Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
The world takes sides in this classic Christian fantasy.After five hundred years of oppression, the Seventh World is beginning to wake to the realities of the unseen world behind the Veil. The rise of the Gifted heralds the return of the King of ancient days—but evil is also waking. Aware that their control is beginning to slip, the Order of the Spider sets out to convert the Gifted or destroy them.Among those caught in the conflict are Nicolas Fisher, a young Gypsy running from the past, and Maggie Sheffield, driven underground in the city of Pravik. Others also stand against the the young chieftain Michael O’Roarke, the mysterious healer called Miracle, and the indomitable rebels of Pravik.As the world takes sides, their lives will play an integral role—in the coming of light, or the triumph of darkness.BURNING LIGHT is the second book in The Seventh World Trilogy, a Christian fantasy adventure with hints of steampunk and depths of spiritual truth. If you love page-turning action, memorable characters, and inspirational fiction that confronts darkness, reveals breathtaking beauty, and moves your heart to connect more deeply with God, this series is for you.Buy BURNING LIGHT now and continue the adventure!Life-Changing, Inspirational Christian From the AuthorHey, my name is Rachel Starr Thomson. I love Jesus and believe wholeheartedly in the power of fiction to change our lives. While nonfiction may teach us something, fiction allows us to experience it. When we’re experiencing truth, beauty, struggle, and triumph, we find our lives enriched and deepened by what we read.That’s why I write. I want my readers to discover depths of truth about themselves, about the world, and about God that stretch and inspire them. My stories are always clean, but I don’t shy away from hard questions and honest characters.Whoever you are, I believe in you. I believe your life has immeasurable worth. I believe you were personally handcrafted by a loving Creator with a vision and purpose for your life. I believe your struggles, your dreams, and your hurts matter. I believe you walk a path no one else does, one that is intended to benefit the world. I hope you’ll enjoy what you read and come back for more.Most of all, I hope that through my stories, you’ll forge a new depth of connection with the God who truly loves you.

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

39 people are currently reading
157 people want to read

About the author

Rachel Starr Thomson

79 books174 followers
Rachel Starr Thomson is in love with Jesus and convinced the gospel will change the world.

Rachel is a woman of many talents and even more interests: she’s a writer, editor, indie publisher, singer, speaker, Bible study teacher, and world traveler. The author of the Seventh World Trilogy, The Oneness Cycle, and many other books, she also tours North America and other parts of the world as a speaker and spoken-word artist with 1:11 Ministries.

Adventures in the Kingdom launched in 2015 as a way to bring together Rachel’s explorations, in fiction and nonfiction, of what it means to live all of life in the kingdom of God.

Rachel lives in the beautiful Niagara Region of southern Ontario, just down the river from the Falls. She drinks far too much coffee and tea, daydreams of visiting Florida all winter, and hikes the Bruce Trail when she gets a few minutes. A homeschool graduate from a highly creative and entrepreneurial family, she believes we’d all be much better off if we pitched our television sets out the nearest window.

LIFE AND WORK (BRIEFLY)
Rachel began writing on scrap paper sometime around grade 1. Her stories revolved around jungle animals and sometimes pirates (they were actual rats . . . she doesn’t remember if the pun was intended). Back then she also illustrated her own work, a habit she left behind with the scrap paper.

Rachel’s first novel, a humorous romp called Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe, was written when she was 13, followed within a year by the more serious adventure story Reap the Whirlwind. Around that time, she had a life-changing encounter with God.

The next several years were spent getting to know God, developing a new love for the Scriptures, and discovering a passion for ministry through working with a local ministry with international reach, Sommer Haven Ranch International. Although Rachel was raised in a strong Christian home, where discipleship was as much a part of homeschooling as academics, these years were pivotal in making her faith her own.

At age 17, Rachel started writing again, this time penning the essays that became Letters to a Samuel Generation and Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord’s Prayer.

In 2001, Rachel returned to fiction, writing what would become her bestselling novel and then a bestselling series–Worlds Unseen, book 1 of The Seventh World Trilogy.

A classic fantasy adventure marked by Rachel’s lyrical style, Worlds Unseen encapsulates much of what makes Rachel’s writing unique: fantasy settings with one foot in the real world; adventure stories that explore depths of spiritual truth; and a knack for opening readers’ eyes anew to the beauty of their own world–and of themselves.

