Morgan L. Busse offers Raven Mark and I’m of two minds again. Mark of the Raven is an excellent fantasy. The characters are complex, memorable, and intriguing. The world build becomes real very quickly. Evil reveals itself graphically with over-the-top nastiness and a gruesome reality.

Sadly, good remains obscured by vagueness and a complete lack of specificity. There’s no savior and nothing like the Holy Spirit. Yet, Light has an incredible draw. It’s clear who it must be, yet remains tantalizingly out of reach.

Neither light nor dark are personified. If you know the Lord personally, this always hurts. One would think that (with all that’s used to make a built-world feel genuine) a real, personal god and savior would be simple to fictionalize—and add a great deal to the story.

Busse offers Raven Mark with wonderful possibilities

My hope is that the second, and possibly the final book, will provide some spiritual satisfaction as well. The characters are wonderful, conflicted, and easy to love. The romance should be wonderful. As I said, I love the world and the story.

My quibbles mean a lot to me but do not mean much in the world we live in. The book should sell well and be loved. My sadness comes from memories of Bethany as a source of hard-hitting Christian teaching. More recently, Morgan’s book seems about as good as we’ll see in the near future. I don’t want to single out Bethany. It seems to have infected the entire Christian publishing industry.

Someone with Morgan’s writing skill could write truly anointed Christian fiction that would actually transform the lives of her readers. That’s what I pray for— a fantasy which edifies and transforms readers. I want one which leaves me exhilarated and praising the Lord.

I’m grateful for the opportunity given to me by Bethany to review their books with no strings attached. It was a good read.