Sunday, September 14, 2014

Jack Staples And The Ring Of Time-Mark Batterson and Joel N. Clark

Jack Staples And The Ring Of Time
Mark Batterson and Joel N. Clark
David C. Cook, Sep 1 2014, $9.99
ISBN: 9780781411073

In Ireland, on his eleventh birthday Jack Staples is at the circus with his teenage brother Parker and their mother.  Ironically while a girl performs on a tightrope above lions and surrounded by a ring of fire, Jack is the only one in the audience distracted by a blackbird.  Suddenly all hell breaks loose inside the tent leaving Jack trapped by a spreading inferno while a terrifying voice demands he help destroy the Awakened.  His sibling and everyone else made it outside; they all assume Jack died except his mom who insists that The Child of Prophecy lives.  Inside, a lion dies saving Jack from the blaze by covering his body with his.

Most people have scales covering their eyes to keep them from seeing the evil that surrounds mankind; however Jack’s has fallen off so he now sees these horrors.  He and his BFF Arthur join the scales-off Awakened who include their elderly teacher Mrs. Dumphry and her former student Alexia AKA “Wild”.  Jack and Alexia learn both make up The Children of Prophecy; one will terminate and the other will resuscitate the Awakened.  When the Assassin attacks the town targeting the pair, they must learn under fire how to fight back.

Jack Staples (and Alexia) And The Ring Of Fire hooks readers from the opening act and never slows down in spite of rapid shifting focus.  The Christian good and evil fantasy is faster than DC’s Flash, as the pace never allows the tweener audience a respite.  Yet the first Staples story still insures that key players like the yin and yang Children of Prophecy and their teacher are fully developed. 


Harriet Klausner

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