The Girl and the Dragon
Registered by PDB11 of Oakhill, Somerset United Kingdom on 11/4/2018
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
This book is billed as "a Christian fantasy". That rings alarm bells - do the publishers think that it has to sell on its moral teaching, rather than its merits as a story? Or is it merely that they want to sell through Christian bookshops, where customers might be put off by a fantasy without the reassurance of a Christian message?
When reading it, it seemed to me that what this meant was that all the moral teaching is very close to the surface - not superficial, but unsubtly presented. That said, the moral dilemmas faced by Adella as she goes through her adventures are real ones, and the Christian teaching seems mostly sound, if not very deep; Roelke seems to understand the sort of angst that Adella is going through and present it very convincingly, but the solutions offered seem to be stock Christian platitudes, without even the explanation that Adella longs for.
The story itself, which could have been a simple quest story, has some interesting episodes that make it more than that, and a twist near the end that I liked. It is let down by the shallowness of the characters - Sir John, Brast, the boys in the lake town, even Porse have little depth to them. Their motives - if clear at all - are obvious; their characters moreso, even if some of them can have a change of heart.
The role of the Church in this world is less clear. The lake town has several churches, each with a library and even a librarian. The woman who takes Adella in gives her Christian advice; and she shelters from the snow in a monastery (where Sir John can reveal his villainous nature by attacking a monk). And yet the practice of religion doesn't seem to figure in the characters' lives.
In all, I enjoyed the book, despite wincing most of the way through at the unsubtle moralising; but it's not a keeper. For release when EAB has read it.
When reading it, it seemed to me that what this meant was that all the moral teaching is very close to the surface - not superficial, but unsubtly presented. That said, the moral dilemmas faced by Adella as she goes through her adventures are real ones, and the Christian teaching seems mostly sound, if not very deep; Roelke seems to understand the sort of angst that Adella is going through and present it very convincingly, but the solutions offered seem to be stock Christian platitudes, without even the explanation that Adella longs for.
The story itself, which could have been a simple quest story, has some interesting episodes that make it more than that, and a twist near the end that I liked. It is let down by the shallowness of the characters - Sir John, Brast, the boys in the lake town, even Porse have little depth to them. Their motives - if clear at all - are obvious; their characters moreso, even if some of them can have a change of heart.
The role of the Church in this world is less clear. The lake town has several churches, each with a library and even a librarian. The woman who takes Adella in gives her Christian advice; and she shelters from the snow in a monastery (where Sir John can reveal his villainous nature by attacking a monk). And yet the practice of religion doesn't seem to figure in the characters' lives.
In all, I enjoyed the book, despite wincing most of the way through at the unsubtle moralising; but it's not a keeper. For release when EAB has read it.
Journal Entry 2 by PDB11 at Da Luciano's Pizzeria in Wells, Somerset United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Released 5 yrs ago (3/12/2019 UTC) at Da Luciano's Pizzeria in Wells, Somerset United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Trying, as ever, to reduce the mountain of books, we decided to release this one without EAB's having read it.
We went to Luciano's for a birthday treat last night. We left the book there, but Franca found it before we'd even reached the door. I think she has kept it.
We went to Luciano's for a birthday treat last night. We left the book there, but Franca found it before we'd even reached the door. I think she has kept it.
