Review: Foundlings by Matthew Christian Harding

Foundlings, Book One of the Peleg Chronicles

Author:  Matthew Christian Harding

Softcover (239 pages)
Price: $11.95
Zoe and Sozo Publishing 2010
Ages: 11 and up 
My Take: Great Christian novel

I received a copy of Foundlings in order to offer my honest opinions in this review. No other compensation has been received.

Do you long for a book that will appeal with a great story line and adventure that can be trusted to refrain from negative things like witchcraft, magic, evolution and more with a medieval theme?  Getting our kids to read is such a hard job, but then finding new fiction written in a God honoring way is perhaps even harder! Foundlings, Book One of the Peleg Chronicles is written with loads of good things within~and is a great book!

You can believe when a kid says a book is good~because they know what kids like!  My daughter (almost 16) is a book-a-holic who loves to read.  She reads voraciously and can't keep enough books, so I offered her the opportunity to read Foundlings.  This is what she said,

"The theme of this book is relying on God, courage and your ability to love and protect others, as well as staying faithful to friends unto death.  The plot begins with Lord McDougal who is cursed as "The Dead Man," and continues with his adventures. (Mom is editing here b/c I don't want to spoil it for you!)  You will meet the main characters, Lord McDougal, Suize, Grimcrack and Fergus Leatherhead in this tale of dragons, swords, knights and monsters.  The entire book is set up after the time of Noah's flood as the Bible describes in Genesis.

Personally, this book didn't really appeal to me. (MOM says, bummer!)  The beginning was slow, and the first chapter is more of a set up for the climax than a grabber for me. I did find that there were parts that had me hanging on the edge of my seat~ The climax featured a lot of fights, swords and medieval themed things like the dragons, knights, monsters, etc...

There is an extensive vocabulary which is used in an entertaining, action-y, vivid-descriptions word play.  The plot is short, to the point and not overly complex.  I liked the last several chapters the best!  My favorite part was when Thiery stumbled across the bridge...(MOM is stopping it again~NO SPOILER!), and my second fave part is when Fergus was backed into a corner and resorted to....(MOM again! LOL)  This part had me laughing!  Fergus and Birdie are my favorite characters, but I liked Theiry too!  Overall it was a worthwhile read."


She recommends that, "I believe this book would most likely appeal to a male audience because of the theme and its style"

MOM:  Included in the appendix is a section called, "The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ" which has Scripture concerning the plan of salvation.  No doctrine is presented,just Scripture alone from various books of the Bible.

My copy was autographed which I so appreciate from Mr. Harding! When you order from his site, it says you can request this as well.  There are other options for ordering like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.  (I like the autographed copy offer, myself!)

Foundlings is the first  of a two book set of the Peleg Chronicles.  The second, Paladins is also available!

Trusting the material our children read is so important, and finding books that interest them is too~
Check out Foundlings HERE!

Check out what The Old Schoolhouse Crew
says about it HERE!