Today I'm reviewing a new author to me! I was excited to see "Dauntless" by Dina L. Sleiman in the queue for reviews and I chose it based on it being a 'Robin Hood' like adventure novel- well- that and the fact that the book has great cover art and title!
The book centers around the 17 year old noblewoman Lady Merry and the group of youngsters she rescues and hides the night her family is killed and their village is burned to the ground by orders of the vindictive King John. Merry and her band have hidden in the forest, surviving and thriving, for over two years and going largely undetected except for the rumors of 'The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest' that are whispered in surrounding villages whenever food and clothing go missing from their cottages.Upset and danger fall on Merry's band after they nab a small chest they find contains gold coins bound for the king and the 'ghosts' become a little more living and breathing than they can conceal. Merry and her trusted men pick up and move their camp to another area but in doing so they are placed into another danger they didn't count on- that of Merry's past intended husband, now loyal to the king, stumbling into their midst. Merry, now faced with the collision of her past and present must look to the future, and is faced with many choices about how to protect those she loves and is responsible for- even as her heart is pulled towards the potential to fall in love again.
As I have always been a fan of 'legend' stories like Robin Hood, and of bold female protagonists when I saw the option of girl!Robin Hood my reaction was pretty much 'yes, please and thank you, sign me up'! Reading the book, however, I turned out to have another reaction altogether. While I think that the structural bones of the plot are good- protection of the innocent and defenseless, the fight of good vs. evil, and characters that have potential to be lovable and engaging- there is a whole lot of crooked drywall that's been slapped up and questionable interior decorating that have gone on inside!
Some of my major objections lie in the romance side of the book. In truth Merry has not just one but two suitors and while a good love-triangle can be entertaining and add to the drama of a story, this wasn't it. I don't think that in a book that (as it turns out) is YA (young-adult) and geared for 14-18 year old girls its necessary to inject that type of drama. With a heroine of 22 or 25 this could have been a plausible plot element as she tries to decide her future, but this girl is 17- and that is still a child- despite the era in which this book is set. This heroine, a girl of noble birth and breeding, while being capable and responsible is clearly not mature and throughout the book childishly flip-flops between her two prospects like her two favorite dolls. In one scene after passionately kissing one boy and declaring her undying love for him (before sending him away for his protection) she immediately turns around and tells herself that she'll just have to learn to love the other boy because he's what she's left with!! Literally in the space of a page turn, in seemingly the next breath she takes, this is her decision!
Some may call me a prude for saying this, and there may be some who do not object to 17 year olds passionately kissing, and 'feeling the heat of each others body's pressed against each other', but in my world that's a big no, nope, not gonna happen. I do not care about the context of the era, I care about what teenage Christian girls are having modeled in the books they read. I won't lie- while this is surely a book that would have loved to read at 13-14 and up it is exactly what my mother would have kept me from reading- and what now I would keep any young girl I knew from reading!! As Christians we are supposed to model a better standard about relationships and romance and this falls short woefully in my opinion.
Unfortunately there is another area that in my opinion falls short of Christian standards and that is in the use of two curse words towards the end of the story. While it may have been historically correct to refer to a child's illegitimacy with such a term it is not acceptable to do so now, however correctly employed, and I find it especially offensive in a Christian book.
An issue that really rubbed me the wrong way at the climax of the narrative is that the killing of an enemy is forced on our heroine, a girl, when it was well within the male lead's power to take it on and execute it himself. I surmise that Sleiman intended to make Lady Merry the 'hero of the hour' as she rescues and protects the children and herself but this is not an example of Biblical, sacrificial, male protection and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Really, if we are to compare this scenario with something from a secular counterpart I would easily compare it to The Hunger Games series and to Peeta's consistent sacrificial love of Katness and to his willingness to kill to protect her, and kill to keep her from having to kill in order to protect her heart and mind. If a secular book can do this effectively why can't a Christian one? I think you'd be hard pressed to say that Katness is any less of a hero for how Peeta protects her, so why then does it feel that Lady Mary was foisted into this to make her 'more of a hero' for not needing a man?
My last main concern is theological and historical. There are several points here and I'll try and be brief in recounting them but I feel strongly about them being pointed out.
In an age where it is hard to find a young person that can tell you accurately about American history I find it a bit laughable to assume that one would know and understand all the background of British history and the complexities of the Catholic and Christian churches and the 'divine right of kings' theology that was the cause of so much suffering. To try and explore that theme as the male leads do as they struggle with where their allegiances lie without offering any clear structure to hang it on in a forward or afterward does not help the reader to discern better what is discussed and leaves them to their own assumptions of history that may not be accurate.
The inclusion of the scene of the resurrection and healing of one of Merry's children (who falls ill and dies), complete with 'in the name and blood of Jesus' type prayers and swirling beams of light nearly knocked me out of my chair!! I've never seen anything like it in this type of book and I was shocked! Jesus does indeed hear and answer prayers, but in this situation I had the uncomfortable feeling of watching a 'healing' that was worthy of a late night TV evangelist! I really think the reader would have been better served learning to overcome a loss in a Christ honoring way than being subjected to such mystic charlatanism.
I had great hopes for this book- with a name like 'Dauntless' who wouldn't? But I just found it sorely lacking in all areas and I would not recommend it. Even the theme of being 'dauntless' while having much opportunity to was never woven throughout the book and left to a single statement at the end of Merry's spiritual revival. I felt like 'Dauntless' was this book's "Rollings Reliable"- a post script added in with the intent of tying up loose ends and coalescing around a theme- and in the end I am simply left as dear Anne Shirley was, quite befuddled and aghast at the whole thing.
Rating: 1.5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review and opinion of the product.
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