(This book is available from Amazon here, and the author can be found on Twitter here)
Gideon Ira: Knight of the Blood Cross is a Christian fantasy/sci-fi book set in the post apocalypse. I went in expecting God and Jesus to be literal Deus Ex Machinas in the story, but was happy to be proven wrong. If you’re not a Christian then this story should still be interesting, but I can see it being strange for you given it’s strictly Christian religious setting. As for me, I absolutely loved this book.
About the Book
Gideon Ira is a knight who serves God. During the post-apocalypse knights and the church exist in opposition to demons who have suckered in necromancers and witches. The knights who serve the church are equipped with powerful cyber armor that auto-regenerates and provides night vision. All of this in a ruined world that’s mostly degraded into a pre-industrial state, but with firearms and swords throughout the world.
The book starts out with Gideon eliminating a problem demon and returning to a village with the creature’s head in tow. The story really picks up when Gideon gets his next mission. He talks to an angel and receives a vague task. Gideon doesn’t really get any breaks before packing up and heading to his next demon.
The side characters are a good mix. Gideon meets bandits and guards, but of note is his acquaintance Caleb. He’s a bit more jaded about the state of things than Gideon, but friendly enough with him. His story takes interesting turns. Andrew is another interesting character, as are some of the Sisters that are introduced, but Gideon himself always seems somewhat hard to peg down.
About the Writing
Adam Lane Smith is a good author, and his description work is fantastic. Take this excerpt:
The dark sky, pathetic moonlight, and distant encircling bonfires did little to light the open boulevards surrounding the hideous pyramid of Ba’al’s temple. Made of piled rubble scavenged from across the city, the towering structure looked like a beehive full of holes and mismatched textures.
Like I said, his descriptions are great, but sometimes a bit unwieldy. There’s times where characters are talking and the dialogue is spaced out by lengthy descriptions that don’t seem to add too much, though it’s rare and hardly hurts my enjoyment of the book.
If I had any complaint it’s simply that Gideon has no substantive over arching storyline. He doesn’t have any goals beyond something like “serve God and kill demons”. He gets told where to go, then finds what to do and does it. Then, he goes to the next thing. It’s a series of events that Gideon gets into, though he’s not passively pulled into them. Gideon decides to do certain things and because of that he jumps into the fight.
The character art makes Gideon look like a mix of Spawn and Bible Man, but honestly he’s a much more interesting character than either. Gideon struggles and doesn’t always win. He almost dies at times, fails, and still he continues. He knows he’s a sinner and repents for it, which is a refreshingly different take for a main character.
There’s mention of Gideon’s growth through the book, and hints at a tragic past. However, we don’t see any of that. Instead, we’re told that Gideon “seems different” to tell us he’s changed. We’re also told as readers that Gideon’s a sinner and given the Christian worldview we accept it, but we don’t see him sinning, we don’t see him feeling guilty or tempted. I feel that’s a missed opportunity. That temptation is part of what makes us human.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I think the book is great. Good story, interesting side characters, and a setting that’s unique to anything I’ve read before. How many post-apocalyptic power-armored knight stories are there? If you’re a Christian who loves reading then this is a huge recommend, and if you’re just a general sci-fi/fantasy fan then I still think you’ll get something out of it.
The kindle version is $0.99 and the paperback runs just $10, and it’s about 200 pages. Totally worth it.
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Frank Ormond 
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