Gilbert Morris (1929–2016)

The life of a serf, Myles Morgan, is forever changed when he becomes the heir of an English lord. But the path of Myles's destiny will be anything but carefree, what with the hazards of Henry VIII's court and the dangerous mission of a religious scholar Myles respects, William Tyndale, in The Sword of Truth by author Gilbert Morris.

Without question, it was the bold, excellent cover artwork and the strong, epic sound of the book titles that drew me to The Wakefield Dynasty historical show more ChristFic series.

As for this first novel, I found the writing style to be overdramatic, lacking subtlety, with the narrator and characters exclaiming (!) far too much. Instead of "showing," the author "tells" everything, using an overabundance and frequent repetition of "-ly" adverbs on almost every page: "suddenly," "instantly," "quickly," etc., over and over again.

Because the characters come off as unnatural, predictable caricatures, and the rudimentary emotional development lacks finesse, I wound up feeling rather indifferent to most of the characters—except for Myles, and not in the best way, as his high level of naïveté becomes unbelievable as the years pass.

However, what bothers me more than that is the way this novel portrays two of the devout Christian women when the men they love make confessions about the men's other romantic pursuits or affairs. The story depicts a fantasy of sweet, holy femininity having no anger, feeling no sense of devastation for being two-timed or strung along, no sense of betrayal over her partner's infidelity. Displaying meek acceptance of their men's faults, the ladies are just all too happy to be with their men now, it's God's doing, and the men suffer no romantic consequences in their relationships with their oh-so-understanding women of faith.

I'm not at all okay with that.

Now, the diehard historical fiction fan in me enjoyed the history and related intrigue in the novel, even with its apparent biases (concerning "the great Columbus," for one). And as for the novel's stylistic issues, I know you can't always judge an entire series by its first book, especially for series that are published over the course of years.

So, the diehard historical fiction fan in me will be checking out at least a little more of this dynasty. show less

I've read the first two books in The Wakefield Dynasty series and liked the second one for the most part.

However, I've found that I don't appreciate how the author handles a few of the key Christian women in the series, painting a picture that it's somehow noble and holy when women let men off the hook after the men have treated those women badly in romantic or sexual ways.

No, it isn't just okay when a husband has a child with another woman and keeps it a secret from his wife for years and show more years. No, it isn't an example of admirable mercy when, because she doesn't want her sexual abuser to face punishment and she "wouldn't want to be any trouble," a woman takes the blame for her abuser's violation. What's made to look like the dignity, grace, and godliness of Christian ladies in these situations is demeaning and even dangerous.

While my diehard love for historical fiction kept me interested in these old-fashioned ChristFic books despite their stylistic flaws, I won't be finishing this third novel.

I still love the book covers, though. show less

This is hands-down my favorite Cheney Duvall book. I loooooved the Poe references (this book made me a huge fan of "Israfel"), and omw Shadrach is just ... swoon-worthy, a hard thing to do/be next to Shiloh imho.

I haven't read the Cheney Duvall, M.D., series in eons--and loved going back to the beginning with _The Stars for a Light_ this summer. The series was one of my first forays into Christian fiction in the mid-90s; I've read them boatloads of times since then, but it's easily been a good 10 years or more since the last read-through. The plot was a lot more complex than I'd remembered; I recalled all the elements, but it was interesting to read as a more-grown-up (ISH, haha) adult ... I've read show more a lot of books in between and grown as a reader, so I was fascinated by my reaction to the book as much as the book itself, haha.

I'm curious to keep reading the series (including book 2, which was my least enjoyed--_entirely_ different feel for me, and what the heck, Shiloh?! That is all) as well as my other favorite Christian fiction series from the 90s (that I also haven't revisited in probably a decade), _The Russians_. An author friend of mine recently read _The Russians_ for the first time, and I loved getting her take as someone entirely unfamiliar with the series, whereas I had lived and breathed it for years (it triggered my fascination with Russian history and resulted in my writing as many papers as I could on the topic). She noted she felt _The Russians_ was a bit melodramatic--and I'll admit I felt _a bit_ like that with Cheney Duvall, as well. All the exclamation points, haha!

So it makes me wonder how much of that (for either series) is simply due to the writing style of that decade, the '90s. (Certainly book-cover styles were very similar across series!) Marketing + the material being written/produced + all the things ... interesting to think about.

BUT, circling back to Cheney, I still loved the read, in large part due to its sheer nostalgia for me. :) Not to mention, Shiloh will always be in my top 5 inspy-fic swoonworthy characters/heroes. show less