Monday, February 23, 2009

SIR BENTLY, by Chuch Black

This second installment in Chuck Black’s Knights of Arrethtrae series tells the tale of Sir Bentley, an honorable knight who abandons all to seek the truth of the Prince. Eirwyn, a mysterious young woman who brings food to the poor, teaches Bentley the power of compassion to overcome evil. Together, they save the people of Holbrook from poverty and despair.

Sir Bentley’s quest for the truth of the Prince finds him battling Shadow Warriors, a powerful lord, and a terrifying creature. Will greed destroy Holbrook? Or can Bentley and the mysterious Eirwyn restore prosperity to the kingdom through the compassion of the Prince? Intended for family read-alouds and Christian teens, this fantastic story will entertain and edify parents and kids alike.

Author Bio:

Chuck Black, a former F-16 fighter pilot and tactical communications engineer, is the author of eight novels, including the popular Kingdom series. He has received praise from parents across the country for his unique approach to telling biblical truths. His passion in life is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to love his wife, Andrea, and their six children. He lives with his family in North Dakota.

My Review:

I found SIR BENTLEY, by Chuck Black, to be an incredibly interesting story. SIR BENTLEY follows the life of a young nobleman as he is knighted to an adventurous tale to fight for the oppressed in the village of Holbrook. On the way Sir Bentley realizes that he must make a choice between the oath he gave as a knight and the oath he has given to the King. As I understand the other tales of this series normally follow the poor who follow the King and act as his knights, but here we find a nobleman, a rich man's son following the King. I'm not going to spoil everything for you and give up the plot or anything, but you will find that this book is well-written, properly geared towards young adult males, and filled with Biblical applications.

The parallels made in this work are Scripturally sound, but perhaps more importantly is the ease in which it engages the reader. My ownly "negative" concerning this book was the inclusion of a work book at the end, sort of a chapter by chapter lessons from Scripture found in the book. In my opinion this reduces the novel to that of a text book. I hope people don't turn away from it because of this. Simply don't read this end section, unless you like text books, or if you wish to use SIR BENTLEY as a study guide for a young adult group in your church. This seems to be more of a "teacher's copy" in that sense. Nevertheless the story carries itself well, without the prodding of questions at the end (some of which may even be obscure). For those wishing to utilize this book as a study guide a practical questioning of "Does this remind you of anything in the Bible?" would suffice.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It recognizes the need for young men to look up to heroes who are worthy of that, and to become heroes themselves, as they follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. I encourage all young people to read this book. I can promise you that it is a book you will truly enjoy.

You can purchase this book online at:
Random House

Christian Books

Barnes & Noble

and Amazon

Also, you can read more about the Knights of Arrethtrae at HERE

And get to know more about Chuck Black HERE














For more great reviews be sure to stop by CFRB the first full week of each month for some of the best fiction you'll ever read. The Christian Fiction Review Blog is dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through promoting quality fiction from a Christian worldview. We've been at it for over 2 years and some of the books toured there truly belong on the NY Times Bestsellers' List. Soon, I hope they make it. The stories are sharp. The characters are realistic. The message is usually tucked away in the weave of the plot, unless you're reading my books where I tend to be a little more forthright. Plus, there's something for everyone, from romance to horror, historical fiction to suspense and mystery, from fantasy to science fiction, and more, it's all there. And you never know when one of the members or the author is going to do a book giveaway, so be sure to visit us at http://cfrblog.blogspot.com Hope to see you around. David Brollier, author of THE 3RD COVENANT and co-founder of the Christian Fiction Review Blog.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

VENGEANCE, by Donna Dawson


It's time for VENGEANCE, no not the action, the book by Donna Dawson. All this week CFRB will be touring this book. Today I'd like to set the stage for you. Imagine a boy who watches his father die slowly of a terrible sickness. Imagine thirty years later an FBI agent on his first vacation in a long time. Imagine this vacation is in part a cruise to and from his destination of Hawaii. Now imagine that the little boy who has grown up decides to avenge himself of his father's death. Let's take this a step further, the people he wants to have revenge on just happen to be aboard the same ship as our FBI agent. Who writes like this? Donna Dawson does. She tantalizes you with a couple small chapters to set the stage, then goes to the agent's vacation cruise and launches you into a world of suspense, intregue and so many other things I'm surprised she managed it at all. Tom Clancy was once asked what is the difference between fiction and real life. He said, "Fiction has to make sense." Now as much as I admire Clancy I'd have to say Dawson comes as close to not making a lot of sense because there are so many things all going on all at once, just like real life. Yet this is fiction...or is it? Perhaps there's a story out there that she got her teeth into and decided to fictionalize it, but however she did it, she did it with gusto.

