Fiction Addict

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: Creation House

Publication Date: May 2009

Reviewed by Kaci Hill

There’s a verse in the Psalm 137 that reads, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.” For some reason, that was the thought I had as three teenagers anxiously spent their summer longing for Aeliana.

Four hundred and fifty years have passed since the last time Ryann, Liddy, and Terell were in Aeliana. At least, Aeliana time. In Mount Dora, it’s been three months. Summer is ending, and they’ve been scattered abroad, wondering when they’ll next receive their call across time and space. Again, Reinhold doesn’t write precisely what we might expect.

First, the opening chapter or two is spent lying in wait. Waiting for answers, it turns out, isn’t passive, but active, and takes every bit as much strength as receiving them.  Second, it isn’t Ryann who first sees the portal back to Aeliana. This intrigued me because, obviously, Ryann is the main character. He’s the one charged with the three gifts and has a guardian archangel named Gabriel.

Third, the kids are not the only ones who must exhibit faith this time, which leads to my next observation. Their parents must also learn trust and obedience in the God who sends their children. As before, what happens in Mount Dora affects what happens in Aeliana and vice versa—something many stories that involve world-hopping don’t have.

Once back in Aeliana, Ryann and his friends find themselves in the middle of a long-brewing fight. They discover two unicorns and a group of cruel half-dragons (Hugons), and a growing, ominous understanding that they understand prophecies the rest of Aeliana can’t yet. Ryann, Terell, and Liddy have matured over three months, both in their thinking and in their behavior. They have new friends—many of whom don’t get along—and a whole new set of problems to deal with. Faith, it appears, involves so much more than simply jumping off a cliff (though cliff-jumping is included).

The Shield of Faith is different than The King’s Sword in that they do spend more time in Aeliana, understandably. It’s longer, and more complicated.  But as with book one, it’s about much more than the physical, literal shield. If book one is about paradise, then book two is about redemption—who to trust, who to distrust; where loyalties really lie, despite what comes out of the mouth. The shield of faith, then, is found in who you follow.

And once again I can’t say too much more without giving things away. Suffice it to say, Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith was a satisfactory sequel to The King’s Sword, and I’ll be looking forward to book three, Ryann Watters and the Belt of Truth.