Venom and Song Replacement Winner

You may have noticed in the last post when I said that I will choose another winner if a winner doesn't respond within 48 hours.  Sadly, one winner (I will not say whom) did not respond with an address.  So, that being so, I picked a new winner.  The winner is...

*drumroll*

Jake!  Congrats Jake!  Please email me within 48 hours with your address to send the book.

(Also, winners, you may have noticed that you have not received your prize yet.  I am sending them all out at the same time.  Since I did not have one of the addresses, I have not sent them out yet.  I expect to have them shipped within the week)

Enoch's Ghost-Bryan Davis

If you haven’t read the Dragons in our Midst series then you can still read the Oracles of Fire series.  They draw off of each other.  However, if I had a choice, I would read Dragons in our Midst before reading this.  Either way I think you’ll deeply enjoy the series as in drawing off each other they delve into the world of the unknown.

Description:

Enoch’s Ghost, the second book in the Oracles of Fire series, picks up the exciting Dragons in our Midst story where Tears of a Dragon and Eye of the Oracle series ended.

Walter, Ashley, and Karen ride the dragon Thigocia in search of her son, Gabriel, and her long-lost mate, Makaidos. When Walter and Ashley find an army of giants hibernating in the depths of the earth, they meet a mysterious girl named Sapphira Adi who claims to be thousands of years old. Sapphira reveals a sinister plot, conceived centuries ago by Morgan Le Faye and the devil himself.

The giants awaken and ascend to the Earth, ready to carry out a scheme that threatens the entire cosmos, and only dragons can defeat them. Since two dragons remain on the earth, and one of them is reluctant to fight, doom seems certain. Still, there is hope. In another world, a former dragon awakens to a new existence and learns that a prophesied deliverance requires the death of a willing lamb, and a handicapped little girl who wants to die to end everyone’s suffering, including her own, steps forward as the only candidate for the sacrifice.

The greatest of dangers, building to a climax in three different worlds, meets the power of love and sacrifice in Enoch’s Ghost.

Plot:

The plot was more engaging and intense than any other book I’ve yet read by Mr. Davis.  So much that I had to take a break midway through.  My mind was spinning, and I had to rest before jumping in again.  That was just me.  I still don’t think there is such a thing as too much suspense or intensity in a novel.  The author simply does not let up-and there is nothing wrong with that.

For the sake of not giving out spoilers I’ll simply say that the plot was interesting.

Characters:

Enoch’s Ghost has a vast cast of characters.  A cast that consists of characters ranging from Dragons in our Midst, Eye of the Oracle and new characters that we’ve never met.

It’s a very difficult task to make a reader love and feel attached to that many characters (more then fifteen to be precise).  If I knew beforehand that there were this many characters I would have doubts.  I was happily surprised the author pulled it off.

Writing:

As usual, Bryan Davis’ craft is great.  If there is anything wrong with the writing in this book it would be that it is too fast-paced.  As I said before, the author does not let up.  For some this can be a little much.  Some people need a novel to be balanced with fast and slow scenes.  Other then this little ‘glitch’ the novel was very well written.

Conclusion:

My diagnosis?  Great book.  One of the few books I’ve read in a matter of a few days.  A day and a half to be precise.  I’m not a fast reader so to have a book read in less then two days says something about a book.

I definitely recommend reading this book.

My rating: 4 Pens

Genre: Young Adult Christian Fantasy
Intended age group:  12-15 (but can easily extend in either direction)
First in four part series (More reviews forthcoming)
Where to buy:  Amazon, ChristianBook, or authors website (signed if requested).
You can get in contact with the author by going to his website where you can go to the very active forum, check out fan art or go to his blog.

