Shipwrecks, Burning Churches, and Why It’s Okay

This has been a very momentous week. Momentous not in great memories, but in events.

Take this past Monday, for example. April 15th. At 2:20 a.m., 116 years ago, the great steam-liner Titanic slipped beneath the waves of the icy Atlantic, sending 1,503 people to a watery grave.

At 7 p.m., April 15th, 2019, the famous historical landmark, the Notre Dame Cathedral, went up in flames, destroying a centuries-old church which was the most popular example of Medieval Gothic architecture.

Destruction. Loss. And yet, while my sympathy goes to the French people who have lost a symbol of their country, it isn’t the end. There is something–that even the Catholics lamenting that this tragedy happened during Holy Week–that most people, media included, have missed in all of this.

In Isaiah 40:8, it says “The grass withereth, the flower fades, but the word of our God endureth forever.” This means that even though the world falls to pieces around us, God’s promises still remain and He is still with us. This loss includes ships, buildings, people, history, everything. But that doesn’t change the fact that God is sovereign over all and that He is still reigning, regardless of how many medieval churches succumb to the fires of destruction.

Easter is just around the corner, the time of year when we celebrate together the death and resurrection of a man who lived over two thousand years ago. Of course, He’s not just any man. He’s the creator of the universe who died in our place so that we could have eternal life. He died the death of a common criminal during the Roman Empire, the most humiliating and painful death they could invent: crucifixion. What do you think His followers felt when they saw who they believed to be the Messiah die at the hands of their enemies? Pretty hopeless, right? Do you think they would have really cared at that moment if a synagogue up in Galilee burned down? (Please don’t take offense at this, I’m going more into that in just a second.)

But the point is, the story doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end there for them and it doesn’t end there for us either.

Christ rose again from the dead. No one else has ever done so and no one ever will. Christ lives again, reigning in glory with His Father and one day He will come to take us home.

On that day, the fact that Notre Dame is little more than a smoking ruin won’t even matter to us. Why? Because, it’s–historical worth aside–just a building made of stones and glass and lead. It was a church, a building designed specifically for Christians to come and worship their Risen Saviour all through the year, but especially at Easter. Just because it’s destroyed doesn’t change the fact that Christ is Risen.

That cathedral is destroyed, even if there are plans to rebuild it.

But Christ isn’t destroyed. He defeated Death and lives again–and that’s why we have hope!

Easter is just a few days away. Celebrate with joy that our Saviour reigns–for He is LORD over all, including old medieval churches.

~~~

Song of this week is another one of my recordings, this one shared in light of coming Easter. This arrangement was actually a lot of fun to create and I still pick it up and mess around with it sometimes. For those of you who don’t know, part of it is from Franz Liszt’s Via Crucis, or the Way of the Cross. O Sacred Head Now Wounded with Liszt’s Via Crucis I hope you enjoy!

~~~

This review of the week is of The Fourth Piper by my friend and beta-reader, Bri.

A Bit About the Author:

Tweeter109 is an aspiring young author who loves fantasy and historical fiction. Her favorite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen Lawhead. When not working on her fantasy retelling, she enjoys reviewing and beta-reading books. Plus, she’s doing a fantastic job beta-reading my novel, Dìlseachd – A Forgotten Crown.

Title: 

I love the title, as it’s definitely mysterious. However, nitpicky me thinks a more dramatic one could be even better. *mulls over things like Final Song, No More Singing, The Lost Pipes, The Forgotten Piper, Song of the Piper*

Cover: 

I love the cover, I really do, and it fits your story very well. I personally think the font could stand out a lot more–and it’d be gorgeous if it was bevel–but it’s still good as it is.

Blurb: 

It’s a good blurb. It does a good job of what a blurb’s supposed to do. Oh, I think there’s an are missing between north and raiding. Just reading it, I’m immediately interested in reading your story. Plus, it appears to have the prose I love. Just, it feels a bit too long. Way too long. Might be just me, but I feel that it would be better to shorten some stuff and leave the reader hanging more. I don’t know, just my thoughts.

The Good: 

SO IN LOVE WITH YOUR PROSE, MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!! I live for this kind of narrative. T_T So few people write like that these days–in the style of Rosemary Sutcliff, J.R.R. Tolkien, etc. (autumn_sunfire you would love this book!) It is such a joy to read it, especially your dialogue.

Your plot is flowing at a very nice pace and I’m easily able to follow along what’s happening in your work. Most of your characters are easy to keep straight as well, and I’m usually able to keep them apart in dialogue sequences. Your grammar is usually pretty good minus a few typos that randomly pop up every now and then.

The Bad: 

*rubs hands in glee*

JUST KIDDING!

The main issue for me was the introduction of faeries. (Can’t remember if you spell it as faeries or fairies; my bad if I’ve messed that up.) The story got a whole lot more complicated and it was hard to follow and understand what was going on after that point. For one thing, keeping all the faery names straight is a bit of a pain, so maybe more descriptions or not so many of them at once might help. Also, the plot seemed to slowwwwwww down a lot in that scene when they appear which was a bit… Boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love faeries, but this seemed to jolt me out of the story for a bit. And the language they speak was really hard to follow–even with the translations. It just seemed a bit rough in those sequences.

The world-building, while really good for the most part, I think could have done with a bit more. You have beautiful descriptions of scenes and settings, but I want to see more of how your world works, their traditions and values, the different places, etc. I know your book is not finished and the answers I’m seeking might show up later, but as of now, I’m not satisfied. >:-)

What the Reader Thought:

Not sure if I haven’t stressed this enough yet, but I ab-so-lute-ly love your prose. Seriously. It’s not done enough and it’s rare to see people do it these days. It’s probably one of my favorite things about your book. That, and the fact you have this whole thing with music. Oh, and the fact that you are writing a brilliant and beautiful high fantasy story–just the way I like it. 😉 I love the whole music thing. It’s just… I don’t know how to describe it… It’s just very magical in a very melancholy, ethereal way. Like if this was a movie, I want Howard Shore to do the music. ^.^

I love Shade. And Marian. I’m not sure if I’m crazy-shipping them yet, but I’m definitely shipping them. I can’t wait to see more of them in future as your story progresses.

You have amazing stuff going on, Bri, and I can’t wait for more. Keep it up!

Score: 10/10

That’s all folks. Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

~ Cheyenne