Post-CSFF Tour: Did I get it wrong?

I’ve been doing some extra pondering this blog tour as I’ve skimmed through some of my fellow blogger’s posts. Blaggard’s Moon was very well received. In fact, it seems like I may have been the only one, at least one of a very small few, who didn’t fall in love with the book.

Why?

When I am so obviously in the minority, it always gives me pause. What did I miss? Why did I react so differently? Why didn’t I get this or that out of the book?

Sometimes my search affirms my original instincts. I’m not sure that’s the case this time. One of Rachel Starr Thomson’s posts especially made me reconsider. I know I pretty sick with stomach flu at the time I read Blaggard’s Moon. But is that the only reason I failed to connect with a story that has seemed to have impacted deeply so many?

Then I looked again at what Rachel said, and a memory was triggered of a conversation I had with my older sister about the new Chronicles of Narnia movies. While I liked both, I preferred the first over the second, whereas my sister preferred the second over the first. Why? We finally decided it had to do with our perspectives on life.

I am still young and, because of my circumstances, very sheltered, more than many of my peers. I have had to deal few problems, make hard decisions, and have acquired few regrets. Therefore, my perception of life is mostly forward, toward the future. So the stories that connect with me are stories of encouragement, that it is possible to live a godly life like Daniel without making a major screw-up like David. The heroic hero.

My older sister, on the other hand, has seen a little more life than I have, faced more decisions and has had to deal with the long-term consequences of her decisions. She looks forward while being very aware of the review mirror. She tends to favor stories of the redemptive hero—the protagonist who has made some horrible decisions with long-ranging effects but somehow is redeemed despite of those decisions and becomes the hero he ought to be. The Caspian and Apostle Peter stories.

So did I get Blaggard’s Moon wrong? I’m not sure I did—for someone in my position in life. But I live in a different place than most of the other participants on this tour. I think this is what Rachel Starr Thomson showed me. Blaggard’s Moon is a story, not with characters that no one relates to, but whose characters will resound with people like my sister looking for the assurance of that their lives can still have a positive impact—still be redeemed, if you will—despite poor decisions made.