Conservative Book Talk

One word about Shadow at Evening (The Lamb Among the Stars, Book 1): fascinating. This is not what I expected from a Christian sci-fi book. As a matter of fact, this book completely changes my view of how a futuristic book could be written. All of the science fiction that I have read has always come from an evolutionary perspective. To have aliens, evolution must be assumed true. Walley paints a future without aliens and without evolution.

Picture an almost perfect world that is thirteen thousand years in the future. Man commits very little sin (a lie is not only abhorrent, but utterly unthinkable). People worship the Lamb of God. Walley takes a great deal of time to paint the universe in which humans peacefully and quietly inhabit several thousand worlds. Then, Walley begins slowly to squeeze the picture. Cracks begin to appear in the perfect world. Sin begins to crop up in imperceptible ways and only Merral D’Avanos and his friends can rescue their world as invaders cut them off from the rest of the Assembly of Worlds. Evil is back….

This story is targeted at teenagers, but I do not understand why. Tyndale does not seem to be interested in promoting this series. You have to look hard on their website to find it. I think that this novel fits better as a book targeted to adults, but which will engross teenagers as well. It takes some time to appreciate the story.

If you “must be engrossed from the first page or you quit a book,� then forget it. This isn’t for you. If you are patient, it will pay off. The reason that the “hook� is so slow in coming is simple: a good plot requires conflict and perfect worlds do not have conflict. Because the conflict appears so slowly, you appreciate it more. I once saw a laptop screen, which had been damaged by a thin rod. The damage had begun as a small black spot where the crystal display was cracked. As the laptop was opened and closed, a spider web of cracks began to arc out across the screen until the tendrils were all over the display. This is how the world of Merral D’Avanos develops for the reader. Absolutely fascinating!

The characters are enjoyable and quite interesting. They are well-rounded characters who change throughout the story. As one of the more interesting and innovative approaches to sci-fi that I have read, I recommend this book highly.