Abandon doubt, all ye who enter here

My review of the Dragons In Our Midst and Oracles of Fire seriez ;-).

These are good, old-fashioned rip-roaring :-) stories of knights and battles and dragons and secret weapons and all that sort of good stuff - and beautiful princesses, by the way. There's only one thing: it's set in the modern day. The first book (of Dragons In Our Midst) is a typical coming of age type of coming-to-terms-with-reality... the reality that the main character is half dragon. Yes- a slightly unusual coming of age dilemma :-). And that is the closest to literary analysis I'm going to get in this post - also unusual :-).

I have two points: what I liked and what I didn't like. There was a lot to like. The stories, albeit completely unbelievable (hence the title), are suspenseful (about the only requirement for a good novel nowadays, it seems). The author's picture of Christlikeness is beautiful and authentic (at least when you take into consideration the somewhat lovestruck perspective of the primary character, narrator though he is not). It is so refreshing to read a book that actually portrays Christians positively while allowing them to need growth and instruction! And although it develops into (basically) a love story eventually, it is a love story done supremely right... except for the odd fact that they are essentially betrothed by a prophecy spoken ages ago, and they both know it.

That said, for a Christian author, Bryan Davis needs some serious help with his theology. Had he chosen to set his books in another time or place (preferably universe) as most fantasy authors do, it would have been far better. As it is, I can't overlook the multitudes of problems throughout his books:
-Starting at the beginning, the presence of creatures coequal with man (his superior in many respects), even (theoretically) in a position of servitude, uncorrupted by the sin of their master (man)... let's just say the Bible wouldn't agree. It is quite possible that something resembling our notion of a dragon was created originally, but it would not have been intelligent (any more than say, a great ape or a dolphin) and would not have had any kind of soul.
-The liberty he takes with God's Word in rewriting it to include dragons... (in the first Oracles of Fire book) I don't mind (too much) if he rewrites history (Merlin wasn't a Christian, more than likely, in case you were wondering), but rewriting the Bible????
-He has many problems with his theology of the afterlife. a) people can die and come back to life on Earth. b) people can live in a sort of suspended animation (as, essentially, ghosts) and can inhabit people. c) living people can travel into Hell... and do, more than once. d) heaven and hell can be joined to earth. e) Bridgelands gets you from Earth to Heaven and (if I remember correctly) from Hell to Heaven. f) people waiting to be judged have access at least to comfortable places in Hell and to Bridgelands.
-And come on, anyway: this is so completely exceptionally improbable! Furthermore, they hardly ever have difficulties with the government, other people, the media... apparently they're all staying home cowering in fear. (?) Hence "abandon doubt" :-) But if you can believe this is actually another planet (difficult since he anchors it so firmly to this earth), it's easier to enjoy the story :-)

For the record, most of the exceptions I take to the seriez are actually to the Oracles of Fire series and not the Dragons in Our Midst, which I liked better. So overall, they were good, having points that greatly recommended themselves, and some that detract rather strongly... I will say, though, in their defense, that I still (almost) want to finish the series, just to know what happens -and what other highly improbable series of events Davis is going to put his poor characters through ;-).