This is the debut novel from veteran fireman Shawn Grady, and it appears that the man has a talent for weaving an engaging story. The story centers around a fireman named Aidan who is still reeling from the accidental death of his father (who was also a fireman). As the book unfolds, Aidan passionately searches for answers regarding his father's death. He is so passionate, in fact, that it costs him his bride-to-be. With some help, Aidan begins to unravel the mystery around his father's death - while daily risking his own life. The story is solid and well-written. Shawn Grady also does a great job of letting an outsider like me peek into the daily life of those heroes who save lives every day. The details are not overwhelming - just enough to educate me on the ways of the firefighter. There is a back-story of Aidan's distance from the faith of his father, but I felt like it was a token nod to the target audience (mainly Christians). In fact, all of the scenes in the book that dealt with salvation or Christianity were EXTREMELY vague. So much so that the power of the Gospel is weakened to a degree. There is a difference between avoiding "preachiness" and muddying the water so much that it is no longer clear. I fear the author made the water just a tad too murky. In fact, the scenes of the character getting drunk were more clearly articulated than any of the Christian elements.
One other criticism that I have is the choice of adjectives and nouns used. I'm not talking about swear words. I'm talking about words I've never heard before. I like to think that I have a fairly decent vocabulary - but there were probably two dozen words in the book (maybe more) that were so uncommon that I had to break out the dictionary. This is not a bad thing, per se. Books SHOULD be educational! But it got wearisome. One could picture the author sitting at his writing desk with a fat thesaurus in hand, fervently flipping through the pages to locate the ideal word to use. Sometimes people just want to be moved by the story, not flabbergasted by the words.
All in all, I look forward to reading the next two books by Shawn Grady. I give "Through the Fire" 4 out of 5 stars.
Thanks, John, for the review. Though I must say that I disagree with your comment that all the scenes in the book that dealt with "Christianity" were extremely vague. I did endeavor to avoid a sense of proselytizing, but I take the message of the gospel quite seriously and so took great pains to weave it into the story in many layers.
ReplyDeleteI am curious if you have taken a second look at Aidan's "descent" in Mexico, both literally and figuratively, during the Day of the Dead festivities. How a guide named Virgil led him down a spiraling path to the beach of the Seventh Circle, where fire and skeletons were prominent images. How Aidan, in risking his own life to save a drowning boy dove into the ocean (baptizmo) and ultimately died on the shore. Three days later he woke, in the bosom of a doctor named Abraham.
This isn't the only example. The greatest story ever told is layered throughout the novel, and it is my hope that it will open opportunities for those talking about it to share the power of the gospel.
Thanks again for the review. Hope you enjoy Tomorrow We Die and Falls Like Lightning. I'd love to discuss more.
Best Regards-
Shawn
I'd like to publicly thank Shawn Grady for reading my review of his book and commenting! He is a very gracious man, and I hope to correspond with him in the future. Please check out his website at www.shawngradybooks.com to keep up with him. (Especially the "Media" tab, where you can see some great interviews with the author.)
ReplyDeleteBelow is the text of the email that I sent to him in reply to his comment:
Dear Bro. Shawn,
Thank you so much for reading my review! You surely have tons of better things to do, so it is very humbling that you read and commented.
I hope you didn't take offense at my comments. The book was very enjoyable, and my expectations for "Tomorrow We Die" and "Falls Like Lightning" are very high.
I can see the Gospel symbolism in Aidan's trip to Mexico. There's no denying that there is a Christian message. But the novel is not evangelistic in nature - which I'm sure you never intended it to be. Nothing stirs my heart quite like reading a passage in a book where someone gives their life to Christ!
WOW! The words you used in your book were astounding! My mind was greatly challenged, because I always try to figure out the definitions of words I don't know based on the context and any word roots or prefixes/suffixes. (I failed on many of them....)
I thank God for talented Christian authors like you.
If you do not object, I would like to post my email to you as a reply comment on my blog. However, I will not post any reply emails FROM you, out of respect for your privacy.
Keep up the good work!
In Christ, John Chancey