Friday Fiction Fix: "Fire Prophet"

Although this is the second book in a series, it could be easily picked up without reading book 1, Spirit Fighter. As always, I've tried to keep my review spoiler-free. 

The Short:

Fire Prophet

Son of Angels, Book 2

By: Jerel Law

4/5 Stars

What: The children of the Nephilim are under attack—and it’s time they learn to defend themselves.

Recommended to those who like: Spiritual warfare, middle grade, Christian

The Long:

For starters, let me offer the disclaimer that I am not this book’s intended target audience. Even though I read middle grade books quite frequently, I still have an adult’s perspective on things (unless we’re talking about puns, in which case all bets are off).

Jonah and his siblings are under attack, along with the rest of the quarterlings—children with special abilities who are one-quarter angel. To learn to defend themselves and their families, they’ll have to train diligently and overcome their differences.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first book in the series. I can’t tell you exactly why that is, but I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the children’s objectives in this book were less clear. I normally like stories where the heroes are training and learning to work together, but this book didn’t do a whole lot for me.

It also felt like the author was trying a little too hard to tie circumstances with Bible stories. There were at least three instances where the circumstances in the book paralleled Bible stories without really needing to. The circumstances were then pointed out rather blatantly. However, it’s a middle grade book, and, like I said, I’m not exactly the intended audience. And most people wouldn’t recognize the story of Jael and Sisera, so I probably shouldn’t complain about that reference.

Overall, the book is a good read for middle-grade readers. In my opinion, it can be a little heavy-handed on the Christian message, but it’s not overly unreasonable for the age group. I’m hopeful that the series will pick back up a bit and continue to improve. It’s a really good premise for a series.

Readers could likely pick up the series starting with this book without a problem. As with many books geared for younger readers, there are frequent reviews of what has happened previously.

The Bottom Line: Although a little heavy on the Christian message at times, this book would still be a good choice for fans of spiritual warfare and middle-grade novels.