Eggleston, Julie Ann. The Protectors of the Way: The Apostle’s Mechanism. NP: Ourana Publishing, 2022.

Guide to categories: YA Review – review of books for teens

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Summary

Will the team of four brilliant students find the secret before time runs out?
Centuries ago, a divinely-created device was hidden with clues left behind. Only a person called by God can solve them to find the fabled Apostle’s Mechanism.

After being shown an unimaginable secret about their school, four students are drawn into the mystery of the Device. They follow a perplexing trail of clues – an ancient Bible, an indecipherable hymn, and a chapel’s ruins in Germany.

What started as a fun game of playing the part of sleuths takes another direction. The teens must engage in spiritual warfare to face otherworldly forces, which will stop at nothing to prevent them from solving the mystery. Each can only trust in God to find strength on the paths He has laid before them.

Join The Protectors of the Way in the exciting search for the legendary Apostle’s Mechanism!

Adventurous and perilous fantasy meets sleuthing in this fun tale, designed to empower Christian teenagers to rise in their faith.

Readers who celebrate the classics – Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Keene’s Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, and Dixon’s The Hardy Boys – will delight in this easy-to-read novel series.

Purchase The Protectors of the Way on Amazon

My YA Review

The Protectors of the Way: The Apostle’s Mechanism has an interesting premise. There is an Alliance of Christians whose job is to protect others  from the spiritual world. They believe there is a mechanism from Apostle Paul that is hidden and part of their mission is to find that mechanism – following clues that have been available for hundreds of years. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think that the way the book is written will be appealing to the intended audience of middle school and early high school students. There is something about the story that just doesn’t ring true. It feels a bit didactic at times. The book also seems to contain beliefs that can’t be supported by Scripture. It is a work of fantasy so some deviation from truth is expected, but I’m not sure we should be deviating from Biblical truth. 

The Protectors of the Way: The Apostle’s Mechanism is not a book I can readily recommend for a K-12 Christian school library – mostly because I don’t think many will read it. I do recommend that interested librarians read the book for themselves and make their own decision.

I received a complimentary copy of The Protectors of the Way: The Apostle’s Mechanism. This is my honest review. 

About the Author – Julie Ann Eggleston

Julie Ann Eggleston, having found a passion for writing from her childhood love of reading, has crafted this first installment of a young adult book series with strong and direct Biblical themes and symbols. In between mothering three young children and running a music school, she has created this fantastical world full of adventure, revealed in The Protectors of the Way novels.

You can contact the author at www.julieanneggleston.com.

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