The God he’d read about in the Bible was a majestic, glorious God. Why would the God with the power to create the world even take notice of the despicable humans on this earth? What would love from a God like that be like? So huge, so enduring, so powerful that no mere human could ever comprehend it.

Dare

Dare by Tricia Mingerink is yet another addition to the list of well-written Christian fiction. In fact, it is beyond well-written; the compelling characters, strong Christian influence, and suspenseful plot kept me coming back in every spare moment. This story will strengthen your faith and give you an exciting adventure.

Plot

A Blade never fails his king.

Leith Torren, third-highest Blade in the kingdom, never questions his loyalty to King Respen. At least, until an arrow wound sends him wandering through a blizzard, where he stumbles onto the doorstep of a family he helped devastate. The two girls’ forbidden faith could land them in even more trouble.

Leith’s life depends on reporting their actions to King Respen—but freedom and a better life stand within his grasp. Will he destroy the family a second time? Or will he risk everything to save his newfound protectors?

Either way, someone will die.

Dare provides nothing but constant tension. From the action-packed first chapter to the end, suspense lurks around every corner. Will Leith turn good? Will he report the two girls, Renna and Brandi? The quest for answers kept the pages turning.

And the way Mingerink introduces the reader to the world and overall conflict is excellent. There are no awkward info dumps; the characters reveal it through thoughts and dialogue.

Characters

Speaking of the characters, all of them were amazing. Leith is boiling with internal conflict, his mind torn between freedom from being a Blade and the safer route of staying in King Respen’s good graces.

Renna the older of the two girls, struggles with doubts about her faith. These are relatable and thought-provoking. She also fights to be brave, knowing the right actions but afraid to take them.

Brandi, her younger sister, is one of my favorites from the book. Her determined drive, stubborn spirit, and innocent trust make her instantly likeable. She immediately trusts Leith and treats him like a brother.

To speak of the other characters would start delving into spoilers, but I’ll say that they are all beautifully written as well.

Theme & Content Warings

Both of the point-of-view characters, Leith and Renna, have their own arc. Leith is slowly drawn more and more to Christianity, and Renna must overcome her fear.

There is violence and some gore in the book, as expected from any story with “blade” in the name. There are plenty of wounds and mentions of blood to go around. I didn’t have a problem with this, and it shouldn’t be a problem to teenaged and up readers.

The Christian aspect of the book has some Calvanistic influences. Enough to warrant mentioning, but not enough to detract from the message of the story. This is not the place for a discussion of the topic; I would only encourage readers to be familiar with the true Gospel.

Overall

Dare was actually brought to my attention by a fellow blogger, Liesl at Quote, Unquote, in a review. I decided to give it a try, and, as you can see, was rather impressed.

This is another book, along with last week’s review, that is set in an alternate history Earth. The locations, characters, and events are fictional, but everything that happens in the story could happen in our world.

Mingerink takes a welcome departure from the typical European-inspired fantasy setting, instead setting the story in rolling prairies not unlike the American west.

I highly recommend this book to teenagers and young adults. This book (and the next book, as I’ve already started it) are giving me ideas for my own projects.

And as always, thanks for reading, and I’ll write you in the next one!

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Categories: Review

5 Comments

Liesl Brunner · May 28, 2021 at 10:11 am

Ahh I’m so glad you read it and liked it! What a well-written review. 🙂

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