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67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good summer read, May 28, 2010
This review is from: The Sword: A Novel (Chiveis Trilogy) (Paperback)
I just finished this book last night and have had thoughts for a review since about page 4. I should probably do this under three heads; Storytelling, Writing, and Theology. Storytelling Litfin is a theology professor and this is his first foray into fiction. That said, the story is fairly well done. I never felt like the storyline got stuck though I did begin to wonder at one place if Litfin had forgotten one of the important subplots. No, he hadn't and that was the point. The story line was good but not great. Don't expect CS Lewis here (Litfin never pretends to be Lewis either!) While not compelling it was entertaining. I have found myself entering the world of Chiveis in my head and imagining other adventures. I even spent some time on Google Maps and found the location he describes including the cathedral on the cover. I'm such a nerd. Writing In the videos on the website, Litfin says that he did research for the book. That included how to write fiction and the writing reflects it. It isn't bad but it isn't great either. His writing is sufficient. He knows how to keep the episodes moving so that each time I put the book down I wanted to pick it back up. However, his dialogue was stilted and awkward at times. One of the things I remember hearing about fiction writing was "Show it, don't say it." In a few places, Litfin does both. I wasn't so bothered by his writing there but I did wonder which editor let that go out like that. Despite a few relatively minor irritations like that I thought the writing was capable. His characters were mostly people you felt like you knew. The world he describes is one you believe (mostly). Once again, it isn't stellar writing but it is good, light, pop Christian fiction. Just the target he was aiming at. Theology There may be some spoilers here so beware! Litfin teaches theology at Moody Bible Institute so I expected Dispensationalism. It isn't there. This isn't another version of Late Great Planet Earth or Left Behind. There is no theological ax to grind, at least not in this installment. Instead what Litfin explores is essentially this history of the Church. Early on the lead characters have no knowledge of God, only the false gods of Chiveis whom they're not fond of. There is a nagging sense that there is a good God out there, if they only knew him. While those around them seem fine with these ugly gods, Teo and Ana want more. When they find the Bible the last two thirds of it is rotted and unreadable. Litfin here is exploring what it was like for the Church before the New Testament. What did they know about God? How did they approach God? I'm assuming that in future installments we'll see them discover the New Testament and be blown away by Jesus coming and fulfilling all of what they knew. But that will be in a future volume. :) I appreciated how God is present in the story. He isn't a theory or idea but an "actor". That is, he acts, he is active. But from a Christian perspective, how does Hebrews 1:1-3 apply in a world which has largely forgotten Christianity and has only recovered the Old Testament? Asked another way, will God reveal himself apart from Jesus Christ after the Incarnation? I knew what I thought and I was glad to see that Litfin seems to agree with me. What is great is that he did his theology without long-winded debates and discussions. The characters explore their new faith and grow in it. At the same time, they seems to too quickly become "Christians" without Jesus. There is an animal sacrifice to atone for sin but there is much more discussion of God's mercy for those who repent. That they got this from a few chapters of Genesis, Ruth and a couple of Psalms seems a bit of a stretch to me. And then the "house community" that formed seemed to be a church small group with a pastor (Maurice) seemed a bit too convenient for me. Add to this the "church split" and I felt like I was in a small, American, Protestant church! Litfin also explored the issue of hermenutics. I think that is a very good idea but I didn't feel the way Valant came to his opinion of how to read the Bible was "organic". He was a Gnostic out of nowhere basically. How did he get to that place? I didn't feel like we went along on his ride. Also, the prevailing method of reading texts and mythology in Chiveis should have come in to play here. We always read and interpret texts according to our culture. I think Litfin was trying to tip his hat to Medieval Church struggles but this didn't work well for me. What was beautifully displayed again and again was grace and holiness. I appreciated that. Characters love and forgive because of Deu. Teo and Ana are repeatedly put into situations where, if this was a Hollywood movie or a TV show they'd have been naked in a minute. Our hero and heroine are attracted to each other but both are noble and and behave honorably to each other. I liked that. And yet sex is present elsewhere in the story. But it is misused as a godless world is apt to do. Somehow they maintain their purity because God is an actor here.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1st in Chiveis trilogy is epic story, April 19, 2010