Blogger Design-Day Two

Today we'll focus on comments.  In particular, IntenseDebate comments.  I've already received several compliments on the system.
It's rather simple, at least my part of the tutorial is.  In order to exchange your blogger type comments with IntenseDebate's comment system, just go to their site, log in.  Go to 'sites' and add a site.  Then from there you'll do a few simple things such as downloading/uploading your HTML template.  Roughly, it should take fifteen minutes.  The system they use takes care of most of it for you which is very nice.  You will have to register to join the site, but it's free to join.
Drop me a comment on what you think of the comments!

Blogger Design-Day One

I originally read this tutorial from The Neverending Shelf.
Today I want to focus on what was one of my favorite things to change.  The Favicon.  It may not seem very important but it adds a little bit of individuality and uniqueness to your blog.
1}The first thing you need to do is to find an image you would like to use.  The image should be sized at 16 x 16 to 32 x 32 in order to fit properly (however I just took mine from it's full size and it worked fine, so I'm not completely sure if that's necessary).  The image needs to be saved as a jpg, png, or a gif file.
Once you have the image upload it into an online photo account such as PhotoBucket.  If the image is exactly how you need it and you found the image online, you can simply right click the photo and then go to 'View Image' and it will take you to your link.  Here's the link I used for my image:  http://www.realarmorofgod.com/store/cart.php?m=popup&id=2289
2}Make sure you have the link for the image copied to your clipboard before you go to the next step.
3}Now, go into your blogger account.  Go to 'Layout' or 'Design' and then click 'Edit HTML'.
4}Press CTRL+F and then search the head tag '</head>'
Directly above this tag paste the following code:


<link href='image URL' rel='shortcut icon'/>

In the middle of the above code where it says 'image URL' delete and in it's place put your image URL.  Press 'Preview' and see if it is how you would like it to look.  If it is, press save and 'Wazzam!' you've got yourself a custom Favicon.

Eye of the Oracle-Bryan Davis

If you haven’t read the Dragons in our Midst series then you can still read the Oracles of Fire series.  They draw off of each other.  However, if I had a choice, I would read Dragons in our Midst before reading this.  Either way I think you’ll deeply enjoy the series as in drawing off each other they delve into the world of the unknown.

A Word of Caution:

The author of this book writes fiction mixed with Biblical events.  While I cannot find anything that would compromise a young believer’s faith, I would still suggest being careful.  In another sense, it encourages the reader to read their Bible to verify certain things.

Description:

What ancient mysteries lurk behind the amazing stories in the Dragons in our Midst series?  Eye of the Oracle takes the reader back in time to the days when dragons abounded.  From the era just before Noah’s ark, through the battles between dragons and mankind in the times of King Arthur, and to the haunting presence of dragons in our day, this stunning prequel reveals the mysteries that led to the bestselling fantasy adventure that began with Raising Dragons.

How did dragons survive the flood?  Who helped preserve an ancient evil force that led to the dragons’ demise in the days of King Arthur?  What heroic sacrifices kept that evil from exterminating the dragon race forever?  If you enjoyed the heart-stopping action and spiritual depth of the first four books in this series, you won’t want to miss the astonishing story that began it all.  Eye of the Oracle will captivate young and old alike, and it will challenge every reader to search deep within for answers to the mysteries in their own hearts.
(Taken from back cover).

Plot:

Bryan Davis handles the plot exceptionally well in this novel.  It’s a little more history then the average plot.  This is, of course hard to not do when the timeline spans some five thousand years.

Even with the ‘history’ factor of the novel, the author still manages to draw you in and keep you there until the end.  While Mr. Davis may have done very well at keeping the reader, he also established many sub-plots.  The main plot itself was almost the collection of sub-plots and I think it depends on the reader whether it is a good thing or a bad thing.  I somewhat enjoyed it.

The amount of detail put into this book is superb.  It revealed many of the mysteries of Dragons in our Midst while creating some of its own.

Characters:

With some fifteen to twenty main characters in the books cast, I had no trouble distinguishing any.  Even two characters who were supposed to be completely identical, I could recognize because of their slightly differing characteristics and behavior.

