The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards
2 of 5 stars
Many of the stories in this collection are fantastic. Kim Edwards is definitely a very talented writer. My favorite story was "Thirst" about a woman of the sea (a mermaid, I hope)? I enjoyed her other work The Memory Keeper's Daughter very much.
But I finished this collection feeling...attacked. She is obviously very disillusioned with religion, particularly Christianity, and she used this collection of stories to vent her hatred. As a Christian, I know that the path of Christianity is far from perfect and has hurt many people over the years, as has every other religion. Jesus was perfect and we that follow Him definitely are not; but this was just a beat down for no apparent reason. When I started reading this book I felt that I had a kindred spirit because we have similar writing styles, but now I just feel alienated.
There is a difference between challenging people to think about things and just insulting them. She did the latter. I usually deal with people's criticism of Christianity in writing pretty well, but there was no criticism or correction. She used irrational "Christian" characters, with whom no Christian would identify to justify her agenda. She may think of Christianity as a religion she wants no part in, but she just spread a lot of hate, something she claims to stand against. She has freedom of speech and I respect that, but I won't be reading any of her future writing. She lost me as a formerly devoted reader.
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