Top Christian Fantasy Fiction Books (some You Have Heard Of And Some You Haven’t)

Here's a great list of Christian fantasy fiction for people who enjoy the genre written by Lance Harvey

For those who may not know much about Christian Fantasy fiction, this article is meant to give you more insight on the history of Christian fantasy fiction, list some of the category’s great works of the past, and offer a couple recent additions to the genre. . With each review, I included a summary of which audience is likely the best fit. All of the stories have something we can learn from. Christian Fiction is defined by Library Journal Book Buzz on Christian Fiction (2009) as:

"...Most readers would agree that there is a core of biblically based attitudes, values, and actions, and likely there would be very little, if any, profanity, sex or violence. Generally, Christian fiction has religious themes infused into a regular genre story. ... Christian fiction gives readers characters and situations that demonstrate the growth of faith, depth and breadth of moral responsibility, the possibility of conversion and redemption, and examples of Christian living for men and women of all ages, races and cultures."

While Christian Fantasy fiction does have a rich history, since the time of C.S. Lewis, Christian fiction’s popularity has waned considerably. Granted, the Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins helped bring Christian fiction more to the forefront, but there has otherwise been a significant drop-off in popular Christian fiction. If you’re new to the genre or are just looking for a good list of books to read, I’ve offered my recommendations, and if you are looking to dig deeper in the genre, you can find many more options in the book Christian fiction: A Guide to the Genre. The books listed are organized by when they were published. Some of these you will have heard of, but some of these you might not have.

Pilgrim’s Progress – by John Bunyan

John Bunyan published A Pilgrim’s Progress in 1678, completing the story while he was in prison no less! Talk about making the best use of your time. A Pilgrim’s progress is probably the most influential Christian fantasy fiction book ever written that is still in print! While it was written a few centuries ago, the story has stood the test of time and continues to have an influence on the generations. While the writing style is a little different from what is currently popular, as it is in old English, the storyline and allegory are still understandable.

Even into the twentieth century, A Pilgrim’s Progress had a profound influence on writers including C.S. Lewis, who wrote A Pilgrim’s Regress (which we will discuss later in this article) that was styled similarly to Bunyan’s work, but with a more personal touch, as Lewis vaguely describes his own personal struggles in coming to Christ. Even the magazine Vanity Fair has ties to Pilgrim’s Progress with its name coming from the name of the fair described in Bunyan’s book (Friend).

The themes Bunyan addresses in his work are core to any Christian’s faith, further emphasized with almost every other page offering a scripture quotation. Many themes are addressed in the book, but one area I want to highlight is when Christian meets “Wordly Wise Man” on the road who tells him to go to the town called Morality, which in this case is the idea of being saved by one’s own actions. The man tells Christian about a man there called Legalist who is a “scholar” and who will explain how to keep all of God’s “laws” and how that will get him to heaven, basically. However, as Christian travels to see Legalist, he reaches and attempts to climb the mountain where Legalist lives. But the mountain is so tall and the climb is so difficult that Christian turns back as fire leaps up at him. Christian realizes that “the law” cannot save him, as it has only shown him where he falls short. Eventually Evangelist reunites with Christian, rebuking him for listening to “Wordly Wise Man” and for trying to rid himself of his burden by trying to save himself through the law.

In another part of the story, Christian goes to the house of the translator where he sees many things, including a man locked in a cell in full despair. While it might appear to be an argument that this man was a pilgrim like Christian at one point, I think a better interpretation would be that this man at one point wanted to become a Christian, but he never repented of his sin and continued to backslide in his sins to the point where he didn’t even have a desire to repent anymore, in essence “locking himself” away from repentance. Hebrews 10:26-31 describes a situation where people can keep sinning continuously and willfully with no regards toward repenting after knowing of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and at that point there is no a sacrifice for sins (Poonen). While these are only a couple of examples from the book, Pilgrim’s Progress is full of analogies like this, allowing it to be enjoyed by any Christian.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Pilgrims-Progress-Illustrated-English-Illustrations/dp/1622452399/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1533864732&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=pilgrim%27s+progress&psc=1

A Pilgrim’s Regress – by C.S. Lewis

When I first heard about C.S Lewis’s A Pilgrim’s Regress, an allegorical account of his late-life conversion to Christianity, I wondered how in the world I had never heard of it before. After all, C.S Lewis was one of the great Christian apologist of his time, writing more than 30 books during his lifetime. Having read the book now, I understand why the audience for this type of book is somewhat limited. That being said, if you are a lover of history and enjoy a little bit of a mental exercise while reading, this book is for you, especially those who enjoyed A Pilgrim’s Progress. This book is in the same style as John Bunyan’s work A Pilgrim’s Progress. Written in 1933, this book was Lewis’s first published prose fiction.

