The Oath by Frank E. Peretti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish I would have read this book before writing my own novel. It’s a well-done allegory. Peretti does a masterful job at making the allegory almost invisible until midway through the book. At the moment the meaning of the dragon is revealed, all the various points of the allegory come to light at once. Rather than a tedious setup, or a prolonged explanation of what everything means, you feel like you are simply enjoying a story right up to the moment when the meaning all comes to light.

I believe Christian fiction should do far more than tell entertaining stories. Fiction has the power to touch the emotions, and proper emotions are a crucial part of living the Christian life. The world does a masterful job at using stories to cause people to love what is evil. We should use it to help people love to good and hate evil. I recommend The Oath because it helped me hate sin more and be more on my guard against its subtle attempts to gain access to my heart.

Also, I listened to the audiobook version. The narrator does an amazing job. Far better than most.