Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow – CSFF Tour, day 1

The March CSFF Blog Tour, running today through Wednesday, is featuring a book I love: Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, written by The Miller Brothers (Christopher and Allan – no relation to me) and published by Warner Press.

I’ve described this book, first in the Codebearer Series, as “tweener” fantasy, and some explanation may be necessary. First, the art work on the cover you see pictured and in drawings at the beginnings of chapters and occasionally throughout the story, are of the young and fun variety, reminiscent of middle grade novels such as R. K. Mortenson’s Landon Snow series (see my reviews of two of the five books here and here).

However, in the opening scene of Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, the reader learns that the main character is finishing his first year in high school. As a squirrely fourteen year old, he acts very much like many boys I taught in junior high.

In addition, the book is 360+ pages, much longer than the average middle grade novel. And the circumstances Hunter confronts require of him decisions more consistent with an older boy.

Consequently, “tweener” seems like the perfect label. Much like another famous series recently ended (one which shall remain nameless, lest you get the idea I am making blanket comparisons—which I am not), the Codebearer series should attract readers across a span of ages.

The art work is bound to attract younger readers and the story is bound to attract older readers, while the character will attract those in between.

Of all the good things in this book, and I’ll go into those in more detail when I write my review, I think one of the best is how well The Miller Brothers nailed the mind of a fourteen-year-old boy. Having worked with young teens for as long as I did, I felt like I was returning to familiar territory in reading Hunter’s thoughts and actions.

If you are at all curious about this book, and I hope you are, more so as the tour continues these next few days, take a peek at the Codebearer site where you can actually read the entire story for free.

As I understand it, the second in the series will release in the near future, so now is the time to take in the first book.

Take some time to see what others on the tour have to say about this action-packed Christian adventure fantasy, and as usual, the check marks indicate I know posts by these participants are available.

√ Brandon Barr
√√√ Keanan Brand
√ Melissa Carswell
√√√ Valerie Comer
√√ Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
√ Stacey Dale
√ D. G. D. Davidson
√ Shane Deal
√ Jeff Draper
√ April Erwin
√ Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
√ Todd Michael Greene
√ Katie Hart
√√√ Ryan Heart
√√√ Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
√ Cris Jesse
√ Jason Joyner
√ Carol Keen
√ Mike Lynch
Magma
√ Nissa
√√√ Wade Ogletree
√√√ John W. Otte
√√√ Steve Rice
√ Crista Richey
√√ Chawna Schroeder
√ James Somers
√√√ Rachel Starr Thomson
√√ Steve Trower
√ Speculative Faith
√ Jason Waguespack not on the original list
√√√ Fred Warren
√√√ Phyllis Wheeler
√√ Jill Williamson