Review of Bill McGrath's 'Asulon'

Bill McGrath’s Asulon is the first book of a fantasy trilogy entitled The Sword of Fire. Aimed primarily at young adults, the book is written in such a way as to make biblical history and Christian morality exciting to a notoriously difficult group to reach.

McGrath works a number of different genres into the book. The story is simultaneously an action-adventure saga, a hero tale out of Joseph Campbell, a coming-of-age story, a romance, and a political and social commentary. The basic plotline is an archetypical quest story. The main character is Daniel, a member of the royal house of the kingdom of Asulon (roughly, North America). At the end of a year-long rite of passage in the wilderness, Daniel discovers that the old king had died without heir, and that Daniel’s father had become king.

As a member of the royal house and especially as prince of the realm, Daniel is expected to travel across the sea to Logres (Britain) to spend 10 years training under Anak the Undying—an angel bound to Earth—and to marry one of his daughters. When his father is murdered, however, Daniel must make the trip early, accompanied by his mentor (an Etruscan warrior named Moor), an old priest, and a beautiful young woman from Eretzel (Israel). After surviving brawls, ambushes, and assassins, Daniel and his companions board a ship for Logres, where still more trouble awaits them.

The plot complications come in the form of a large cast of villains, including the Builders Guild in Asulon, which plans to usurp power in the kingdom and to kill Daniel, the rival Builders Guild in the 10 Unicorn Kingdoms (Western Europe), the kingdom of Magog (Russia), and the Illuminati, who fear Daniel because of a prophecy that predicts their defeat at his hands.

All of this adds significantly to the complexity of the plot, as well as providing an opportunity for social and political commentary. The setup and rivalries between these groups (not to mention the name “Magog”) suggest that popular ideas about eschatology will help shape the plot of the second and third books in the trilogy, sort of Left Behind meets The Lord of the Rings, though since all the main characters are believers, a pre-tribulation rapture is unlikely. We will need to see how the story actually unfolds, however.

Biblical history also figures prominently in the story. At a few points in the narrative, characters explain the history of their people to other characters who come from different kingdoms or cultures. So we find out that at some point after the world was created, there was a war in Heaven which devastated the earth. This was followed by a six day re-creation of the world. (In other words, the book’s world follows the “Gap Theory,” that posits a “gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.) Humanity started in Eden, was expelled, and the history includes the Flood and other cataclysms, including an ice age.

One of the more interesting aspects of this history involves Anak the Undying, the angel-king of Logres, whom McGrath describes as one of the “sons of God” in Gen. 6:1-4. By interpreting the sons of God as angels and the Nephilim as giants (following the Authorized Version), McGrath has a potent plot device for the story. But he takes this further by linking the idea to medieval European folklore, which believed that elves and the fey folk were angels who had refused to take sides in the war between God and Satan, and so were made to live as immortals on the earth. Thus Anak not only has sons who are giants, but also dwarfs, with all the skills associated in folklore and fantasy with that race. These long histories, as well as explanations of political theory and some of the ideological conflicts, are integrated into the story, but they come across more as teaching than storytelling.

Most of the book, though, is narrative, and it is here that McGrath’s real strength as a writer comes through. He is particularly effective in describing action sequences, including wilderness survival, military tactics, and especially hand-to-hand combat. Not surprisingly, these are precisely the areas of McGrath’s particular expertise. He is an internationally known master of Pekiti Tirsia Kali, a Filipino martial art, along with being a law enforcement officer and police defensive tactics instructor. As a result, he has both the training and the real-world experience to write very vivid descriptions of combat, which is likely to attract the intended audience.

But the book is more than just action. It is also a coming-of-age story as Daniel grows to maturity under the watchful eye of Moor, his warrior mentor, and Simon, a mysterious old priest who travels with them and keeps an eye on the bigger picture. In particular, Daniel is learning the way of the warrior, not simply in his skills, but more importantly in absorbing the ethos, the values, and the chivalry embodied by the warrior ideal. At the same time, however, we see Daniel as popular and likable with his friends, kind to children, and having a wonderful and rich relationship with his parents. He is an admirable character, one who, even with some flaws, would make a good role model for young people reading his story.

All in all, this is a solid debut novel for McGrath. It is particularly interesting because of its approach to Christian fantasy literature. Other writers have come at the genre in a variety of ways, from allegories like C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to historical fantasies like Stephen Lawhead’s Arthurian novels, to the implicit worldview behind J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Silmarilion. McGrath’s style and approach is most similar to Lawhead’s earlier work, though the use of biblical history as the framework for his parallel Earth may well be unique. As he hones his skills as a writer, he could well emerge as a fresh new voice in the world of fantasy literature. I, for one, am looking forward to reading the rest of his trilogy.

Glenn Sunshine is chairman of the history department of Central Connecticut State University, a faculty member for BreakPoint's Centurions program, and a long-time fantasy buff.

Read an excerpt of Asulon.

Bill McGrath, “A Fantastic Appeal: How Christians Can Use Fantasy Stories,” BreakPoint Online, 11 January 2008.