If Narnia is you favorite series ever, what should be next?
I know, I know, I failed to post anything last week. First I wasn’t at work land can’t post from home at this time of year; and second my parents had a parade of guests last week — many of my Dad’s siblings, who seldom visit because it’s a longish drive. Since Dad can’t travel any more, they came here. It was great to see them, but my scheduled posts ran out and my intentions to get into town long enough to put up more posts came to nothing.
But nothing like that should happen again until July, and at that point I’ll try to schedule more posts ahead.
Anyway! Here is a recent question on Quora that you might find interesting:
And the answer is, maaaayyybe, but fantasy novels that explicitly bring Christian themes front and center are, as you all might have noticed in a lifetime of reading SFF, rather rare. Also, if you want to stick to GREAT fantasy novels, well, that does kinda narrow things down.
Of course Tolkien drew heavily on Christianity, but those themes are hidden, not explicit, in the Lord of the Rings. However, I did take a few minutes to rack my brain for other examples where such themes are more explicit.
The story that came to mind, possibly because I read it fairly recently, was Regina Doman’s Shadow of the Bear. This is a contemporary retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale. The current cover up on Amazon is dreadful. This one is much better:
Here’s the description: Once upon a time… In New York City, a young, secretive street tough who calls himself, Bear, lands on the doorstep of two teenaged sisters. On the one hand Rose is delighted with his surprising knowledge of literature, poetry, and music; on the other hand Blanche is afraid of his apparent connections to drugs, murder, and a hidden treasure. Even as Blanche learns to trust him, her fears that Bear’s friendship threatens their family prove terrifyingly true.
That’s pretty accurate! If you’re at all fond of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale, Doman managed to stay quite startlingly close to the original given the contemporary NYC setting. A very strong Catholic influence definitely pervades the story, which is, if not great literature in the Narnia sense, certainly well written. I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
This was my initial thought on the question. If any of you have other novels — perhaps more decidedly in the fantasy genre — perhaps you might drop them in the comments, along with a thumbs-up/thumbs-down reaction.
Please Feel Free to Share:
