The Quest for Yoshi: Book Four of the Adventure Chronicles (Volume 4) by Jeffrey A. Davis

The Quest for Yoshi: Book Four of the Adventure Chronicles (Volume 4)

For two months, Shawna’s nightmares have kept her confused and exhausted. Visions of empty graves, cursed amulets, and old friends fill her thoughts at all times, leaving her friends and boyfriend perplexed. Jamie, still mourning the loss of his clan-sister, has struggled to come to terms with having left leadership of the Funakoshi clan in the hands of the violent Shakato family. So now Shawna’s strange visions are drawing her back to the world of Thera. The last time that they went there, a cursed wizard killed Yoshi. What will happen this time?

The Guru's Review: 

This comes to the last (of the published series so far) of the Adventure Chronicles. Davis has continued his new standard of writing and world building that debuted in the Gateway to Thera, and I would say the spiritual aspects are more evident and deeper as well. Again, he has used a Bible event to base his world building and again it takes place in the world of Thera and this plot line adds to and further develops the world building and fantasy elements that he created in Gateway to Thera.

The action is faster is this instalment. The pace never lets up and this is one roller coaster ride compared to the first two instalments. This plot line follows on very nicely from the previous one and it seems that we may not be leaving the world of Thera in a hurry. I loved the spiritual warfare aspects and these adhere to biblical standards very strictly. This is what I have come to appreciate in this new standard of Davis' writing. In this story, he has the demonic based on what you find in the story of Baal and its worship, the use of intercessory prayer and the use of the name of Jesus to defeat the demonic with the Christian characters boldly and confidently claiming these promises and principles having recognised that their power comes from the Spirit and that it is very real.

I have stated many times before in other reviews and in this review blog, that Christian fiction should not just entertain, but edify the reader, educate in biblical principles and honour God. Davis very much does this in this instalment on all points except one.

It is here that I am very disappointed. While I accept that Christians will sin due to our fallen human nature (our physical body is not regenerated upon salvation but prone to sin), I was disappointed that no repentance or godly remorse for the sinful act of one if its main characters was not described by the author and the consequence of this it comes across as if this is normal and of no consequence, but from a Biblical/Christian point of view, this is just not true. This lack of repentance comes across very much comparable with the attitude of secular humanism, and as Christians, we are not to adhere to those standards but only God's concerning what he says about our behaviour and sin and why He died on the Cross. I am not saying that Davis adheres to this secular humanistic attitude, but his omission of the biblical side of it has great potential to lead an unbeliever or new or undisciplined/undiscipled Christian astray or give an incorrect message about this type of behaviour and God's view of it. As stated in my blog page, Why Christian Fiction? concerning why I review Christian genres, I sometimes discuss issues like this with the author to see why they treated this aspect of their novel the way they did so I can better understand their motive and mindset. I did so with Davis and as a consequence, I am confident that he will attend to spiritual matters like this biblically in future novels as this will definitely make him a better author and represent honourably the God who has called him to write on His behalf.

I am very excited to see Davis research completely the biblical side of this novel and its predecessor. He is definitely adding more depth of spirituality and biblical principles in these last two novels. As I said in my review of the Gateway to Thera, Davis has taken this series to a new level and it is paying off. I appreciate his commitment to this and honouring God in the process. The first two showed a weaker marriage between being a Christian and martial arts while these previous two (books 3+4) show how this marriage is a strong one and one that is compatible and God honouring. The discipline required in both (martial arts and being a Christian) complement and strengthen each other. This shows in the attitude of the Adventure team members towards each other and in their relationship with Christ, specifically living out disciplines of supplicating prayer, spiritual warfare and healing prayer.

I am looking forward to seeing more novels in this series. I don't think Davis is finished with the Adventure team yet.

Highly Recommended

World Building 5/5

Characterisation 5/5

Story 5/5

Spiritual Level 4/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 5/5

Average Rating 4.8/5

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Spiritually, based on my review and on the following reference booklet,

A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland,

and that Quest for Yoshi contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Spirit-Filled Fiction outlined in this booklet, while taking into account the one flaw that I outlined above that the author is aware of and I believe will be avoided in the future, I award Jeffrey A. Davis with

The Reality Calling Spirit-Filled Speculative Fiction Award

Congratulations Jeffrey A. Davis!

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