Osbert has lived most of his life in the church, working for the nuns, setting out the placemats, and visiting his parents’ graveside. And he’s always longed for the chance to see his mom and dad one last time.
And that’s when the strange man appears in the belfry and offers Os an egg – an egg he claims holds the legendary Phoenix. Once the Phoenix hatches, a single feather is rumored to bring life back to the dead.
But when the egg does hatch, Os finds something much worse has arrived: an ancient terror that threatens to destroy not only his village, but also the known world. Now Os and his sparrowhawk have until sundown to stop the rampaging beast and save everyone they know and love.
"Parents who want a focus on christianity in their children's reading, or who simply don't mind and want a good story, should consider this. "
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
Os, an orphan, is raised by the local nuns after the plague kills his parents. When a strange man offers him an egg, saying it is a pheonix egg that can bring the dead back, he jumps at the chance. And then everything goes horribly wrong...
What initially appears to be a traditional Chosen One story veers into new territory within the first chapter. I'm not going to spoil it, but from then on I was hooked. It also answers the question of what kind of man shows up, tells an orphan he's a chosen one, and gives him something valuable without ever asking questions, and the answer is disturbing. I am not saying more to avoid spoilers.
Yes this is novel contains a lot of real-world christian focus and symbolism rather than the standad classical or made-up faiths of standard fantasy. As the hero is an orphan raised by nuns and working for the village vicar, that he might have a focus on his faith actually works for the story. What also works is that for once in a christian fantasy the characters are people: the village vicar might be testy and irritable but he is a good man, the Sister Beatrice strict, but cares with a surprising edge to her. None of these characters are one-dimensional. It is a short story, and the hero's quest is correspondingly short, but there's a lot happening in the story, interesting characters, and character growth from nearly all the cast.
Parents who want a focus on christianity in their children's reading, or who simply don't mind and want a good story, should consider this.
Well I am a Christian, but I cannot really say that it drives my selection of stories, but I can always appreciate good moral stories and ones that I can share with kids. I do not have kids of my own, but I happen to work with a whole lot of them, so things like this are nice where I can add a little lesson at the end of the story. Thanks for sharing and I will look into this one.
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