I can only imagine how tedious the task must have been creating so many characters over the book’s timeline.  It being four/five thousand years long many characters were born and many died.  Yet with all the characters, they all have unique personalities.  I fell in love with each and every character even though it becomes clear who the protagonist is in the story.

Writing (Quality):

Mr. Davis knows his craft.  I can honestly say I saw no writing issues in this novel.  To hook a reader for, in a sense, four thousand years you have to have a lot of things-loveable and realistic characters, exciting plotline-but you really have to be able to bring it all together with good writing.  And Bryan Davis does just that.

Conclusion:

Whether you’re a long-time Dragons in Our Midst fan or you’ve never read anything by the author before, you will love this book.  Eye of the Oracle is a great book with Christian values and is a welcome addition to my shelf.
My Rating: 4.5 Pens

Genre: Young Adult Christian Fantasy
Intended age group:  12-15 (but can easily extend in either direction)
First in four part series (More reviews forthcoming)
Where to buy:  Amazon, ChristianBook, or authors website (signed if requested).
You can get in contact with the author by going to his website where you can go to the very active forum, check out fan art or go to his blog.

Venom and Song Winners

Yes, it's true.  The giveaway has ended.  Many of those of you who entered may have noticed that your entries are gone.  True and not true.  I have all comments on my blog emailed to me so I have every entry even though it doesn't appear so.  Actually, I kind of like the new comment system, it definitely has it's uses.
Anyway, getting to the winners!
*Drumroll*

• Melissa Rose!
• Goldarrow!
• Tahl!.

I will need you all to email me within 48 hours to claim your prize else I will give the book away to someone else.
Also, tomorrow morning I will be posting the first part in my review of The Oracles of Fire by Bryan Davis.  Each week I will be posting a review of the books in the order they're written.  And to end the reviews I am going to be posting a review and giveaway of Starlighter.  Be on the look out for both of those.

Blogger Design and the Simplicity of It

Many of you will remember a while back when I changed my entire blog design from the classic template to the current one using a little thing called 'Template Designer'.  I also added other pages on the blog at that point.  Just recently I've been working some more on my design.  You've probably noticed that it looks pretty much the same.
The reason for this being that I worked on the minor things.  For instance, you'll notice that the comment system is different.  I now use a system called 'Intense Debate' for the comments.  The reason for this?  It is much better.  You can reply to actual comments as well as things like giving replies a thumbs up or thumbs down.  I really like it.
Also, you may have noticed that the favicon (the little thing on your search bar by the address of the site) has changed from the ordinary orange Blogger B to an image of my choosing.
I've also done lots of other little changes.  While I haven't changed much and am no HTML master, I have learned a few things.  Next week I will be going over a few of these things throughout the week-so you won't to miss that.  It's really not difficult.  The hardest part is finding the right tutorials to help you make the changes.

The Narrowing Road

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."-Matthew 7:13-14

The way to Christ is a narrow road.  In my opinion, narrowing.  Getting smaller.

As of late I hear a great majority of Christians claiming that the rapture is happening soon.  I do not think this is altogether wrong, since it is said in part out of hope.  I myself look forward and have hope that the rapture will come soon.

That said, however we must remember that no one except God knows the timing of the rapture.

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."-Matthew 24:36

Not even Jesus in His man-ness (as a friend of mine put it) knows the time when He will come back.  I can just see Jesus standing in Heaven, pacing back and forth, waiting for God to say "Go get 'em!".

Earth is God's world, but satan does have some power.  There is a spiritual battle where the angels and demons do battle but there is also the physical where the Christians do battle with the subtle and also unsubtle sinful ways of the world.

We are the resistance.

We are the warriors in the service of the King.

We fight the pretender.

We are destined for victory.

But it is not ours.  The victory is the victory of God.

Being a Christian isn't 'easy' as it is often made out to be.  It is war, and war is a bloody affair.

As a Christian we face many, many struggles.  I would go as far as to say we face more struggles and hardships then non-believers.  But we have something they don't.  Something that is brings hope to the hopeless.  Rest to the weary. Healing to the hurt.

