Wondered if anyone else here had read The Kingdom Series by Chuck Black? It's an allegory of the Bible, and the books in the series are:
Kingdom's Dawn
Kingdom's Hope
Kingdom's Edge
Kingdom's Call
Kingdom's Quest
Kingdom's Reign

I've read all of those, and though I could say the man needs a thesaurus, he has some good stuff there. Great sword fights especially.

These are some new releases I haven't read yet:

Knights of Arrethtrae: Sir Bently and the Holbrook Court
Knights of Arrethtrae: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart
Knights of Arrethtrae: Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione
Knights of Arrethtrae: Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue

Never heard of them. What are they about?

I've read the first one and I thought it was pretty good, but not amazing. He could definitely use a thesaurus!
Ana: It's basically an allegory of the whole Bible, if I understood them right. The first one has a lot of Genesis stuff in it, and I'm assuming the rest of them use other books of the Bible.

wow... I think I'll wait until I've read the whole actual Bible and I can judge if it's an accurate allegory.;D

UPDATE: I got the first three Knights of Arretthrae books for Christmas, and read them within two days. (I would have read them faster, but I think we had something going on the next day. ) They aren't the same as the series, in that they don't have an allegory, but present Biblical truths via the stories. All three were very good, although he still needs a thesaurus! (I just got one...an electronic Language Master model Ln6000 or whatzit. ) I won't be able to read the fourth one until March of 2010, of course because he left us hanging. Why is it you always have to wait for the good stuff?
Anyway, I highly recommend the new ones as well. They are very thought-provoking, and you generally never have to read very far to get involved. They usually start with a swordfight of some kind. Mr. Black sure knows how to get your attention!

I've only read the first book, and yes he does need a thesarus. It was a good book, but they are kind of small.

*revives thread*

They may be short Griff, but not all good books must be big A story tells itself in its own time (I've been reminding myself that a lot).

I myself have read the KS books and the first 3 KoA books. I quite enjoyed them and think they're great for reading as a family (especially young families with young children). Black even includes discussion questions in the back of each book for each chapter, that explain/talk about what Biblical correlations/ideals are portrayed in that chapter.

I hope to read the last 3 KoA books soon, maybe actually buy both series too...

I also think he has some great creatures


END NOTE: I believe he has a guide type thing on his website now: http://arrethtrae.com/

Our Dad is reading them aloud to us now. I've read the first 2, or 3.

I was impressed a few years ago when I first read them, but by the time I actually got them for Christmas a year or two later...

My assessment is that the last four are better than the first two, and out of those, the fifth book is probably the best, though I have the most warm fuzzy memories of Kingdom's Edge... for some reason, the character of Cedric really clicked for me.

Writing quality could certainly use a boost, but all in all... I wouldn't be annoyed if they were not marketed for the 14-18 category; originally they were marketed for the 8-12 category, which I think is much more appropriate writing-style-wise than what Multnomah marketed them for, which was 'teenagers'.

Wow, this reminds me of the time I did a bit of fanfic for book 5... Kingdom's Quest, was it? I rewrote the scene where Gavinaugh rescues Weston & family. Or tried to, I think I never finished it. Whew, that was a long time ago. <smile>

Frankly, I found them boring. I think if he hadn't made it so much allegory I would have liked it better.

(His sword fights were nonsense!)

I thought his sword fights were awesome.

I've tried writing sword fights... they're hard to choreograph in your head, and when you write it down and read it again, you realize it makes little sense!

I loved recognizing bits and pieces from the Bible in these books though. And it was clever how he mixed up the names.

Once again my usual reply; can anyone guess? I haven't read them. Surprised? My list is getting longer and longer.

Well sword fighting is one of my hobbies so it always makes me laugh at all the inaccurate sword play in books.

I had been wanting to read it since Melody first mentioned it to me, but our library does not have the whole series there. :/ (They only carry the last book, Kingdom's Reign.)

Maybe you should request them at your library, Calenmiriel. I volunteer at my library, and I requested the series, and they bought the whole lot! I was so happy.

I'll be the naysayer here. I read one of these books - Kingdom's Edge, I think? - and disliked it. The writing style shoved me out of the story instead of drawing me in, and some of the theology was questionable. Particularly, I thought the line between physical and spiritual fighting was not well-drawn. I do think the story did a wonderful job of portraying Christ's humility - and the treachery of the world - but I don't recommend them overall.

Them's memories, Melody. I still have cassette recordings of your playing the songs from the backs of the 6 books. I love that cassette.

I've read the Kingdom Series and the companion series (except for the final book). Although the writing style is rather weak in the Kingdom Series, I find the books to be thought-provoking and the plot to be fun. Also, the writing style improves dramatically by the time book 4 rolls around. I thought his end time theology was off, but I still enjoy the series. The companion series also shows stylistic improvement.
My personal evaluation of the writing style: I think Chuck Black would have been even better off writing movie scripts. His writing style is so clipped, action-oriented, and visual. I was excited when I heard there's finally a deal for making the Kingdom Series into movies because I always thought they would be even better as movies.

Oh! I read those! Great books! Awesome allegory! I read one of the side ones; Sir Kindreck one, really good also!

Yeah the first books could have been better... But still it was alright! Good morals and values!

His sword-fighting styles were a wee bit too technical to fully grasp and picture for me.

I just started reading this series and, while the characters do seem to have interesting pasts so far, it hasn't grasped my attention as I hope books would. I think I am on chapter...five...and typically I give books three chapters to get engulfed in their story, I am still yet to get to that point.

Those kingdom series are pretty good. Once you get ahold of the dueling it's pretty cool; just hard to grasp.

Personally, I like the KoA series better. They're one-shots, easier to reread in one day. And I think Mr Black got better at writing when he did them.
Ever so often I pick one up off the shelf and reread it. Not bad.

I bought the first two books at a convention I went to, and he signed them for me. They're pretty far down on my To-Read pile at the moment, though...

I've read them! I really like the spiritual allegory and the adventure.

Carliss

I've listened to the Kingdom Series on CD and I've read all the Knights of Arrethtrae. I do agree that the knight books are more interesting, though I liked them all.

My biggest complaint is that the books are too short, but that's just me. I like the idea of delving into a book that takes up about two inches on the bookshelf. Maybe that's why everything I write is so long...

I read the first two books, the allegory is cool, the duels are awesome, though I didn't feel drawn into the story.

I"ve listend to most of the KoA on CD and liked them much better than the books(I really enjoyed the music ).

I've read all of them. They're all right. I'm not sure if I'd read them again.

That's what I thought, too.

I have only read the first book, the fourth book, and the last book. I liked them though. They are pretty cool.

I read it!!! I haven't read the last book in the Knights of Arrethtrae, but I'm hoping to get around to it.



Me too.

I liked the allegory - I didn't catch all of it, or didn't realize it at first, but, still good.

I read those... For the most part I like them but I don't quite agree with some of his theology.

We got a homeschool magazine through the door today, and these series were advertised in it. So I went online and bought the first book of the The Knights of Arrthtrae series. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I need to finish reading this series someday.

I have read all the books of both series that are related and love them. They brought a new light to the bible for me. I think that if you take time to think of the biblical counterpart to the characters and plot the stories are so much more meaningful. I would definitely give it a ten.