By: Rachel Bimber

Next month will mark the three year anniversary of the trilogy, War of the Realms by Chuck Black (who is also the author of The Kingdom series). To celebrate, I am going to be reviewing the first book of the trilogy, Cloak of the Light.

The main character, Drew Carter, loses his father in the military when he was twelve years old. He and his mother move from Chicago to Kansas, and Drew begins his sophomore year at Rivercrest High School. After a few days, Drew befriends nerd outcast Benjamin Berg, which puts Drew’s own football jock reputation at risk amongst the other players, but Drew doesn’t care. Shortly after becoming close friends, Drew discovers that Ben is a genius who believes in aliens. Drew personally doesn’t believe in them, but Ben does occasionally bring up some valid points.

After graduation, Drew decides to attempt making a move on the girl he likes, Sydney. He knew he liked her when he first met her in high school, but she had told him no before because he was not a Christian like she was. After attending her youth group with her, Drew decides that the Christian life isn’t for him and he makes the heart-breaking decision to distance himself from her in order to bury those emotions.

After a while, Ben informs Drew that he and his professor have found a way to create a machine to accelerate faster than the speed of light and took a snapshot of what they discovered. Ben shows Drew the photo and he notices an eerie image of a mysterious dark figure. Drew is completely freaked out by this, while Ben only becomes more curious. Shortly after Ben and the professor make this discovery, the professor suspiciously dies in an accident. So Ben and Drew decide to look through the machine again. Ben turns on the machine and Drew peers inside to see a dark figure in the room with them. Ben warns Drew that the machine is dangerously overheating, but Drew continues to stare at the figure. He watches as the figure moves closer to Ben, wields up his sword, and thrusts it into Ben; causing the machine to explode and leave Drew and Ben unconscious.

When Drew awakes in the hospital, he discovers that his vision has vanished and Ben is reported missing. Unsure what to do now, Drew takes his new blind life one day at a time with the help of his mother and occasional visits from Sydney. Drew also notices that with the loss of his vision, his other senses dramatically heighten and he’s able to hear and taste things that others cannot.

Soon, Drew’s vision miraculously recovers and he soon discovers that he could see things much better, quicker, and clearer than before. He doesn’t understand it, so he keeps this news secret for a while. Drew also notices that now he is able to see the shadow figures everywhere when no one else can. Frightened and confused, Drew begins questioning his own sanity and retreats to a place where he feels safe.

Who or what are these mysterious invaders, and what do they want with Earth? What will Drew decide to do with his newfound “gifts?”

Written with strong sentence structures, vivid describing words, and new action around every corner, I personally give this book a 5 out of 5 star review. I could not put the book down and I strongly encourage others to read it. Chuck Black’s Cloak of the Light will have readers thirsty for more and leave them hungering for the next two books in the series.