In 2003, Rachel began freelance editing, a side job that soon blossomed into a full-time career. Four years later, in 2007, she co-founded Soli Deo Gloria Ballet with Carolyn Currey, an arts ministry that in 2015 would be renamed as 1:11 Ministries. To a team of dancers and singers, Rachel brought the power of words, writing and delivering original narrations, spoken-word poetry, and songs for over a dozen productions. The team has ministered coast-to-coast in Canada as well as in the United States and internationally.

Rachel began publishing her own work under the auspices of Little Dozen Press in 2007, but it was in 2011, with the e-book revolution in full swing, that writing became a true priority again. Since that time Rachel has published many of her older never-published titles and written two new fiction series, The Oneness Cycle and The Prophet Trilogy.

Over 30 of Rachel’s novels, short stories, and nonfiction works are now available in digital editions. Many are available in paperback as well, with more released regularly.

The God she fell in love with as a teenager has remained the focus of Rachel’s life, work, and speaking.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
70 (50%)
4 stars
42 (30%)
3 stars
18 (12%)
2 stars
6 (4%)
1 star
4 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Sean Helms.
325 reviews7 followers
August 23, 2018
This was a satisfying continuation of the Burning Light Trilogy. Darker than the first book, it introduced new characters to open a new front on the war against the nefarious order of the Spider.
I do appreciate that this is a fantasy based on Christian themes, although because of that I can't agree with the history representing the 'King' being defeated in the past by Morning Star and sent into exile. The King of kings cannot know defeat. That being said, I look forward to the second coming of the King and His ultimate and total victory over all things evil.
16 reviews
May 19, 2022
Love the characters but

As with the first book in the series, some of the transitions end so abruptly that I look to make sure I didn’t skip a page. The characters are likable and the plot is there. It just needs need be developed a little. That said, I’m anxious to read the next book!
262 reviews1 follower
August 4, 2024
DNF 57%. I really wanted to like this. I just felt like it was too slow and I wasn’t very engaged with the story. I think the premise was interesting and I could see why others might really like this book. I just didn’t. I did not think it bad, I just wasn’t engaged enough to want to finish it.
Profile Image for Alison Elizabeth.
29 reviews1 follower
February 4, 2018
Excellent!!!!! Just like book 1 - Could not put this book down! Can hardly wait to jump into the final book is this trilogy.
Profile Image for Suzie Shychuk.
19 reviews
August 20, 2019
Great selection

Book keeps you drawn in while the story twists and turns. Can't be sure what's around the corner or how it ties into the story.
Profile Image for Jane Moore.
11 reviews
July 27, 2022
Strong second book

So many characters and yet each one is special and part of the whole. I dare not spoil anything by saying more.
Profile Image for Anne Campbell.
Author 27 books48 followers
February 5, 2017

This book two in the Seventh World Trilogy, and it's just as riveting as the first one (Worlds Unseen). It's Christian fiction (Sci-Fi or Speculative Fiction) at its best.

Nicolas Fisher, one of the Gifted, has been hearing voices--which for him is nothing unusual. This one voice is louder or at least more insistent than the others. It's River-Daughter's voice. She wants to be set free. Nicolas doesn't understand what she wants to be set free from, but he's afraid it has something to to with the Blackness.

Where? She just says to follow the stream, a river that ran upstream for a time to get his attention. So he does. He runs into some Gypsy friends who don't think his gift is odd at all. They follow with him, and they rescue a man from a doomed ship. They take the stranger to an abandoned hut. Odd--the man keeps muttering something about his son Nicholas. If the guy means Nicolas Fisher, Nicolas wants nothing to do with him. His father deserted his mother and him when he was just a tad.

Two more of the Gifted are disturbed. Virginia, blind but with awesome visions, and Maggie, whose songs are more than just songs. Something's wrong, and events transpire that amaze and confuse both of them.

And then there's Michael, the guy in the first book who returned to his home on the Green Isle to lead his small clan. The problem is that the Blackness follows him, only to kidnap all the children and take them to Althrom. How can he get them back? Why were they kidnapped?

When will the King arrive to save them? Too late, if at all?

