Book Review - The Realms Thereunder

The Realms Thereunder
BY: Ross Lawhead
PUBLISHED BY: Thomas Nelson
PUBLISHED IN: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59554-99-9
Pages: 378
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Eight years ago thirteen-year-olds Daniel Tully and Freya Reynolds disappeared while on a class trip to a church in Abbingdon in the British Midlands. Months later they returned home, but the teenagers kept quiet about what really happened to them. Fast forward to the present time, Daniel Tully is living on the streets of Oxford and is being stalked by a wraith-like creature with sharp teeth, and he kills the creature. He’s been keeping track of the reports of maimed animals and many suicides that have occurred around a particular mountain in Scotland. He worries that his worst fears have come true.

Freya Reynolds has been living with OCD while she attends college. She has become obsessed with mystical creatures and folklores. Soon she is reunited with her childhood friend, Daniel, and they both must return to the mystical world, a hidden city underground. A war is coming against an enemy the world has never seen. With the help of a Scottish police officer, Alex Simpson, they must confront their past in order the defeat the upcoming evil.

Knights, crazy creatures, and hidden cities are what you’ll find in this full-length novel by Ross Lawhead. Don’t let the fact that the book is considered Christian pull you away from reading this book. I don’t read much fantasy, but I couldn’t put the book down. The main characters, Daniel and Freya, will stay in your mind long after you have finished reading. With all the vampires, witches, and werewolves novels coming out every month, it is nice to read an original, creative novel. Do you know what is great? This is only book one of the Ancient Earth Trilogy. I can’t wait for the sequel to come out next year.

*I would like to thank Thomas Nelson for sending me a copy to review.