Hostage Lands

“Will it work?”

“Your plan?” said Erp. “With the aid of Calum’s Christus, I believe it shall. I have come to believe, however, that it is best to do the right thing without regard for the outcome.”

“But is it the right thing?” I said.

“I think you already know that it is,” said Erp. “Now go and do it.”

Hostage Lands by Douglas Bond takes place in a neglected time of history—Roman-occupied Britain. High tensions between the Romans and Celts provide fertile ground for a story of betrayal, danger, and a great King.

Plot

Neil Perkins always considered Latin a dead, useless language. At least he did before finding ancient writing tablets on his family’s farm.

The tablets tell of Rusticus, a loyal centurion of Rome, serving near Hadrian’s Wall, caught in the crossfire of an overambitious tribune. When he and his men are ordered to march deep into enemy Celt territory, the result can only go one way.

But Calum, a Celt turned Roman soldier, narrowly saves Rusticus from the massacre. The two become friends as Calum nurses the Roman back to health. They will certainly need that friendship to survive; as things begin to untangle, the true reason behind Rusticus’s march becomes all too clear.

Rusticus’s pleas to Jupiter and Apollo seem to do no good. They mock his misfortune. But what of Calum’s Prince of Peace? Will He help the centurion?

Bond delivers a riveting story in a captivating setting, infusing it with Biblical truth all the while. It begins slow, introducing Neil and his refusal to learn Latin at school, but eventually builds up to a fever pitch.

Hostage Lands also contains some amazing setting descriptions. It might have just been my fondness for the settings, but they seemed to at times come to life in epic detail.

Characters

This story does not drive incredibly deep into the characters. Neil is forgettable and only serves to set the telling of the tale in motion, but he and a few other characters in the present carry on a minor subplot in the beginning and ending pages.

Rusticus the centurion is loyal to Rome but is pained by the corruption he sees in his once-great empire. I will expound on the theme more in the next section, but for now, it suffices to say that he seems to be affected by Calum’s Prince of Peace, called Christus; however, he does not show any significant change as a result. Even in the end, he is strongly tempted to betray his friends to save his own skin and nearly does it. He seems to get saved at the end, but I am unsure.

Calum, after seeing Christians martyred in the Colosseum at Rome, sought out more of them to discover what crime warranted such brutality. Eventually, he became a Christian himself and brought the Prince of Peace to his own family. Now he brings it to a hardened centurion.

Neither of the main characters grow or change, though again, the implication seems to be that after the book ends Rusticus’s faith is only beginning. Calum’s thoughts and inward drives remain a mystery to Rusticus, and though the Christian reader can make some sense of them, he is still a fairly distant character.

Theme & Content Warnings

Hostage Lands carries subtle themes of faith, God’s protection of His people, and salvation, but because Rusticus (the point of view character) is not changed by them, they are not very prominent.

Once, the Gospel story is given with a handful of minute details differing from the Bible account. I would pin that on how Calum, the one telling the story, only had passed-down accounts to draw from, instead of a Bible in his hands.

All in all, the Biblical aspect is strong and appreciated, but would not convert someone to Christianity, which may not have been the author’s purpose. Only Christians already familiar with the doctrines and stories of Scripture will make much sense of the Bible inclusions.

For content warnings, there are only a few. A wild bore injures a man’s leg, and the wound is briefly described. More description comes in as his artery is stitched together. A few times characters mention ladies being abused or threaten to abuse them. No detail is given beyond that. In battles, characters are run through with spears or swords, but with no description or gore.

Overall

Placed in a little-known era, populated by characters that feel alive, undergirded by Christian themes, Hostage Lands thoroughly impressed me by the end. It leaves a few loose ends to the reader’s imagination, but it doesn’t seem incomplete. And with minimal content warnings, it’s suitable for anyone to read.

And as always, thanks for reading, and I’ll write you in the next one!