Title: On the Front Line in the Cosmic Conflict (Book 1 of the Front Line Series)

Author: Chaute A. Johnson

Genre: Christian Fiction

 

On the Front Line in the Cosmic Conflict tells the stories of two twenty-year-old New Yorkers, Steve Roberts, who is battling alcoholism, eviction, and a toxic family situation, and Matthew Day, an aspiring pastor experiencing a crisis of conscience.

However, both men and their parallel struggles are being shaped by agents of God and Satan. These forces are using Steve and Matthew as a spiritual battleground and pushing each man toward definitive choices about faith and their calling.

On the Front Line in the Cosmic Conflict is a sprawling and ambitious novel that boasts several narratives. Although all the differing plot strands are built on the foundations of Christianity, Johnson also offers the reader a sub-genre mash-up of familial psychodrama, allegorical fantasy, spiritual warfare, and inspirational fiction.

It’s a busy novel that, for the earthly main characters, Steve and Matthew, unfolds over twelve days in January 2014. However, before that, Johnson treats the reader to a prequel, a short, punchy recounting of the biblical battle between good and evil, which establishes the influences that will guide Steve and Matthew’s trajectories.

Following, Johnson opens with the focus on Steve, desperately asking his stepfather, Daniel, for help, a plea that is coldly rebutted. It’s an emotional but straightforward start. Johnson places the reader directly into Steve’s angst while providing key backstory facts.

Nonetheless, although Johnson’s portrayal of both Matthew and Steve is heartfelt, it is also stylistically simple, with both men functioning as types rather than fully rounded, complex protagonists. This surface representation works well in context.

Their simplicity not only ensures that their spiritual conflict is vividly foregrounded but also allows the reader to adapt their interpretation and engage personally with the messages as events progress, which is what this book encourages, especially when Johnson introduces the chapters on the cosmic conflict.

However, in the case of Steve, Johnson also presents a separate domestic narrative involving his mother, Georgia, and his half-sister, Sapphire. Both women are under Daniel’s control and coercion, and Johnson explores some weighty territory in relation to this. The situation with Sapphire is intriguing and leaves readers wanting more.

The reader should sympathize with Georgia. Her marriage to Daniel is transactional and abusive. Yet she appears as an absorbed figure who, though weak in defending her son, is not backward about her own self-preservation. It is likely a polarizing thing that will tug readers in one direction or another.

Matthew’s inward-facing, overwhelming doubt and striving for perfection as a ministerial prodigy stand in sharp contrast to Steve’s problems, which are primarily caused by external factors. It’s a clever dichotomy that Johnson uses to illustrate different theological points.

The cosmic conflict chapters begin in Chapter 10 and continue, in full, for six more. The first installment takes the fall of Lucifer and reimagines it with political intrigue, fantasy, and military elements, while Johnson also invents additional spiritual entities.

Not only are these angels and demons battling for Steve and Matthew, but Johnson also draws them into their own warfare. These chapters are rich in imagination and vibrant, often violent imagery, though they become abstruse in parts, with multiple characters introduced.

Additionally, the initial block placement of these chapters possibly appears too late. The subsequent intermittent interweaving of them feels haphazard, interrupting the flow of the human stories, which Johnson controls tightly. More consistent chapter pacing and a glossary for these sections would have been beneficial.

With epic themes and strong spiritual messages, On the Front Line in the Cosmic Conflict delivers exactly what it promises. Johnson’s powerful, creative retellings of biblical stories, combined with an inspirational narrative, should satisfy its target audience.

 

 

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.