I hope she won't get mad at me for a couple mild spoilers in that paragraph, but you just have to understand the complexity of this story, and I haven't even mentioned Dr. Holding or Cassandra yet. This is a totally different story running along si
de the main story. In fact, when you begin to break things down you find that there is the boy's story, the agent's story (in about 2 or 3 different trails), Cassandra's story, Dr. Julia Holding's story, Special Agent in Charge St. Kitt's story, and more. More meaning, Tip and Nam and a few others you'll meet along the way. These are people who have their own reason for being between the covers of this book and they don't always coincide with the others. Some have nothing to do with any of the others, and yet Donna Dawson makes it all seem so natural, so real, so incredibly normal...even if it is abnormally complex. When you read VENGEANCE you are going to be submerged into a world that will stimulate all your senses.

After reading a lot of fantasy and science fiction of late it felt good to get back to the mystery/suspense genre, especially when it was done so well. Check out the following CFRB places. Chances are you'll find out more than I'm giving you here.



Now that you have all those links, some of which may not have current information, but you'll enjoy them just the same, it's time to get out some important information.

First I bet you'd like to visit Donna's site. You can find that HERE

To purchase her book you can go to:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

or Target


Tangerine

Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith



This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is posting about Tangerine (Revell, January 2007) by Marilynn Griffith (fellow CFBA member, blogger, writer, and mother of *GULP* seven!)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marilynn Griffith is wife to a deacon, mom to a tribe and proof that God gives second chances. Her novels include Made of Honor (Steeple Hill, Jan. 2006), Pink (Revell, Feb. 2006), Jade (Revell, June 2006), and If the Shoe Fits (Revell, 2007). Her other credits include Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman’s Soul, Cup of Comfort Devotionals and her Shades of Style series (Revell, 2006). She lives in Florida with her husband and children. To book speaking engagements or just say hello, email: marilynngriffith@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Tangerine is the third book in the Shades of Style Novels.

Fans of Pink and Jade will eat up Tangerine, the third book in the cutting-edge Shades of Style series. Jean Guerra, a designer at Garments of Praise design firm, doesn't like surprises. These days though, the unexpected meets her everywhere. Since Jean's return to the church a year ago, her God-encounters occur with increasing frequency, along with thoughts of her husband-the one she vowed to divorce and gave up on long ago. The one nobody at work knows about, not even her best friend, Lily, or her boss, Chenille. But when the designer assigned to work with Jean on a line of men's suits shows up, her heart flips. It's her husband, Nigel Salvador. Jean is finally rendered speechless. Can her bruised heart become whole enough to love again? Or will she remain in the trenches of loneliness forever?



The book link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800730429


Marilynn's website link: http://marilynngriffith.typepad.com/rhythmsofgrace/

THE 3RD COVENANT - a Comparison

The following table shows where THE 3RD COVENANT stands against 7 top authors and 14 other books.

Title

Author

Times out

times per month

Judge and Jury

Cold Moon

Death Dance

Promise Me

The 3rd Covenant

The Camel Club

Violet Dawn

3rd Degree

The Collectors

Web of Lies

The 12th Card

Words of Silk

Above and Beyond

Entombed

No Second Chance

James Patterson

Jeffery Deaver

Linda Fairstein

Harlan Coben

David Brollier

David Baldacci

Brandilyn Collins

James Patterson

David Baldacci

Brandilyn Collins

Jeffery Deaver

Sandra Brown

Sandra Brown

Linda Fairstein

Harlan Coben

CHO 9

CHO 17

CHO 17

CHO 16

CHO 11

CHO 21

CHO 4

CHO 34

CHO 2

CHO 2

CHO 17

CHO 29

CHO 30

CHO 19

CHO 31

2.25

2.43

2.43

2.28

1.83

1.71

1.3

1.08

1.00

1.00

.94

.94

.91

.82

.72