The Last Guardian

February 1, 2001
In the tradition of Christian thrills-and-chills writers Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness) and Stephen Lawhead (Byzantium), first-time novelist Johnson offers a gory fantasy that is loosely based on the New Testament Book of Revelation. But where Peretti succeeds in creating heart-pounding scenarios of demonic warfare, Johnson's story falls flat, and where Lawhead's characters believably embody their hard-won spiritual truths, Johnson makes awkward attempts to pair those truths with his characters' too-sudden insights. Cornell graduate student T.G. Shass unexpectedly becomes the last guardian of an ancient artifact that holds the Creator's divine truth. When Shass proves too weak to resist demonic forces that threaten to seize the gift, a striking man who wears a brilliant blue robe and calls himself Ish (identified by the author in the afterword as Jesus Christ) transports him to a planet named Noron for his own protection. On the surface, Noron seems to be a paradise, but the society's moral depravity is evidenced by its citizens' enjoyment of a dish called Sholari (cooked from unborn children who are conceived in vitro and harvested at 18 months), and by gruesome funeral rites in which infants are murdered to bring the dead back to life. Despite a publisher's note suggesting that the novel's barbarous elements serve to illustrate humankind's depravity and need for spiritual regeneration, much of the violence is gratuitous, and many Christian readers will understandably be offended. The heavy-handed tome takes too long to recount Shass's determined attempt to redeem the fallen people of Noron and win them to Ish. Predictably, Shass triumphs, reunites with his true love and enjoys eternal paradise with other like-minded followers. Why aren't we more excited for him?

Starred review from January 1, 2001
Out of those shadowy passages in Genesis that hint of magnificent ancient worlds, Johnson creates the planet Noron in "The Last Guardian, "a vivid alternative universe filled with dinosaurs and ruled by a race of pagan, sometimes cannibalistic giants. T. J. Shoss, a nondescript graduate student and very much an earthling, finds himself propelled into Noron in 1975. God, called Ish, has chosen T. J. to carry forth the ancient, long-suppressed gospel contained in the "artifact." Slowly, it grows clear that in this new universe T. J. is to play the role of Christ, to be discredited, cruelly killed, and resurrected. Through T. J., Ish will defeat Beltesha, and the fates of Earth and Noron will become one. Johnson spent 20 years and more working on "The Last Guardian, "and it shows in his depth of characterizations and astounding detail. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)