(This is the third day of the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour for Jill Williamson’s By Darkness Hid. To read my posts from yesterday and the day before, click here: Day 1 and Day 2.)

Today we wrap up the CSFF blog tour for Jill Williamson’s fantasy novel By Darkness Hid. I’ve been looking at the other bloggers’ posts and so far it’s been a great tour.

Now I have the privilege of posting the results of an interview I conducted with Jill. Thank you, Jill, for being so gracious and patient with all of us bloggers this week. And now for the interview:

What led you to write “By Darkness Hid”?

My son and I were walking past house that had burned down. There was a tree in the yard that was half charred and half leafy green. I thought it was so cool. So I ran home and Photoshopped the tree. It’s the same tree that is the header on my website.

I also had a weird dream about a woman soldier who was on a mission to rescue the heir to the land. His transport had been in an accident and he was taken to a hospital on the wrong side of the city, the dangerous side. He was in a coma. But there was another guy in the hospital room who had amnesia. And only I knew that the coma guy was an impostor. Amnesia guy was the real heir. And the soldier woman was going to be the one to figure it all out.

How long did it take you to write the book?

I spent a couple months creating my storyworld. I started writing in December 2007. It took me a little over a month to write the first draft. I spent the next six months rewriting it, getting critiques from my critique group, and rewriting some more. The book was done when I showed Jeff Gerke my first chapter at the Oregon Christian Writer’s conference that July.

Who was your favorite character to write? What is your favorite thing about that character?

Achan is my favorite. I like that he is sarcastic and hates fancy clothes. I like that he calls Vrell, Sparrow.

Who are your favorite authors and who inspired you to become a creative writer?

In the Christian market, my favorite author is Frank Peretti. The Harry Potter books inspired me to write fiction because Christians in my community were arguing about whether the books should be read by Christians. Also, my pastor at the time, Pastor Joe Torosian, read my first chapter and encouraged me. He told me I was telling, not showing, and he told me that this was a worthy calling and I should go for it.

If you could be any character from a fantasy book, who would it be and why?

I would be Princess Leia. Because she’s smart and tough and a princess and she gets to marry Han Solo. J Plus she’s got spunk.

Now that the first two books in the Blood of Kings trilogy are published, I see there is one more book left. When can we expect to see that hit the shelves?

If all goes well, book three should be out April 2011.

Are you working on any new projects?

I am polishing up that first book of mine. It’s a Christian Agent Cody Banks-type story called The New Recruit. I’m also brainstorming a new fantasy story that I’m excited about. And I get to draw a brand new map!

How can readers find you on the web?

I’m everywhere! My website is www.jillwilliamson.com. I’m also on Facebook, MySpace, Shoutlife, Shelfari, GoodReads, Twitter, Amazon…

On top of that, I run two blogs. The first is Novel Teen Book Reviews at www.novelteen.com. It’s a website that reviews clean teen fiction. This is a great resource to see what books are available in the Christian market for teens. The other blog is for teen authors, though adult authors may find some useful tips too. www.teenageauthor.com.

Again, thank you, Jill, and thanks to everyone else who stopped by. If you haven’t read By Darkness Hid yet, I hope we have convinced you to get a copy soon. If you love good Christian fantasy, I encourage you to support Jill by purchasing a copy if you can. If we support good, strong Christian fantasy, hopefully it will encourage more publishers to produce more of the same!

Great tour, guys.

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Sarah Flanagan
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher
R.L. Copple

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

(This is the second day of the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour for Jill Williamson’s By Darkness Hid. To read my post from yesterday, click here. For tomorrow’s, Part 3, click here.)

As I posted the publisher’s summary for the book yesterday, I won’t do it again today but will just jump into my take on By Darkness Hid.

As I mentioned yesterday, I expect By Darkness Hid to have great appeal for both adult and young adult lovers of Christian fantasy–and yes, the book is unabashedly Christian. In my opinion, this is a good thing because the Christian fiction market is desperately in need of fantasy and sci-fi books of this caliber. There are many readers (and writers too) who have abandoned Christian fiction because of its tendency to gloss over this genre. Because of this, I love what up-and-coming publishers such as Marcher Lord Press are doing to provide quality books to those who are hungry for speculative Christian fiction. And I believe By Darkness Hid definitely helps to fill that hole.

(Warning: If you haven’t yet read the book, the following does contain minor spoilers but I promise not to give away the ending.)

In fact, I found the book’s style to be reminiscent of (and written as well as) Robin Hobb’s classic Farseer Trilogy. Perhaps part of that is due to the fact that Achan reminded me a bit of FitzChivalry (the main character in the Farseer books), but the similarity in characters ends there. Where Robin Hobb’s main character searched for meaning in spite of who he was, Jill Williamson’s Achan spends his days dealing with the injustices of his position in life as a stray orphan, all the while not realizing his true identity.

In this, I believe Jill skillfully created a character arc that skillfully depicted Achan’s increasing conflicts and hoped-for resolutions. I suspect that Book 2 will continue to build Achan’s character even further.

I was a bit surprised when Jill threw Avarella/Vrell Sparrow into the mix as well. At first, I found her story developing a bit slow, but it picked up for me as Jill wove Avarella’s and Achan’s story lines together. I look forward to seeing this combined story line continue in Book 2 as well.

