Book Review: Death Warden
Well, I’ve always loved reading and reviewing good Christian fiction for The Rebel Christian—that is my passion after all. Unfortunately, I can’t say this book was good Christian fiction; it was simply good fiction.
I was presented with Death Warden with a fair warning that it was not overtly Christian, so I went into this adventure with my eyes wide open and a promise to be fair and unbiased while I read. I am very vocal about my passion towards openly Christian work, but I am not one to judge; if a Christian author prefers subtlety, so be it.
All that being said, I don’t believe there is enough connection to the Christian faith in this book to truly call it a Christian fantasy, but, like I said, I was warned about its content beforehand and I promised to be fair. Despite my rating of this novel, I did enjoy Death Warden—I enjoyed it very much, and I don’t want anyone to believe that my rating has anything to do with it being overtly or discreetly Christian at all. If a book is good, its good, Christian or not.
Death Warden is a breath of fresh air in an era where every YA fantasy series revolves around a 16-year-old overthrowing a corrupt government while simultaneously falling in love with some other quick-witted, highly skilled, and incredibly good-looking teenager (I can provide you with a list of books like this if you think I’m just kidding around here). The book starts off with a very strong opening, I must admit, I was hooked right away and read a good chunk of the story in a single sitting—I can’t say I’ve done that in a long while. But even though DW hit the ground running, I saw a big fat red flag early on.
It started with Reen and her promise not to kill people anymore—despite being a death warden. I am not the type of person who enjoys conflict that stems from a character’s really inconvenient moral code, so I didn’t like Reen from page one. Following her around as she explained her morals and promises to me over and over made me feel like I was sitting in a really bad philosophy class on why people shouldn’t be assassinated, even though higher powers think they should. BUT when I remember that Reen is just a teenager, I immediately find her a bit more likeable.
As much as I wrestled with my confusion over Reen—do I like her? Do I hate her? Do I care for her at all?—I will say I found her appearance very appealing. As an African American woman of Cameroonian and Nigerian descent, I am painfully aware of the lack of color in fantasy novels—in novels in general, really—so I had a stupid smile on my face when I saw Reen described as having caramel skin and black hair. That’s, like, literally a description of me. while I can’t say I liked Reen very much, I will say Stilling is not afraid to back down from diversity and I cannot help but applaud that.
The writing and the plot to DW was very good. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say the word zombie but I’m really into zombies so … I mean … I dig it. If there is ever an apocalypse I would welcome with open arms, it’s definitely a zombie one and I think Stilling inspired me to wish for magical strength and the stealth of a professional assassin because apparently that’s what it’ll take to survive the walking dead—no pun intended, I don’t like that show. Seriously.
In all honestly, I did enjoy DW very much, I just wish it was more overtly Christian and I wish I’d found a way to like Reen a bit more—disliking the main character can really make or break a story. The writing is incredibly descriptive, very elegant and beautiful, but I feel like there was more descriptive writing than actual writing going on. For a book that takes place in a totally fictitious world, there really isn’t much worldbuilding. You open the book and you are immediately thrown into this foreign land with odd people, cultures, and powers—oh and they worship the Gift Giver, sorry, Life Giver. But not much is really said about that either.
Some things are explained and, really, the story comes together very eloquently despite the lack of worldbuilding, but there is a lack of worldbuilding. Altogether, I can’t complain too much about this book. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and I would recommend it to readers ages 14 and up. Christian readers may appreciate this, but I think this one belongs on a more secular shelf.
*The Rebel Christian received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*