Why I'm a Fan of the Makilien Trilogy

The summer before last, after putting Sew on a free for five days spin that was very successful, I wandered over to my author page and noticed the "People who bought books by Kendra E. Ardnek also bought books by ..." section, and for some odd reason the name "Molly Evangeline" popped out at me. I suspect that it had had something to do with the fact that I had been following a photography blog called "Evangeline" and while I had loved the pictures she had been posting, she had mysteriously stopped.

So with some weird hope that this was the same Evangeline, I clicked on the name.

It was not the same Evangeline, but I was only disappointed for a few seconds.Then I realized that this was a Christian author whose books were fantasy and HiFi, my two favorite genres. And her cover arts were gorgeous. Unfortunately, I didn't have any money to buy her books at that moment, so I added her blog to my Google Reader and pretty much forgot about her.

And then she posted that she would give away free e-books to anyone who was willing to review them. And since she was self-published, and that's the sort of books we review over at O.Scarlett, I jumped at the over, reading and reviewing the first two books of her trilogy in quick succession. Unfortunately, book three wasn't published yet at that time, so I had to ask for the first book of the HiFi series while I waited. (Also a good book, but we're not here to talk about it.)

When the third book finally did come out, she had it at a special introductory price of 99 cents, and since I did happen to have 99 cents in my Amazon gift card balance (thanks to Swagbucks) I snatched it up. 

Read my Reviews:

TruthCourageTrust

So on a whole, how do I rate the series?

Christian message:

5 out of 5

Molly conveyed the message of Christianity, especially the three titular themes, so perfectly and effortlessly, without feeling preachy at all. The allegory in Truth is beautifully done, my only regret is that it seemed to be forgotten two years later in Trust. 

Characters

4 out of 5
Most of the characters were brilliant and well developed, but I never connected with Makilien, the main character. (Nor do I fully understand why she was in the battle in book 1, other than the fact that she "wanted to" she almost lost her feminity in that book, though she did recover it in the next two.) Also there were some characters that appeared to be main, but I keep forgetting they exist, Loron in particular. Every time I pick up a book and he shows up, I'm like ... "Oh, right. You're in this story. Hi!" Everyone else, however, I fully enjoyed.

Plot twists
5 out of 5
Molly Evangeline apparently loves plot twists, and while some of them in her HiFi series seem forced, most of the ones in Makilien I loved. They blew me away! Some I saw coming, but most ... well, in effort to not spoil the plot, there is one twist that at first makes a beloved character sink so low that you just want to ... but then you find out! And the beloved character is about twenty times more awesome. (Or at least, he is in my opinion, but I just love twins). Overall, Courage was my least favorite, not because it didn't have awesome plot twists (it did) but because the overall plot arch was almost identical as Truth's. Trust, however, was a beautiful roller coaster, and I never knew what was going to happen next.

World Building.
5 out of 5
I included Dolennar, Makilien's world, as part of my Memorable Worlds series last August. Dolennar was so well thought out, and comes through clearly in the writing. And the map Molly drew is amazing. I wish I could draw maps.

Romance
3 out of 5
While all of the pairings were very sweet and quite suited for each other, there were a few that I just didn't get. In particular, Derrin, Makilien's would-be suitor. He showed up briefly in the beginning of Truth and I promptly forgot about him in the wonderful plot. He lives in Reylaun and has been pursuing Makilien for years. Quite understandable, since Makilien is the main character and everyone wants to marry the main character, right? Fast forward to Courage where, despite the fact that he doesn't really accept Elohim, he decides to skip town with Makilien, Aedan, and Makilien's family. Then he meets Sirion, who Makilien is obviously taken with, and he instantly becomes jealous and all that. Understandable, again. But let's back up there to Aedan, who had been Makilien's best friend since I'm not sure when, and is, quite decidedly, male. Why did Makilien spending time with Aedan never bother Derrin? Am I the only one who thought she might just like Aedan? And then Aedan meets his love interest ... and I won't go there. It was just too contrived and forced. Everyone else, however, and especially Makilien and Sirion, were beautifully done. Rant over.

Romance, Makilien, and forgettable characters aside, I really enjoyed this series, and I do heartily recommend it to anyone looking for good Christian fantasy that doesn't have magic.

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11. Hidden who had known each other well in their Dragon lives usually don't join the same bands. Very seldom to you see mates together. It's just too painful for them to see those they love like that.