Podcast Review #117: Spirit Blade
originally published January 30, 2012
Title: Spirit Blade: The Novel
Author: Peter Frandsen
Genre: Christian Mythos Fantasy
Released: 7 June 2011
Located: Podiobooks, iTunes
Formats Available: podcast only
Rating: PG for violence and inventive scifi language
So, what happens when you go on your initial impressions of a cover and the fact that the story is listed under Podiobooks “Staff Picks”? You’re about to find out.
So, on to the review.
Synopsis: In a future where the government mandates the spiritual beliefs of its citizens, only a few rebellious “Seekers of Truth” remain to free the world from deception.
On his quest for meaning, Merikk follows a path that leads him across our world, and into another. Against his will he is thrown into action alongside members of the Underground Liberation, standing face to face against forces human, alien and demonic. Science fiction and the supernatural collide in a genre-bending adventure! Open your mind and then brace for impact as you discover the power of the Spirit Blade! (Stolen from Podiobooks.com)
Production: The production of Spirit Blade is quite good. The sound is layered to good affect. Between the pretty much constant soundtrack, the sound effects and the audio tract your ears won’t be bored. Even better? They actually add to (and don’t get in the way of) the story. Spirit Blade is billed as an enhanced audiobook, and I can go with that.
Grade: A
Cast: The author, Peter Frandsen, does Spirit Blade as a self read. He does an excellent job with just the right amount of personality and voice acting thrown into the mix to keep all the characters separate and interesting. I suspect Mr. Frandsen has a background in either audio or acting. Perhaps both.
Grade: A
Story: Spirit Blade is a fantasy. A religious fantasy. I admit, I’ve always enjoyed stories based on religious mythos. I’ve read and listened to many stories based on Greek, Roman, Norse, Indian, Native American and numerous others. Surprisingly, one of the mythos explored the least is Christian. Spirit Blade is precisely exactly that. The world has changed. The Bible has been outlawed, and surprisingly this has worked (okay, yeah.. it’s a fantasy) making the story, in a nutshell, a quest for a complete Bible.
Grade: B-
Verdict: When stories are written based on Christian mythology, many Christians seem to become easily irritated or over obsequious. As I do subscribe to the Christian belief system myself, I find this interesting. Especially since I find myself in about the reverse opinion on most of these stories. Take Dan Brown’s stuff. I don’t like it, but not because of the subject matter. I just don’t find them to be well written or interesting. However, you take something like Frank Peretti’s stuff and Christian bookstores can’t stock their shelves quickly enough. Why does this surprise me? Because most of the latter author’s are taking at least as many liberties with the core teachings as the former. The only difference is they’re doing it in a complimentary fashion. I like to call it Christian magic.
So, anyway, back to the story at hand. Spirit Blade is definitely full of Christian magic. It is also full of rather straightforward preaching of the Christian Gospel. If either of these things bother you, steer clear. However, if you don’t mind this type of story, you could do much worse than Spirit Blade.
Disclosure: I don’t follow Mr. Frandsen on Twitter. I had never heard his name before subscribing to this podiobook. Nothing was offered in return for this review, so obviously nothing could have been accepted.
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