Spirit Fighter by Jerel Law

Recently, I was contacted by Tommy Nelson and given the opportunity to review some new books that they were releasing just in time for summer reading.  I was excited because the main gist of the e-mail was that they were targeting readers in the 9-13 year old age range. I’ve been on the search for some books that would appeal to Gracie (almost 12).  Unlike her older sister and me, she’s much more into books in the fantasy genre (preferably Christian fantasy or allegory – where she has to search for the hidden meanings or representations) and I am just not the least familiar with what’s available (and decent) in this area.  I saw two books on the list that looked like they would appeal to Gracie, so I offered to read them.  However, rather than just turn them over to Gracie, we decided it would be good for us to read them together.  This evening, we finished the first of the two books and I wanted to share with you . . .

What if you woke up one day and discovered a family secret that gave you special powers beyond your wildest imagination—and those powers had to be put to use immediately to help save your family?

Thirteen-year-old Jonah Stone thinks his life is boringly average. Of course, that’s before he begins to develop incredible physical abilities. Apparently, he’s one-fourth angel and the Evil One, Abaddon, has kidnapped his half-angel mom as part of a plot to rule humankind. Nothing boring about that!

Jonah, his sister Eliza, and their guardian angel Henry are about to begin the most incredible—and dangerous—journey of their lives. Pursuing Abaddon’s fallen angels into the Hidden Realm—where the battle between good and evil takes place—they face a host of spiritual enemies all determined to stop them from rescuing their mother. Can they harness their powers and fight for all that is Good? Like Jonah and Eliza, you have to believe it can happen…

Jerel Law is a gifted communicator and pastor with seventeen years of full-time ministry experience. He holds his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (go Tarheels!), and a master of divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Jerel began writing fiction as a way to encourage his children’s faith to come alive. He lives in North Carolina with his family. Spirit Fighter is his first novel.

Heidi Says . . . As stated above, the fantasy genre is not my favorite.  It took me ‘til very recently to even pick up with Narnia Chronicles (I’m proud to say I’ve read almost the entire series now!)  But, I’ve been making a concentrated effort to spend more time reading to (and with) my children (more on that in an upcoming post); and I want to read a variety of books with them.  Spirit Fighter was a great place to start.

Through about the first half of the book, I kept looking at Gracie and saying that I hoped we’d soon get to “the point” of the  book.  Once we hit about the half-way point, I could barely put the book down and found myself constantly asking if she wanted me to read more. 

While I was not all that intrigued by the whole “nephilim” thing, I did find the whole good vs. evil thing to be interesting and I appreciated the way that Mr. Law tied in the Scriptures – such as “putting on the whole armor of God” – which was quoted various times throughout the book and tied in with the kids’ “adventures”.  In the end, of course, Good conquered, the family was reunited, and we’re left wondering what might  be next for the Stone family.  I’m sure that Gracie will be interested in the second book in this series and I will be confident to hand it over to her (even if it’s not one that we’ll use as a read-aloud together).

Gracie’s Thoughts . . . I thought this book was good.  Even though Mom doesn’t like fantasy, I think it is cool and I liked that fantasy part of this book.  The book wasn’t scary.  It was exciting, but could have been even more so.  I kinda liked the angels that were in the  book; but I really like action and it seemed like, when the characters were with the angels, it was more conversation and less action. 

While my mom was reading it to me, I could tell that the author was a Christian. But, even though there were angels in the book and verses were included, I wasn’t always able to tell what the meanings were.

I would like to read the next book in this series when it comes out. 

If you would like to learn more about this book, you can visit the Tommy Nelson website.  To learn more about the author and his reason for writing this book (which I found quite interesting!), be sure to check out his personal website. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the products mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on our website.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. This review may also contain some affiliate links.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."