''The Archives of Anthropos'' is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

series of six

fantasy novels Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. magic (paranormal), Magic, the supernatural and Legendary creature, magical creatures are common i ...

for children written by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

author John White. Written in the tradition of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

' ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...

'', this series present a fantasy world of kings, sorcerers and goblins in an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

fashion.

About the books

The books, in order of publication, are: # ''The Tower of Geburah'' (1978) # ''The Iron Sceptre'' (1981) # ''The Sword Bearer'' (1986) # ''Gaal the Conqueror'' (1989) # ''Quest for the King'' (1995) # ''The Dark Lord's Demise'' (2001) The books, in chronological order, are: # ''The Sword Bearer'' (1986) # ''Gaal the Conqueror'' (1989) # ''The Tower of Geburah'' (1978) # ''The Iron Sceptre'' (1981) # ''Quest for the King'' (1995) # ''The Dark Lord's Demise'' (2001) ''The Archives of Anthropos'' is written in the style of ''

'', by

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

, and use the same type of allegory: children from Earth are magically transported to another world where they are called by a Christ-figure to play key roles in that other world's history. John White, the author, admitted having crafted the series after Lewis' own children's

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

. He writes in the appendix of his fifth book, ''Quest for the King'':

"My own children ganged up on me and came with the request that since I wrote books for adults, I could write them for children too. (Of course their assumption was incorrect!) "We won't bug you any more," they said, "if only you'll write a book for us. But it has to be just like Narnia!" So, intrigued, I decided I'd have a crack at it ... I wrote, and then read them my opening chapter of what eventually turned into ''The Tower of Geburah''."

Responding to the criticism that he was merely copying Lewis' work, he writes "People said (quite accurately), 'He's just trying to copy Lewis.' I was. This was what my children wanted. That is, I was trying to copy Lewis at first, but I soon ceased to. Copying gets you nowhere. You have to make any genre your own for it to work."

Reading order

As John White explains in the appendix of ''Quest for the King'', he wrote ''The Tower of Geburah'' and ''The Iron Sceptre'' first, but felt compelled to write the prequel novels to explain parts of the prior history of Anthropos, such as "Where did the tower of Geburah come from?" In regards to the published vs. chronological order of the books, he writes:

"So if you wish to read them in the least confusing arrangement, follow the hronologicalsequence"

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archives Of Anthropos Christian novels British fantasy novel series Series of children's books British children's novels Christian children's books British fantasy novels Children's fantasy novels Religion in fantasy fiction Christian allegory