Kathryn Butler

Twelve-year-old Lily discovers a stone pendant and is transported to a realm where people's dreams come to life. This series mixes fantasy with Christian themes of faith, sacrifice, salvation, and redemption. Kind of like Chronicles of Narnia, with characters from this world being pulled into the other world, and with a Christ-like figure appearing and disappearing (a unicorn named Pax instead of a lion named Aslan). But these are longer (~400 pages each), scarier (monsters & nightmares), in show more a different setting (the "Solnium Realm"), and though there are lots of advanced vocabulary words, it definitely doesn't compare with the writing style of C. S. Lewis (but who can?). There are multiple scenes in each book where the characters are in a dangerous situation and need to flee, but someone is about to be left behind, so there ensues a several-pages long dialog about "Come on, we need to go! No, wait, we can't leave so-and-so. We just can't! We have to go back!" It got a bit repetitive and annoying. Middle grade readers who are not super-sensitive (who don't imagine monsters under the bed and aren't bothered by creepy Halloween decorations) might enjoy the stories, and I did too, at first, but by the third book I started losing interest. My 12-year-old said it was scarier than Wingfeather Saga and that it wasn't a book she wanted to read right before bedtime. show less

Twelve-year-old Lily discovers a stone pendant and is transported to a realm where people's dreams come to life. This series mixes fantasy with Christian themes of faith, sacrifice, salvation, and redemption. Kind of like Chronicles of Narnia, with characters from this world being pulled into the other world, and with a Christ-like figure appearing and disappearing (a unicorn named Pax instead of a lion named Aslan). But these are longer (~400 pages each), scarier (monsters & nightmares), in show more a different setting (the "Solnium Realm"), and though there are lots of advanced vocabulary words, it definitely doesn't compare with the writing style of C. S. Lewis (but who can?). There are multiple scenes in each book where the characters are in a dangerous situation and need to flee, but someone is about to be left behind, so there ensues a several-pages long dialog about "Come on, we need to go! No, wait, we can't leave so-and-so. We just can't! We have to go back!" It got a bit repetitive and annoying. Middle grade readers who are not super-sensitive (who don't imagine monsters under the bed and aren't bothered by creepy Halloween decorations) might enjoy the stories, and I did too, at first, but by the third book I started losing interest. My 12-year-old said it was scarier than Wingfeather Saga and that it wasn't a book she wanted to read right before bedtime. show less

Twelve-year-old Lily discovers a stone pendant and is transported to a realm where people's dreams come to life. This series mixes fantasy with Christian themes of faith, sacrifice, salvation, and redemption. Kind of like Chronicles of Narnia, with characters from this world being pulled into the other world, and with a Christ-like figure appearing and disappearing (a unicorn named Pax instead of a lion named Aslan). But these are longer (~400 pages each), scarier (monsters & nightmares), in show more a different setting (the "Solnium Realm"), and though there are lots of advanced vocabulary words, it definitely doesn't compare with the writing style of C. S. Lewis (but who can?). There are multiple scenes in each book where the characters are in a dangerous situation and need to flee, but someone is about to be left behind, so there ensues a several-pages long dialog about "Come on, we need to go! No, wait, we can't leave so-and-so. We just can't! We have to go back!" It got a bit repetitive and annoying. Middle grade readers who are not super-sensitive (who don't imagine monsters under the bed and aren't bothered by creepy Halloween decorations) might enjoy the stories, and I did too, at first, but by the third book I started losing interest. My 12-year-old said it was scarier than Wingfeather Saga and that it wasn't a book she wanted to read right before bedtime. show less

This Christian based decide-as-you-go adventure is a great read! It is very well written and is a nice Christian read focusing on making decisions based on doing the right thing as in being respectful and thinking of others, in the ideal of living a good Christian life. I love the storyline and the story development. The writing is exceptional in my opinion.

The story is well written with excellent themes. The story is written so you do not know the main character and his father's name, known show more as father or Dad, so this story really places you in the roll of the main character. Starting with you on the jetties outside Boston, fishing, the main character (or you) see a blue light from an abandoned lighthouse. Do you go investigate alone of tell your dad and ask him to go with you? This is your first decision and from there you are given multiple choices at the end of some of the chapters, usually two choices but sometimes three and once you have four choices. When you choose correctly, you find yourself back in time with a pirate with nefarious intentions with his crew. You choose your path and see how each decision can change the outcome of the events.

This is a very well written book. Though I do not really follow religion, I did very much enjoy this book.

Great book for upper elementary through middle school kids. show less