"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it our few..."

This verse from the book of Matthew 7: 14 to me represents one of the main messages in The Realms ThereUnder by Ross Lawhead. The two main characters our Freya and Daniel who we see go through two different adventures spanning both the past and present as they are drawn into a battle underground whose evil offspring cause problems on Earth. Now this book is full of legends, monsters, and faerie folk and therefore is not without its violence and evil.

Freya and Daniel represent two common human responses to God's will. Freya does not wish to be involved in the adventure and is reluctantly drawn along. Daniel who sees the adventure as finding his purpose in his life goes full steam ahead and sometimes needs Freya's timidity to draw him back. It is the bringing to gather of these two very different characters that God's will is accomplished despite their human flaws. One of the things I liked best about this book is that it was never quite clear how everything fit together until the end of book. Since this is the start of a trilogy I will have to wait for the next book to come out.

Have a good read, Nina