The Restorers (The Mindrulers, Book 2).
In a small nation on a distant planet, the Restorers of the Way are battling dark forces at work in society. They have killed one of the Mindbenders of Dûrion—and this has seriously inconvenienced the country’s despotic ruler, Shambor dom Beldet.
News of their achievement spreads, and thousands rally to their cause. But Shambor’s response is devastating.
Inexperienced and outnumbered, how can the ‘strangers and loners’ from Earth, with their Dûrian friends, prevail against an enemy who not only controls the army and all the resources of a nation, but also wields deadly powers of mental and spiritual oppression?
The second of three novels in The Mindrulers series, this book is written by a linguist with significant cross-cultural experience and a love of history. It is set in a richly-imagined world featuring convincing languages, fascinating cultures, and meticulously detailed maps. The setting is thoroughly worked out, creating an inner consistency and a breadth of history and geography that gives the reader a sense of reality, and of hidden vistas that may yet open up.
Perspective by Peter:
Having been fully absorbed, enthralled, and engrossed in The Mindrulers, Book 1, in this trilogy, I was not expecting to be even more so in Book 2, The Restorers. The only hint of this was from a reviewer who stated that this sequel was a better novel than its predecessor. Now having read this novel, I can totally endorse this reviewer's statement.
A common criticism of any sequel, be it novel or movie, is that the sequel is not as good as the first. We cannot apply this criticism to Pillinger and this novel. This novel surpasses The Mindrulers on every level. There is further characterisation, more plot arcs, and further development of those from Book 1, more characters introduced, the pace is more frenetic than the first, the evilness of Shambor increases to new levels.
I was left exhausted at the end. I stayed up late each night to get through this, and I did not want it to end. I experienced many emotions throughout this novel, joy, despair, anxiety, revulsion, anger, exhilaration and it has been a while that I have felt and heard my accelerated heart rate while reading. Since when does a novel produce temporary tachycardia! It is just as well I don't suffer from any heart condition. And this series is not horror! Although the evilness and practice of mind-bending that Shambor employs could definitely be considered as such.
Now I have to deal with the fact that reviewers of Book 3, The Strongholder, say the same, that this final novel is better than Book 2! But that is easy to deal with! This is an assurance that I am in for a final treat!
The reader will hit the ground running with this novel. All the events come flooding back that led up to the Restorers and their entourage's escape at the end of Book 1. Then you become fully engaged again and transported to the world of Dûrion. It was so good to be back with them and ready to experience their victories, challenges and defeats.
Pillinger knows what he is doing in his plot arcs. Just when you start to predict what is going to happen next, he cuts you off with another plot twist or character arc. It is this, amongst other constructs, that just adds to the suspense, anticipation, even anxiety about what is going to happen next and keeps you committed to reading.
There is so much happening in this novel as evidenced by my mention of the range of emotions I experienced and their physical effects. Pillinger takes you through the successful, setbacks and even failures of The Restorers. Alliances shift and are reformed. There is betrayal, deeper deception, personality conflict, rape, more occult practices, child abuse. Just on the sound of this, it could be seen as a depressing novel, but it is far from it. Sure, it is confronting and I found the child abuse in the form that Pillinger has depicted distressing and the characters response from this added to my distress.
But Pillinger shows through all this what is needed by those with a relationship with God to do. Pray. Submit their situation to God, let go of any of their control of it, including their emotions toward it. Easier said than done! But God in this novel, The One, does not leave them forsaken or to battle on this on their own. He is active in directing their path in combatting the evilness of Shambor. He does this by speaking directly into their minds, sometimes with direct instructions and guidance and others almost speaking in riddles, to encourage them to come to the answer, He wants them to.
