Let's be honest here, when I found out we were going to feature The Legend of the Firefish during the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Tour I wasn't too impressed or excited. I've never heard of him and I'm not too into pirates. I've discussed my author loyalty before - once I've read you and I liked you I'll buy pretty much everything you write. Even if it's not my typical genre (which is why I'll buy Wayne Thomas Batson's new pirate book!). For me it takes some pretty high praise from someone I already know and trust before I spend my hard earned money on an author that is new to me. Especially in a genre I don't normally read. Pirates. High seas. I loved Pirates of the Caribbean but not so much love for pirate books.

And um, yeah, I was pretty sure it was going to be lame because well, the whole Firefish thing threw me. And the character and location names kind of threw me as well. But then I read the opening scene and man! WOW! I couldn't put it down and much to my husband's chagrin I totally ignored both the need to clean our house and do our laundry. I fell in love with Packer from the moment he drew is beautiful sword.

Each character is richly developed. The world is a living and breathing creation. Dialog moves smoothly and the action is very well paced. While there were times that I was frustrated by Packer's frequent self-flagellation I was able to stay within the story and continue to feel sympathy for him. Even continue to love and root for him. There is a change in Panna's personality that also threw me, took me a bit out of the story because it seemed so very unlikely and if there was any foreshadowing I totally missed it. But again, I was able to care for her, feel sympathy for her and cheer her on during her trials.

One of the things that really struck me about The Legend of the Firefish is that its one of the most Christian Christian novels I've read in awhile. God is God in this book. And it took me aback and at times I did feel a bit preached at. But for most Christian audiences it's going to be okay! Most of us like outright Christian themes and story lines. I just happen to be one of those who like things a bit more subtle.

In non-writer/story stuff the cover is a real attention grabber. It's beautifully done and the pages of the book itself are nicely detailed. A small ship's wheel on the lower outside corners, next to the page number. And then on the upper outside corners some nice scroll work.

The second in the series, The Hand that Bears the Sword, is already sitting on my desk just waiting for me to dive in. But I wanted to get this post finished first so I kept everything straight in my mind. I'm expecting to enjoy the second book as much as I enjoyed the first.

Convinced that a good book has a good cover, and "The Legend of the Firefish" having an awesome cover, I was surprised to be thoroughly unimpressed with the first chapter. A young swordsman has it out with a burly fisherman in a seafaring pub. Swords clash and tempers flare--it was definitely a man scene. Written by a man for a man, I thought. Dumping the book on the floor, I groaned, "How am I ever going to get through this book?"
Reluctantly, I picked it up the next day and started at chapter two. From that point on, I could have read straight through to the end without so much as a toilet break, if my children hadn't asked for dinner...then breakfast.
Over the few days it took me to read it, I walked about wondering if the Firefish was going to eat that deserving witch Talon, if Packer was going to survive the keel hauling, or if poor innocent Panna would realize she was entertaining death. Every spare moment, I poured over the pages of this thrilling adventure, hoping to one day see it on the silver screen.
Talk about a wrong first impression!
Polivka's tale is set is an imaginary land that resembles our world in the time of the pirates, but in this world sea creatures grow so large they can sink a ship with a single bite. These solitary predatory beasts...are highly desirable--legend has it that the meat of the Firefish bestows considerable powers upon all who consume it. And why is it called a Firefish? Because it emits an electric shock with each bite. Oh yeah, that added an edge to the story.
One of my favorite characters in the book was the Firefish. Sounds odd, I know, but we actually see the world through the beast's eyes. Polivka does such a fantastic job of giving this behemoth believable thoughts and reasons behind its actions that I hung onto every word.
Unfortunately for Packer, ex-pirate Captain Scat Wilkins, and the rest of the Trophy Chase crew, they didn't know what the thing was thinking, especially when it lunged into the air reaching for a Packer-snack in the crow's nest...think he made it?
How to collect its meat was the number one question on everyone's mind. The secret was finally revealed, but only after thousands of bloodthirsty Achawak warriors had flooded their decks and twenty Firefish had laid chase to them. It's one hair-raising experience after another with Packer, and even his love Panna, delicate and sweet, gets into her own mess of trouble.
By the end, I wondered if Polivka had actually ever "reefed the main four points" or "struck the mizzen" or "hauled sheets" himself, so colorful and detailed were his descriptions of the ship and its workings. He certainly educated himself well on all things ship and pirate related. His hard work paid off with a vivid setting.
Polivka pulled out an old writing style, dusted it off, and gave it a new spin. In each scene, he "head-hops" moving from one character's point of view to another's so that the reader knows what everyone is thinking at all times. It threw me for a loop at first, but I really grew to enjoy it. Only once or twice did the change catch me off guard, forcing me to go back several paragraphs and reread with the new character in mind. For the most part, the changes were seamless.
"The Legend of the Firefish" has soared straight to the top of my list of top ten favorite books, and I anxiously await the July 2007 release of the second in the series. I hear it's even better than the first!

The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka, a review
Book One of the Trophy Chase Trilogy
Published 2007 by Harvest House Publishers, 347 pages

Genre: Christian fantasy/high seas adventure, young adult/adult (Protagonists are in early adulthood. But teens would certainly enjoy it.)

This is a fantasy book in that it is set in an invented place, Nearing Vast. The people groups are invented, and so on. But this is a world that is somehow also a part of ours; Jesus of Nazareth is present, and so is his church. The God of heaven and earth responds to prayers. "Coincidences" happen that are too strange to be coincidences.

Packer Throme is the son of a simple fisherman. Because of a simple act of kindness when he was a child (keeping another child from dying of exposure), he is given the gift of an education-the child he saved turned out to be the crown prince.

