The Forsaken Continent by Wayne Thomas Batson
Genre – Fantasy, Christian fiction
Age – Young adult – adult
Rating – PG-13 – handful of choice words and action violence
Synopsis –
This is the third book in the Myridian Constellation series. Currently there are only three books in the series, but there will be more. Anyway, the story takes place a couple months after the Errant King.
King Lochlan is fleeing for his life after Morlan has overtaken the throne and is willing to kill anyone who will get in his way. Meanwhile Abbagael is looking for her presumed dead husband, Alastair, who she believes is alive.
My Thoughts –
Whew! After ten years, I finally got to find out what happened. This book took me on quiet the ride and I enjoyed every minute of it. There were so many good themes throughout this book. Self-sacrifice, being faithful, patience, and perseverance. What I loved was that the word building. The author does a great job of creating a world and yet not being overly descriptive.
There was definitely more of an allegorical tone in this book. More so then the previous two, which I loved. Telwyn was sort of like a Jesus character. He was the son of the First One and he had a wisdom that comes from the First One. We see him perform miracles and a handful of people following him know who is. One of my favorite lines was when Telwyn told a character, “Flander Craggit, you need not fear Woefire ever again, for my Father has written your name on the Scrooll of Life. No one can expunge the blessed ink of His pen.” (Batson, p. 278).
I loved Abbagael and the journey that she embarked on as of all the characters Alastair Coldhollow was my favorite. In the previous books, we saw his steadfastness to the First One and his endeavor to right the wrongs that he had committed. I am trying not to give spoilers so you will just have to go read it for yourself. 🙂
Now content wise only a few concerns. With Morlan’s return, he brought back countless evil creatures with him. For the most part, the author did not go into detail about these vile creatures , but they are evil and perform evil deeds. Also, it should be noted that Morlan served Sabryne who was basically Satan in the books. So there are a couple times where it was a little dark. That is why I would say this is more aimed at adults then teens. Do not worry there is a clear distinction between who is good versus who is evil.
Violence –
Violence was a given as Morlan is trying to conquer all of Myriad but was not gratuitous. Throughout the book there are skirmishes between the good characters and the bad. The good characters get cuts, scrapes, a couple characters get minor injures from daggers. There are several wolf like creature who attack a main character. In one of the skirmishes a character is presumed to be dead, but Telwyn reveals that he was just sleeping.
There are several mentions of blood. A couple character bled. A character goes into labor. (not much detail and rather quick). Later on in the book there is a mantis like creature who resides in a lake of blood. She attempts to kill a character.
Innuendo –
Two of the main characters kiss twice and contemplate marriage.
Language – Ba- —d is uttered seven times.
Conclusion –
After such a long wait, this book answered some much needed questions. Compared to the first two books, I feel like this one had more depth. It iover 500 pages long! We know these characters and we get to see their personal development for good and bad as some characters make some poor choices. This could be read as a stand alone, but I would highly recommend reading this series in order.
Cannot wait to hear what you have to say! Have you read this series? Did you enjoy how this book played out?
Anna