Look for Burning Light on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I received this book from the author for free in return for an honest review.
Profile Image for Sarah.
Author 46 books458 followers
November 21, 2012
After reading the first book, I immediately bought the sequel. I had to know what was going to happen next, and was I in for more excitement than I thought.

There were only two things that I didn’t like about this book. 1. Sometimes the bad guys were a little too dark for my liking (although good ultimately always triumphs over evil) 2. There wasn’t a lot about Maggie. Although Maggie is part of the story, she doesn’t have as big of a role.

As I said before, Rachel’s writing style is nothing short of lyrical. I reread many portions and read some of them aloud, just because they sounded amazing. I can see this as a wonderful book to read aloud as a family.

Even though I didn’t like the fact that Maggie wasn’t as much in this book as she was the last book, Rachel introduced some wonderful characters to make up for it. Miracle was my favorite of the new characters. She was so sweet as well as wise; I couldn’t help but love her. I also loved how she cares for even the bad guys.

Rachel already established that she was a good world builder in the first book, but in this book she established herself as one of the best world builders ever in my mind. She introduced a culture that lives below the ground and has for many years. The Darkworlders were a culture unlike any other, and she did them well.

I recommend this book for those whole loved the first one, love fantasy, adventure, and allegories.
Profile Image for D.M. Dutcher .
Author 1 book50 followers
January 4, 2013
It's good, but it didn't feel as good as the first book. Not that it was bad, not at all; Thomson is a really underrated Christian fantasy author, and has a great style as well as unique situations in her books. But reading it I felt a bit disconnected, and it felt like things were unfurling for the third book. Curse of the bridging book, I guess.

Nicolas and Bear are separated from everyone, and get drawn into rescuing gypsies as the empire rounds them up to persecute and kill them. The ploughman is in hiding, along with his army of refugees, in a deep system of catacombs. Miracle is in a far off land dealing with the Nameless One. The veil is weakening, too. There isn't much time left.

Again, it's good, but the first book was really strong, and this one doesn't have the same slow unfurling of a different world than it. Maggie and Christopher Ens felt just there, as opposed to being linked to the past books, and the whole Gypsy thing didn't really feel related to the main struggle, preserving the veil. Nicolas plays a key role, but it really doesn't feel like it-his events are fairly passive, and even the good spiritual powers always seem limited in what they can do.

It's not something that would make me give up the series, but it has a little less steam than the first. Still looking towards the third, and the consummation of the mythology of the veil.
Profile Image for Cindy .
700 reviews2 followers
August 29, 2016
I've fallen in love with her books, they're fantastic! I really love this author. While I read a lot of books, there aren't many authors who write consistently great Christian fiction, but Rachel is one of them. She shows the truth about our God; His love for us, His hate of sin, His judgment, and His coming Kingdom. She shows it all in a way that keeps you riveted, and wanting to know what will happen next. She shows sin for the evil it is without trying to pretty it up. She shows too, the difference between the world's love and God's love, and how very powerful it is. Great book and series! I definitely plan on getting all of her books as I can.
Profile Image for Roswitha.
46 reviews6 followers
February 9, 2013
When I start a series or trilogy, I always feel like I need to finish it. (Unless I find the material objectionable.) So even though I did not think very well of Worlds Unseen I went on to read this one. Unfortunately it was no improvement; I think overall it actually was not even as good as the first one. The plot was more disjointed and rambling, and the characters were every bit as undefined. Too bad, because the author did have some clever ideas and some very good themes. But the writing needs quite a bit of improvement.
23 reviews3 followers
June 28, 2011
I liked the first book better than this, but I still couldn't put it down (I just had to know how the story ends.) The book focused more on Nicholas and developing some other characters, but I kinda missed the old characters in the first book. They were not given that much attention. Still an enjoyable read.
Author 11 books55 followers
December 1, 2016
I was given the first book in this series and liked it so much, that I purchased the other two. This is the second book. I loved it! One of my new favorite authors. I give it five stars. Great Christian Fantasy. I can recommend for teens and up.
Profile Image for Amie.
174 reviews
January 11, 2010
I have really loved this story. I look forward to it's continuation. I love the strong female characters. This isn't to detract from the great men in the story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.