As you will be able to tell from the first chapter, the book deals in depth with lust, however, in dealing with this topic, C.S Lewis goes through about every intellectual argument for not believing in God and takes them to their logical end. He reveals that many of the lines of thought throughout the ages have their morality either based on domination of will or firmly planted in mid-air with no real absolute standard to base them on.

C.S. Lewis takes a head-on approach when it comes to lust, “[a]s most can contrive, the brown girls represent LUST. They are poor substitutes for John’s Island (hence the Old Testament reference “Leah for Rachel”). John ultimately transforms his desire for the (intangible) Island into sexual gratification and longing. However, the fix is only temporary, leaving John confused and irritated that his philosophical itch remains unscratched. Why do the brown girls leave him so empty? It is also important to note that Lewis is NOT patronizing dark-skinned women. This is not Lewis’s reiteration of the ‘Eve’ or ‘temptress’ complex. If this were so, John would be written as more the victim of the vicious brown girls. John is illustrating a young man’s insatiable lust, which leads him to fornicate. John is not a victim, he is a co-conspirator. He is morally culpable for his behavior. Metaphorically the brown girls are no more than a perceived facsimile, John’s failed attempt to discover the Island. By employing the color brown, Lewis is noting the condition of the brown girls’ souls – brown representing a faint hue of darkness.” (crystalhurd.com)

Interestingly, though A Pilgrim’s Regress was written in the mid-1930s, C.S. Lewis identifies Marxism, Hitler’s followers, and Mussolini’s followers as blood-thirsty humans desiring to enforce their will upon the world, believing there was no God, and as people we must create our own purpose mainly through war. C.S. Lewis writes with regards to the violent dwarfs:

…lots of sub-species besides the Marxomanni—Mussolimini, Swastici, Gangomanni…” “…his theory seemed to be that fighting was an end in itself…This other way of life was something [they] called Heroism, or Master-Morality, or Violence. (pg 99-100 Kindle edition)

Throw this against the backdrop of Germany starting World War II in 1939 for Europe, and C.S. Lewis looks like he has a crystal ball. To his credit, Lewis saw the logical outworking of the men of their time. To eliminate a creator is to eliminate intrinsic value in a person, and once this is eliminated, you have eliminated absolute purpose for the individual, leaving a vacuum in humanity when carried out. Without an overall purpose, the group eventually searches for a leader to provide purpose, but when that leader believes in no higher authority, the leader sets himself as the THE authority, and in the end determines who lives and who dies according to his will. There are numerous more examples I could discuss in Pilgrim’s Regress, but time does not allow. This book should not be rushed through and is best for adults, but it makes for a great interpretation of the different forms of intellectual thought when it comes to political and religious outworking.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Pilgrims-Regress-C-S-Lewis/dp/0802872174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533865321&sr=8-1&keywords=pilgrims+regress+cs+lewis&dpID=51xvsZ-uDxL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

The Hobbit – by J.R.R Tolkien

The Hobbit written by J.R.R Tolkien and published in 1937 is an engaging story that helped put fantasy fiction on the map. The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) Trilogy and in my opinion, should be read before embarking on reading the LOTR series. While the book is not a Christian allegory, there are some Christian themes built into it. The Hobbit introduces the idea of Middle Earth and a lot of the main characters in the LOTR series. It also introduces the mystical “precious ring” which is extremely important throughout the entire series. As many readers can agree, The Hobbit is a great way to jump into the series; with the book itself being faster-paced than the LOTR series which helps keep the reader engaged.

There is a significant amount of symbolism in the Hobbit, least of which starts with the “one ring”, with it representing the corruption of wealth and power throughout the series (www.litcharts.com). While the main characters face serious problems, Tolkien manages to throw in some humor to keep the book somewhat light hearted especially with the trolls. There is no one character that single-handedly represents Jesus Christ, but, Gandalf the Grey/White does represent an aspect of Jesus. “…evidence of this can be found by first looking at how Gandalf came to Middle-Earth and then considering his actions throughout the story. Gandalf was sent by the Valar from the land of Valinor to rescue the people of Middle-Earth from evil and to protect them from Sauron.

