CSFF Blog Tour – The Bark of the Bog Owl, Day 2

Have I mentioned yet this month how much I love blog tours? 😉 Well, I do. CSFF has a great group of bloggers who work at providing interesting, insightful thoughts about our feature. This month we’re highlighting the first book in the Wilderking Trilogy The Bark of the Bog Owl (Broadman & Holman) by Jonathan Rogers, and the book seems to have brought out the best in our participants. I’m having a great time (was gonna say, blast, but I thought it dated me 😮 ) moving from site to site and reading what the various bloggers and their commenters are saying.

Here are a couple snippets.

From our newest member, Robert Treskillard, who bought the series on his own in order to participate:

So here’s my take on The Bark of the Bog Owl: FANTASTIC! This is a classic young adult fantasy adventure story. Although different in feel, I would place these books alongside C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia for their writing style and appeal to all ages.

From Brandon Barr about the power of fantasy, even in a Biblical story retelling such as The Bark of the Bog Owl:

Tragically, we do this [possess it to the point of losing the excitement of it] to the Bible as well. The stories, the parables, the miracles, we’ve heard them frequently, and they often grow old in our minds, and thus they lose their power. And it’s our own faults, because those things still have the power, we just fail to feel it anymore.

But that’s where Fantasy fiction comes in. Fantasy fiction can retell a story, giving it a new setting, new names, and can refresh our senses, reminding us of the true power of the story.

Yesterday, in my mini-review I shared the opening of The Bark of the Bog Owl and encouraged you to read the excerpt posted at B & H Publishing Group. Pure and simply, I think Jonathan Rogers is such a strong writer, his words sell his books better than anything. But the real test, in my opinion, is how readers in the target audience react. I mean, I’m a reader and enjoy lots of different genres written to a variety of audiences. What I like almost doesn’t count.

For example, the real test for Sharon Hinck‘s Becky Miller books or Julie Carobini‘s Chocolate books is what moms think. So too for the Wilderking books. What do middle graders and YA readers think?

Interestingly, several of our CSFF participants commented that before they could do their reviews they had to wrest the books out of their teens’ hands! 😀

I also look to an expert in the field, someone who knows the children’s/YA market, both Christian and secular. Sally Apokedak has credentials as a writer but also has done an excellent job as a reviewer at All About Children’s Books. Not only has Sally reviewed The Bark of the Bog Owl, she has reviewed the next two books in the trilogy. Here are her opening comments about book two, The secret of the Swamp King:

The secret of the Swamp King, book two in Jonathan Rogers’ Wilderking Trilogy, is the continuing story of young Aidan Errolson, the boy who will be Wilderking. It opens with a thrilling hunt–this time for a wild boar. To make the hunt more exciting it has to be done feechie fashion. No weapons allowed. I was very happy to see Dobro Turtlebane in the opening chapter as well as my old friend Aidan. So, right away, I was drawn into the story, anxious to see what kind of trouble these lovable characters would get into.

You can find the entire review here.

Tomorrow, more on the feechifolk, because Rogers was never better, in my opinion, than when he had Dobro and company center stage.

Here are the other blogs you can tour: Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Janey DeMeo Jeff Draper April Erwin Linda Gilmore Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Karen Dawn King Mike Lynch Rachel Marks Karen McSpadden Melissa Meeks Eve Nielsen John W. Otte Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder James Somers Steve Trower Donna Swanson Robert Treskillard Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver Laura Williams Timothy Wise

Those in bold have been added to the original list appearing at CSFF.