Other times, Pillinger brings in examples from the Bible to show God's involvement and direction in fighting this battle. This is done to great effect and could almost be seen as straight from Pillinger's imagination if he had not mentioned where this came from. And one of these, the Ambon of Sûrilane, and how they discover to use it in harnessing God's power, plays such an important role in this novel. This is likened to the example from the Bible where Moses keeps the staff raised for his troops to win the war they were engaged in. But in this novel, Pillinger takes it to the next level, but I won't spoil it here but discussing how this is depicted. Another example is the miracle at Jericho from the Bible that fits in so well with The Restorers and their army in final battle at the Cathedral of Darthane against Bishop Shambor. And yet the third example from the Bible concerning Gideon "fleecing" God for his answer is effective here. I became concerned at this use of this biblical method as some Christian circles regard this as tempting God (whom the Bible says do not tempt God) or that it is giving Him an ultimatum (which again, you do not do with a Sovereign God). But if it is in the Bible and we use it for the same reasons,
I applaud Pillinger for how he has depicted the reactions of The Restorers at various stages of defeat, betrayal, imprisonment, torture. I felt just as crushed and defeated when Shivan leadership was questioned and put on trial (almost in a kangaroo court) and subsequently robbed of this role and position. But he turned to God, to the One, for refuge, counsel. He unburdened himself just like the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7,
casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.
and after received refreshing council (in a specific way from God) he ceased being defeated and returned with renewed vigor and purpose and while the new leadership led them down the wrong path, The One diverted Shivan and brought together with others who are aligned with God and The Restorers quest leading them to the final play out of the plot.
Then we have Danisha seeking God in prayer and what to say when she knows she will confront Shambor concerning their imprisonment and the torture of Perrely. Rather than rely on her resources, she sought God's words as to what to say and displayed righteous anger towards him.
Perrely did not lose her faith or give in under Shambor's torture. She did not curse God or feel that He had abandoned her. This all had to do with the "pact" she made with God about being "married" to Him and given her life over to Him no matter what. She understood that He would not abandon her but allow her to come through this trial.
And like Shivan, God had a special counsel for her to work through her feelings of betrayal and deceit. Once she embraced this revelation God gave her, she became one powerful player in overthrowing Shambor and revelled in her gift of discernment and assessment of others character.
Another ploy that Pillinger employs is the use of the Word of God. We know it is powerful and acts as a two-edged sword, as described in Hebrews 4:12,
12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.
and Pillinger uses this in one powerful and mighty way from one of the Restorers in a confrontation with Shambor. And the verse, he uses is one of my favourites, from Zechariah 4:6,
6 So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.
For those readers who wondered how Shambor became the monster he is, it is all revealed in this novel and it allows the reader to understand him better but not excuse his destructive behaviour and the aftermath of it. However, this also sets the stage for what is to come in Book 3. It is interesting that Pillinger shows clearly what a child/teen/young adult will respond to when there is an oppressive element in their upbringing and the demonic makes them sacrifice all they have with its alluring nature and "solution" to this childhood deficit. And also we can see what demonic oppression has done to Gelmion in another way. He is lost within himself and utterly powerless and not coping with this and the shame of his actions. It will be interesting to see what happens to him in Book 3.
It was so good to have some of the story arcs in Book 1 solved or further explained, such as the use of the blaise, bess and bellaril together, the true identity of Father Martin (I queried this in my review of The Mindrulers) and more of the connection between the world of Durion and that of Earth. This is just another layer of the worldbuilding that Pillinger developed in Book 1 and now continues in this novel. And if Pillinger has any more revelations about some of these story arcs or elements of worldbuilding to deliver, I look forward to them being shown in Book 3.
I requested that Pillinger provide more of the backstory how Durion was founded and the account of Prince Orrénne. I am pleased to say that Pillinger is writing this and there are 3 episodes of this on his website.
I am going to wait until all his short instalments in this account are completed before I read them. Then I will get the full appreciation of this in one story. I would love to see this published as a novella. I do pray that he also write the backstory to the origin of Durion and its founders.
I am so impressed with this novel and series. It really should be considered a Christian classic. It is up there with my favourite novels and series. I would be devastated if Pillinger was unable to write any longer. This novel is an example of what happens when an author writes for God and allows Him to direct his path. Very much God-inspired. Very much God honouring.
Highly Recommended.
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