Ed Dunlop, author of over 20 books, has written an allegorical series called “The Terrestria Chronicles.” With seven books in the series, it covers the Christian story through the end of time.
For the purpose of this review, I received books six and seven in the series. It is hard to understand the entire plot of the series without reading the first five books, but we did our best! For the second time this year, I enlisted my husband’s help with this review. I do not enjoy fantasy literature, and he does, so I asked him to read these. My ten year old son also read them and gave his input on this review. I skimmed over them to get a feel for the story and for the author’s style.
Although this series is fantasy, it contains no wizardry, magic, or other common elements of fantasy literature.
The series begins at the adoption (salvation) of a slave named Josiah, by King Emmanuel, and it ends with The Great War, as the followers of the king are taken to the Golden City. In The Golden Lamps, the king’s followers are distracted from their tasks for the king by temptations strategically placed by the enemy, Argamor. The Great War brings the reader to the end of time on Terrestria, as Argamor and King Emmanuel battle for the Castle of Faith. As my son read the last two books, he was excited to find passages from Revelation that he had just covered last year in his Sunday School class. He enjoyed the references to castles, knights, and, of course, the battles.
My husband also enjoyed the books, saying he would have enjoyed these as a child/young adult. He did comment on how many of the portions seemed lifted straight out of Scripture, as opposed to paraphrasing them or rewording them to fit the situation in the books.
As a literature and writing teacher, I know that allegories are one of the hardest genres to write in and do in such a way that captivates readers. I admire Mr. Dunlop’s efforts in bringing the truth of Scripture to young people in a way that will, hopefully, make them want to read more of the original source.
As mentioned above, Mr. Dunlop has written many more books, including a companion series called The Terrestria Tales. Some of the Crew received these for review. He has also written a series about a boy out west; these books that are available as free downloads from his website. He has also written a guide to the Chronicles that would allow you to make these into a Bible study, bringing out the Biblical themes more directly.
We will be watching for the first 5 books in this series at our home school convention this year. Each costs $7.99 and are also available from the author’s website: www.talesofcastles.com.
Disclaimer: We received complimentary copies of these books for the purpose of reviewing them. We received no other compensation. The opinions expressed here are my own.
