A vast epic novel of fantasy, adventure, and spiritual enlightenment, Children in the Night is a story of good versus evil in a subterranean world of perpetual night. With bizarre weapons--and startling promises from a miraculous cripple from Above--an orphan and a young woman confront the evil powers.
**
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-- This science fiction/fantasy adventure offers an unrelenting portrayal of men perpetrating evil against one another in order to gain power and control. The people fight in the most grotesque ways, using animals and birds of prey to attack their rivals, while regularly reciting an ancient liturgy that speaks of their yearning for mercy, purity, and light; only a few see the irony in this. Their world is in almost total darkness at all times; it was long ago sealed off by their god from the light of the world above. The main characters, Yosha, a young orphan boy, and Asel, a young girl of superior strength and courage, are determined to fight their way to the light and lead others to it despite the evil and dangers that surround and almost obliterate them on several occasions. The story is a long one, and for much of it Yosha and Asel are adult and married. The book's constant violence is so overwhelming that it seems implausible that anyone could escape from the dark. The descriptions of animals attacking humans and other horrors are reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch's terrifying 16th-century representations of hell. Stick with Lewis, Tolkien, and LeGuin for more believable stories of courage and determination to fight the dark. --Virginia Golodetz, St. Michael's College, Winooski, VT Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
A vast epic novel of fantasy, adventure, and spiritual enlightenment, Children in the Night is a story of good versus evil in a subterranean world of perpetual night. With bizarre weapons--and startling promises from a miraculous cripple from Above--an orphan and a young woman confront the evil powers.
**
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-- This science fiction/fantasy adventure offers an unrelenting portrayal of men perpetrating evil against one another in order to gain power and control. The people fight in the most grotesque ways, using animals and birds of prey to attack their rivals, while regularly reciting an ancient liturgy that speaks of their yearning for mercy, purity, and light; only a few see the irony in this. Their world is in almost total darkness at all times; it was long ago sealed off by their god from the light of the world above. The main characters, Yosha, a young orphan boy, and Asel, a young girl of superior strength and courage, are determined to fight their way to the light and lead others to it despite the evil and dangers that surround and almost obliterate them on several occasions. The story is a long one, and for much of it Yosha and Asel are adult and married. The book's constant violence is so overwhelming that it seems implausible that anyone could escape from the dark. The descriptions of animals attacking humans and other horrors are reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch's terrifying 16th-century representations of hell. Stick with Lewis, Tolkien, and LeGuin for more believable stories of courage and determination to fight the dark. --Virginia Golodetz, St. Michael's College, Winooski, VT
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.