“GP Taylor, an Anglican vicar, one-time roadie for the Sex Pistols and former all-around sinner, was roaring across the Yorkshire moors on his Yamaha XV1100 in a lightning storm when the idea for his hit Christian children’s book, “Shadowmancer,” came to him.
Like some other committed Christians, he had been disturbed by the amount of witchcraft and the occult in children’s literature. “Harry Potter,” for instance. The best-selling author J. K. Rowling gives too much power to the forces of evil in her books, he told parishioners. Well, one congregant replied, why not write your own book then?
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An Oregonian review.
The reviewer isn’t overly fond of the book and thinks it’s hard to call Christian because:
“”Shadowmancer” is billed as a Christian antidote to the Harry Potter series, a claim that Taylor has both acknowledged and denied. His story is anchored in genuine religious traditions, but, he admits, he draws on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and his own imagination. His references to Scripture and theology are tough enough for an ecumenical student of religion to unravel, let alone a 12-year-old reader. The Christian message, if there is one, is obscured by a lot of lip service to other cosmic systems.”
But then, someone must like the book because it is going to be made into a movie.
By the way, I’m not against posting registration links, though I don’t prefer them.
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How odd; that goes against the creed of the “We Must Protect The Children” faction, which has more or less proclaimed that artists are forbidden to expose children to fear.
Yes, she has, but by this account Taylor is no J.K. Rowling. She is writing a story for the love of the story, he isn’t. More on that below.
Mistakes typical of the newby and the wannabe, and an indication that this book was rushed into print without a proper editing so some vapid, money-sucking parasite of a publisher could exploit the up-trend in the religious fiction market. Which is especially bad because any writer stands to improve in the craft with some judicious coaching. (Compare the quality of the writing between Jurassic Park and Congo with The Andromeda Strain. JP is a “thriller” and a “bestseller”
from an accomplished writer with a number of successful titles under his belt, but it sucks on a number of points similar to Taylor’s mistakes. Andromeda Strain is a far superiour product even though it was written by the same artist with a great deal less experience. Because the younger Chrichton got a good deal of editorial coaching, and the older Chrichton gets his unfinished products rushed into print.)
Judging from this review (The Oregonian), I’d say the capital mistake Taylor made was in writing a book as an exercise in repudiation of Swords & Sorcery fantasy (read: occult and satanism). Because he did that, he wrote it for the wrong reason. If he had written it for the joy and love of writing, he would have cared more about the product.
Aside from that, he appears to have written a novel that is overly plot driven with the result that there is insufficient character development.
I will, however, give him points for getting one thing right: The answer to free speech is more free speech, not less.