Book Review: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart

Hello, readers! This book review of Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart continues the series The Knights of Arrethtrae. This third book in the series is a shorter one, less than 150 pages, but it is packed with a lot of truth! The rich themes of faith, wisdom, passion, courage, and overcoming doubts are all explored in this book.

When I first picked up this book to read for this review, it was hard to put it down! The first chapter pulls you right into the story, as the main character is in a desperate and hopeless position. It’s surprising, but a great hook for the story. As Dalton is challenged, I felt challenged in my own beliefs. Some parts of the book made me squirm, but it was all for a purpose in the end.

Dalton, a young knight of the Prince, seems to have a bright future ahead of him. He has a strong relationship with a young lady and he is hopeful of a future together. He longs to enjoy life to the fullest. However, seeds of doubt in the King and the Prince plague his mind and confuse him. He begins to face dark challenges, and his worldview is shaken deeply. The enemy will stop at nothing to try to weaken and destroy him.

This story taught me many lessons, and the overall moral is very impactful. This book taught me that if you don’t know what you believe, you lack. You can’t be effective in anything if your heart's not in it. This book is not afraid of asking tough questions, and it was challenging but refreshing to think about the answers to them. This book showed the foolishness of compromising on the truth and the importance of learning to engrain the truth into one’s heart. As a Christian, I am supposed to be different from the world. I may look like a fanatic and take life “too seriously,” but when I understand that my great purpose in life is to love God and grow close to Him, everything else comes second to that. Even so, following Christ doesn’t mean that life is boring. Just the opposite.

There are many things that I liked about this story. It is full of morals, challenges, action and lovable characters. I kept turning the pages quickly as the plot flowed or slowly as the deep questions made me stop and think. There is so much to like about this book, and it truly challenged my faith. I loved this book because it challenged my faith and helped me understand what I believed and why I believed it. The romance, such as it was in the story, is always within the bounds of decency, which I appreciated. There is also no language in it.

There were only a few things I didn’t like about the story. It is a bit short, first of all, which can be disappointing when the story is so good. It would have been nice to flesh out some characters more and have a few more scenes. There also are some fighting scenes that are violent, which can be a bit intense, especially for younger readers.

Overall, this book taught me great lessons and left me wanting more. Dalton’s story made me understand where my purpose and life should always be. If you are a teenager like me who enjoys a story with action, relatable characters, and a compelling message, you should read Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart.

~Evelyn Knight

Biographical info about the book:

Author: Chuck Black

Publisher/date: Multnomah Books, 2009

Genre: Allegorical fiction, adventure