The Gift - Book 2 in the Chiveis Trilogy by Dr. Bryan Litfin
“The purpose of life is to expend it for the sake of the weak and the downtrodden”
Defective.
The broken, outcast, unwanted, ridiculed, shunned, laughed at, and worthless.
Out of all the intriguing parallels to modern society that Dr. Litfin makes in The Gift, the second book in the Chiveis Trilogy, this concept of the defective stirred my heart and mind the most.
Look at the tabloids, covers of magazines, red carpet interviews, and trending news articles; we live in a context where we esteem the beautiful, talented, and powerful.
Yet, what we most long, love, and lust for are futile.
As Dr. Litfin's character, the Overseer says, "Deus favors the weak and the downtrodden. He hides his strength in them... In our brokenness we find the way forward. In our suffering we bind ourselves to Deus." (p. 132-133).
This is week 17 of 52 in Tim Challies 2020 Reading Challenges, and I have been assigned a book I think will make me a better person. We often don't think of stories as having a profound effect on our lives, however, the most influential man in history told more stories than he made statements.
I chose Dr. Litfin's 2nd book in the Chiveis Trilogy, The Gift. I read and reviewed the first book in the trilogy, The Sword, a few weeks ago, and you can find the review here.
As humans, we love stories, partly because they help us escape the reality of present circumstances. I admit it was refreshing to enter the Christian infused adventures of Teo and Ana. To escape the constant news of disease, death, and fear was delightful.
But regrettably, at some point, you must put the book down.
The beautiful thing about Dr. Litfin's The Gift is it satisfies another reason why we love stories. Some stories, the good ones, help us interpret our circumstances through the lens of a fictional world.
The Gift is one of those good stories. In this second book, Teo and Ana strike out into an unknown land where they suddenly find their former rolls in life reversed. Teo goes from revered scholar and Captain to a mere disrespected and overlooked private, while Ana moves from farm girl to a position esteemed for a princess.
But where they hoped to find the freedom to practice their newfound faith in the one true God they know as Deu, they instead find a greater opposition from where they had just fled. And there is something new.
A serpent. A darkness. Evil is following them. Hunting them. Actively seeking their demise. And without spoiling too much, may have succeeded.
I recommend this book with four out of five stars as an excellent thought-provoking piece of Christian fiction for ages 13 years and up. For this review, I want to highlight two personal insights and one small literary gripe.
The Defective – A Mirror for Americans to Consider
The best definition of the defective comes from a character intentionally named Vanita.
"A dark-haired girl with tan skin chimed in. "We're an advanced society here in Ulmbartia. We don't like flawed people in our midst. That's what the shamans are for: they remove the Defectives and take them to a better place" (p. 85).
Advanced society. Flawed people. Defective. Better place.
Vanita did not care where this better place was, what it was like, or what happened to the defective, so long as they were removed for the society's midst.
Buckle up. This may sting for a second.
Does Vanita sound more like your culture or you?
I hope that you are like Dr. Litfin's Overseer, Ambrosius, who willfully goes to the land of the Defectives to proclaim the one true God. Who himself, mares his figure so that he too would forever be labeled a Defective.
To be a Christian, to be the Church, is to embrace the Defective. Because truly, there is no such thing as a "non-defective" or perfect person.
Whether the blemish is an external or internal, we are all desperately in need of repair! And there is one that loves us despite all our defects and says to us come to him as we are.
"My friend, believe you were created by Deus for a purpose. Believe he loves you, just as he loves the Defectives around us. Deus made them in his own image. For most of my life I didn't understand that truth. But here at the end of all things, I have finally learned to see anew. The Defectives are precious to the true God." (p. 263).
The Lie of the Enemy – Still believed Today
"No! That good God wouldn't have anything to do with filth like me!" (p. 236)
Vanita is in genuine tumult.
Convicted by the atrocity she has just committed, desperately desiring reconciliation, but unable to comprehend how anyone could want something as dirty as her.
Dr. Litfin skillfully incorporates the real lies the enemy poses us today into the engaging episodes of the tale. Like many people, Vanita cannot comprehend a God who would want something as dirty, defiled, and wicked as her.
But that is just it. He does.
Matt Chandler - “Jesus Wants the Rose”
In his famous sermon illustration, Matt Chandler tells about a preacher who handed a rose through a large congregation. And when the rose came back to him, it was broken and bent from being passed among all the people. The preacher used this, as an illustration, to talk about sexual sin and how when you practice promiscuity no one would want what's leftover.
At that point, Matt wanted nothing more than to stand up and scream!
JESUS WANTS THE ROSE!
I don't want to be a spoiler, but you should pick it up and read how Vanita is the rose that Jesus wants.
1 Small Gripe - Anastasia's Change of Character
Alright, so 99% good, but yes, I have a gripe.
All the meat significantly outweighs the one small bone I have with The Gift. I will cut straight to the point. I feel like Anastasia's character changed significantly, perhaps a little too drastically.
I understand she is separated from her family, in a foreign land, has a new God, and doesn't have any stability other than Teo.
However, the same lady that killed a bear, saved Teo multiple times, displayed remarkable independence and boldness in the first book, is all the sudden timid, doubting, and restrained in the second.
But that's it! That is my only gripe!
I recommend it and think that you will enjoy it! I found the well-crafted historically informed story to be a timely lens for interpreting our present culture. It has been an excellent challenge to me to be honest with my vision of people and how I perceive myself.
P.S. Head over to bryanlitfin.com to see his new series coming out in October, 2020. I will be among those pre-ordering a copy!
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.