Jon’s review of Battle Mage > Likes and Comments
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This may come across as a bit harsh, but I mean it as constructive criticism:
I loved Battle Mage. I thought the story was great, the characters were great and the action sequences were exciting and well-written. I really liked the dragons, the magic and the knightly orders. However, I felt the complete absence of God in a world like this was incredibly bizarre. Seeing that this absence simply stems from the author's own atheism is actually very anticlimactic and kind of depressing.
Billions of people believe in God as THE foundational truth, the sole reason for all of existence. But for this author, such a view is apparently so impossible that he can't even pretend that there's some kind of divinity underlying a fantasy setting. He can believe in absolute evil that exists for no reason for the sake of a good yarn, but a creative will behind existence itself is too unthinkable?
If even the author is unwilling to suspend his disbelief for a moment for the sake of creating a world that truly feels medieval, how can he expect the reader to do the same?
Again, despite this one flaw, I thought the book was amazing and I wish the author great success in his future endeavours.
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This may come across as a bit harsh, but I mean it as constructive criticism:I loved Battle Mage. I thought the story was great, the characters were great and the action sequences were exciting and well-written. I really liked the dragons, the magic and the knightly orders. However, I felt the complete absence of God in a world like this was incredibly bizarre. Seeing that this absence simply stems from the author's own atheism is actually very anticlimactic and kind of depressing.
Billions of people believe in God as THE foundational truth, the sole reason for all of existence. But for this author, such a view is apparently so impossible that he can't even pretend that there's some kind of divinity underlying a fantasy setting. He can believe in absolute evil that exists for no reason for the sake of a good yarn, but a creative will behind existence itself is too unthinkable?
If even the author is unwilling to suspend his disbelief for a moment for the sake of creating a world that truly feels medieval, how can he expect the reader to do the same?
Again, despite this one flaw, I thought the book was amazing and I wish the author great success in his future endeavours.
As for faith, I do mention what faith is as far as the BM universe is concerned... it's the ability to maintain hope when all seems hopeless, a refusal or inability to despair. And some of this is obviously a personal perspective. I was actually brought up Catholic, but I am now aetheist. I don't believe in any form of god, and yet I still have a kind of faith, although it is not faith in any kind of supernatural power.
As for references to God or gods, this was a conscious decision because including a god (or creator, as many fantasy books do) leads to a whole host of problems. First, you need to decide if this god is actually real or just a concept that people believe in. If he/she is just a concept then they have no power other than the power to inspire and motivate through some kind of belief.
On the other hand, if there really is a god, then you need to decide what kind of influence they have in the world. Can they actually intervene, and if so how? If they have th epower to intevene then you need to decide on what basis they would. And if a person gets their power and strength from a god then why would that person be admired. It's not their strength or courage it's courage sent from god. And if god has some plan or purpose for people in this fanatsy world, then what is the point of a characters decisions.
All these issues and many more have been discussed at length in theological circles. For me, and this is purely a personal position, the existence of a god or gods in the real world makes no sense. And including such an entity in a fantasy world simply throws up to many questions that can't be answered in the treal world never mind in a fantasy book.
Some writers have numerous gods and numerous religeons, and these can generate very interesting conflicts, motivations, colour and scenarios. But for me, they would just be factions that would complicate matters so I decided to leave out religion as a concept. The only time I come close is with the idea that something of a person persists after death, and with the Beltonian idea of the Halls of Hugreki, which is basically just the Halls of Valhala. Apart from that, the only things that pray are the demons, and they are just appealking to and drawing power from a core pool of evil which lies at the heart of some strange infernal realm that the humans of my world have decided to call hell.
Well, Jon, that is a very long answer to a perfectly good question. You are not the first to ask such a question., but I hope that gives you some insight into my thinking and the decisions I made.
With kind regards
Peter