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A review by bookslesstravelled
Where Giants Fall by M.H. Elrich, Jonathon Mast, R.J. Setser, Matt Starr, Sara Francis, S.D. Howard, Kara Linaburg, A.J. Skelly, Michael P. LaVoice, Michaela Bush, Angela R. Watts, Abby Smith, Nathaniel Luscombe, Sarah Ryder
3.0
*I received an early copy from one of the authors. This does not affect my review. This review is voluntary.*
I've been thinking on how to review this one for over a day, and still don't know the best way to. The thing is, I don't read anthologies often for this reason, because with different stories by different authors, you're bound to connect with some more than others... I also didn't quite know how to rate it, as some of the stories I read or attempted to read in this would be easy 1 star reads (especially the DNFed ones) yet others are worth closer to 4 stars, and for that reason and for their sake I settled on 3, an average rating to balance the two groups. (There are also a couple stories at the end that I left off notes for, I plan to add those in soon, but didn't have them with me at the time of writing this.)
But in this case, it wasn't just about the stories and different author styles, but that a few of them also left me with both a bad taste while reading them, but also extremely unsettled, and not in a good way. 'Christian' as a genre is such a wide and varied thing, and I get than these authors are all from different beliefs and walks of life, yet...Some of these read more like horror or paranormal with themes like witches, demons, thoughts of self hard, and devouring darkness... Yet I didn't see much evidence of things that would make a story 'Christian' things like forgiveness, hope, God's love and grace. All these were lost (or neglected) in light of the tales of false gods, occultism practices, and 'good' sorcery, things we are Christians are both warned against and forbidden to believe in according to the Bible, God's WORD.
So, I'll try to note a few of my thoughts (and concerns) from the stories I read. I also DNFed 'No Hero' and a couple others halfway through, and skipped a few others after realizing that I likely wouldn't enjoy them. There were some good stories, but overall, I'm hesitant to recommend this one, and definitely wouldn't encourage others to read under the guise 'Christian' book. I've enjoyed a couple of these authors in the past, and would still read their works, but a few just didn't work for me. I'll note now, while I am a Christian, I do read a mix of secular and Christian books, and am normally not a stickler on 'clean' reads quite so much as some of the readers/authors I follow. Yet, as both a Christian and secular read, this one gave me pause and made me rethink reading it a couple of times, somethings that were seemingly promoted or at least heavily featured in these stories were things that I normally avoid reading in books, and would have made me skip this one too, had I known they were included here. I get this is a darker (slightly edgy) Christian anthology, but even were is a regular secular read, I feel a little content warning and even some trigger warnings would have been warranted for a few of the stories I read.
1. WHEN DEVILS WALKED THE DARKNESS AJ Skelly - This one starts out on "Samhain. The most dreaded night of the year. The eve when the devils stalked the earth, wreathed in shadow and darkness." and focuses a lot on the darkness and demons during that time, but not on much else aside from a 'magical' light used to resist the darkness.
This story was actually okay overall, but almost made me stop reading altogether since it was the first, and seeing how it deals with paranormal and minimal (nearly nonexistent) Christian themes, it was a warning of what's to come...and that isn't far from the truth. But there are a few good ones worth the read...
2. THE CHILDREN OF ARNBJØRG Sara Francis - I...honestly had to skim this one again to remember what happened for this review. (And I'd only just read it the day before...)
3. NO HERO by Michael LaVoice - I DNFed this one around 1/3rd of the way. The guy had just fought off the monsters and was about to talk to the girl.... Here's part of why I stopped reading. Had this been in a secular fantasy, I may have pressed on just a little longer, but since it's marketed as 'Christian' I just couldn't ignore his continual mention of:
The heroes and their armies. Dead.
The mages, good and evil. Dead.
The monsters and armies of the Evil One—mostly dead.
There is no good magic and are no good mages, witches, or sorceress according to the Bible. God's WORD is final.
4. LIGHT AND TRUTH by Micheala Bush - Again, I probably could have finished this one, but it's also one that definitely could have used some content warnings as the MC is constantly talking/thinking about killing (either her sister or herself.)
Suspicions confirmed.
I am standing at Uamh na Bana-Bhuidseach Mhor, the Cave of the Great Witch.
I’ve heard of this cave before. Long ago, stories emerged that the kings of old would come here and call wrath from the underworld upon their enemies. They beckoned the spirits of the Great Witch, a woman exiled for her talents, to commit their deeds. And if the curses didn’t work, human sacrifices would thrill the witch into obliging.
This time, the curses will have to suffice. Although something whispers that if it came down to it, I’d willingly drive my blade under my own sternum so the deities of darkness would avenge my people.
I stopped reading after that...(So I guess I did start and DNF more than I originally thought, I just stopped counting after the first...)
