Duncan's War (Crown and Covenant #1)

As a soldier deployed to Afghanistan while reading this, I found it a very encouraging and thought-provoking book.I've always loved the stories of the Scottish Covenanters, especially the steadfast faith they exhibited during their many hardships (I think Fair Sunshine is a convicting little book when it comes to being willing to give up your life for the faith). Without idolizing them, I must say I look at many of them--and many other early Reformers--as spiritual giants, used mightily by God, compared to me and my "trials."This short novel, I believe to be very well written; Bond has a good handle on how to write a good novel, especially for someone not as well known as the popular writers of the day.Besides being a good story. It also contains a good amount of biblical truth in it; it deals with many of the questions I've had myself when attempting to reconcile my Christian faith with my temporal duty as a soldier. When is it right to take another life? How is it loving our enemies to do so? When is war/fighting/violence just? Why, if God is for us, does he allow us to be defeated at times (and not just in war, but in many aspects of life)?I highly recommend this book. I am actually looking forward to reading the next two! I'm sure I'll be writing a review on those as well.I was thinking while reading this book that I would love to read this to my older children some day. I say older, because the book does deal with some of the harsh realities of war, bloodshed, hangings, and torture.Soli Deo Gloria!

I am in eleventh grade and my family bought this book to use in my brother's sixth grade curriculum, for the "Renaissance" time period. Looking for something to read, I added it to my kindle. I was disappointed, however, with the quality of the book. The first chapter was fine enough - a young Scottish boy, Duncan, fighting a "battle" in his imagination; you didn't know until the end of the chapter that he was imagining, so it was actually somewhat interesting. But the second chapter you see him and his family around the supper table, and an old man, their guest, is asked by the children to tell a story. His "story", however, is very poorly disguised historical background. The children are supposedly fascinated, and beg for more. But I'm already bored.I'm not the kind of person who requires page turning action from beginning to end; I'll put up with a whole chapter of description or several chapters of not-much-happening if the book is well written. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Duncan's war. The characters are somewhat shallow, the plot moves along really slowly (at least for the first four chapters; after this I gave up).We took the book out of our planned curriculum and looked for other books from that time period (Glimpses of Truth, King of Shadows, The Hawk that Would not Hunt by Day; none of which talk about Scotland or the Covenanters, but oh well)It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't worth the money.

I read this in elementary/middle school growing up and absolutely loved it! After visiting Scotland recently I decided to read it again at 20 years old and it’s just as good or better than I remember it!! Completely recommend!

If you love history, then this is the book for you!! It is the first of an epic trilogy that brings you on a fantastic journey to 17th century Scotland. The passion for Christ, the accurate depiction of life in that time, and the fight for liberty makes me thrilled to the bone! I couldn't possibly say enough about this, it has been one of my favorites since I was fourteen, and I'm now seventeen, and have read it countless times =)

The children can't put it down when they read it for themselves, nor will they permit me to stop when I read it out loud to them. Besides the obvious entertainment value, the book communicates sound theology, godly living, and accurate 17th century Scottish history. It is one of the great jewels of our library.

Excellent historical fiction! Douglas Bond pulls you into the story in the Scottish Reformation. This is the first part of trilogy. Each book is excellent. It follows with another trilogy involving Duncan's descendants. Highly recommend anything by Douglas Bond.

The story was captivating. It keeps me engaged until the end. It is hard to find good clean books that a boy would like to read. This book had all the elements of a good story for a boy. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to parents with young teens.

The Crown and Covenant series is an excellent series that gives a glimpse into the history of Scotland and keeps the readers attention. Younger readers may find some of the words difficult to understand, but young teens would not.