Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Masters & Slayers - Two Series?

Confused about how Masters & Slayers relates to Starlighter?

Masters & Slayers, published by AMG/Living Ink, is the first book in Tales of Starlight, a series for adults that acts as a companion series to Dragons of Starlight, a series for young adults (which includes Starlighter) published by Zondervan.

How to Read the two Series:

You can fully enjoy the Tales of Starlight series without reading the companion series, Dragons of Starlight, and you can fully enjoy Dragons of Starlight without reading Tales of Starlight. If you read both series, however, you will enjoy a fuller understanding of the story world.

If you intend to read both series, here is my suggested reading order:

1. Starlighter (Dragons of Starlight book #1)
2. Masters & Slayers (Tales of Starlight book #1)
3. Warrior (Dragons of Starlight book #2)
4. The Third Starlighter (Tales of Starlight book #2)
5. Diviner (Dragons of Starlight book #3)
6. Dragons of Starlight book #4 (Untitled at this time)

You may switch the reading order for entries 1 and 2 on the above list without any problem, and you may also switch the order for entries 4 and 5.

Parents’ Guide:

Although Masters & Slayers is designed for adults, it can be read by teenagers, especially those who have enjoyed Starlighter, the first book in the Dragons of Starlight series. The adult designation is due to the fact that the story follows the adventures of adult characters instead of teenagers.

The good-versus-evil violence in this book is similar to that of the young adult series, except for a few more graphic events, such as the fiery execution of a boy and the severing of a murder victim’s fingers. There are no sexual scenes, but the breeding of humans by order of the slave-master dragons is mentioned. This practice takes place “off-screen” and is not described, though one character explains his dilemma when faced with an order to participate. There is no profanity or sexually provocative language.

1 comment:

Hannah said...

Thank you for the explanation. I'm glad to see that it was okay to read Masters & Slayers before Starlighter, though I still hope to read the latter eventually.