The tiger roars in the forest around you, but you do not hear. The hyena growls, but you are deaf to its threats. Because I muffle the sound.
I love you, dear one, and I keep you from harm.
Hold my hand on this journey and I will cover you. I love you with an everlasting love and I will keep you safe.
Don’t walk away and trust your own resources. Yours are not enough. Mine are infinite. No evil can touch you.
Trust me.
I am here.
Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, both now and forever.
Tears are okay. They come in love. Let regrets and loss flow. Let memories crowd your mind.
You will never forget Matt. He changed your life. You changed his. You were melded together and the sudden tearing of your heart was a knife driven deep.
Respect his courage in his last days. Respect his faith. He embraced the love of others, from you, from me.
Let me stroke your hair and hold you close. Tears come. Don’t fight them.
Remember: with love comes pain. With memories comes loss. Let the tears flow, my love, at least for now.
Tears are part of healing. You will carry scars, but you will walk again.
Trust me to carry you. I love you and I will carry you.
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!
Do you see a cave before you? The rocks glow with yellows and oranges and pinks, with love to me.
Then rugged stones sing in gentle tones, exploring their voice, praising me.
Below your feet, the rock glows with each step.
Within this cave, surrounded by translucent rock which finds its voice in joy and life, I carved a path for you. You have future steps to take. I ask you to walk.
And I ask you to sing.
When you sing, your words echo from the rocks, chiseled and translucent. Bright light glows from behind the surface of these rocks as you sing. Celebrate new life, my child.
Understand: this is not a closed cavern but a passageway formed by my love for you.
Take more steps.
Sing more songs.
[Jesus] replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” Luke 19:40
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015).
What if you knew the time when you’d die? What if your government assigned you a clock that counted down to your death? You’d know the day. What would you do with such knowledge?
Although the story takes place in the mid-twenty-second century, this is not the world of the Jetsons, with technology providing for every need. No, this world will remind you of the 1800s with a village square, a market with wooden booths and leafless dogwood trees.
Such is the nature of oppression.
Clocks Matter
Anyone who neglects their Clock, which represents their remaining time, will be punished severely.
We follow Parvin, a teenage girl who defends a Radical found without his Clock, declaring that “his life matters. Not his Clock.”
Thus begins a journey searching for meaning for Parvin. She is certain that she has squandered her time and yet she wants to matter and believes that she does not.
When she is betrayed by a man that she thought was aiding her cause, she faces the Wall. Dissenters are sent through the Wall and no one is sure what awaits them, but most assume it is death.
Once she survives her own severe consequences, she is cast into a different world where she must determine whom she can trust.
An Overcomer
Parvin overcomes obstacles. Sure, she’s fearful and second-guesses herself, but she keeps going. Somehow she finds courage to overcome – and believe there’s something better in her future. That’s what hope is about.
Parvin’s emotions throughout the book are like a batch of towels coming out the dryer, hot and tumbled together.
She trusts, and she distrusts – sometimes the same people and almost at the same time. Despite this, she yearns to hear God speak and have faith that he is the ultimate giver of meaning to her life.
This YA (Young Aadult – but it’s not just for teenagers) dystopian book is well written. Parvin touches our hearts as she works to overcome what she assumes is her unfair fate. She believes she’s incapable of much, but her actions prove her wrong over and over. She’s not sure if she trusts God, but she’s quick to tell others about him – and share her precious Bible with people she meets on the way.
The Search for Meaning
This is a book of high adventure and deep characters who work to find meaning in their own lives, despite the Clock.
I found this book in my search for stories about overcoming. It’s skillfully written, and I’d absolutely recommend this book.
Check out Nadine’s website for more information about this book and others exploring characters who overcome.
My 14-year-old grandson devoured Fugitive of Talionis by C.J. Milacci in a weekend and his response was, “When’s the next book?” He had been checking with me for months so that he could read this book even if the printer ink was still damp. He devoured Recruit of Talionis. (Probably in a weekend, too.) Both Talionis books connect with Young Adult (YA) readers who are stomping their feet waiting for the next book in the series.
Fugitive of Talionis is long on tension and action, which appeals to YA readers, and short on bad language and sexual content, which should appeal to YA readers’ parents and grandparents. The characters grow in courage, trust in friends, and faith in God. There’s a clear conflict pitting our heroes as the good guys against the Talionis as bad guys. The story doesn’t preach, though. It shows the conflict in powerful ways and the stakes are high.
The back copy of Fugitive of Talionis sets the stage nicely: They kidnapped her. Trained her. And now they’re hunting her. This is the story of Bria, a teenage girl who faces overwhelming and seemingly-hopeless situations–even when she manages to escape the powerful Talionis (they did the kidnapping and training.)
Bria Broke Free But…
I think we all breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the first book, Recruit of Talionis, when Bria and her friends brave overwhelming opposition to break free. But the Talionis doesn’t give up easily and Fugitive of Talionis traces the journey of these young escapees working hard to stay a step ahead of Commander Ark and his forces. Bria faces resistance at every turn, even within her own team, and learns more about her new faith in God as well as trust in her friends.
Highly recommended for the YA people in your life. And you might enjoy it, too. I definitely did. View all my reviews
Fugitive of Talionis is long on tension and action, which appeals to YA readers, and short on bad language and sexual content, which should appeal to YA readers’ parents and grandparents. The characters grow in courage, trust in friends, and faith in God. There’s a clear conflict pitting our heroes as the good guys against the Talionis as bad guys. The story doesn’t preach, though. It shows the conflict in powerful ways and the stakes are high.