyllis Wheeler

Are you in charge of Young Adult purchases? I am a resident of Webster Groves who is wishing my 16-year-old sons had access to some Christian fantasy fiction. While there is plenty of fantasy fiction on the young adult shelves, very little of it has a Christian world view, either overtly or subtly.

The Twilight Saga is a fantasy series about a girl, Bella, who falls in love with a vampire. The erotic vampire Edward has super-human strength and immortality. He proves irresistible to her. He’s got great self-control and doesn’t do vampirish things to Bella, resulting in a heroic feat of self-denial for the sake of love–a tried and true chick-lit theme.

Worldview: Dark. In a world where moral behavior is nearly unknown, the protagonist and his genie occasionally demonstrate moral behavior. More often, they don’t.

Rowling’s genius is in her broad array of memorable characters. There are Hagrid, the half-giant who loves strange monsters; Dumbledore, the wise schoolmaster; and many more. Rowling’s world is the work of many years of imagining characters and details. In my opinion this puts her in a similar league to George Lucas. –Phyllis Wheeler

But we all know “the force” isn’t real. This is fantasy, a backdrop for the story. Lucas isn’t trying to sell his audience on a new religion. Lucas’s characters behave in moral ways, good guys fighting against overwhelming odds to defeat evil in the end. Then there is Lucas’ keynote plot twist: that the ultimate evil villain turns out to be the father of the young hero. This tale has picked up a lot of resonance in our culture.

His work is a towering achievement for a man with persistence, focus, and vision. What a blessing he has been to me and to many others!

This book is great reading for someone who appreciates a nice metaphor and doesn’t mind wading through a lot of description and slow-moving events that don’t advance the plot quickly, including dinner parties. The cover definitely attracted the librarian in our local library, who commented on it. I left it laying around my house, though, and none of my teenage sons picked it up.–Phyllis Wheeler

There is a disconnect here. The marketplace isn’t providing for the teen Christian fantasy market.

For one thing, i think we need to lobby our libraries to buy the best Christian fantasy books. They’re certainly buying the non-Christian ones. We need to demand our share of those library dollars!–Phyllis Wheeler