Alison, thanks for the additional insight, especially recommending the YouTube video. In fairness, I often get out of a writer’s work something I doubt he or she intended–perhaps it’s an aspect of “Take every thought captive.”

Thanks for your irenic response, Janie. I should not write comments late at night, and I should definitely proof read them if I do!

I will offer an amendment to my comments. I had less difficulty with the last book in this trilogy which is set at night in the desert, so Klassen’s taupe, brown and black palette is more understandable. And the “solution” to the story’s dilemma in the final book is lighter and magical. (In the other two stories “sinning characters” are just killed off, which strikes me as a rather harsh comeuppance. Some reviewers I’ve read deride this concern as “pearl clutching.”)

I would recommend watching the You Tube interview with Klassen about his writing process for this series. It’s not that I “have it in for the guy” — he seems nice enough. But I see no way that he was “smuggling in” some good theology into his writing. He’s main value seems to be “millennial authenticity” — as in, sugar coating reality presumably disrespects children who deserve tales that are a matter of life and death.

Alison, thank you for your comments. I can’t make any judgments about our guest reviewer’s post, but I trust readers will judge for themselves between her thoughts and yours.