[SR] The Provenance Chronicles by Katelyn Pfeiffer

Series Review for The Provenance Chronicles, by Katelyn Pfeiffer.

Book 1: City of End | Book 2: City of Truth

Three more forthcoming!

The Provenance Chronicles is a Christian dystopian series aimed at YA readers. It takes place more than 2,000 years in Earth's future, 1,000 years after a worldwide nuclear holocaust that forced survivors to flee underground. But the radiation didn't only strip Earth's surface bare; it created a new breed of demons whose sole purpose is to root out all humans until every last one is dead.

City of End on Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/City-Provenance-Chronicles-Katelyn-Pfeiffer/dp/B0DK5BNMF7

City of End on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220442172-city-of-end 

What to do next:

• Read The Chronicles of Talahm starting with Book 1: Mark of Stars

Transcript

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Welcome to the Christian Readers Podcast, where you can escape into fiction without sacrificing your values. I'm your host, Colleen Mitchell, author of The Chronicles of Talam. Today is a series review. It's an incomplete series, but a series nonetheless, and I flew through the first two books since I'm an alpha reader for the third one. The Providence Chronicles by Caitlin Pfeiffer is a planned five-book series of Christian dystopian for young adult audiences. The first two books are out, and the third is forthcoming. City of End, the first book, won the ACFW Kidlit Award in 2025 and was the 2025 Chris Lit Book of the Year. For those unaware, ACFW stands for American Christian Fiction Writers. My introduction to the Providence Chronicles came through my critique group. I started out completely blind to the existing story when I began critiquing chapters for the third book. This was an interesting way to enter a world, but it whetted my appetite for more of the story and the characters. Caitlin asked me to alpha read the third book, which I did on the drive down to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago when my husband and I went to the Realm Makers conference. After finishing that first read-through, I went back to read books one and two, so when I reread book three, I have the context necessary to make helpful comments. Here's the description for book one, City of End. The year is 4085. Aeor, a young woman with a hidden past, is living in secret in the underground cavern City of End. A great evil has been growing, waging war on the human race since the day a nuclear genocide eradicated the surface of the earth in 3080. Now on End's most important day of the year, Eyre must reveal herself not only to all of End, but to the Dark Forces as well. Can she find a way to save her city while also navigating the destiny forced upon her and her desire to finally have a life to call her own? Caitlin is a gifted writer. Her descriptions make it effortless to picture the underground world she's built, and the way she writes the Dark Forces is unsettlingly descriptive. Her books have creatures called Bashers, which are essentially demonic entities, and as I told Caitlin after finishing reading City of Truth, which is book two, they are absolutely horrifying. I would say these books are better for slightly older teens, because Aeor is just days away from her 18th birthday when City of End opens, and I think most of the other characters are older than 18. The series deals with deep themes of good versus evil, hubris, guilt, redemption, faith, betrayal, and trusting after trust is broken, among many others. So if you're looking for a well-written dystopian with very clear Christian themes and elements, this is the series for you. You can find the first two books in the series, City of End and City of Truth, in Kindle Unlimited. You can check the show description for links to book one on Amazon and Goodreads. If you're a Christian with a book recommendation, there is a link in the description to text me, and I would love to hear it. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If this resonated with you, please share it with your friends so they can find something new to read. God bless, and until next time, goodbye.