With his education, Packer tries seminary but gets thrown out after an altercation of some kind. Next he studies with the greatest swordsmaster of Nearing Vast.

He returns to his fishing village, where the young Panna Seline waits for him. But he isn't planning to stay. He simply wants help stowing away on a pirate ship that has paused nearby.

You see, he has heard that this particular pirate ship, the Trophy Chase, isn't pirating any more. Instead, it's hunting the Firefish, a sea dragon of legend whose meat has great value. Throme wants to learn the secrets of hunting firefish and bring them to his village, so the fisherman can do more than eek out a living.

Throme makes it onto the pirate ship but manages to make an enemy out of Talon, a master swordswoman who is the ship's security officer. The captain asks Talon to leave the ship, but not before she has tortured Packer and learned about his village and about Panna. She heads for shore, murder in her heart.

Does she succeed in killing everyone in the village, including Panna? I'll tell you a bit more: Panna sets out on an adventure trying to follow Packer, and her path meets Talon's.

Meanwhile, out at sea, the Trophy Chase heads into deadly peril in pursuit of the firefish. Will the ship return?

I really like this book. There's plenty of action. Characters are memorable, not sterotyped. The lore about sailing a tall ship seems genuine. The fantasy parts of the story, especially about the habits of the firefish, are well-woven. There's no magic, but there certainly is a fantastic beast: the firefish. Polivka lets us get right inside its head. In fact, he does a fair amount of hopping around with his point of view, but it is well handled; I didn't find it confusing.

The main characters have flaws like the rest of us, but they lean on the Lord as the story unfolds and pray for help, and God answers. The ruffian who appears to be a bad guy at the beginning comes around in the end. In fact, Polivka makes it clear that there is hope for bad guys, too. Non-Christians who have reviewed this book have not found it preachy or heavy-handed, and that's a good thing, too.

In short, this is a great book. Don't miss it. -- Phyllis Wheeler

The Legend of the Firefish, by George Bryan Polivka, is the first book of an exciting new series - the Trophy Chase Trilogy.

Packer is a fisherman from a poor village that he gladly calls home; a master swordsman; a disgraced seminary student (but for the right reasons); and a man deeply in love with a woman who gladly returns his ardor. He seeks to answer the question common to man: what is his purpose in life? And he decides that the hunt for the magical Firefish will answer his question and show him how all the pieces of his life fit together.

He quickly discovers, however, that he has embarked on the wrong quest. The true question is - what is God's purpose for his life.

He grows from the initial confusion about who he is despite his natural talents, to a gloomy certainty that he isn't worth the tarnish on a rusty sword, until finally, he discovers that what he thinks of himself doesn't matter. If God approves of him, everything else will fall into place.


Packer sighed. Those (recent victories he had achieved) were all externals, and none of that addressed the darkness in his heart. But Delaney wasn't through.
"Now, some way it happens that person can't see God is plainly working through him. And why? Cause he's got too much Woe is me, I'm not good, I should be dead, which is because of sins everyone who's ever lived has done, and which sins are all forgiven anyway, him being a Christian! So seems to me, beggin' your pardon for being blunt, that person, who is you, should quit thinking about the bad in himself so much and start trustin' God who done those miracles I just mentioned, and quit thinkin' God will just flat stop, and therefore let everyone die a horrible death. If God is good, which He is, He won't let those horrible things happen. And if He does let them happen, what are you going to do about it anyway? He's got His own plan and you can't stop it."
It was not the assessment Packer had expected. But it was cold water to a dry soul. "Thank you," was all he could say.


Mr. Polivka marvelously weaves the stories of several characters together and creates a brilliant tapestry of growing faith in the face of doubt and active opposition that threatens death at every turn. He combines swordsmanship (and swordswomanship!), and sailing into an adventure that is fun and causes the reader to pause for personal reflection at the end.

Though the frequent shifts of the narrative character are jarring at times, the non-traditional use of the omniscient viewpoint allows Mr. Polivka to create story tension with an economy of narration that otherwise would have been impossible to achieve.

I can't help but wonder if Packer Throm's struggles find their roots in the author's life. I am grateful to Mr. Polivka for sharing them in such a wonderful way.

Are you tired of boring, predictable novels? Do you like adventure on the high seas? Want a novel with wisdom and amazing insight? Well, have I got a book for you!

The Legend of the Firefish is the most unique, unpredictable novel I've read in a long time. It is fantasy, but it follows the "rules" of roughly the 17th or 18th century. The hero is a young man, Packer Throme, who smuggles his way onto a ship of former pirates. Their captain, the most notorious pirate ever known, is searching the sea for the very dangerous but very profitable giant sea serpents known as firefish.

Packer's adventures lead him to death and back, but his beloved fiancé, Panna Seline, runs away from home, beginning her own great adventure. The author switches you back and forth between their stories, even going into the point of view of a firefish or two. For the writers who read this book, the constant changing of points of view will be startling. He even slips into omniscient POV a lot. But the story is so gripping and so well-written, it didn't bother me. In fact, I was fascinated with his style and method. It reminded me of some of the classics that were written 150 or 200 years ago.

To me, the best thing about the book was the ending. The theme the author was weaving throughout the book really came together at the end, and that was something I rarely find in modern novels. There is a love story here, but I would almost classify this book as a "guy story." Of course, if you're a guy, that's fine, but if you're a woman who can't stand violence, well, you'll still love it. I had a little trouble with Packer's belief that he should not fight, should not struggle, but should lay down his life in one scene. But it's only one scene and was not a big problem for me.
I highly recommend this book.