This is one of my most favorite series of all time! Charlie West gets wrongfully accused of murder, then wakes up strapped to a chair in some torture chamber thingy type place, with no memory of the last year-he can remember right up to the point when he last saw his friend who he was accused of killing. He escapes and he's on the run while trying to prove his innocence. AMAZING! Fast-paced, edge-of your seat action, with just a tad bit of romance. You never, ever see the twists and turns coming! Has anyone else read it, or even better, the whole series, and if so, how'd you like it? What were your favorite parts?

I LOVE this series! The excitement and fast pace had me staying up late to finish.

I'm still waiting to read the last one, but I don't know when I'll get the chance.

~ZA

LOVE!! My brother just got the last two for his birthday, I can't wait to devour them!

I've read the first two books.

I bought them on my Nookcolor and before that, I read the first one after borrowing it from my library. I think that's a series I'm gonna hafta reread (again) when I next get the chance!

First I heard that the Andrew Klavan of "Klavan on the Culture" writes novels. I may have to check it out.

He's written quite a few novels.

Read them! REEEEAAAD THEEEEM!!!!

I want to try this series.

*sniffle* I just finished this series, and they were nothing short of incredible. Such a powerful message, and an amazing character! They would have to be one of my favourite series's. You must read them, Jonathan. If I know you, I know you'll love them.

I have never heard of that. They sound like very interesting books.

They are! And in addition to Bible verses and prayer, Charlie uses a quote to keep him going:
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty-never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -Winston Churchill
These. Books. Are. Amazing.

I greatly admire the fact that Andrew Klavan got a series about a Christian hero on secular bookshelves. *wants to do that*

I know, right? I *THINK* he has a Q & A thing on his website... I'm not sure though so don't kill me if there isn't one!

Same here!

**hisses like Gollum** Doooo it, my precioussss!!!

Love these books so much! I'm a little sad that the series is over, though....has anyone else finished them?

I recently finished them, and I cried, because it ended so well. I loved them! So inspiring...

*Repeats over and over* "Must remember to read these books"

I'm sad too! As the photo I use as my Facebook timeline cover photo says: "You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and it feels like you've lost a friend."

I read the first book. It was pretty good. I haven't read the rest though.

You should! They only get better! I've been meaning to reread them, but once Camp NaNo starts, I won't have time for all the editing I have to do on my books, let alone reading...

Klavan's style annoyed me a little at first, but I was too intrigued by the story to mind much, and then once I got to know Charlie a bit better and understood his way of thinking, the style didn't bother me anymore.

And yes, it's certainly a love/hate thing when you finish a good book.

Yeah, I remember being so sad when I finished them... Although now when I go back and read them, his style does annoy me a bit, but like you said, the story's just too good! Same with things like THG, LOTR, TCON...

TCON? (I know LOTR, of course, and I assume THG is The Hunger Games, but what does TCON stand for?)

They have now published a paperback edition of these books which includes the whole series--I'm considering buying it, and that's huge for me because I tend to only buy books I really love.

Um, I think I meant The Chronicles Of Narnia. I'm pretty sure that's what I meant.
And that's awesome, I might buy it too if I didn't already have the e-books.

What was it about his style that annoyed you?

Well, for me, it was how different it is from my own. I have effectively cut out all "was"es and "were"s and such from my writing, preferring to use strong verbs instead. But he uses a lot of them. I know it's not a crime, but after seeing how much better peoples' writing is without them, it bugs me. And it's been a year or two since I read them, so that's all I can remember right now.

Alas, actually not an alas, it must fall to me to dissent. I enjoyed the first book and found the writing bearable but trying to start the second book I found the writing too stilted, and found the story trying to be too pious.

It may be somewhat too pious, but if you get past that, the story is an edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger all the way through.

Mmm, I disagree. The first book, yes. The second one just felt like it dragged on and on and on.

Ah, it seems that here, Sir Will, we must agree to disagree.

Okay, first of all, I also disagree with Will (Nothing against you, of course). It has been a while since I read the second book, and I do seem to recall some sections that were a bit slow, but I loved the story and the action of the books all the way through.

