The cover art of The Songs of a Warrior by Katy Morgan instantly hooked me. I’ve enjoyed Biblical retellings meant for adults from authors like Francine Rivers and Tessa Afshar, so I was interested to read this.
The Songs of a Warrior is a Biblically faithful retelling of the lives of Saul, Jonathan, and David with all the characterization and interest of a novel.
The Story
If you’re reading this review, I assume you know David’s story. What you want to know which parts does this include (and maybe more importantly, what is left out). The story begins before Samuel anoints Saul king of Israel. The point of view alternates between four people: Jonathan, Saul, David, and Michal (and briefly dips into one or two others). Since most readers will already know the basic story, this approach really brings the individual characters to life, including their flaws.
The story continues all the way until the prophet Nathan tells David that God will make someone from his line rule forever. That’s a lot of ground to cover in only 280 pages, so Morgan has to leave a lot out. Through the many time jumps, she skips over some of the more repetitive episodes in David’s life. She also leaves out his multiple marriages, including Abigail and Bathsheba. Instead she focuses on his marriage with Saul’s daughter Michal, with complications enough.
What I loved
- Biblically faithful–I appreciated this aspect the most. Even though Morgan invented much of the dialogue, she followed the Biblical account faithfully.
- Fresh perspective–I was surprised when David didn’t immediately realize that Samuel was anointing him as the next king. Yet, Samuel never actually tells David what he is anointing him for. As Morgan points out, David’s actions make more sense if he’s not actually sure he’s supposed to be the next king.
- Characters made real–Even though David’s story is one of the most vividly written in scripture, reading it as a novel really made the characters come alive for me. And I think they will for your kids too.
- Resources included–Morgan includes a chapter by chapter discussion of what she skipped over or interpreted a certain way. The book also includes discussion questions if you wanted to use this in a class or book club.
Parents should know
I’d rate this mild compared to the Biblical version. Although we do see David kill Goliath and chop off his head. Most of the other fighting is off page. Also, while we skip the Bathsheba episode, kids may still be confused when Saul has Michal marry another man while David is still alive and then she is given back to David once he becomes king.
Overall, I think The Songs of a Warrior would made a great family read-aloud or independent read for kids ten to teens.
You may also like…
The Wilderking Trilogy is another wonderful retelling of David’s story but in a swampy fantasy setting. You can read my review of that series HERE.
*I did receive a free, unrequested copy of this book from The Good Book Company. No strings attached. I don’t feel obligated to review (or even read) books sent to me unrequested, but this one caught my interest. All opinions are my own.