For those who have not read The Silmarillion, the Valar are basically the gods and goddesses of Middle-Earth, and Valinor is the land of bliss in which they dwell. In The Silmarillion, Gandalf is introduced as a spirit named Olorin, and he only took on the flesh of men so that the people of Middle-Earth would trust him and have faith in his mission. In a similar way, Christ left heaven to come to Earth and took on bodily form to rescue humanity from sin and Satan.” (hobbylark.com) In addition, the solitary life specifically of Smaug and Gollum represents the wicked nature of the characters.

The LOTR series is well renowned and definitely has a large following, which has only grown since the movies on the LOTR and the Hobbit came out. Granted, the movies strayed from the original storyline, but the books still make for a great adventure. The series has stood the test of time and continues to engage new audiences. The thrilling storyline Tolkien created and the back story that goes with it is nothing short of a masterpiece and while the story is not a Christian allegory, it does have what one might call a Christian nature to it as many of the central characters in the series have Christ-like characteristics. The book is a great read for children middle school and up and any adult who enjoys fiction.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-J-R-Tolkien/dp/054792822X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533864301&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hobbit+j.r.r.+tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew – by C.S Lewis

The Magician’s Nephew is actually the first book in the storyline of the Chronicles of Narnia book series, contrary to the movie series, which started with the book The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. C.S. Lewis actually wrote the Magician’s Nephew later in 1955 after writing several of the other Chronicles of Narnia books; however, the world of Narnia is actually created in this book, providing needed perspective to the rest of the series. While some argue that the series should be read in the order they were written in, I prefer the Magician’s Nephew first as it answers several plot questions posed by The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and is vaguely similar to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible.

Without giving too much away, the Magician’s Nephew does a significant amount of jumping around between various worlds. While it might be a little confusing, it definitely helps move the storyline along. In this book, we find out when and how Narnia was created and how Jadis the White Witch came to be in Narnia, as well as how the Wardrobe in The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe came to be. The two main characters, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, are children living in the United Kingdom who are tricked into discovering magic and new worlds, by Digory’s uncle. During their journey, the children discover Jadis the White Witch and Narnia by accident. Digory’s world is turned upside-down when he discovers the land of Narnia and tries to find a cure for his sick mother.

Digory, in the process of trying to save his mother, is sent on a journey by Aslan where he is confronted with multiple challenges to his belief system and morals. While the situations may not be similar to our world, the temptations are real for us all. The book points out that doing the wrong thing to get what we want is not the right thing to do, reiterating that the end doesn’t justify the means. He has to make a decision of whether he will be selfish and look out for himself, or keep his word and follow through on what he promised. There are definite undertones to the story of Adam and Eve in the Magician’s Nephew. The book is definitely worth reading for middle school children and older and even adults can get something from it. It is one of C.S. Lewis’s classics.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Nephew-C-S-Lewis/dp/0064405052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533865128&sr=8-1&keywords=the+magician%27s+nephew&dpID=51mVNFGnIzL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

This Present Darkness – by Frank Peretti

As the first published work by Frank Peretti for adults, This Present Darkness truly draws the reader into the storyline of this thriller novel. But what I enjoyed most about this book was its constant reminder to the reader to pray, as there is constant spiritual warfare going on all around, whether we realize it or not. On the opening page, Ephesians 6:12 is quoted: “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (RSV) As Christians, especially when living in the United States, spiritual warfare tends to be downplayed, but Frank Peretti’s book brings it to the forefront. His story of the town of Ashton, and the spiritual battle that takes place between angels and demons, is quite enthralling. While Peretti used a considerable amount of artistic liberty writing this book, his overarching theme remains the same: Christians need to pray and pray often. Sometimes they may not know exactly what is going on, but they need to pray. This theme reminds me of I Thessalonians 5:16-18 which says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” As Christians, we should continually pray and give thanks for the opportunity to communicate directly with our Creator, no matter the situation.