In terms of story world, Jill has built a wonderful universe that encompasses two regions, one that contains sunlight and another that is hidden in a fog of darkness. However, I admit to being a bit confused as to how this half of the book’s world could operate in a normal fashion (at least in terms of the nobles and societal structure) if the fog of darkness is as black as it seemed to be painted. I suspect that we will find out in the next book that the “darkness” is actually more grey than black.

My review would not be complete without discussing the magic system Jill has built in her universe. Bloodvoicing is an interesting talent but I believe it is the other main reason By Darkness Hid reminded me of the Farseer books–the talent is only found in those of royal lineage. But that’s okay. I think Jill carried it off just fine.

As I’m sure you have noticed by now, I haven’t read Book 2 in Jill’s Blood of Kings Trilogy, but I enjoyed Book 1 so much that I ordered Book 2 (just published April 1) the same day I finished Book 1. I have tried to identify the things about Book 1 that I liked the best and realized that what I truly enjoyed was the way Jill intertwined the characters, story world and magic system into a believable, intriguing tale set in an interesting universe.

In spite of the huge pile of books I have collected that I want to read, Book 2 of The Blood of Kings series (To Darkness Fled) will quickly move to the top of the list once I get it in my hands. Because I read Book 1 on my iPhone, I wasn’t sure how many pages the printed copy was but when I looked on Amazon, I saw that the trade paperback is 508 pages. I admit that my favorite books are so large they can double as doorstops, so I’m glad to see that Book 2 weighs in at 696 pages.

I like the longer books because they are generally crafted in a more complex fashion than simpler books. I say that to point out the fact that because Jill has woven a story in this book that (at least initially) presents more than one story line, it would probably be difficult for younger readers to follow. But readers ages 13 and up will probably do just fine.

If you find the length of By Darkness Hid a bit daunting, let me encourage you to not let it stop you from reading the book. To me, By Darkness Hid was crafted well enough that it held my interest from beginning to end and kept me going until I had finished the book in two days.

Overall, I would enthusiastically recommend By Darkness Hid to Christian fantasy lovers aged 13 years and up. While some excellent books come along from time to time (Wayne Thomas Batson and Bryan Davis come to mind) it’s rare to find a well-crafted fantasy book in the Christian market.

Tomorrow I will post an interview with Jill Williamson so come back y’all, y’hear? If you want more info about By Darkness Hid, click my Amazon affiliate link here.

Don’t forget to check out my fellow CSFF bloggers and see what they have to say about By Darkness Hid.

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Sarah Flanagan
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher
R.L. Copple

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

By Darkness Hid is Jill Williamson’s debut novel, published by Marcher Lord Press in 2009. In this Volume 1 in the Blood of Kings trilogy, the author has set the stage for what is sure to become a classic trilogy in the world of Christian fantasy.

The book first caught my eye last year when it was released. However, I’m sorry to say that when I saw “Young Adult” listed as the reader category, I passed it over to pick up another book from my TBR pile. Nonetheless, I am a big fan of what Marcher Lord Press is doing for Christian fantasy and sci-fi fiction so when I would come across them online from time to time, this book would pop up and I would wish it weren’t YA. Well, it appears my fears were unfounded. I was glad to see a few days ago the book listed as YA/Adult fiction, a designation that I believe is more appropriate.

A few months ago, I began to hear more and more about this book. First I saw it was chosen for an upcoming Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy (CSFF) blog tour. Then, lo and behold, an e-book version was offered on Amazon for only 99 cents. How could I go wrong? Besides, By Darkness Hid had just been announced as a finalist for a Christy Award. It was at that point I decided that was it. I had to read this book and see what all the fuss was about. Wow! Am I glad I did!

So here we are on Day 1 of the 3-day CSFF Blog Tour. Tomorrow I’ll will give my thoughts on the book, then on Wednesday, I will post an interview with Jill.

For now, here’s the official blurb, followed by links to my fellow CSFF bloggers. I would encourage you to stop by their blogs for a further look into By Darkness Hid. Without further ado, here is the official book description:

Achan is a stray, mere property ranked lower even than a slave. His entire life he has lived as the abused ward of Poril, who is cook to Lord Narthak. Every morning Poril forces Achan to drink a foul elixer, supposedly for his health but it’s never prevented any illness that Achan can see.

Sometimes Achan has feelings about things before they happen. Sometimes he senses when someone with ill intent are on their way to abuse him.

One day, Achan has a new feeling. Someone is approaching who wishes him only well. It turns out to be Sir Gavin, famed hero of the Old Kingsguard. For some reason, Gavin takes an interest in Achan and even offers to train him in the ways of knighthood.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, a teenage girl dons mens’ clothing to conceal her identity. Her mother is under pressure to marry her daughter, Averella (now going as Vrell), to an evil lord. Vrell uses the mental communication ability she and her mother share to vanish into the world of men.

Forces of darkness have become aware of both Vrell and Achan and are seeking to seize their powers. While one knows her gift and hides it, the other’s true gift–and identity–is known only to a few who seek to use it to overthrow the world.

Note: This is Part 1 of a 3-day blog tour. For the rest of my review, click here: Part 2 and Part 3.

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Sarah Flanagan
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher
R.L. Copple

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”