We have God by our side.  And if we allow Him too, He'll step in front of us.

God does not tempt us-but He does test us.  The beautiful thing about both though, is that He's with us.  Whether we're being tempted or tested, He always provides a way out and if we ask Him and pray He will always reveal it to us.

We are citizens of the Kingdom of God, but we're also its army.

The funny thing about the Kingdom of God's army though is that it's unlike the armies of the earth.  If we allow Him, Christ will come and inhabit our bodies and do battle for us.  And Christ is perfect.  It’s an army of perfect warriors.  An undefeatable army.

It’s right there.  It’s not magic like fantasy magic.  It’s not a spell.  It’s not going to make you fly or have fire spit out of your hands.  But it is powerful.  It’s the power of Jesus Christ.  It’s the power of God.

We Christians have it within our grasp, but we often ignore and dismiss it.

An ex-vampire came to our youth group last week.  To say the least it was an amazing testimony.  I won’t go into the details of what he went into but two things really stuck out.

One:  He told a story about a time two teenagers had been riding bikes and had wandered off into somewhere they shouldn’t have been-a landfill.  An occult ritual was happening and when they saw this they spun around on their bikes and pedaled away.  Without going into too much detail one of the teenagers who wasn’t a Christian was taken by a being.  The other was almost taken, but when he felt a claw-like hand on his chest he screamed out the name of Jesus.  The beast retreated and didn’t bother the teenager.  (The teenager that wasn’t taken was also a Christian).

There’s power in the name of our Savior.

Two:  He told us that through his sixteen years as a vampire, a witch and many other things involved in the occult he hardly ever saw any ‘action’ such as ‘magical’ things happening.  He also said that in the time that he has been a Christian he has learned much more about the spiritual and scene many more ‘magical’ things happen.  Magical being more along the lines of miracles such as healings.

I don’t know about anyone else but I’d say we serve an awesome God.  No need to get into the dark arts to see amazing things.  The devil is weak, our God is awesome in power.

“If you’re reading this, you are the resistance."

In Victory,

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

(If you're looking for the Venom and Song three book giveaway go here)
I recently found out about an award called the INSPYs and from that site I found another about Book Blogger Appreciation Week.
I would encourage you to go to BBAW's site and register-but be quick, registration ends on the 7th!
Book Blogger Appreciation Week basically is a great way to find more blogs that you enjoy reading as well as make your blog known to more readers.

I entered the Best New Blog category as The Narrowing Road has only been up a little over three months.  Since I entered this category I am required to submit five posts for BBAW to review.  Two posts must be reviews while the other three I have the freedom to choose.

 BOOK REVIEWS

Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton

A Century Turns by William Bennet

ARTICLES OF CHOICE

Fantasy, Part Six: Evil Creatures-Part six in my series on fantasy races

Sin=Punishment-A little thought-about factor in fiction

Know Your History!-A thought on history in fantasy

I also entered the YA Book Blog category and am required to submit three reviews and two of my choosing.  I have listed them below:

BOOK REVIEWS

Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton

A Century Turns by William Bennet
Venom and Song by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper

ARTICLES OF CHOICE

Dragons Anyone-First in my six-part fantasy race series

You can't do anything? Hold up-A call to action in politics

How to Design Your Blog-Page One

How to Design Your Blog-No HTML Knowledge Required

This guide is, in short, to explain to those not tech-savvy, or simply don’t have the time to deal with all that HTML mumbo-jumbo how to fully utilize Blogger’s potential-specifically, Blogger in Draft’s blog design template.   I’m not going to deal with the HTML jargon; you can get that on any old website simply by searching Google.  I want to explain how to build an efficient blog template that can be unique from the hundreds of thousands of bland blogs out there.

There will be a few sections that explain some more advance tutorials that will have HTML coding in them-but very small and simple at that-and can be skipped if you would like to avoid it.