OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Santa Claus: The King of the Elves" by B.C.Chase.]

Most of us are familiar with the tale of Jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, the cheery and plump Santa Claus who travels the world once a year to bring gifts to all the good boys and girls. The lesser known story, the one that your parents and grandparents may not have read to you when you were growing up is the one titled Santa Claus: The King of the Elves. In this epic fantasy novel, also categorized as a Christian fantasy, author B.C. Chase spins a different sort of tale for his reader. It is no less entertaining than the story we heard in our younger years, just one perhaps better left until we get a little older. No, this is not a colorfully illustrated story of red-nosed reindeer and toy-making elves. This one is a dark tale filled with dragons, goblins, dwarves, and of course, elves.

The author begins his novel with a much appreciated Pronunciation Guide, after which he uses the Preface to set his story apart from all other adaptations of this famous tale. The narrator makes the claim to have ventured into danger to catalogue the true and exact details of the birth and triumph of Santa Claus. The descriptions are enough to spark the reader’s imagination, but not so much to seem over the top. Well-written and properly edited, this tale is one of perilous adventures and epic battles.

Orphaned at birth and then raised by tawdles, our story’s hero is given the name of Santa. He is half human and half elven, but Mr. and Mrs. Claus consider him as much their own as they do his siblings, Banta, Lanta, and Kanta. One unfortunate day, Santa’s true love gets kidnapped by the Dark Elves. Santa then sets out to rescue her, along with a few of the High Elves. This book is an account of their journeys as well as their adventures. This creative and unique tale is full of suspense and is delightfully portrayed.

One thing you may notice in reading this novel is that the author makes several parallels to some of the more widely known stories of the Bible. This immediately makes sense to me since, in addition to Christmas being the holiday that brought Santa his fame, it is also the holiday when most Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. In the beginning of the novel, the author alludes to the story of the Fall of Man from the book of Genesis when describing how the elves lost their wings and why they can no longer fly. Later in the novel, the author draws parallels between the magical healing abilities of Santa to those of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Although this novel is not what I would consider Christian fiction, I do feel that the underlying Christian aspects are necessary to the storyline, as these parallels work nicely to tie together the dire situation of the elves and the idea of Santa as their heroic King.

I give Santa Claus: The King of the Elves 4 out of 4 stars. With this adventurous novel, B.C. Chase appeals to a very different audience than did the original, more traditional children’s Christmas story. I recommend this book to fans of classic myths and legends, not-so-classic fairy tales, Middle-earth heroics, and epic fantasy novels.

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Santa Claus: The King of the Elves
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Like Christina Rose's review? Post a comment saying so!

When I started reading your review, I thought yes this sounds like my kind of book. As I got to the end though, I discovered what you said about paralleling it to Christian philosophy and this put me off. Not least because Christmas was a pagan festival usurped by the Christians to try and convert them but keep there celebrations intact. Thanks for the great review.

Emie Cuevas wrote:When I started reading your review, I thought yes this sounds like my kind of book. As I got to the end though, I discovered what you said about paralleling it to Christian philosophy and this put me off. Not least because Christmas was a pagan festival usurped by the Christians to try and convert them but keep there celebrations intact. Thanks for the great review.

I hope you'll reconsider your decision not to read this book. The parallels are definitely hard to miss, but I truly don't think that they take anything away from the reader's enjoyment. I do understand the pagan history, though, and respect your standpoint. It's perhaps not a book for everyone, but I can definitely say that it is one I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Thanks for the review Christina. It seems like a very interesting take on the Santa Claus story. Almost a Lord of the rings feel to it, it seems. I'll put it on my list.

kandscreeley wrote:Thanks for the review Christina. It seems like a very interesting take on the Santa Claus story. Almost a Lord of the rings feel to it, it seems. I'll put it on my list.

You know, I've never read The Lord of the Rings and I really feel like I should. I'm actually not quite sure why I haven't. ? I did read some blurbs where that comparison was made, so I'll have to make time to read J.R.R. Tolkien's books. I hope you enjoy Santa Claus if you end up reading it. Thanks for your thoughts!

Emie Cuevas wrote:When I started reading your review, I thought yes this sounds like my kind of book. As I got to the end though, I discovered what you said about paralleling it to Christian philosophy and this put me off. Not least because Christmas was a pagan festival usurped by the Christians to try and convert them but keep there celebrations intact. Thanks for the great review.

Rose,
I am of a similar view abut christmas. But I'll still read it, your review has added to my interest.

juliusotinyo wrote:

Emie Cuevas wrote:When I started reading your review, I thought yes this sounds like my kind of book. As I got to the end though, I discovered what you said about paralleling it to Christian philosophy and this put me off. Not least because Christmas was a pagan festival usurped by the Christians to try and convert them but keep there celebrations intact. Thanks for the great review.

Rose,
I am of a similar view abut christmas. But I'll still read it, your review has added to my interest.

I hope you enjoy it if you do end up reading this book! It has so many of the elements I love from the fantasy genre, which is what originally attracted me to this book. At least the Christian parallels will not be an unwelcome surprise for you. You'll at least know going into it, that they're there. ?

Thanks for your recommendation, duly noted.

juliusotinyo wrote:Thanks for your recommendation, duly noted.

You are welcome! Enjoy your day!

MsTri wrote:Wow! @o@ Magnificent review! Consider me totally sold.

I've never heard of this and I thank you SO much for the introduction. Some of my favorite books are stories that take well-known tales and turn them on their heads - Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series comes to mind, as does Wicked - so this sounds like it's right up my alley. Add to that the Christian parallels you mention and I can't get my hands on this fast enough. Again, bravo for your very convincing review.

Thanks so much! I do hope you read and enjoy this book! I hadn't heard of it before selecting it for review either, and was definitely pleased.

Sounds like it would make a nice movie. I am encouraged to get this book. Nice review Christina.

Alicnim wrote:Sounds like it would make a nice movie. I am encouraged to get this book. Nice review Christina.

Thank you! I hope you do read and enjoy the book! I bet it would make a good movie ?

Thanks for the review, though sometimes, I don't like reading teenagers novels.

El-kanah wrote:Thanks for the review, though sometimes, I don't like reading teenagers novels.

This novel is actually not categorized as Young Adult, but I do understand what you are saying. Fantasy genres often overlap with Young Adult. Thank you for stopping by my review!