The most famous boy in the world is a prisoner. He’s been charged with a crime that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. Languishing within the most secure juvenile facility in California—with the district attorney vowing to make an example of him—Lance must endure the daily indignities of incarcerated youth.
New Camelot is fractured without him. Ricky is bereft, while Arthur feels the loss of his son with a despondency that can’t be quelled. Then there’s Michael, the volatile teen who helped write the proposition that will change California forever. His instability may well threaten the lives of everyone at New Camelot.
As the election looms closer, Proposition 51 takes on an even greater significance in light of the pending trial. The more harshly Lance is treated within the broken justice system, the more he contemplates the wisdom of children having more adult rights. If The Child Voter Act becomes law, and fourteen-year-olds become “legal adults,” might it simply allow real adults to throw more kids into prison?
Whichever way the voters decide, Lance’s greatest fear remains the same: will he ever rejoin the people he loves?
The Lance Chronicles Continue…
Finalist in the 2015 Wishing Shelf Book Awards
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Reviews:
“If Bowler could be there for every teen out there, you get the sense that he would. However, even if he can’t personally visit each and every teen, he’s able to reach a lot more through his books. Bowler is an author deserving of a wide spread audience, especially among inner city youth who are at risk of becoming just another statistic in the criminal justice system, like many of the boys Lance meets in prison. They need to hear that they’re not mistakes, and that they’re loved and someone cares about them. And if Bowler’s unable to get to them personally, I think he hopes that his readers will take up the cause, because he can’t do it alone, he needs help. Social change may start with one person, but it culminates with the active participation of the many.”
– Examiner.com
“The Round Table-inspired works of Bowler’s are certainly meant to entertain, but they do so much more than that. They’re the trumpet call in the night. They’re the summoning sword held aloft. They’re a call to action to right the many injustices facing the world today. It’s up to readers whether or not they want to remain passive bystanders, who read simply as a means of escape, or if they’re willing to take Bowler up on his offer and join the New Camelot because it’s real and it’s there, waiting right outside the pages of this book.”
– Tribute Books
“There’s something contradictory about human nature that likes to place certain individuals up on a pedestal before tilting it over and knocking them off of it. As Michael J. Bowler explains in There Is No Fear, it’s a way of dealing with one’s own failings and shortcomings by projecting them on to another person. It’s also a means of avoiding blame by hoisting it upon the shoulders of an innocent stranger. But Lance doesn’t fall victim to self pity. Instead of giving in to his despair while in prison, he rediscovers his self-worth and is able to redefine himself.”
– The Character Connection
“Should children be treated like adults? That’s the resonating theme that pulses through Michael J. Bowler’s Children of the Knight series. Now in its third installment, There Is No Fear, the consequences behind that decision couldn’t be more dire. Bowler dives into the juvenile justice system headfirst when Lance gets arrested and thrown into prison. It’s a topic that Bowler knows a lot about. He’s volunteered over thirty years of his life, helping children behind bars, providing them with a source of counseling and support. So he’s the perfect man to explore the inner workings of a correctional facility, and show just how much needs to be changed in order to make things more humane for the youngest members of society.”
– The Plot Thickens
“Bowler, in the third of the five books of his magnum opus, The Children of the Knight, writes about a place that no child ever wants to end up, much less visit. That’s why There Is No Fear provides a kind of voyeuristic journey. Bowler does the heavy lifting, committing it to the page, all readers have to do is let his words work their magic, as he transports them in and out of what is for many, hell on earth.”
– City Girl Who Loves to Read
“Search no further for a book that will ignite your passion to work for the good of those whom society has deemed “the least of these”, a passion for justice served as well as rights protected and accountability realized. This amazingly well written book drew me into its action, into the very lives of these characters, in a way that made me want to assign this series as mandatory reading for every high school graduate. It made me feel.”
– Only God Writes Trees