Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Late Elementary

Three children battle against evil as they work together to protect the lighthouse their warrior parents left behind. The children must discern in a confusing time. The author clearly has a conservative agenda.

  • Performance/Works-based faith. The father tells the kids they let their light shine when they do their chores dutifully, etc. I wish there had been more emphasis on faith & relationship with God rather than deeds & obedience (alone).
  • A stand against “Tolerance of all.” Members of liberal denominations will not like that the bishop who preaches “tolerance of all” ends up being very evil. (page 62) See excerpt below.

The bishop who say this ends up being someone who tries to kill innocent children and who commands evil beasts from hell. So there is a clear stance on tolerance here.

  • Strict Sabbath. The family observes strict sabbath rules: fasting for grownups and simple oatmeal for kids. The of kids explain that the oatmeal is a mercy for small kids, but when they grow up they are expected to fast as well. (See around p. 90-91).
  • Old Covenant vs New Covenant debate. The bishop’s apprentice, who later is revealed as being deeply misled, says strict sabbath rules are a part of the old covenant. He says that under the new covenant they can have a proper feast on sabbath. He ends up confessing that his teaching was from hell, and his mentor ends up being an evil villain, so effectively, this makes it look like people who don’t observe strict laws of the old covenant are sinning. p.91
  • Peril. Parents disappeared at war, adheld captive, children battle forces of darkness. A spear knocks someone out. Stranger danger. Hellhounds with back drool are told to eat the children. The hounds attack. A boy is killed.
  • Technical mechanical jargon. The father makes inventions, and so do the kids. I find some of the technical descriptions hard to follow (e.g., p. 115)
  • Typos and other evidence of low-quality printing/editing. Head hopping as the story jumps perspective without warning; typos (E.g., It says “the” instead of “he” in: “Why is the spreading the darkness?” ; repeated explanation (e.g., “Black ram horn” is repeated in a way that suggests the author forgot they told us what type of horn it is; ); missing explanations (e.g., two magical pet origin stories are told but the duck that flashes has no back-story and leaves the reader lost); inconsistent cover image (The book describes the youngest boy having long red headed curls but the cover picture doesn’t match).
  • Supernatural (magical?) Weapons & Beasts. Weapons change shape, size, and abilities as needed. Their power comes from God, but families strongly against magic might want to know they’re there. Also a horn wakes dark forces, and hellhound beasts.

Things I liked:

  • The children have healthy relationships with their parents. That is harder to find these days.
  • Clearly drawing from Christian principles of shining light, even in how we do little things like chores.
  • The kids pray and battle.

Overall, I think I would need to read the next books in the series to see how some of these themes are developed before making a confident recommendation.