Venom and Song (The Berinfell Prophecies #2) 3Stars

 

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Title: Venom and Song
Series: The Berinfell Prophecies #2
Author: Wayne Batson & Christopher Hopper
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 437
Words: 141K

While I enjoyed this, it was simply too long. This second book in the Berinfell Prophecies was over 100 pages and 40,000 words longer than the first book. That is a significant increase for a middle grade book. I think part of the issue is that having seven main characters with multiple other side characters AND a villain just bloats things up no matter what. Trying to give each of the kids enough page time to make them stay relevant to the story while using adult elves to fill in historical and training gaps made it almost impossible to see any scene that could have been cut.

I enjoyed the various training scenes as the kids learned how to use their powers but also how to use them as part of the group. No one of them was obviously “better” and it was made clear that they were stronger as a whole than as disparate parts. While I “agree” with that, I have always preferred the lone wolf kind of hero and story.

During the climactic battle at the end where it appears that the Spider King dies, I was wondering what they (the authors) were going to do to for the third book. I had a momentary thought of “Well, maybe the Spider King isn’t really dead. Nahhhh, they wouldn’t do something so obvious.” Sure enough, the authors went that route. That is the problem with reading books meant for a less experienced set of readers.

I am glad I read this and I’m ok with having a new pair of authors run across my radar. I know both of them have written other things, so depending on what I think of the final book in the Berinfell Prophecies will determine if I seek out any more stuff by them or not. I’m totally on the line at the moment.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Now in the strange realm of Allyra, the Seven young lordsconfront a traitor in their midst, a creature-infested forest, teenage fearsand doubts, inexplicable mysteries . . . and the Spider King himself. In a rigorous training program that makes boot camp looklike Disneyland, the Seven must quickly learnto harness their own powers, work as one, and elude the Spider King's spies.But as the ancient Berinfell Prophecies are revealed, the Seven soon discovertheir training might not be enough. To stop the Spider King they must also unravelthe secrets of the Rainsong, travel to a creepy, trap-infested fortressto find the legendary keystone, and lead the Berinfell Elves in an attack on the Spider King's own turf.

Curse of the Spider King (The Berinfell Prophecies #1) 3Stars

 

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Title: Curse of the Spider King
Series: The Berinfell Prophecies #1
Author: Wayne Batson & Christopher Hopper
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 335
Words: 107K

After how my last ya/middle grade book went (The Beggar Queen by Lloyd Alexander) I was just about ready to bag the whole idea of reading books geared toward the younger audience. Before I called it quits I asked some of the kids at church what they were reading. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much. But I ended up with a suggestion for the Berinfell Prophecies and after reading the synopsis, I decided it certainly couldn’t be as bad as the Beggar Queen. And it wasn’t, at all.

It IS more middle grade than young adult, as the main characters involved are all 13 year olds. There are also 7 of them. That concerned me a bit at first, because finding the right balance for points of view is hard and the more pov’s authors introduce, the harder the balance is to find. Thankfully, Batson and Hopper did an admirable job of giving each kid just the right amount of page time to tell the story they needed but without artificially giving more or less pages to each character.

Another thing that I liked, but wasn’t expecting, is that the authors are Christian and insert Christian elements into the story. No in a preachy way, but in many regards like Lewis does with his Chronicles of Narnia books. I only noticed it three or four times too, so it’s not like they are trying to drown their readers in it either.

This book is all about the gathering of the seven kids and how the elves were trying to get them all back to their original world. It had a good beginning, an exciting middle as all the kids had adventures and then the ending sees them all just crossing over. I am looking forward to the next book to see how things work out.

One final note. As this is middle grade, don’t expect any of the adults to be “actual” adults. They are adults per children’s views and act accordingly. Hence the “surprise” ambush near the end I saw coming from a mile away, but a kid wouldn’t, so the adults in the story didn’t.