Secondly:


How so? It's a Christian series. And, as far as that goes, it is actually a bit lacking in theological themes. Not that the ones there are bad--though, admittedly, not very deep at times--but for a novel with any type of religious content, which makes me sound stuffy, but oh well, it was pretty dry. There is one main, continuous theme that runs through the story. The one his coach taught him, right? There are others, but all are pretty small, and the times when Charlie really dwells on those things is when he's either in a hard spot and needs the encouragement or when he's questioning. For plot, character depth, faith themes, and all of them rolled into one at times, this is a good example.




The boyish tendencies toward grammar, mostly. My grammar is not perfect by any stretch--and if you think I'm just saying that, look at how many times I interrupt myself--but Klavan chose to write as Charlie and not about Charlie and, thus, not as a writer. I didn't care for it much at first, but once I got used to Charlie himself, the style fit into place. That's just how Charlie would say things, even if it's not maybe how Klavan would say them. (By the way, I've not yet read any of his other works, so I'm not sure how different this series is from his other work.)

*pants* And, lastly, since I'm going backwards:

Oh. Yes, indeed. That' makes since. Since I just always to refer to the Chronicles as 'Narnia', I've never abbreviated it. Thank you, for clearing that up for me.

*claps*
*falls asleep mid-applause*
*sleep-talks* Thahwuzgood... Fanks...
Sorry, I'm tired.

You were right. I just finished reading this series, and it was excellent. As a thriller fan, I was glad to find such a well-written and clean series, with a hero who is actually heroic.


I liked that he wrote as Charlie, especially since it was in first person.

The Jonathan finished? Yay! I knew you'd like them.
Yes, I agree. The first-person POV made the story seem more real.

I didn't really find the first person POV that difficult to read. It was perfect for the plot, and I agree it made it seem more real. You got the feeling you had been planted inside his brain, and understood his confusion.

I'm surprised that I didn't see the amnesia pill coming from a long way off, though. I mean, when other time do you not chew an amnesia pill, but for when you're strapped to a chair in a white room?

So, avoiding spoilers, or placing a black brick around them if you do use a spoiler, what did you guys think of Rose? (and I'm glad you liked them Jon!)


(Aside: I did say the style bothered me at first. About half-way through book one I was loving it.)

Rose was the detective, right? I keep thinking of Rose Tyler from Doctor Who every time I saw his name.

He was cool, I think. Never really got to know him.

LOL Luckily, I read the series before I even knew what DW was.

Honestly, I loved what Klavan did with his character. He starts off as sort of a jerk, a guy who seems to be just trying to do his job, but his knowledge of Charlie when Charlie doesn't remember him makes it seem like he has some personal vendetta against Charlie. I appreciated the fact that you read through almost the entire series before Rose started making sense--which I can see might cause reader's to feel like they didn't know him as a character, but I thought it helped build his character. Especially at the end when you find out who he is and what he's been doing. (My first impression of him was 'this guy's a jerk'.)

I liked Rose, though I also wanted to know a bit more about him. His relationship with Charlie was set up well, so that the reader felt the same shock that Charlie did.

I wrote a lengthy review of the series for my blog: http://jonathangarner.blogspot.com/2013 ... es-by.html

I can't recall if I've said elsewhere, but I have to say how much I admire Andrew Klavan for getting these books into both Christian and secular circles. Walk into any generic bookstore and you will find them, walk into our Koorong and you will find them. That's what I call clever marketing.

Yes. I hope more authors can do that.

Has anyone read Andrew Klavan's other YA novels? I've read a few of them, and my favorite so far (next to The Homelanders) is Nightmare City. I wrote a review of it here: http://jonathangarner.blogspot.com/2015 ... ndrew.html

I really enjoyed Nightmare City. I was honestly creeped out by it at first, but I had also read Crazy Dangerous and could see a change coming so I persevered. Crazy Dangerous was freaky enough iI almost put it down, but the ending is fantastic.

XD I've read the first Mindwar book and the sequel is on my never-shortening list. It's really good too, though not my favorite. My favorite Andrew Klavan book may well be If We Survive. It's amazing and has one of the best anti-heroes I've had the good fortune of reading. No. Not anti-hero. Just hero. And if you read the book you'll understand the distinction. XD

Idk if I said this before but I might discourage you from reading any of his adult books. I don't know Klavan's story but his YA is amazing and his adult books are creepy as anything and vulgar. Stick with the YA because they rock.

I need to try the Mindwar trilogy. I enjoyed If We Survive and Crazy Dangerous as well.