The Origins Trilogy by Keith Robinson

The Origins Trilogy: Christian science fiction that simultaneously delivers good adventure AND reasoned arguments for Creation and the flood? Read on! Ages 16-up

The Origins Trilogy by Keith Robinson. 

• Logic’s End. CreateSpace, 2016 (reprint). 360 pages.
• Pyramid of the Ancients: A Novel About the Origin of Civilizations. Defender, 2010. 400 pages.
• Escaping the Cataclysm: A Novel About the Origin of Geological Formations. Defender, 2011. 400 pages.

Reading Level: Ages 16 and up; adult

Recommended For: Ages 16 and up; older teens/adults

Rebecca, part of a small team sent on a mission to explore a planet for signs of molecular life, finds her elation quickly turning to terror when she is separated from them and kidnapped by hostile aliens.  In her conversations with a fellow prisoner who is native to the planet, she is forced to rethink her illogical assumptions about evolution before it is too late.  In the second and third books, we pick up Rebecca’s story several years later, when she inadvertently ends up on a time-traveling spaceship with a mismatched crew.  The danger seems to intensify with each stop they make as they travel farther and farther into Earth’s distant past, but the questions raised by what they experience spur Rebecca’s research to learn just what is fact, and what is skewed interpretation, about the origins of mankind and the Earth.

Robinson’s Origins trilogy is ambitious: using science fiction to creatively–and accurately–portray the origins of the earth, its civilizations and its geological features. Thankfully, Robinson delivers. These are good science fiction adventures, and he does a phenomenal job of weaving in the compelling evidence for creation! In Logic’s End, the first book, Robinson uses primarily logic-based arguments for creation vs. evolution, presented in the context of Rebecca’s conversations with an alien in her company who is a scientist and is asking her questions about Earth. For instance, the alien is appalled to discover that she cannot run on all fours (all of the alien’s companions walk upright but can run like an animal). Rebecca tries to puzzle this out; surely the speed of being able to run on all fours would be a survival advantage, so why would it have been lost through the evolutionary process?

The subsequent books follow Rebecca’s continued learnings about origins of the earth. For example, as she investigates evidence for a world-wide flood when on board their spaceship, Rebecca begins to realize that facts are often interpreted to strengthen a particular viewpoint. The action moves along, Robinson keeps the reader guessing and develops his plot well, and the character development of the protagonist has some depth.

Of note for our readers: the intended audience for these books is adults, not teens. The main character, Rebecca, is in her early 30’s, and she and her husband are not doing very well. We learn in the second book that this has escalated since her conversion at the end of book one (and, in large measure, was due to that). There isn’t any graphic misbehavior, but the reader figures out long before Rebecca that her husband has been having an affair with her best friend. Robinson handles this dynamic quite well, and the books provide good discussion material on several levels.

Cautions: sexuality (see above paragraph for details)

Overall Rating: 4.5

• Artistic Rating: 4
• Worldview Rating: 5

Stay tuned for our interview with Keith Robinson, coming next week! In the meantime, have you read any of his works? Do you have other science fiction titles to recommend?