★★★☆☆

From Fandom.com

Elves ruled over the land of Allyra for thousands of years until, in a great battle, the capital, Berinfell, was overtaken by an army of Drefids, Gwar, Warspiders, and Wisps under the command of the Spider King. Now as he rules the land, the remnant of the Elven race lives, hidden, in a network of subterranean passages called Nightwish Caverns.
In that battle, the seven heirs to the thrones of Berinfell were captured as babies and taken to the realm of the humans, known as Earth. Disguised among the millions of people on Earth, these Elf Lords have no clue of their identity until, around their thirteenth birthdays, some strange events start happening. Some are stalked by mysterious, creepy strangers, and others receive odd books from teachers, librarians, or bookstore owners. Eventually, the people, who had given the Elves the books, reveal to the Seven Lords their true identity, and the fact that they are being hunted by villainous creatures. These assassins, once held back by an old curse, are now free to kill the Seven. This they intend to do in order to keep the teenagers from returning to Allyra and rallying the Elves against their oppressor, the Spider King.
Autumn and Johnny are attacked in their house by a pack of Drefids, Jett and his family are assaulted by Cragons, and a Wisp of Jimmy's neighbor comes to the boy's school and attempts to quietly kill Miss Finney. Kat and Anna are pursued in a vicious car chase by Drefids, and Kiri Lee is later almost assassinated by Wisps posing as her parents in her own home. Tommy, Goldarrow and Mr. Charlie are forced to fight off another group of Drefids in an abandoned asylum while attempting to find a portal to Allyra.
In the final scene, all the Elven Lords and their escorts (except Autumn, Johnny, and Nelly) have assembled for a concert in Scotland before entering the nearby portal. In the middle of the performance, attended by humans and disguised Elves alike, a massive army of Gwar, Drefids, Cragons, and Wisps attack. In the midst of the chaos, Johnny, Autumn and Nelly arrive. They join the desperate rush of fighting Elves attempting to reach the portal. When they arrive, it is rapidly shrinking. Unbeknownst to everyone else, at the rear of the group Mr. Wallace is killed and replaced by a Wisp. As the final few Elves are diving into the portal, the Wisp kills Mr. Charlie and enters Allyra just before the doorway is completely closed. Once in the Elven world, the returning group of warriors are met by Grimwarden and a team of Elves, who assist the Lords and their guardians into the Underground. Mr. Wallace's Wisp accompanies them, a spy among their number.

The Ball and the Cross DNF@10% ★★☆☆☆

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Title: The Ball and the Cross DNF@10%
Series: ———-
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Christian Allegory/Mysticism
Pages: DNF @29
Words: DNF @8K

★★☆☆☆

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare ★★☆☆☆

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Title: The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Christian Allegory
Pages: 215
Words: 58K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

In Victorian-era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him at a party and they debate the meaning of poetry. Gregory argues that revolt is the basis of poetry. Syme demurs, insisting the essence of poetry is not revolution but law. He antagonises Gregory by asserting that the most poetical of human creations is the timetable for the London Underground. He suggests Gregory isn’t really serious about anarchism, which so irritates Gregory that he takes Syme to an underground anarchist meeting place, under oath not to disclose its existence to anyone, revealing his public endorsement of anarchy is a ruse to make him seem harmless, when in fact he is an influential member of the local chapter of the European anarchist council.

The central council consists of seven men, each using the name of a day of the week as a cover; the position of Thursday is about to be elected by Gregory’s local chapter. Gregory expects to win the election but just before, Syme reveals to Gregory after an oath of secrecy that he is a secret policeman. In order to make Syme think that the anarchists are harmless after all, Gregory speaks very unconvincingly to the local chapter, so that they feel that he is not zealous enough for the job. Syme makes a rousing anarchist speech in which he denounces everything that Gregory has said and wins the vote. He is sent immediately as the chapter’s delegate to the central council.

In his efforts to thwart the council, Syme eventually discovers that five of the other six members are also undercover detectives; each was employed just as mysteriously and assigned to defeat the Council. They soon find out they were fighting each other and not real anarchists; such was the mastermind plan of their president, Sunday. In a surreal conclusion, Sunday is unmasked as only seeming to be an anarchist; in fact, he is a proponent of state power like the detectives. Sunday is unable to give an answer to the question of why he caused so much trouble and pain for the detectives. Gregory, the only real anarchist, seems to challenge the false council. His accusation is that they, as rulers, have never suffered like Gregory and their other subjects and so their power is illegitimate. Syme refutes the accusation immediately, because of the terrors inflicted by Sunday on the rest of the council.

The dream ends when Sunday is asked if he has ever suffered. His last words, “can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?”, is the question Jesus asks St. James and St. John in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, vs 38–39, a rhetorical question intended to demonstrate that the disciples are wrong to covet his glory because they are unable to bear the suffering for the sins of the world for which he is destined.

My Thoughts:

Man, how I have changed in 20 years. Much like my review of The Napolean of Notting Hill, I found that this time around I did not enjoy this book by Chesterton nearly so much as I did in my early 20’s. Part of that is that I’ve been exposed to a much wider school of Christian Apologetics and Thought but another part is that I am now comfortable with myself in what I like or do not like.

And the fact of the matter is that I do not like Chesterton’s style. It doesn’t mean it is good or bad but that I simply do not like it. I suspect I would not have liked him as a man either though and thus the good/bad debate has to be thrown out. Plus, I don’t like poetry and Chesterton starts the book off with a poem.

I have now read enough to figure that Chesterton is most likely not for me. I’m going to try one more book by him just to be sure but am not holding out any hope that he’ll suddenly change and become an appealing author to me.

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

• The Man Who Was Thursday (2001 Review)