Her parents named her “Cursed,” for her people truly are: trapped in brutal slavery, toiling under the Izyphorn sun, forced to let their infants die. The kaites gave her a new name: Raiballeon, “Leader of a Revolt.” At ten, Rai thought that meant she would lead Maraiah to freedom.

Eighteen-year-old Rai knows better. As an exile hiding her heritage, Rai has resigned herself to a quiet life recording history. After all, going up against Izyphor on her own would mean certain death.

Reuniting with a childhood love and meeting an enigmatic stranger forces Rai to reexamine her calling. Can she rise up against her own fears, the most powerful nation in the world, and evil spirits bent on annihilating any opposition? Is she destined to be a great warrior or an historian–or are those the same thing?

Book 1 of the The Firstborn’s Legacy series.

Child of the Kaites retells the Exodus account in a fantasy world. In Beth Wangler’s story, two Champions work together to free their people, the Maraians, from slavery to the Izyphor. They must face down false rumors about their people, an Izyphorn sultan who refuses to let them go free, and spiritual beings who fight against them. Angels and demons, respectively called kaites and aivenkaites, feature in many of the book’s conflicts. Despite a somewhat confusing backstory, the Champions, Raiballeon and Saviayr, show well-realized characterization, and the overall narrative flies like a thematic arrow toward the real-life account of how God freed his people from Egypt, and then later from the even stronger slavery to sin.

Best for: Fans of young-adult fiction.

Discern: Spiritual battles that could cause some confusion, such as when the demons/aivenkaites are confronted and controlled by use of their names, and when the hero bargains with Aivenah/Satan toward the book’s end.