**mini-rant warning**
I know it can be really annoying to read rants that disagree with your faith, especially since they are often not polite either. In saying that, I feel that Christians should understand how their beliefs are perceived by non-believers, as this is important if you hope to connect with non-believers and not come off as either obnoxious or rude (or both). This book was recommended by a Christian friend, and as well intended as it was, this book left me thinking God was an utter jerk (that is to say, the character who is an analogy of God was an utter jerk, for more reasons than one).
Charity, the main and not-so-benevolent protagonist of this audio drama, represents the perfect model of a Christian, which I’ve rarely come across in reality (and yes, I know no one’s perfect, and I don’t expect anyone to be. Christianity however raises the expectations pretty damned high though). Anyway, Charity goes to heaven (Affabel) with several of her friends. All but one of these friends are, for all intents and purposes, executed because they didn’t live their lives in accordance to the king’s wishes (aka God), which the characters learn about through teachers of the law.
Well, they lived an unjust life, serves them right to burn in a fiery pit for eternity the filthy lowlifes... right? Well, it’s easy to say that, but when you think about it, the set up the story presents gets a bit dodgy. For example, when Charity and her friends are brought to the king in his glorious kingdom by angels in the night, we meet Sageous, who is an analogy for the Holy Spirit. He converses with Charity, who waits to be seen by the king, unaware that her friends have been sentenced, and that all but one of them are going to be executed I.e banished to die a thousand deaths in the pits of Hell. One of these condemned characters hated the king because she was cheated by one of his followers and she blamed him for not coming to her aid. Sounds fair to me. According to this audiobook? No. You’re going to hell for your disloyalty, be it justified or not. If the king made any efforts to help this girl after she turned away from him, or if the other character's did, including the protagonist, it is not mentioned.
When Charity asks after her friends, concerned with their welfare, Sageous simply dodges her question and doesn’t answer it. Just to make it clear, Sageous just executed three of Charity’s friends, so I think the girl deserves an explanation.
Charity spares no tears for her lost friends and simply shrugs it off, ecstatic that she has entered heaven, apparently uncaring that her friends are gone forever. Nice one Charity, you sound like the loyal friend who we can always count on to have our backs. Not.
The story could have been far more powerful if Charity offered to take her friends place, true to her name, or at the very least gotten angry at Sageous and the King (aka God).. Perhaps then the author could have included some meaningful dialogue between the characters as Charity is consoled over her tragic loss. But that never happens, and Charity's indifference makes her very unlikable.
Perhaps I am looking into this too much, but as someone who enjoys writing, that is what I do. Consider carefully before trying to engage your non-Christian friends with this audio drama.
To offer a small shred of kindness to the author, the voice acting was well done. I'll say that much for it. Dagon (aka Satan) was a bit weird (and the name Dagon kept reminding me of Elder Scrolls... yes, I'm a nerd), but otherwise, the voice acting was good. For that, I'll give this two stars.