My favorite in the series.

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program and promised that I would write a review for it. It's taken me a year or so to finally get around to reviewing it partly because I kind of detested the book and I wanted to make sure that I was reviewing it for its qualities, rather than my initial distaste for it.

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor is thinly veiled allegory masquerading as fantasy. I am not a religious person, and so I am probably not the best audience for this book - and I realize that - but intended audience aside there just isn't a ton of craftsmanship here. The writing is decent at best, the character development shallow. There aren't really any enjoyable characters or any reason to feel sympathy for any of the characters unless you enjoy weak-willed characters who struggle to understand even the most basic concepts that the author is presenting them with. And the names - oh the names. The creatures called "paytha" that create apathy? The United Cities of Cameria? If you like word jumbles, maybe this is awesome, but to me this just smacks of a lack of creativity. It's like low brow Piers Anthony/Xanth stuff, and just not a very compelling read.

What really struck me the most, though, was how blatant the allegory was. This is not parable, or even moderately good allegory. The only reason this book isn't filled with "Jesus" and "God" is because somebody did a quick search-and-replace pre-publishing. You want good allegorical fantasy? Ready C.S. Lewis, read Orson Scott Card, read Phillip Pullman. Don't waste your time here. ( )

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor is actually the fifth book in the Knights of Arrethrae series. I didn’t think to check to see what the sequence was in the series so when I first received it I was a little concerned about jumping in so late, but it wasn’t hard. Each book in the series is about different characters and stories, as the titles show. Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione, Sir Bentley and the Holbrook Court, Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart, and Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue are the books before in this series.

The allegory in this book was excellent! The different groups of Silent Warriors and Shadow Warriors embodied the war between angels and demons very well. Chuck Black’s symbolic story of the King and the Prince is a creative retelling of the story of Christ’s quest to save all of mankind. I liked the other examples of symbolism in the book, like the paytha and the penthomoth, as well as the discussion questions in the back of the book. They make very good discussion material!

Overall, I really enjoyed this light read! I gave it four stars and recommend it to middle school age kids. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for my honest review. ( )

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor is part of a larger series, but was not difficult to read on its own. It's a fictionalized medieval world, that takes place in an alternate history. In most ways, it's actually a biblical allegory. I'm a Christian, and fully expected to enjoy this novel. But I just found the allegory lacked even the pretense of subtlety. The villain Lucius=Lucifer. The King from across the sea=God. The Prince=Jesus. Silent Warriors=Angels. You get the picture. It's not an allegory in the vein of Chronicles for Narnia that can give you new insights into your faith, yet also be enjoyed on its own merit. I just ended up feeling like I was reading a fictional version (and a less interesting version) of Biblical characters. We don't need that, we already have it in its purest form.

I'm not entirely being fair. Most of these characters are part of the story's larger universe. You'll see more of characters like Quinlan, trying to serve the Prince and fight Lucius, than you will see those larger forces. Still, that initial back story hovered in my mind the whole time I was reading the novel. It just didn't work for me.

Black is a very good writer, and a lot of readers will enjoy this book. If you are a heavy reader of Christian fiction and enjoy speculative fiction, this novel is a marriage of the two. And there's no denying coming to the series midway hurt the novel for me. But I feel a more casual reader of Christian fiction may find the novel too heavy handed, not in terms of its religious content, but in terms of its less than allegorical allegory. ( )

Story summary
This story is possibly set in a medieval setting. It is hard to tell, really, as some descriptions are inaccurate. A young man by the nickname of Twitch and his best friend and foster brother, Tav, are training to be knights. The knights are trained to serve in the prince's army.

Twitch makes a vow to serve the prince, and suddenly the world mystical veil parts and he is shown a glimpse of a war that is raging between the prince's army and Lord Lucius's dark knights. It is a rather schizophrenic view, really, as supposedly no one else can see these agents of evil lurking and looming about the world until they attack. But, pledge yourself to the prince's will, and you can see it.

Supposedly the world of the prince's, which is possibly not the same world as reality, is both glorious and dangerous. However, the author only ever describes it as terrible and dangerous, which really makes me wonder why he tossed the word glorious in in the first place. Perhaps he thinks that a world of war is a glorious one? That is a depressing thought.

Characters
The characters are rather flat all in all. The main character Twitch/Quinlan is the only one to show any dynamic change, and it is very, very subtle. The rest of the characters seemed scripted and forced. I just couldn't get into it much because of the character, and the near lack of dynamic relationships between the characters.

The characters are really vessels for a series of Christian messages, not for a tale worth reading for the general populace.

Thoughts
There were several things I didn't like about this book, but on the other hand, it was fairly action packed and had somewhat engaging battle scenes. If there weren't battles, the story felt far more forced than it could have been.

As this was a book written for the youth/teen Christian group, I think it hit that mark. Many youths will enjoy this book. Teens? I don't know. I taught at a middle school, and the 13-year olds read far more advanced stuff than this. Then again, this was at a public school, and I don't know how interests and reading levels vary. Maybe youths to preteens would be the best group for this book, but definitely not 15 and up.

For those that are interesting in having this book for a reading discussion, there are several questions in the back of the book to help direct it. All of the questions pertain to parts of the bible that were illustrated in various parts of the book.

**Disclaimer**
I received this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. I am under no obligation to write a positive review, just an honest one. ( )