As many of you will know, HarperCollins are launching a new imprint Harper Inspire, and the first books to be released this year are Wendy Alec’s Chronicles of Brothers series. On Thursday 28 June 2018, Harper Inspire released the first four books in the series: The Fall of Lucifer, Messiah – The First Judgement, Son of Perdition and A Pale Horse. A fifth title, End of Days, will follow in September. According to the press release, the imprint will strive to turn out books with insight, impact and imagination, and it would seem that Alec’s Chronicles series certainly delivers these criteria.
The Bible mentions the fall of God’s anointed one in passages like Ezekiel 28:12-19, and this is widely believed among Christians to be the devil’s origin. Lucifer was jealous of the race of men, who were created in God’s image, and he allowed wickedness and sin into his heart and he rebelled against God.
Alec’s narrative provides a very compelling and interesting interpretation of Lucifer’s journey to becoming Satan. Obviously, we don’t know the finer details, the Bible leaves these out, but Alec has used imagination to fill out this story, using elaborate and ornate language to create images of the most resplendent heaven and the most diabolical demons and underworld. Her writing is vivid. Her characters are diverse.
From the origin of evil through to the prophecies of the end times, Son of Perdition and A Pale Horse transport us over 2,000 years later into the near future. Lucifer plots to rectify his defeat at Golgotha by creating his own messiah. His intention is to control the world of the race of men by instituting a new world order; a one-world government. He will control the banks, the military, secret government factions, pharmaceutical companies, intelligence and communications agencies... To bring his plan to fruition he intends to use one of the thirteen ruling families of the Illuminati occult society to incubate his son: the powerful brothers of the De Vere dynasty. The brothers are up against each other in the fight for humanity and we see clear symmetry in these relationships when compared to those of the angelic brothers Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer.
One thing to love about these books is the balance that Alec strikes regarding the tone of the books. Talking about the origins of evil and Satan’s plans to banish all of humanity to the abyss can really get you down, but Alec doesn’t forget to offset this with a bit of eccentric humour, often courtesy of some of her dynamic heavenly characters.
If nothing else, these books should impact us in the way that they provide the opportunity for us to give more thought to the spiritual realm around us, and how it plays a part in our physical reality.
But more than that, they will grip you, inspire you and thoroughly entertain you.
Book 5, End of Days, will be published in September this year and is a precursor to Armageddon. According to Harper Inspire, ‘readers are in for a shock’ when a close friend of the De Vere family takes centre stage in the narrative.
Mark Ordesky, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings said of the series that ‘there could be no bigger canvas for film-making’, and excitingly, finances are being raised for a mini TV series of the Chronicles saga! The series is currently in the development stages with Alec herself as the producer. The hope is that it could have a real impact on those who watch it, particularly those people who may never read the books. It may help to answer some questions about the Christian faith or simply encourage a generation so distracted by the world’s worldliness to consider what may lie beyond; to consider faith.
Born in London and brought up in South Africa, Wendy Alec has pursued successful careers in advertising and television production as well as writing books and screenplays. She is the co-founder of a leading global broadcasting network, GOD TV