On September 02, 2016, I announced the winner of my giveaway of Tunde Leye’s newest book, Guardians of the Seal. Kodili Nduka won it. You can read the announcement here. Like I said in the post, it was a tough call to make as I also liked Seyi Adeoye’s entry. The singular determining reason I picked Kodili was because she promised to review the book after reading. So, the book was mailed to her and she has sent in her review. It is a short, but quite interesting review. She made me want to go read the book all over again. Her review reminds me of something I said to Tunde Leye when I went over to his office to collect my advance copy of the book. I told him, my greatest wish is to see the book being adapted into a movie – a Hollywood produced movie. The plot was just so un-Nigerian. You could think you were “watching” a Harry Porter movie whilst reading the book. The metal images forming in my head as I read the book were just too real. My reaction to the book is in tandem with Kodili’s conclusion: I am proud that the book is written by a Nigerian. You can find Kodili’s review below after the image.
It is an interesting book! I noticed the following whilst reading:
- You can tell a lot of thought went into it to make sure the story fit together and blended somewhat with what we already know about some of the characters. E.g. pg 11, when Lucifer visited the garden of Eden, it was mentioned that he transformed to his pre-rebellion form because his present demon form would have been repelled by the nature of God…. Also, I liked that he noted that the demons had no love for each other and would cheer when one of them gets into trouble. That’s why they’re evil. Lol. Also, giving Gulliam the worst punishment despite the correct gist he brought was so unfair. Guess that’s why he’s the devil! The eni and eji transformation was cool too.
- I liked his use of words e.g. pg 8 where he mentioned that the formerly high-ranking demons retained the annoying habit of ‘speaking in circles’. Lol, I could visualize that scene.
- I liked the stones at the top of each new sub-story (I don’t know what to call it).
- The way he described the story around the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the book and filled in those parts that are “missing” from the Bible makes it so believable. Also, the book’s explanation of the role of the guardians and archangels is something I could tell my child. Though I’m not happy he didn’t talk about Angel Raphael.
- I noticed some typos e.g pg 65, the last word on line 19 should be ‘here’ not ‘her’; pg 158, line 23, I think it should be ‘cut off by’. From pg 95 to the end of the book, there’s a different font…I don’t know if it was intentional. Sometimes he used Lex instead of Alex…don’t know if that was intentional too but it was confusing at times.
In summary, I felt proud that a Nigerian wrote this kind of book. The book made me think about man’s relationship with God and raised some questions e.g. why did God allow Lucifer to distort the perfect life in the Garden of Eden? Surely he must have known that Lucifer would visit Adam and Eve and try to do something mischievous. Also, I feel if the book is modified just a little, it could be a good story book for kids as the fighting, magic, etc. would generate excitement.
*****
Addendum:
Have you read the book? What do you make of it?
You have not read the book? Here is a link on how and where to get/buy it: https://tlsplace.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/where-to-buy-guardians-of-the-seal/
Addendum2:
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