Faith of the Unforgotten, book 1 of The Foundations of Hope trilogy by Leathel Grody. (Christian fantasy)
Faith of the Unforgotten is an exciting fantasy tale set in a future without even current technology. Religion is outlawed, and most Christians hide their faith. Yet when the land is attacked, only the Christians can see the opposing army…and their spies…for what they really are.
The sword fights in this book are spectacular!
As the story progresses, the “hiding” Christians slowly become braver as God helps them out of deadly situations.
This is a very enjoyable book, and it is clean to the point that I am considering reading it to my 5th grade class. I highly recommend this book! (review posted December 9, 2005).
The Foundations of Hope Trilogy homepage
Arena by Karen Hancock. (Christian allegorical sci-fi)
Arena is one of the best sci-fi books I’ve ever read. It is strongly allegorical, and the parallels to Christ, the spirit world, and everyday troubles are striking and powerful. The main character gets pulled into an arena to help prove a point. But she makes matters worse for herself at first by not listening to the instructions. I want to say more, but I’m afraid I’ll ruin the surprises.
There is some “sci-fi violence” that some people might not be able to stomach, but anyone well acquainted with sci-fi in general will have no problem with it. The story takes several fairly depressing turns, but just like the old saying about sunrise, these are followed by joyous moments and events. It is a wonderful read!
Karen Hancock is a master writer, and I very, very highly recommend this book! (review posted December 7, 2005).
Karen Hancock's site
Journey into the Gateway of Dimensions, book 1 of the Tayan Chronicles by Josh Michael Burton. (Christian Sci-fi)
This is a wonderful book and a fun read. It is very creative. In this book, there are twelve tribes of people with unique characteristics and abilities. Several people from most of the tribes make up the cast of main characters and villains.
In this story, there are two villains who are trying to gain control of the Gateway of Dimensions, and there is a group of Christians (most of them are Christians anyway) trying to stop them. And what a journey!
There is some violence, but nothing disturbing or extreme.
But besides being an entertaining and clean story, it was inspiring in a way. It made me feel like praising God more. I very highly recommend this book! (review posted July 24, 2005).
Josh Michael Burton's Tayan Chronicles homepage.
Journey into the Gateway of Dimensions at Amazon.com
When Worlds Rage, book 2 of the Orianus Creation Series by D. Shane Burton. (Christian Sci-fi/Fantasy)
This is a great book! It is just as unique and exciting as book 1. There are space battles, a wonderful new sword, new robots that weren’t in book 1, and more ancient peoples. Several new races are introduced throughout the book and my favorite would have to be the Verdan.
Angels and Demons play an even bigger part in this book, and prayer again plays a large role in this story. There is a part near the end of the book where one of the characters tells another about Jesus, and I think that has to be one of my favorite parts in the whole book.
The violence is about the same as in book 1; maybe a bit more in a few places.
In When Worlds Rage, a dangerous and powerful empire is rising again. People from many of the worlds try to defeat them.
As with Black Storm Rising, there are many plot lines going on and many characters. It is refreshing to read something that is not overly simple like a lot of books around now. The twists in this book are great! I was completely taken by surprise once near the middle, and then I was surprised again near the end.
Once again, Mr. Burton manages to incorporate humor into the story. (There are some very funny parts). I very highly recommend it! (review posted June 27, 2005).
D. Shane Burton's Orianus Creation Series homepage
When Worlds Rage on Amazon.com
Black Storm Rising, book 1 of the Orianus Creation Series by D. Shane Burton. (Christian Sci-fi/Fantasy)
This is the best book I've read in quite some time! It is very unique and exciting. I think it has everything! There are assassins, air fights, space ships, sword fights, advanced technologies, robots, dragons, and ancient quests. The people are just cool. I don't want to ruin too many surprises about the characters, but I have to say that Tumult, with his blue skin is the coolest!
Even more important than all the fascinating people and action filled moments are the Christian and spiritual aspects of the story. The Christian characters pray a lot and really have a relationship with the Lord, yet they are not perfect. Jesus is discussed throughout the book without shame, and D. Shane Burton did a wonderful job showing the involvement of Angels and Demons in the events of the story.
There is a lot of violence, but it does not go overboard. It is well placed and is always necessary to the plot. The villains are well written, and I am very picky about villains.
The premise behind the whole series is basically that portals connected Earth and the planets of the Orianus star system at different times in history. Many people came through, so that races now extinct on Earth are thriving on the planets of Orianus. The plot possibilities are endless!
Mr. Burton has a great sense of humor that can be seen several times in the book. I enjoyed Black Storm Rising immensely, and it is one that I will want to read again one day. I very highly recommend it! (Review posted June 5, 2005).
D. Shane Burton's Orianus Creation Series homepage
Black Storm Rising on Amazon.com
Red Planet Rising by Andrew M. Seddon. (Christian Sci-fi)
I almost didn't read this book. You know that old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Well, at first glance, it looked like it was going to be really cheesy. But I ended up enjoying it.
One of the villains seemed just a bit too melodramatic at times to me.
As far as I can recall, there were no curse words, and the violence and evil-experiment scenes didn't go above a PG-13 level, if that. There was mention that one of the bad guys has a harem and there is an attempted rape, but there were no unnecessary or disturbing details.
Basically, a cult tries to take over the Mars colony, at the same time making it very unpopular to be a Christian. The main characters are considering becoming Christians before the whole mess starts and remain undecided through most of the book.
I recommend this book. Seddon did a good job at keeping the tension and suspense going, and it was refreshing to not have evolution crammed down my throat. (Review posted April 21, 2005 ... modified May 5, 2005)
Red Planet Rising on Amazon.com
More books will be added as I either finish reading them or decide what to say about them.
I am currently reading Arana's Visitor by Julie Rollins. The next book on my list after that is Song of Fire by Joseph Bentz.
Page last updated: December 9, 2005.