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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
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When The English Fall
Reviews, May 20, 2022

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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
My Soul to Take, Bryan Davis
Into Shadow's Fire, Mark Castleberry
Deceived, Madisyn Carlin
Arena (2022 edition), Karen Hancock
Kurt Nickle-Dickle of Whiskers, N. J. McLagan
"In a city where debts are paid in blood, one young man will learn that everyone needs help sometimes if they want to survive." New in the Lorehaven library: A Matter of Blood, Lauren H Salisbury
Son of the Shield, Mary Schlegel
Maxine Justice, Galactic Attorney, Daniel Schwabauer
Mordizan, Alyssa Roat
Prentice Ash, Matt Barron
Etania's Calling, M. H. Elrich
The Choice, Bradley Caffee
The Obsidian Butterfly, Lani Forbes
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When The English Fall
“When The English Fall tells a bittersweet tale of community and commitment that plunges fearlessly into hard questions about the end of the world.”
—Lorehaven on May 20, 2022

Clawing Free
“Clawing Free is an absorbing tale that seamlessly joins modernity and myth.”
—Lorehaven on May 13, 2022

Vivid
“Ashley Bustamante’s Vivid paints a world built on secrets and carefully controlled color palettes.”
—Lorehaven on May 6, 2022

Prophet
“If great fiction dares explore culture wars, it must show more than perfect people smiling before a flat backdrop. Frank E. Peretti’s 1992 novel Prophet reflects this reality.”
—Lorehaven on May 4, 2022

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113. What If You Learned Bible Lessons from Singing Veggies and Dead Sea Squirrels? | with Mike Nawrocki
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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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/ summer 2020 / Reviews
Author:
C. S. Wachter
Ages:
adult young adult
Genres:
fantasy
BookTags:
demons epic portals prophecies romance swords The Seven Words series
Publisher:
Indie published

Sponsored Review: The Light Unbound

Ambitious in scope and relentless in speed, this novel concludes C. S. Wachter’s saga on a high note.
Lorehaven Review Team · summer 2020 · No comments

You’re the Lightbringer of the One, heir apparent to the throne of all Ochen. Your exploits are legendary and your influence is pervasive—and your body is inhabited by the malevolent spirit of your archenemy. What do you do?

In The Light Unbound, the fourth and final installment in C. S. Wachter’s The Seven Words series, Rayne Kierkengaard faces his greatest trial yet. Cast into the decrepit frame of an obscure old man, his spirit at last rebels against the path of sorrows charted for him by the One—the Creator Father—ever since his sixth birthday. For Sigmund, that sorcerous demon who stole his childhood has returned from defeat to steal everything Rayne regained through blood and tears—his power, his family, his very identity. All but his faith in a God who views death as but a portal to victory.

Ambitious in scope and relentless in speed, this novel concludes Wachter’s saga on a high note. As Rayne’s companions struggle to understand the sudden change in their prince’s behavior, the real Rayne, trapped in a senescent body, dodders onward to complete his quest and clear his name. To keep Ochen from enslavement, the task required of each one of them may be more than they can bear.

The story continues to reflect real life inasmuch as divine interventions deflate tension, but any surety this inspires in the reader proves short-lived. We don’t fear ultimate defeat so much as personal injury, for we know God often requires sacrifice, and so the suspense survives various dei ex machina. As Rayne ventures into the furthest and most fantastical regions of Ochen, tedious exposition may sometimes sap interest, but big twists and scenes of gut-wrenching emotion bring it rushing back. And the climax proves more than worthy of all the preceding struggle.

Best for: Older teens and adults.

Discern: Graphic violence, sadism, depictions of sorcery and drugs, references to vampirism and sexual assault, brief sensuality.

Lorehaven Review Team
Lorehaven finds the best of Christian fantasy by reviewing Christian-made, fantastical, published novels. Learn more about Lorehaven Review Team readers at our Crew Manifest. (Authors and publishers can request reviews here.)
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Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.