The 'resistance' strives to save citizens from the evil enchanter by rallying around the 'king' who represents the 'saviour'. The authors present challenging and engaging tales in easy metaphors of the Christian struggle for redemption. They will certainly lead to a greater love for the King and His Kingdom! -GODLY GADFLY Lewis' Narnia, Narnian fans may find themselves appreciating the Kingdom Tales of the Mains for the same reasons: the spiritual depth. But although the world isn't as fantastic as C.S. The concept is similar to the Narnia Chronicles, although not with the same degree of success, because the Narnian stories can also function on the level of stories alone. I suspect that those who don't appreciate the deeper meaning will find it hard to enjoy the tales as stand-alone stories for their own sake. I found the stories thoroughly enjoyable particularly because of this deeper meaning. But on the whole the message about serving and honouring the King Jesus Christ comes through loud and clear.
The moral of the stories is generally quite transparent, although in the case of a few tales it is rather obscure. How successful these stories are on their own apart from the underlying spiritual truths is hard to tell. This event of New Day Rising breaks the enchantment, and is of course a clear image of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just when all who have loved and served the King have lost all hope, the King comes back to life, and glorious day falls upon Enchanted City. The climax comes in the last two stories, "Traffic Court" and "The Burning Place", where the King himself is captured by the Enchanter, placed on trial, and burned to death. Here he joins the Taxi Resistance, where those who follow the Kingsways rescue the Lost from the Enchanted City.
In Volume 2, Hero leaves the safety of Great Park to return to the darkness of Enchanted City, and work for the restoration of the Kingdom.
Even though the Enchanter's men proclaim "There is no such thing as a King", the King's men know "that "Things are not what they seem." They realize that even though the Enchanter had said "Seeing is believing", reality is different: "You have to believe in order to see." Christians will understand that these are important spiritual truths about faith and serving the King Jesus Christ.Įach volume has some stories that were especially memorable. But the King is at work delivering the city and rescuing the poor and needy and bringing them to the Great Park. Under the influence of the evil Enchanter, the people of the Enchanted City prefer darkness to the light, and so sleep during the day and work at night. The main returning character is Scarboy, an orphan boy who escapes from the Enchanted City with his brother, Little Child, and becomes Hero in the service of the King.Īlthough the stories have distinctive allegorical qualities, they are more like religious fables or fairy tales, drawing on the imagery of the kingdom that Jesus Christ Himself taught in His ministry. The stories are all separate events often involving different characters, but are bound together as part of a larger story as the Enchanted City is rescued by the exiled King and becomes the Bright City, leading to a joyous conclusion as the people of Great Park and Bright City begin the Great Celebration at the conclusion of the Restoration. Each volume consists of twelve fantasy short stories, set in a city ruled by an evil Enchanter who has usurped the throne from the true King. First published in hardcover in 1983, 1986 & 1996 with delightful illustrations by Jack Stockman, these three books have been reissued in softcover in 2000, but now with a limited number of black-and-white illustrations by Linda Wells which don't do much to enhance the text. David & Karen Mains' Kingdom Tales consist of three volumes: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration.
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