Millie Maven and the White Sword
Author: Ted & Rachelle Dekker
Published January 1, 2020
Page Count: 176 Pages
To complete their final challenge Millie, Mac, Boomer, and even the school’s bullies must learn that the root of true love is living sacrificially. If Millie and her friends cannot learn from the Great Teacher’s own example of love then F.I.G.S., it’s students, and its teachers may all be lost forever.
The last book of the trilogy lays out the final battle between good and evil with characters and lessons learned from the past two books coming back in full circle. Part Pilgrim’s Progress, part heist story, part fantasy, with Biblical themes this story brings Millie’s journey to an end, or does it?
Reading Audience:
Middle school reading level, but this is a good series to read together and discuss. Some younger than middle school readers/listeners might enjoy it and understand the Christian aspects.
Stuff to be aware of:
If you have made it to the last book in the trilogy, you aren’t going to really see anything new as far as scares, adult themes, language, etc. There is a brief mention of addiction that carries over from the last book. There is a smoke like monster that takes the teachers and students. There is also one thing about the Great Teacher that I mention in the overall section below.
Overall:
I have enjoyed my short time with this series. The book feels a lot like some of Dekker’s other books with the general “Christian’s journey” and agape love themes, as well as the books of history that are in some of his works. He and his daughter do a good job creating a world that is appropriate for children, but feels different than other stories I have read. I found myself wishing we had more time for other adventures at F.I.G.S., but I realize the series is aimed at an age that might need a shorter story.
Here are a few things I loved about this final story. I really liked how the authors base the idea of the special abilities the students have in 1 Corinthians 13 and 14. You come to understand that these “super power” like gifts are nothing compared to the gift of love. I also like how the use of scripture is not watered down. The characters don’t reference book, chapter, and verse but a ton of scripture (word for word) is used and many paraphrases of scripture crop up.
This leads me into one thing that struck me as odd. It left me feeling more ‘confused’ more than any other emotion. Through the entire series the Jesus figure of the book is referred to at the Great Teacher. His death, by students, and how he sacrificed himself is a part of the story and history of the F.I.G.S. world. However, when Millie interacts with the Great Teacher in this final book he tells her to call him Justin. Maybe the authors wanted to appeal to non-Christians so they didn’t call him Jesus. Jesus has many names in scripture other than Jesus and Teacher (Rabi) so it felt funny to me that they didn’t use a Biblical name or just kept referring to him the Great Teacher. This may be a big deal to some parents, it isn’t really an issue for me, it just felt like an odd choice.
There are some GREAT themes in this book that make great talking points with your children. Some of them are: God’s love for us, love casts out fear, surrendering to God so He can make us knew, life is a cycle of remembering and forgetting, laying down one’s life for their friends, and how love is more important than any talent or gift.
In the end enjoyed this series and I will likely let me kids listen to it on audible.
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