Review by Kaliada -- The Chest of Visions by Tim Ferguson

[Kaliada]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Chest of Visions" by Tim Ferguson.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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This is a brilliantly written piece of both sci-fi and youth religious education book!


The main character of the book is Mattpaul, a boy who lives in a parallel universe to ours, on a planet called Caperston. There are two major categories of people on this planet: Mountain People and Valley People. As you can imagine, they believe to be very different from each other, some superior to others. They are in conflict since generations. Mattpaul belongs to the Valley People, while his new friends to the Mountain People.

Mattpaul starts to communicate with people on Earth with a device called a compol. He shares his stories of making new friends and about his encounter with a man named Chihaysu that preaches similar teachings to those known on Earth thanks to Jesus. There are few twist which make the action even more interesting.


This reading made me think what would happen if Jesus would arrive today? Would I recognize Him? Would I leave my formal life and follow Him? As I read the story I often put these questions to myself.


What I loved the most about the book is the author's writing style. Tim Ferguson is not in a rush, it gives time to the each character to express simple and yet profound sentences. To me this looks to be an allegory, having a hidden moral meaning. It has a gentle touch upon not so easy to grasp subjects, such as: religious education, death of a friend, communication, trust, friendship, listening your inner call, faith and most importantly belief in a higher force. Unfortunately, the religious education is missing in schools. Youth don’t feel comfortable talking about God and Jesus as it looks not to be cool in the peer group they are trying so hard to fit in.


A nice surprise was to see that the book has illustrations which made certain scenes easier to imagine. However, the written text below the images was not of high quality, it was hard to read it.


I would consider "The Chest of Visions" by Tim Ferguson a fundamental teaching of children between 5 and 21 years old, most probably this is reason that the appendix contains several indicators on how to read/debate the lessons in a group of (young) people. Every youth/ Christian should read this book! This is why I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars.


I noticed no errors while reading the book, it is well-written.

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The Chest of Visions
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