5. NEPENTHES by Kara Linaburg - Occultic crystal use, violence/gore, and cutting/self harm...still now content warnings...
Blue sky stretches effortlessly across the expanse, the ball of fire dropping with the darkness of evening, hovering over the ocean that sparkles like the crystals used by our medicine men.
Here, I can remember that I am alive.
There are days where I feel no emotion, when I fight with my people for freedom of the Isle, when pirates and neighboring islands come to destroy us. I’ve become numb, an old woman at six and ten summers, aging beyond my years by the blood that stains the grounds of my land.
“I miss you.” The whispered words get carried away by the wind, and I draw out my dagger. With careful flicks, I cut several rivers of blood on my arms, letting the crimson drip down my tunic.
6. A DANCE OF STONES by Jonathan Mast - I skimmed this one, but didn't actually read past the first page or so, and don't really have anything good or bad about this one since I ended up skipping it pretty early after struggling through so many of the others. It honestly sounds interesting, so I might go back and read it eventually.
7. THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FALLING by Nathaniel Luscombe - Again, one I skipped before really reading it. It also might be interesting, not sure if I'll retry this one or not though.
8. WAVERING LOYALTY by M. H. Edrich - This is one that I actually really liked! Although with the Queen's...ploy I don't know if it's expressly Christian, it was an entertaining fantasy short-story and was much smoother and easier to read than some of the others I tried.
9. THE LORD OF THE HARVEST by Matt Star - Updated this one... A request was sent to have the correct author listed for this one.
(So, there was a mistake here, and [a:Matt Starr|18258050|Matt Starr|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]
was listed instead of the correct [a:Matt Starr|6511154|Matt Starr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1548436958p2/6511154.jpg], big difference, so my reaction on this one is moot and will be adjusted according. The rest still stands.) (Edited 3/1/22)
10. INTO THE LIGHT by Abby Smith - This one honest felt more like a horror novel, and while I didn't hate it, I wasn't in the mood for more unpleasant surprises, so stopped reading a few pages in. Again, nothing expressly bad happened at that point, so my opinion overall on this one is also neutral. Just the encroaching darkness and the town/MCs obsession about lights was a bit much for my current mood.
11. THE BEASTS OF THE SEA by Angela R. Watts - I skipped this one for different reasons, and definitely plan to come back to it. Unlike many of the others, I have read a couple of Angela R. Watt's other stories, and look forward to this one as well.
12. A BREEZE SO SOFT AND GENTLE by S. D. Howard -
13. WHAT THE DARKNESS FEARS by Sarah Ryder -
14. THE SILVER DRAGON by R. J. Setser -
I've been thinking on how to review this one for over a day, and still don't know the best way to. The thing is, I don't read anthologies often for this reason, because with different stories by different authors, you're bound to connect with some more than others... I also didn't quite know how to rate it, as some of the stories I read or attempted to read in this would be easy 1 star reads (especially the DNFed ones) yet others are worth closer to 4 stars, and for that reason and for their sake I settled on 3, an average rating to balance the two groups. (There are also a couple stories at the end that I left off notes for, I plan to add those in soon, but didn't have them with me at the time of writing this.)
But in this case, it wasn't just about the stories and different author styles, but that a few of them also left me with both a bad taste while reading them, but also extremely unsettled, and not in a good way. 'Christian' as a genre is such a wide and varied thing, and I get than these authors are all from different beliefs and walks of life, yet...Some of these read more like horror or paranormal with themes like witches, demons, thoughts of self hard, and devouring darkness... Yet I didn't see much evidence of things that would make a story 'Christian' things like forgiveness, hope, God's love and grace. All these were lost (or neglected) in light of the tales of false gods, occultism practices, and 'good' sorcery, things we are Christians are both warned against and forbidden to believe in according to the Bible, God's WORD.
So, I'll try to note a few of my thoughts (and concerns) from the stories I read. I also DNFed 'No Hero' and a couple others halfway through, and skipped a few others after realizing that I likely wouldn't enjoy them. There were some good stories, but overall, I'm hesitant to recommend this one, and definitely wouldn't encourage others to read under the guise 'Christian' book. I've enjoyed a couple of these authors in the past, and would still read their works, but a few just didn't work for me. I'll note now, while I am a Christian, I do read a mix of secular and Christian books, and am normally not a stickler on 'clean' reads quite so much as some of the readers/authors I follow. Yet, as both a Christian and secular read, this one gave me pause and made me rethink reading it a couple of times, somethings that were seemingly promoted or at least heavily featured in these stories were things that I normally avoid reading in books, and would have made me skip this one too, had I known they were included here. I get this is a darker (slightly edgy) Christian anthology, but even were is a regular secular read, I feel a little content warning and even some trigger warnings would have been warranted for a few of the stories I read.
