Many years ago I got lost in James A. Owen’s Here, There Be Dragons and its sequels. At the time I was reading solely for my own enjoyment and found the series to be exciting, wholesome, and a fantastic literary puzzle for me to solve. When my well-read teen book club readers begged for more recommendations in the vein of the classics, I remembered this series and decided to reread it with the critical eyes of a mother, reading mentor, and book reviewer. So far I have only reread the first book, but it is even more fun than I remember.
Of late I have been living in the Nobel-prize-winning prose of Sigrid Undset, the epic poetry of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the edifying admonitions of Thomas a Kempis. I am delighted to say that I have been spoiled by writing par excellence. Understanding that that is the vantage point from which I come at this book, you might not be surprised to know that I found the literary quality of this writing less than impressive. The series, as I remember it, excels in imaginative quality, but the writing doesn’t live up to the standards of the classics it quotes. Tolkien, Dickens, and Shakespeare this is not, but it is far better than most of the other modern offerings out there that I have I read in the YA (Young Adult) category. The writing is good enough to bear more than one reading, and the creative plan is quite compelling.
Here comes the hard part: I can only recommend this book with serious reservation. And, while I am still discerning what I will do, I think that I will not offer it to my students. The creative and fun story line is marred by an inverted archetype, some questionable theology, and the glorification of characters who represent disordered morality.
I do not wish to spoil the plot twist of this creative story, but I do wish to explain what I mean by “disordered morality,” so I will try to be clear while also protecting the secret. The way certain characters come about in this story, it will naturally drive the reader to want to look up certain classics. While some of those classics are my absolute favorites, others are not, and some I wouldn’t want my teen readers looking into without some preparation and/or the permission of their parents. Said another way, I think this author chose to be a moral relativist (in this series) by putting truly excellent and worthy classics/authors/characters on the same level with others without regard to morally questionable differences between them. Consequently, a reader of this series may walk away believing that a wholesome book and a scandalous one are equally noble or heroic. I am not comfortable with the moral ambiguity, and I think it unwise to recommend this scheme without noting that.
From here on, I would like to give details that necessitate the revealing of spoilers. If you do not want to see any spoilers, I think the paragraphs above are sufficient to help you decide whether or not you wish to pre-read the books for yourself. If you do not mind spoilers and want a little more detail, please read on.
SPOILERS
In conclusion, I am uncertain what I will do with this series. On one hand, I think it would be very good for my teens to read this book with a guide like me who will challenge them to unpack the subtext. I think this might be a good way to encourage their critical thinking and to help them development discernment in their reading. But, I am hesitant to give this series more attention than I think it merits.