This review is from: The Sword: A Novel (Chiveis Trilogy) (Paperback)
The Sword by Bryan M. Litfin is the first book in the Chiveis Trilogy. 400 years after the world has fallen apart due to plague and nuclear war, small pockets of humanity are reestablishing civilization, but it's more similar to the Middle Ages than the 20th century. In mountain kingdom of Chiveis, the people work the land and serve three gods under the leading of the major god Astrebril. Teofil is the renowned leader of the Fifth Regiment of the kingdom of Chiveis, well respected for his fighting ability. Anastasia is from Edgeton, a city on the edge of the kingdom, who is well known for her beauty, singing, and skill with a bow. The two are thrown together and the sparks quickly fly, but they are distracted by learning about the god Deu who was worshiped by the Ancients and used the cross as his symbol. Denounced as evil by the High Priestess of Astebril, Deu has long been forgotten until a book of his sacred writings is discovered, and everyone who comes into contact with it finds their lives completely changed. I'm not normally a fan of fantasy, which The Sword has hints of, but the unusual premise had me hooked from the first page of history which convincingly describe the fall of civilization. While many of the characters are stock characters from fantasy series, the story is compelling and very fresh. It's fascinating imagining what it would be like for people who had never heard any stories from the Bible to encounter them the first time. How would they react? Would they see the same things readers do today? I also commend Litfin for refusing to give in to cliches. The small story of Rosetta's horse and foal shatters the illusion that Litfin is writing about some make believe version of God. This story has the potential of becoming an epic within the Christian fiction community. I look forward to reading the next story.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, but not highly realistic, August 26, 2010
This review is from: The Sword: A Novel (Chiveis Trilogy) (Paperback)
"The Sword" was an entertaining Christian fantasy set in our future after modern civilization has fallen. The target audience appeared to be Christian adults (both women and men), but some teens might like it. The characters were varied, complex, and interesting, and I was curious about what would happen to them. The story was fast-paced and exciting, with the action rarely slowing. The suspense was created by the physical danger to the characters and the attraction between the two main characters even though they were divided in their beliefs. (And I thought the resolution of this difference was handled in a nice and convincing manner.) The story was frequently unrealistic and inconsistent, and the characters acted in illogical ways. For example, two characters have a letter they desperately need to get to the prince and they know they can't get to him, yet they don't give it to a character that can and will see the prince. In the prologue, the author has a super-virus that--following his parameters and taking into account only the mail system--would have killed everyone in the world who received mail in less than four weeks, but he has it last for decades. And then he adds in a worldwide, nuclear war. Yet the world, several hundred years later, looks remarkably like a pagan medieval Europe with healthy humans and every pre-war plant and animal. Also, taking into consideration the only religions they knew, it seemed like the characters were a little quick to follow this new god and trust that he was good. While the reader can see God working behind the scenes, the characters had very little evidence that he even existed. And their knowledge of him was based solely on the first few chapters of Genesis, some Psalms, and Ruth. When they asked God to do a miracle at a critical moment and he didn't, I find it hard to believe that any of the followers were willing to remain faithful in the face of immediate death. Granted, most of the followers did publicly deny their new god, but they still intended to secretly follow him. The characters frequently prayed, sang hymns, and read Scripture, and this was done primarily in a "they prayed" way. There was no bad language. There were several seduction scenes, but the sex was implied rather than explicit. There were a couple explicit torture scenes, but they weren't gory, just violent. Overall, I'd still recommend this novel as entertaining, clean reading. I received this book as a review copy from the publisher. Reviewed by Debbie from Genre Reviews
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