Kingdom's Dawn

Sixteen-year-old Leinad thought he was a common farmer's son, nothing more. He wondered why his father had trained him for years to master the sword-not exactly a tool of the trade forfarmers-but one tragic event initiates a world of revelation. 

Only then does he begin to understand his calling-a calling no other man in the entire kingdom of Arrethtrae can fulfill-a calling given him by the King Himself.

Teamed with a young slave girl, Leinad is thrust into adversity and danger-for the Dark Knight and his vicious Shadow Warriors will stop at nothing to thwart the King's plan to restore the kingdom. Leinad will need more than a sharp blade and a swift hand to fulfill his mission and survive the evil pots of the King's sworn enemies!

Journey to Arrethtrae, where the King and His Son implement a bold plan to save their kingdom; where courage, faith, and loyalty stand tall in the face of opposition; where good will not bow to evil-and the future of a kingdom lies in the hands of a young man. (copy of back cover)

I had been eyeing this series for a LONG time before I finally got to read Kingdom's Dawn. In some ways, it was what I expected. It was an allegory, though not such a clear, cut and dry one as I expected. It didn't follow one distinct story in the Bible, which I appreciated, as that would probably have been boring. 

Chuck Black also showed some really fine values in Kingdom's Dawn. There was lots of courage, loyalty, love, and self sacrifice. Leinad, the hero, was quite heroic. I suppose there were some faults in him (he occasionally doubted the King, for example), but on the whole I didn't find him to be very relatable. He didn't have a great sense of humor or much of a temper. In some very Christian fiction they make their heroes and heroines nearly perfect, a model Christian. But that sometimes makes it hard to get emotionally attached to the character, as it did here. They talked about the hard things Leinad was going through, but Mr. Black didn't elaborate on Leinad's feelings very much. A lot of his (Leinad's) hardships were kind of breezed through....the book was very fast-paced. Because of this, I found it hard to empathize with Leinad, and couldn't get as attached to him as I normally do to my heroes.

So, as a girl, I didn't enjoy that aspect of Kingdom's Dawn. But I think many guys (especially young teenagers) wouldn't really mind that so much, and the quick pace of the book might appeal to them. It is an action book, and I felt like the action was done pretty well. I think people who are a fan of action novels, especially kids about 12 and up, would really enjoy Kingdom's Dawn. I'm looking forward to trying out some of Chuck Black's other books.