Tales from Terrestria promotional page
I hadn't heard of the Terrestria Chronicles or Tales from Terrestria before being sent these books to review; I'm a bit out of the loop on Christian YA fantasy. But recently our homeschool group had a visit from a Christian author of fantasy for young people, and he talked about how meaningful people find his books to be, and how God has worked in his life as a writer. So I was at least interested in seeing how the Terrestria books fit into some of the ideas that he presented.
I don't like having to write a completely negative review, so I will say that these books are solidly and evangelically Christian, filled with barely-veiled references to issues of faith and morality, and followed (in the fourth book) by an explicit denunciation of contemporary "dragons" including rock music. They are written with the best of intentions, probably in the hope that kids who "only" read dragon-type books will become interested in these and decide to follow Christ.
But after reading one and having The Apprentice read the other one (which we discussed together), I can't say that I'm impressed. We felt that the stories tried to cram too much in--to be too many things at once. They draw somewhat on older books such as Pilgrim's Progress and Pinocchio, and of course Bible stories such as The Prodigal Son, but seem less appealing than their sources of inspiration. A sample:
"The name is not Red," Joel retorted, doing his best to maintain his composure in spite of the taunting. The one thing that Joel could not stand was teasing about his flaming red hair. "Lay off, Lank."But this playground-taunting stuff turns rather nasty by the middle of the story:
"If your hair was blond I'd call you Yellow," Lank replied, and his two companions laughed at the foolish remark. "What should I call you, Red?"
"You know my name."
Lank reached for Joel's temple and Joel batted his hand away. "Hey, don't be so touchy," Lank said, pooching out his lower lip to mock him. "I just wanna touch your hair--wanna see if it's as hot as it looks."
Joel turned away.
"Hey, Red," Lank taunted, gazing down at the harbor, "your pa walks like a duck. Look at him! He walks just like a duck."
"Prisoners like himself, these men were the most pitiful wretches he had ever seen, with sunken eyes, skeletal limbs, and tattered shreds of clothing clinging to their wasted bodies. Their hair was long and caked and matted and their beards were long and unkempt, like gardens abandoned to the weeds and briars. He could tell at a glance that most of them had skin diseases."I found the variations in tone somewhat jarring, and it was a reminder as well that these books aren't really aimed at young children.
If it was simply the heavy-with-message flavour that I didn't personally enjoy, I'd recommend them for families who might take to these books for exactly the reason that I didn't care for them. It's certainly not easy to find moral, character-building fiction for children, particularly boys, of a certain age; and I will admit that Thunder Mountain did have some thought-provoking moments, particularly towards the end. However, because of the overall quality of the writing, I cannot give them more than a one-or-two-star recommendation.
Price: US$7.99 each
For more reviews of various Terrestria books, see the Review Crew home page.
Dewey's Disclaimer: These books were received free for purposes of review. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.
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