The Restorer
Summary
The Restorer: The Power of Deception by Ted Jordan is a supernatural political spy thriller as the intelligence agency VECTOR 5 races against a terrorist organization known as The Apparatus, which is seeking to codify Sharia law into the U.S. judicial system.
Assessment
The Restorer is an interesting novella, to say the least. The premise is a bit chaotic — Christian supernatural political thriller is a mouthful — but is certainly intriguing. There is a clearly defined good-vs.-evil element to the story, which is encouraging to see in any kind of modern fiction. That said, the story is also a severe political commentary that seems to be targeting particular political figures, events, and policies without much in the way of subtlety, which is not a particularly great position to take for any piece of fiction seeking to convey such an overt Christian message.
In terms of quality, the physical book itself is quite nice, however, the writing is riddled with technical, formatting, and grammatical issues, making it much more challenging to read than it should be. This said, these are the kinds of things that every single author struggles with and that can be easily fixed with a few rounds of editing from a professional editor, which is something I strongly recommend all indie authors invest in, as a fellow indie author.
Light-o-Meter
Writing Style: 1 out of 7 Little Lights
Plot: 1 out of 7 Little Lights
Worldbuilding: 1 out of 7 Little Lights
Characters: 2 out of 7 Little Lights
Theological Message: 1 out of 7 Little Lights
Overall: 1 out of 7 Little Lights
Talk
I greatly appreciate the effort that went into crafting this story, however, it had quite a few issues that made me put it down without finishing. First the good: I actually found that writing style unique and went surprisingly well with the overall story. It was like reading an after-action report of some CIA/FBI/other Alphabet Soup organization, rather than a true novel, which can work for a more immersive type of storytelling. The author also managed to weave in a thread of humor that was very enjoyable; my favorite character was definitely the main character’s sassy guardian angel.
Now, Christian supernatural fiction of any kind is an incredibly tricky thing to accomplish while staying true to Scripture. It is not a genre I would recommend to any debut author unless they happened to already be well-versed in the supernatural wonders and dangers outlined in the Bible and just so happened to be branching out into novel writing. It is a genre that requires a great deal more research, prayer, and respect than it may first appear.
To this end, several of The Restorer’s supernatural elements are unfounded in Scripture and are — in my personal opinion — borderline disrespectful to how God has established Himself and His miracles in the Bible. (Note: I have no way of knowing if this story was written to be intentionally disrespectful or not, only the author knows his own heart. Given the issues that the rest of the book has, I am currently comfortable assuming this was unintentional.) The book feels as though it takes the miraculous nature of God and the Holy Spirit and turns it into a cool spy gadget, which does not sit right with me at all.
To that end, I really cannot recommend this book unless it gets a major overhaul by an editor and, even more than that, some Scripturally-sound supernatural advice from a trusted and well-read theologian.
Wrap-up
The Restorer by Ted Jordan is a Christian supernatural political thriller novella centered around the exploits of VECTOR 5, a spy organization with a mandate from Heaven to defeat the forces of evil and save the United States from destruction.
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