“Now at last I come to it,” Beowulf says softly. “What an honor to attack the heart of the curse itself. Now, at last, to face the real monster I was sent to defeat.” He smiles his brilliant smile, and the burden that has been upon him is suddenly gone, winging away into the shadows. “This will be the most glorious fight of all, will it not?”

—Break the Beast by Allison Tebo

In so many stories, joy is the happy ending held hostage, waiting to be set free by the hero.

In this story, joy is the hero.

At a basic level, I’ve always believed that God is joyful, for some reason my imagination has a hard time getting on board. My picture of Christ’s joy is often solemn and reserved, as if too much of it would lessen the depth of his sacrifice or detract from the power of his holy wrath. Or else my idea of his joy is something soft and ethereal, detached from the world that stirs my own emotions.

Break the Beast by Allison Tebo has roused my imagination with a vision that is gloriously strong, breathtakingly bright, and forged from the sharpest steel.

The battlefield is the last place we expect to find joy. How much greater is our surprise when we see that it’s the blade in the hand of a warrior. 

In this retelling of Beowulf, the hero radiates an expansive joy that invades the strongholds of evil. He delights in the breaking of curses and the deliverance of captives. He rejoices in the goodness of his God, the gift of his calling, and the companionship of the righteous. His joy makes the dwellers of darkness tremble and gently awakens hope in the hearts of the despairing. 

Beowulf is joyful, not because he is untouched by suffering, but because he knows with certainty what lies on the other side.

He experiences deep loss, painful rejection, and undeserved malice. The shadow of death is never far from him. He weeps, yet his joy remains steadfast in the knowledge that what he fights for can never be taken from him.

He does not shrink from the cost because his vision is fixed on the value of prize. He enters battle with the fearless assurance that the Almighty will have victory, and that victory will be more than worth its price.

This is peace that disturbs the darkness.

This is desire that disarms temptation.

This is hope that defeats the power of death itself.

This is joy that strikes terror into the heart of evil.

Break the Beast stirs my soul with the reminder that I serve a Warrior King whose joy resonates with vigor, glory, and kindness beyond my power to comprehend.

This is the joy that storms the gates of Hell. This is the joy that smiles on the unworthy and claims them for its own. And this is the joy that invites us to share in the overflowing fullness of Christ’s heart.

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

— John 15:11

“For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

— Hebrews 12:2

Thank you for reading! Allison’s epic retelling of the legend of Beowulf is now available on Audible! (And of course it’s available in print as well.) If you love noble heroes, scarred protagonists, and redemption arcs, this audiobook is for you! Break the Beast combines the heroic deeds and courageous themes of King Arthur with the prose and complex friendships of Lord of the Rings in a fantasy world inspired by Anglo Saxon Britain that will sweep you into a version of Beowulf like nothing you’ve seen before.

Here’s the blurb:

Who is to say who is the real beast?

Grendel haunts the land of Frisia in a restless need for vengeance on the human world that has rejected her. With a fiendish master urging her on, she attacks without fear of repercussion.

But the arrival of a foreign prince causes Grendel to doubt her invulnerability. Beowulf is renowned for killing monsters, and he can have only one purpose in visiting to break her hellish reign.

When the inevitable confrontation occurs, the battle between man and beast will change both their lives forever as they find themselves thrust into a quest for truth neither could have anticipated.