Once upon a time, a sleepy English town was startled to hear that a lioness had got loose from a traveling circus and was traipsing through their peaceful hillside. Anthony and Quentin merrily join the chase and are startled to see not a lioness but a Lion pounce on a local and send him into an unexplainable coma. Come to find out, he is the leader of a group which has been exploring the notion of crossing boundaries into the realm of Powers—and the Powers came to them instead. Reality is unleashed, and no one is ready.
Having some familiarity with Plato’s teachings on Ideas/Forms is essential to grasping the conflict of this book, otherwise, there are just a bunch of animals running around and people acting weird. An understanding of God’s Kingdom and its ultimate Reality helps, too. When it breaks through, it is overwhelming, though it is founded in love. The problem is that other Powers also broke through, with intentions other than the good of the world. This is what Anthony must confront. His counterparts—Berringer, Foster, and Robertson—pursue different powers, each with different fates, while Anthony becomes as much Man as a man can become.
I definitely had too much in common with Damaris. Williams wrote her character with deep understanding of the female flavor of intellectual snobbery. Her self-importance covers insecurities that are only redeemed through relationship—particularly heading toward a marriage relationship. I watched her redemption closely and prayed that my own would be as complete a surrender to the greater Power.
The biggest takeaway for me this time through was that each character must surrender to something—resistance leads only to being consumed. There is no such thing as neutrality. But as each character realizes that Reality is impending and makes his or her choice, their surrender bears its fruit, either to life, Power, and redemption; or to reduction to the flesh. Really, this is an excellent image of eternity; we are left with our choices.
That Lady Who Reads A Lot 
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