Not to give too much away, but I appreciated how Peretti allows the two main characters (Marshall Hogan and Hank Busche) to fall onto hard times and be redeemed due to the presence and prayers of the Christians of the town of Ashton. While we may never know exactly how spiritual warfare takes place, Peretti comes up with a creative way of thinking about it. How close Peretti is to what actually happens in spiritual warfare is not as important as the fact that there are angels who do God’s bidding. And there are demons, or fallen angels, who serve Satan the Prince of the Earth (as he is referred to in II Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, and John 12:31). While Peretti may have stretched the limits in describing how demons influence people on a regular basis, I wouldn’t say he goes outside of Biblical standards. I definitely recommend this book to young adults/teenagers or adults who enjoy fiction. And while it may or may not be the best book in Peretti’s series, it is the best book to start with in the series.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/This-Present-Darkness-Frank-Peretti/dp/1581345283/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532208577&sr=1-1&keywords=This+present+darkness

The Rise of Adamain’s Legend – by Lance Harvey

For The Rise of Adamain’s Legend, I will admit I am a little biased when it comes to this book. But, I will lay out the case as to why this less-than-200-page-book is a standout modern Christian fantasy fiction novel. From the beginning of the book, the storyline draws you in. And while there are many different characters with unusual sounding names, there is a list of characters and their descriptions at the front of the book to help remind the reader who the characters are. Interestingly, many the names have Latin origin, with actual meaning behind the Latin names. There are three overarching Biblical discussion points brought up throughout the narrative. They are: “Why would a good God create an evil world?” (pg 75-76); “Why do bad things happen to God’s people?” (pg 168-170); “Do we have free-will or is everything predetermined?” (pg 170-171). Granted these are not light topics and many books have been written about each individual topic, but in an interesting way, brief answers on the respective topics are provided throughout the book.

The story takes place in an “alternate, yet similar, world” during the B.C. era, and is about the oppressed people of “Trinia”. The story is written so the people of Trinia are similar to the nation of Israel from Biblical times. Three teenage boys, Adamain, Kein and Jesse, are the story’s main characters who set out on a business venture, landing them in more trouble than they bargained for. From the first chapter, we know there are 12 tribes of Trinia, which has a significant land trade route running through it, similar to Israel during B.C. times. Some of the other interesting references in the book have to do with how the Krietes are portrayed similarly to the Canaanites in Biblical times. Specifically on pg. 73, some of the ungodly Kriete practices (which were also done by the Canaanites when worshiping their God Molech) are described to paint the picture of the Kriete people. Also, on pg. 87, there is an interesting adaptation of Paul’s experience in Acts 17:22-32. Paul describes the discovery of the altar of “the unknown god” in Athens. Adamain and Jesse find a similar instance in their story, in the capital city of Kriete Civitatem Bellum. In addition, references to the Bible, particularly in regard to Nephilim, point to the character Gigas in this story (who plays a major role similar to Goliath in the Bible).

Interestingly, the story really centers on Adamain and his experience with the king of the Krietes, which is based on the little-discussed story of Ehud in Judges 3:15-23. Not only that, but a Christophany appearance is worked into the story. The word “Christophany” is simply split into two words for the character’s name “Chris Tophany”. For circumstances surrounding Jesse at the end, Adamain makes an interesting statement saying Jesse has value, not because of what he has done, but because he is Jesse, a person created by God, which is a vague reference to Genesis 1:26, where God purposefully creates man in his image, giving all people value. Finally, two other general Old Testament references on pages 186-187, have to do with Joshua and when the people of Israel crossed the river into the land of Canaan and built a memorial to remember the day, and when Elijah prayed for rain after a three-year drought.

While I have not listed all of the Biblical references in the book, this book could be a great resource for bringing Biblical stories into everyday discussions. Overall this book is great for kids 12 and older and for adults who enjoy reading Christian fantasy fiction. The storyline will keep you engaged as it points to relevant topics that we all have to answer in our lives and reference historical stories in the Bible in an engaging way.

You can find this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Adamains-Legend-Adventure-Trinian/dp/1973443422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532208446&sr=8-1&keywords=lance+harvey

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Bibliography

Pilgrim’s Progress

Friend, David. “Vanity Fair: The One-Click History.” The Hive, Vanity Fair, 31 Jan. 2015, www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/01/oneclickhistory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0VoDnESqA&t=613s

The Hobbit

“The Lord of the Rings and Christian Symbolism.” HobbyLark, HobbyLark, 13 Nov. 2017, hobbylark.com/fandoms/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-and-Christian-Symbolism.

LitCharts. “The Ring Symbol Analysis.” LitCharts, Sparknotes, www.litcharts.com/lit/the-hobbit/symbols/the-ring.

A Pilgrim’s Regress

“Lewis and Women: Portrayals in The Pilgrim's Regress.” Crystal Hurd, 8 Aug. 2013, crystalhurd.com/lewis-and-women-portrayals-in-the-pilgrims-regress/.

Lewis, C. S.. The Pilgrim's Regress (p. 99-100). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.”