The Knights of Arrethtrae

I love to read. I hope that my children, as they grow, share this love with me. We have always read with our children. Now that my son is old enough to read, we encourage him to read on his own, but also read aloud together. When we read together, often times, we read books that are more complicated than he might understand reading on his own.

Recently, through MamaBzz, I had the opportunity to receive a copy of each of the last two books in The Knights of Arrethtrae series - Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor, and Sir Rowan and the Camerian Conquest (Multnomah Books, October 5, 2010).

The Fate of the Kingdom Lies in Their Hands.

In Series’ Final Two Books, Youth are Inspired to Live for More

Colorado Springs, COLO – In a culture where expectations for today’s young people are at an all time low, author and home schooling father Chuck Black challenges kids to live for more. In the magic-free Knights of Arrethtrae series, Black transforms powerful messages of courage and faithfulness into adventurous tales your son or daughter will love. Releasing this October are the final two installments of the six-part series: Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor, and Sir Rowan and the Camerian Conquest (Multnomah Books, October 5, 2010).

“Many kids today are being let off the hook,” says Black. “They’re abandoning activities that encourage creativity and self-development for forms of escapism like addictions to video games or social media.” He believes stories of everyday heroes who find courage in the face of fear will help youth rise above the norms set for them in today’s world and realize God has a quest for them as well.

Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor Two friends are called into duty, but only one has the courage to follow. Will Quinlan choose a life of comfortable apathy or faithful service to the Prince? When things go wrong, will he face his past and overcome distrust to bring the Valor Knights back together?
Sir Rowan and the Camerian Conquest Sir Rowan, Cameria’s most prestigious knight, is attacked and left for dead. Meanwhile, his people suffer as the Dark Knight expands his tyranny. The final battle looms – will Sir Rowan recognize his true purpose as a Knight of the Prince in time to save Cameria?

The Knights of Arrethtrae series is written for ages 9-12, but will be enjoyed by all. Each allegorical book encourages a virtue like compassion or courage and confronts a vice like greed or apathy. With maps, author commentary, illustrations and discussion questions, the series is also useful for homeschooling curriculum, church libraries and Christian schools.

About the author:

Chuck Black, a former F-16 fighter pilot and tactical communications engineer, is the best-selling, award-winning author of the Kingdom series and the Knights of Arrethtrae series. He has received praise from parents across the country for his unique approach to telling biblical truths. His passion in life is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to love his wife, Andrea, and their six children. He lives with his family in North Dakota.

I was assured, before receiving the books, that there would not be a problem that we hadn't yet read the first four books in the series. We recently started to read the book, and although it has taken a little bit of time to adapt to the style of the writing, I don't feel that not having read the first four books is an issue. I haven't ready many knight stories in general, in fact, the last (and only time) might have been when I read about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table back in high school, so the style is different than other books I read.

The author does a nice job providing background and description of the characters. A lot of care is also taken in describing the physical features of the locations in the story and there is even a map at the front of the book to provide geographical relationship between locations. Together, the character and setting development really helps the reader picture the locations and relate with the characters.

The story has many parallels to Christianity. Some of the terminology in the book, feels forced to help you draw those parallels. Once I got past this and adapted to the style of the book, I like how the author is trying to teach lessons through the story. The lessons are based in the story and if you are reading with your kids, can lead to discussions about the actions and outcomes of the characters.

Also at the end of the book, there are a series of Discussion questions, as well as the answers to those questions. I really like this feature. We have read some books before that have discussion questions. When my son reads a book on his own, questions like this allow us to talk about the story and make sure that he is understanding what he is reading - generally, in order to do this, we have to skim the book ourselves. The fact that this one includes answers, would make some of the discussion easier. Many of the answers include references to specific Bible verses that relate to the topic of the discussion/question. It also provides some review questions for the Symbolism in the Knights series, which is a good thing to review if you are new to the series.

You can purchase the books online for $9.99 each from WaterBrook Press. Learn more about the rest of the books in the Knights Series and Chuck Black's other series, the Kingdom series here. You can also follow WaterBrook Press on Twitter or Like Chuck Black on Facebook.

Giveaway
Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah and MamaBzz, I also have the opportunity to giveaway to one A Busy Mom of Two reader a copy of each of the final two books in The Knights of Arrethtrae.

To enter - Leave a comment sharing your favorite book series.

Additional Entries (leave a comment for each additional entry)

Follow A Busy Mom of Two on Twitter.

Tweet about this giveaway. This can be done once daily, please be sure to leave a link to the tweet in your comment.

Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with a link to your post.

Sign up to receive daily updates. Leave a comment letting me know you subscribe (or that you already do).

Giveaway will remain open until November 9th at 6 pm and is open to residents of US only. Winners will be selected using Random.org random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (Please make sure that your email address is either in your comment or clearly visible on your profile or blog) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be selected.

No compensation was received for this post. A copy of each book, as well as a pair for a giveaway were provided by Waterbrook Multnomah through MamaBzz.