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E.M. Swift-Hook's Reviews > Mannigan - A Speck of Light
Mannigan - A Speck of Light
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Science fantasy is a powerful genre. It has the capacity for Tolkienesque grandeur combined with the intellectual punch of science fiction. Star Wars pulled it off well. Here we have places with lavishly grandiose names like the Weeping City of Sorrow and people flying about in cool military planes in a sci-fi dystopia.
As a science fantasy, this book works. That is if either you really enjoy Biblical allusion or are simply not aware of the incredible amount that is packed in chapter after chapter. This is basically a science fantasy attempt to emulate what C.S. Lewis did with Narnia and the degree to which you enjoy it will depend upon whether you are keen on reading such messianic-based stories or find them insupportable. The hero of the piece, Will Manning, is effectively a Jesus figure in a future where the Bible is revered by those fighting the bad guys, but has been lost.
The language use, imagery and writing style is superb and that really is a huge saving grace which lifts this book immensely.
For me, the overly heavy religious overtones being pushed at every opportunity made this very a tough gig. A lighter touch on that score would have carried it better, in my opinion. I particularly disliked the way it implies that people can't be decent people without being religious (specifically Christian), something even some highly religious people I know would take issue with. In addition, the fact that for some inexplicable reason the author chose the present tense to write it in, made a tough gig pretty impossible to get into. Present tense just about works in a book when you have a lot of dialogue, but for a story based so much on narrative, it is clunky and forever breaking a reader's immersion.
I really struggled with starrage for this book because so much of what I dislike about it another reader might well see as a good point. For me, it is probably a three star read if that, but that would be to imply it was badly written. It's not. So I settled on 3.5.
If you enjoy Christian fiction, science fantasy and present tense writing, this book should be topping your TBR pile.
As a science fantasy, this book works. That is if either you really enjoy Biblical allusion or are simply not aware of the incredible amount that is packed in chapter after chapter. This is basically a science fantasy attempt to emulate what C.S. Lewis did with Narnia and the degree to which you enjoy it will depend upon whether you are keen on reading such messianic-based stories or find them insupportable. The hero of the piece, Will Manning, is effectively a Jesus figure in a future where the Bible is revered by those fighting the bad guys, but has been lost.
The language use, imagery and writing style is superb and that really is a huge saving grace which lifts this book immensely.
For me, the overly heavy religious overtones being pushed at every opportunity made this very a tough gig. A lighter touch on that score would have carried it better, in my opinion. I particularly disliked the way it implies that people can't be decent people without being religious (specifically Christian), something even some highly religious people I know would take issue with. In addition, the fact that for some inexplicable reason the author chose the present tense to write it in, made a tough gig pretty impossible to get into. Present tense just about works in a book when you have a lot of dialogue, but for a story based so much on narrative, it is clunky and forever breaking a reader's immersion.
I really struggled with starrage for this book because so much of what I dislike about it another reader might well see as a good point. For me, it is probably a three star read if that, but that would be to imply it was badly written. It's not. So I settled on 3.5.
If you enjoy Christian fiction, science fantasy and present tense writing, this book should be topping your TBR pile.
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Mannigan - A Speck of Light.
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Reading Progress
December 1, 2023
–
Started Reading
January 2, 2024
– Shelved
January 2, 2024
–
Finished Reading
