"North or Be Eaten"

"North or Be Eaten" Book Review
For those of you who know me or my family, you may know that we are not the type of people to pass time by reading a good fiction book. Read, yes, but fiction, rarely. In general, we are far too practical to read a whole book and in the end glean maybe one or two morals of the story. No, we wouldn’t dare pass good hours in such a way. For us, we would prefer a good non-fiction book which gives us a whole bunch of morals in each chapter and all the reasons why it matters to our life. All of that is not to say that we didn’t learn or understand the value of a good story. But, all of our time with anything fiction was while we were traveling and was always listening rather than reading. So, we were influenced strongly by the power of story by the likes of Louis Lamour, from whom we learned how to tame the west, and from Odyessey, from which we learned every good moral that needs to be known. This is not a complaint, to learn every moral there is to know through riveting stories and learning how to respect a good lady, stop a cattle thief, and cook yer grits are all important lessons. But, what was lost on us was the ability to and appreciation of sitting and reading a good story. So, I ran into a dilemma when my favorite songwriter wrote a book and I found myself wanting to read the story. I figured that it would not hurt me to sit down and read the story, but there was another problem. The book was for children and was a fantasy book. If there is anything worse than reading a good fiction book, it would be a fantasy book. The silliness and “other worldliness” of such stories are far too impractical. At the same time, somewhere along my journey, I experienced the desire and fruit of expanding my horizons and attempting to see life from a different perspective than my own. So, with a vacation approaching last year, I bought “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” by Andrew Peterson and read the whole book. It was an easy read and a fast read and I must admit that I enjoyed it. As I had heard from my friends who enjoy reading fiction, it was an interesting escape and felt “good for the soul.” It was a story about three children who in the midst of living their normal lives discovered that they were royalty in another land. And, as a consequence of them not being in place as rulers of their far away land, a bad brood of evil creatures had invaded the land in which they live. Through a series of circumstances, the kids learn who they are and where they belong. At this same time, the bad creatures begin to learn who the kids are as well and want to capture them for their own use. This starts a series of clashes that ultimately ends up in a battle and the kids being alienated from their homeland and begins their return to the country that is rightly theirs to rule. The book ends in such a way that it had to be followed by another book. Soon enough, the next book was to be released. I figured if I started the story, then I might as well finish the story. I had intended to buy the next book and have another shot at reading a children’s fantasy book. Then, I stumbled across an offer to receive the book free if I reviewed it on our blog. Again, for those who know me and my family, it is nearly impossible to pass up an offer that involves saving money. So, I agreed. But, then I realized that many of the people who read our blog are probably more like my family than those ridiculous type of people who can read fantasy books. Which means that I would be reviewing and endorsing a product that they had little ability to appreciate or understand its value. But, I decided that I needed to hold up my end of the deal and that I would just write the whole back story, which is why I included all of the above. The next book, “North or Be Eaten,” by Andrew Peterson, chronicled the kids harrowing escape from their home to their real kingdom. Through an immeasurable number of twist, turns, and narrow escapes, the kids attempt to make it to their far away land. This book came at an interesting time in our own journey. Through the past several weeks, we have been working through issues of fear, trust, and the Lord’s direction in our lives. While I don’t want to sound trite, the book took me through a similar journey as I watched the kids work through the same issues. While I am not convinced that the intention was an allegorical tale, strangely, I took more from the book than I had expected. I was still stretched by the silliness and remained unable to relate to the appreciation of fantasy, but at the same time the book struck a chord with me. I don’t really understand what all of this means, but it has taken me on an interesting journey that I think I am better off for having taken and for that I am thankful.