1. WHEN DEVILS WALKED THE DARKNESS AJ Skelly - This one starts out on "Samhain. The most dreaded night of the year. The eve when the devils stalked the earth, wreathed in shadow and darkness." and focuses a lot on the darkness and demons during that time, but not on much else aside from a 'magical' light used to resist the darkness.
This story was actually okay overall, but almost made me stop reading altogether since it was the first, and seeing how it deals with paranormal and minimal (nearly nonexistent) Christian themes, it was a warning of what's to come...and that isn't far from the truth. But there are a few good ones worth the read...
2. THE CHILDREN OF ARNBJØRG Sara Francis - I...honestly had to skim this one again to remember what happened for this review. (And I'd only just read it the day before...)
3. NO HERO by Michael LaVoice - I DNFed this one around 1/3rd of the way. The guy had just fought off the monsters and was about to talk to the girl.... Here's part of why I stopped reading. Had this been in a secular fantasy, I may have pressed on just a little longer, but since it's marketed as 'Christian' I just couldn't ignore his continual mention of:
The heroes and their armies. Dead.
The mages, good and evil. Dead.
The monsters and armies of the Evil One—mostly dead.
There is no good magic and are no good mages, witches, or sorceress according to the Bible. God's WORD is final.
4. LIGHT AND TRUTH by Micheala Bush - Again, I probably could have finished this one, but it's also one that definitely could have used some content warnings as the MC is constantly talking/thinking about killing (either her sister or herself.)
Suspicions confirmed.
I am standing at Uamh na Bana-Bhuidseach Mhor, the Cave of the Great Witch.
I’ve heard of this cave before. Long ago, stories emerged that the kings of old would come here and call wrath from the underworld upon their enemies. They beckoned the spirits of the Great Witch, a woman exiled for her talents, to commit their deeds. And if the curses didn’t work, human sacrifices would thrill the witch into obliging.
This time, the curses will have to suffice. Although something whispers that if it came down to it, I’d willingly drive my blade under my own sternum so the deities of darkness would avenge my people.
I stopped reading after that...(So I guess I did start and DNF more than I originally thought, I just stopped counting after the first...)
5. NEPENTHES by Kara Linaburg - Occultic crystal use, violence/gore, and cutting/self harm...still now content warnings...
Blue sky stretches effortlessly across the expanse, the ball of fire dropping with the darkness of evening, hovering over the ocean that sparkles like the crystals used by our medicine men.
Here, I can remember that I am alive.
There are days where I feel no emotion, when I fight with my people for freedom of the Isle, when pirates and neighboring islands come to destroy us. I’ve become numb, an old woman at six and ten summers, aging beyond my years by the blood that stains the grounds of my land.
“I miss you.” The whispered words get carried away by the wind, and I draw out my dagger. With careful flicks, I cut several rivers of blood on my arms, letting the crimson drip down my tunic.
6. A DANCE OF STONES by Jonathan Mast - I skimmed this one, but didn't actually read past the first page or so, and don't really have anything good or bad about this one since I ended up skipping it pretty early after struggling through so many of the others. It honestly sounds interesting, so I might go back and read it eventually.
7. THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FALLING by Nathaniel Luscombe - Again, one I skipped before really reading it. It also might be interesting, not sure if I'll retry this one or not though.
8. WAVERING LOYALTY by M. H. Edrich - This is one that I actually really liked! Although with the Queen's...ploy
Spoiler
Potential pretend pregnancy and everyone on the 'good' side calling her a liar, which...she probably is but heroes and especially Christian heroes probably shouldn't encourage discrediting women quite so quickly, though honestly in her case she probably was lying.9. THE LORD OF THE HARVEST by Matt Star - Updated this one... A request was sent to have the correct author listed for this one.
(So, there was a mistake here, and [a:Matt Starr|18258050|Matt Starr|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]
was listed instead of the correct [a:Matt Starr|6511154|Matt Starr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1548436958p2/6511154.jpg], big difference, so my reaction on this one is moot and will be adjusted according. The rest still stands.) (Edited 3/1/22)
10. INTO THE LIGHT by Abby Smith - This one honest felt more like a horror novel, and while I didn't hate it, I wasn't in the mood for more unpleasant surprises, so stopped reading a few pages in. Again, nothing expressly bad happened at that point, so my opinion overall on this one is also neutral. Just the encroaching darkness and the town/MCs obsession about lights was a bit much for my current mood.
11. THE BEASTS OF THE SEA by Angela R. Watts - I skipped this one for different reasons, and definitely plan to come back to it. Unlike many of the others, I have read a couple of Angela R. Watt's other stories, and look forward to this one as well.
12. A BREEZE SO SOFT AND GENTLE by S. D. Howard -
13. WHAT THE DARKNESS FEARS by Sarah Ryder -
14. THE SILVER DRAGON by R. J. Setser -