The Adventures of A Thief and A Princess.
He was a thief, she was a princess but Fate brought them together.
Shanghaied, Shipwrecked, and Stranded on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Aditya and Mia face an uncertain future. Desperate to return to their families, they strike out on a journey across Madagascar and up the east coast of Africa. Along the way, they are joined by a pirate, a runaway slave, and two brothers.
However, the secret each of them carries soon threatens to tear them apart before they reached their destination. Faced with adversity from within and without, the four bedraggled strangers learn to overlook each other’s faults and discover the true meaning of love and forgiveness.
Perspective by Peter:
I was asked by the author to review this latest offering. I love Powell's novels. This new one is a bit different than his previous novels. This novels explores how secrets can become barriers to relating to each other and even to the Gospel of Christ. Each of the characters struggle to come to terms with their secret and whether they would be accepted by the other in their group. Each also has similar with their culture and religious belief system of that culture. It also comes down to not being ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for Azi but Talo has a different reason for hiding his faith and what it is. As the novel progresses they learn that they cannot hide their faith but must live it out and be up front with it. But fear has held them back and pain confronting this and the reason for hiding their faith. They all had to work through this, especially Talo. It also comes down to going against the grain of their culture and whether they will be accepted or ridiculed for it.
But then we have Aditya who does not suffer from this and is the one who challenges Mia in her Hindu faith and becomes an effective witness to her about the Gospel of Christ but she also challenges him with the claims of her faith. This seems to draw out Azi and Talo in being up front with their faith. As the novel progresses each has gone through the vulnerability of being honest with each other and themselves about their secret and as they come out the other end they find that learning to overlook each other's differences and faults leads to them learning to love and forgive. Throughout the novel, Powell does not hold anything back when it comes to explaining the Gospel of Christ and this came through very well through Aditya. Quite the group's evangelist. A great zeal for God and being surrendered and submitted to Him.
If the reader is paying attention to the spiritual themes in this novel, they will discover some very important truths about forgiveness, loving as Christ loved us, acceptance, the destructive nature of chasing approval from others we love and from our parents. This is especially shown with Aditya, Mia and Azi. It is amazing how the Gospel of Christ cancels out these destructive pursuits and puts everyone on an even playing field where our needs are meet by our identity in Christ, as Mia found out in a powerful way at the end of the novel.
The end result is that Azi and Aditya become stronger in their faith and relationship with Christ and leads both Talo and Mia to the place where they have to decide about the claims of Christ and that of the Bible.
I became fond of each character. Powell has depicted them according to their culture and background and their faith; Azi from a Muslim background before conversion to Christ, Aditya a Buddhist (before conversion to Christ), Mia a Hindu and Talo confesses to being a Jew. I had more of a fondness for Talo than the rest. His was an interesting journey with some devastating events during his childhood. I am pleased that the next novel in this series is about him. The end of this novel gives a brief sample of The Adventures of Talo Saliman. It has certainly whetted my appetite for this one.
Along the way, animals become attached to them, a Bengal tiger named Mali, an ostrich named Ava, a baby elephant named Ellie and an ever-vigilant peregrine falcon who they never seem to give a name to. Each of these animals provide a role in getting them across Africa and back to their families. At first I wondered why Powell include them but towards the end of the novel, it would not have been the same without them. Not being picky, but there was not much mentioned of the dietary and other aspects of travelling with 4 very distinct different animals. They were so what in the background but not forgotten and did provide many roles in the group's travels from Madagascar to India/Burma. It would have made the story more realistic or feasible is some of these details had been included. Yes, it means a longer story but I don't believe it would have added any significant length to the overall novel.
Powell adds a Survey of the four main religions of the world that he has depicted in this novel, that of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. This may answers some of the tenets of these religions mentioned in the novel. This is a good move and is treated respectfully.
I look forward to move in this series, The Adventures of Talo Saliman being the next one. To be released sometime later this year.
All in all, a good introduction to this new series.
Strongly Recommended.
The following three ratings are based on my judgment:
World Building 4/5
Characters 5/5
Story 4/5
The two classifications below are based on the booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland:
Spiritual Level 4/5
Enemy Spiritual Level 3/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Spiritually, based on my review and on the aforementioned reference booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland (Radiqx Press) and that The Adventures of A Thief and A Princess contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Redemptive Fiction outlined in this booklet, (click on the title below to see what this is based on), I bestow to Bryan the:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment. It is awaiting moderation.