The "Kingdom" Series

A brief book review.

I believe in reading stories to my children. Lots of stories; big, meaty stories.

Why? For one thing, because I want them to imagine. The world should be different to how it is. We all agree on that. Christians have been given a task of transformation - the Great Commission. Without imagination, transformation is not possible.

Christians are people who are meant to be asking "what's behind the curtain, here"? They are meant to think more deeply. They are meant to understand the story. There's an evil dragon on the loose, and an appointed dragon-slayer who's going to redeem the creation. It's an adventure story. Your godly attitude when you do your chores each day and witness to your neighbours is part of that.

Recently we finished reading the "Kingdom" series by Chuck Black - http://www.christianbook.com/kingdom-series-vols-1-6/chuck-black/pd/6823

It's an allegory of redemptive history, compressed into a lifetime in a fantasy land. It's not hugely imaginative or deep in the plot, though it has some nice touches and I thought it generally improved as it went on, so is better suited for reading to younger children, perhaps 7 to 9, or slightly older if they are reading to themselves. They will enjoy spotting the parallels and decoding the symbols. The page linked to above says "for ages 8 to 12". Your mileage may vary!

The writer is pre-millennial and dispensational. The world is ultimately not so much redeemed as replaced. The cameo role played by the allegorised USA came over as rather crass to this non-American reader, but that's just an insertion near the end, and it's the author's sincere belief about eschatology so we won't whinge too much.

Still, not bad. Not epic (looking for an epic? You should have bought the "Binding of the Blade" series already!), but a good tool to stimulate those little minds to thinking a bit more. Likely it'll be read again at some stage.