Thank you to NetGalley and Tyndale Publishing for giving me an ARC in exchange for my review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book. Starrett is talented at building the atmosphere of a gothic noir, similar to "Batman: The Animated Series". Instead of spending pages and pages describing everything, Starret keeps a narrow focus on the world as our leads experience it and it works so well. He also made sure to keep it light with quippy, loveable characters.
I loved Charlie, the curious girl with an attitude and spirit, and the group she slowly builds along her journey. I expected more one-off characters but thankfully, nearly everyone we meet is a key player in the story. Also, thank you, Starrett, for keeping a small cast. I'm terrible at remembering names and I was afraid I'd get a whole phonebook of names thrown at me.
I enjoyed how sparse the character descriptions were. Starrett deftly described the characters' mannerisms and personalities in a way that lets you build the character. If you imagined Violet or Patch to be a BIPOC person, nothing really contradicts that mental picture. The story is simple enough for kids but without talking down to them. It's a good balance of questions ended so that you don't need a sequel but has enough untied strings for a second book.
That said, as I read the books, I had some head-scratching moments that I ignored. Then I got to the end and read Starrett's bio and yep, he's a pastor. And Tyndale House is a Christian publishing company! With that new lens, the parallels are striking. A person daring to seek out the truth and wake up the world, a mysterious figure guiding out our heroes from the shadows, the emphasis of trust? Yeah, that's kinda Jesus-y
But those are also just the trappings of the genre! Pulps and simple "Battle of good and evil" tales lend to simple storytelling. The dark world in which lies prevail, the figure in the shadow hoping someone would as the right question, the ending in which the people are left to find the answers on their own? There are so many dystopian stories with that idea! "The Matrix", "Serenity". even "V For Vendetta" share similar tropes as this, and Alan Moore is an Anarchist AND an occultist. And also a warlock???
Personally, I read this book through the lens of the bored billionaires who wish to use their money for their vanity projects rather than actually helping people.
I mostly talk about this because I want my readers to have full knowledge of what they're getting. If I had to rank it among other Jesus allegory tales, it's more overt than Phantom Menace but less than the Narnia books. In the end, I didn't feel like the message was "DRAW CLOSE TO JESUS!!" but to seek out the truth and do the right thing, no matter how hard it is. Which is a message that I can get behind.
Overall, this was an enjoyable adventure story. I give it 4 stars but heads up if you're not religiously inclined
TW: Kidnapping, guns, slavery, child abuse, violence, gaslighting, brief suicidal ideation
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