Well, of all the fiction genres out there, the one with the fastest growing reading population is Science Fiction and Fantasy. Especially with the phenomenal success of such series as Harry Potter, the whole world's attention has turned to these tales of wonder and adventure.

So, what is Fantasy Fiction in the first place? Glad you asked. In brief, Fantasy is any plotline which takes place in an impossible world. (Differentiated from Science Fiction which deals with improbabilities. For a longer answer, please take a look at either the Glossary, or at the rather longer and more convoluted thesis, The Definition, Development, and Defense of Political Fantasy.) So, Fantasy includes stories set in other worlds, such as Narnia, or Middlearth; stories set in alternate timelines; and stories set on this world but with impossible elements added (such as magic).

Fair enough. But why should you need a Christian outlook on fairy tales and fluff? The answer is terribly sobering: because the authors predominating Fantasy these days are, for the most part, avidly promoting neo-paganism. Some authors, like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Mercedes Lackey tend to hit you over the head with anti-male, feminazi, mother goddess, anti-monotheism, pro-premarital sex/euthenasia/assisted suicide, homoerotic, &c. agenda. But other authors, such as David Eddings, or J. K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame), are far more subtle - implying that there are alternative ways of looking at theology, that polytheism is just more fun (tell Chesterton that!), and that such neo-pagan Machiavellian ideas, such as flaunting authority, lying and cheating all for a supposedly good end, are, well, good.

These latter authors, and those like them, are why this whole series of pages are even in existence. You, the astute reader, deserve to know what's actually in these books before you read them. You need to know where the author is coming from, whether what he writes jives with what we believe, and, if all else fails, whether it's even good literature. It's time we turned our moral brains on, and the Christian Guide to Fantasy is here to help.

On these pages, you'll find mainly reviews of books - most Fantasy, although there are pages dedicated to Science Fiction and Alternate History as well. Like anything else, it's an on-going process, and help is more than welcome. Why not take a moment and fill out the reply form?

If you've any questions, please feel more than free to e-mail me. I beg you (as of the 16th of October) to forgive any messes or broken links on this page, since I'm still transferring it from its previous site.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Christian Guide to Fantasy! May the Lord continue to bless you and keep you safe within His Sacred Heart,

Emily

I think your site is, if I may say so, fantastic! I've done a lot of searching in the area of fantasy and sci-fi on the web while researching the audience for our new book, 'Dream of Fire' (review coming in February!) and your site is topnotch all the way. It is generally much better than the 'secular' sites out there - brilliantly interactive and beautifully designed.

~ Tony Schiavo, Evolution Publishing

Well, we've been around a little more than a year now, and so I suppose it's time for a disclaimer.

This is a site of reviews. Hence, due to the very nature of reviews, this is a website full of opinions. Your opinions may be different. Good! We're just offering ours in case you happen to be interested. *sunny, warm and non-aggressive grin insert here*

In order to try to stay somewhat fair about our opinions, and realising that others with the same moral code seriously disagree, we've put up a link to Amazon for most of the books listed here, so that you can check what we think against what people who prefer to vent on Amazon rather than on their own site think. We figure it's easier that way. You also can easily buy the book! (Free Commerce Is Good.)

We realise, too, that the human mind is not static, and, having grown in understanding - and sometimes having been subjected to other people's virulent and eloquent opinions - we might be required to rethink our own. Those rethoughts will be reposted here. They are not meant to prove that morality is right or wrong when it comes to a certain book, but rather that the reviewers Are Not Perfect.

If you've something you'd like to add, an opinion you'd like to question, or a compliment you'd like to throw, feel free! But please be mindful that at the end of everything, this is a privately owned website, and ultimately up to the owner what content is on the site.

Think that's it for now! Enjoy!

In the guestbook, someone mentioned recently a bit of confusion over one of the reviews. Specifically, "Another thing I find interesting is your high praise of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books which were all based on Celtic pagan lore. I certaintly praise them from a moral and literary standpoint, but I would never call them Christian fantasy."

Great question. The Christian Guide to Fantasy exists not just to promote fantasy with overt Christian themes, but rather to promote those books which are excellent both in its literary quality, and in its morality. Hence, you'll see that there are those books which are patently Christian, but which are poorly written that the CGF will not recommend, whereas those books, such as the Prydain Chronicals, which exhibit good storytelling and good morals (even if drawn from Celtic pagan lore - as some theologians have comments, "Ah, if only the modern pagans were anywhere as near searching for the truth as the true pagans were!), will garner higher praise.

Moreover, we do not claim that those books we praise are in fact, Christian fantasy. (Otherwise we'd be the "Guide to Christian Fantasy"!).

Above all, though, the CGF is primarily a guide. We're not the end-all-be-all of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" when it comes to reading fantasy. But we're here to help you along! God bless and good reading!

(c) 2000 - 2007
Updated 22 July, 2007
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