The 2nd book in the "Wars of the Realm" series, (sequel to "The Cloak of Light") was highly anticipated by young Christian's all over the US. Chuck Black is highly respected for his well loved series, The Kingdom Series and The Knights of Arrethtrae, it wasn't a big surprise for me to hear, many were looking forward to the Cloak of Light. After The Cloak Of Light left off at a cliffhanger, young readers were even more eager to read Rise of the Fallen.
Many were surprised to find Mr. Black's book was different in the way that it did not follow the perspective the main protagonist in The Cloak of Light. (I have not reviewed The Cloak of Light, but there is a link to a great review here, written by my good friend Maria. http://knightoftheprince.blogspot.com/2014/08/book-review-on-cloak-of-light.html
Instead, Rise of the Fallen tells the story from the perspective of the angel Valdius. Valdius, the last created angel, is a warrior, daily fighting demons and sin for the King of Kings and the salvation of the human race. We journey with Valdius through the history of the Earth including, Noah and the ark, the tower of Babel, the birth of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, the holocaust, and much more. Mr. Black digs deep into the heart of history and tells these stories through the eyes of the Vadlius.
But what kind of sequel would it be if it didn't continue the story of the first book? I am so glad you asked! Because Rise of the Fallen while exploring the Biblical, historic stories, Black also tells Valdius, commander and warrior in God's holy army, gets reassigned to guard the life of one seemingly insignificant man.
Valdius begins to question his task: Why has he been reassigned? And what can be so important about a young unsaved man living in Kansas? Valdius continually seeks answers as he fights to keep this man, Drew Carter alive, and also wars with the demons to save Carter's soul.
In this review, I have split it into two parts. First one of dislike and one of likes. Please understand that I do not to wish to put down the book or Mr. Black. I don't want to hinder anyone from reading the book, please know that. Read my review, but please, get the book and read it for yourself. I simply am trying to express my likes and dislikes in this review.
I will state, that we don't know a lot about angels. I know this. I understand that this is a fictional view. The points that I state below, that I disagreed and agreed with are merely my opinion.
THINGS I DISLIKED:
Black says in chapter 4, page 28, "For nearly five thousand years, he [Vadlius] had watched humans perfect the art of war, and he had learned from them." I find it very hard to believe that the angels would watch humans and learn from them. Of course, I cannot prove this, but Angels are supernatural creatures. God's holy army. I think God could use us to teach angels, because He is God, He can do whatever He wants. God does use us, but I wanted Mr. Black to elaborate that God doesn't need us to help Him.
On the same page Black says, "At first the warrior angels were hesitant to embrace the ingenious tactics of assault, but the Fallens [demons] relentless pursuit of utter destruction forced the warriors of Elohim [God] to adapt or be dissolved."
I find this to be very unrealistic. You really think that the warriors of God, God's supernatural army, that He created to be warriors, would have a hard time defending their own Creator? I don't think so.
Also, Valdius continually struggles with doubt. Doubt is the cause of faithless-ness. We also see him struggle with his pride as he finds it hard to understand why he was "demoted" from being a warrior to being a guardian. All of this is perfectly understandable, its only human correct? Even as Christians, children of God, we doubt, because we're sinful. We struggle with pride, because we're sinful. In the study guide in the back of the book to chapter 38, Mr. Black says angels are sinless. Then why in the world does his main character angel struggle with sin? I understand making a main character that doesn't have feelings would be extremely difficult to write, but I don't think giving Valdius a struggle with sin was the best way to go about it.
And also Mr. Black says that Valdius feels like the least of the angels, because he was the last one created. Honestly, I think with a Perfect God, and a Holy army, that there would be no feelings of feeling like the least or the most. I think there would be a perfect order, but maybe that's just me.
Things I liked:
One thing I really appreciated was Mr. Black's boldness to speak against sin. The book opens up on the steps of a abortion clinic and spiritual warfare there. Also Mr. Black talks about how sexual perversion, homosexuality, drugs, and many other sins, are wrong, but without going into detail.
One of my favorite parts in the book was the arrest of Jesus before He was crucified. The creativity of the twelve legions of Angels actually being there, waiting to defend their King, but by Jesus saying, "Do you not know my father could call twelve legions of angels if I asked Him to?" was telling the angels that it was not in the Plan for them to defend Him at this time. This was clever on Mr. Black's part.
Another part I really enjoyed was the tower of Babel. Mr. Black took a lot of fictional license with the story, but it was interesting to see how it could have happened. (I will not say anymore so as not to give away too much. :D)
I think the part I liked most about the book was at one point when the five thousand people gathered to hear Jesus preaching. Valdius and his commanding officer, Danick are watching the scene and this is the dialogue that plays out:
(Valdius) "What do we do now, sir? Surely there's great work to be done now that He's here."
Danick shook his head, "No, my friend. There is nothing for us to do. Don't you see? When He is here, we do not need to be. He is sufficient for everything!"
This really struck me as I came to realize, though the book was about angels, and the angels were cool and certainly mighty creatures of the King, I also realized that its God who directs their actions. God does not need angels, but uses them for His mighty works through out the world. I really appreciate Mr. Black's boldness to state that it is God who is sovereign.
My parental advisory for this book is this: There is nothing inherently bad in this book. There are just some very hard subjects mention and some of the descriptions of the demons could be frightening for younger readers. I will not give a age recommendation, because honestly, it depends on how mature the reader is. This isn't a book for the innocent, but I believed it was originally geared toward older readers anyways.
In a summery, there were many things I liked about the book, but also many things I did not like. Out of five stars I would give this book a three. If my review has aroused your curiosity, you must read the book for yourself and tell me what you thought. :) Please feel free to leave comments below and tell me what you thought of the book and of this review. :)
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
