A Slice of Smith Life: Book Review: The Ring of Fantasy

Photo credit: http://catholicauthor.us/books/

I had the privilege of receiving a copy of The Ring of Fantasy by Dominic de Souza and after reading this children's novel, for ages 4-11, the author asked me to write a review.

Here is the book trailer to give you a glimpse into the adventure that awaits you in the land of Fantasy:

De Souza has a passion for not only the Catholic faith, but he has also been inspired by story-telling through fairy tales and fantasy throughout his life as he states, "More than any other genre, fantasy and fairy tales are the oldest and most important of tale-telling, since in their truest forms, they deal with spiritual realities, incarnating them in forms fantastic and tangible to a child’s mind. For this reason, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ stand head and shoulders over the competition; inspired by the deeply symbolic and relevant truths of the Catholic Faith, they peel back the veil of greywash on our world and reveal the highly-contrasted reality of the spiritual realm."

Our family went on a little getaway a few weekends ago to visit family and friends and on our trip, I read The Ring of Fantasy out loud to my 4 children and husband while we drove on the highway.

Like Mr. de Souza, our children and family are big fans of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, fantasy, and using our imagination to explore new worlds. The Ring of Fantasy reminded our family alot of the Narnia books, which is one of the many reasons it kept everyone's attention.

My 13 year old daughter enjoyed listening to the story and the scene where Tess (Joshua's sister) used the bow was her favorite part of the book. She only wished Tess would have played a bigger role in the storyline.

My 11 year old son liked the fighting scenes because he felt like he was there in the battles. He loved the imaginary characters and following Joshua Douglas' journey to rescue his sister, Tess.

My husband was a big fan of the book and he was the first one to pipe up and ask me to continue reading when I finished each chapter! He kept mentioning what a great story The Ring of Fantasy was and how it can really be enjoyed by children and adults alike! My husband really liked the imaginative characters and that it was very descriptive and easy to picture the story in his mind. He also enjoys happy endings which Ring of Fantasy had.

I think this novel was a great read aloud, as it is advertised. The chapters were short, but filled with enough descriptive language to keep our family motivated to keep turning the pages to see what was the next adventure for the main character, Joshua Douglas. I loved how all ages could enjoy this book together and it was fun to discuss with our children what they thought was going to happen next in the story. I would highly recommend de Souza's book for any family.

De Souza is a very talented Catholic author and illustrator and we hope he will have more novels in the future that can be enjoyed once again by our family and yours!

For more information about The Ring of Fantasy, to print a free coloring page of the book characters illustrated by the author himself, and where you can purchase your copy, go HERE.

To read a summary and another book review go HERE.

Also, be sure to check out Dominic de Souza's 2 beautiful sacred coloring books HERE and HERE!