Amazing story. I liked A Man Called Blessed even more than Bright and Dekker's Blessed Child. This story related the young adult years of Caleb, the orphan boy who was adopted by Jason and Leiah in the first book. Caleb is back at the rebuilt monastery in Ethiopia with his parents, struggling to find his way as he has lost his ability to connect with God. In the meantime, Israel and her Arab neighbors are embroiled in the ongoing hatred of each other that consumes them. Enter Rebecca Solomon, trained Israeli soldier, who is on a mission to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. In a race against time, neighbor hostility, and bloodshed, Rebecca and Caleb find themselves on exhilarating and surprising journeys that draw each of them into the arms of God.
I was blown away by this story. Although the violence and killing in this book was probably the worst that I had read in any Christian book, they all seemed to serve the purpose of the story by not sanitizing the Middle Eastern conflict for our American "sensibilities."
My only complaint about this story is that Jason and Leiah's fate is never resolved, with the exception of a brief reference at the end to their continued existence. They drop out of the story halfway through. Other than that, I highly recommend this book (and its predecessor) to anyone who wants a glimpse of God's power and purpose in His children's lives as well as in the direction of the world. As Caleb says, "Do you want to walk off a cliff?" ]]>
I just finished True Light last night. I think Terri Blackstock does a wonderful job of keeping the suspense high throughout this book. The main protagonists in this sequel are Deni Branning and Mark Green. Things get ugly for Mark when he is suspected by the neighbors for attempted murder. And they continue to get worse. In the desperate times in Oak Hollow, people are starting to fall apart. The worst is coming out in people, yet Christ is transforming the hearts of those who love Him. They learn that with great blessing comes great responsibility.
I am truly enjoying this series and think frequently about how our own world, and my own life, might be affected by such a catastrophe. The characters are well-fleshed out and very compelling. I highly recommend this Restoration Novel series to anyone.
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This is an excellent book. It was recommended to me by a big Ted Dekker fan after I complained about feeling "cheated" at the end of Dekker's book Thr3e. He said that if I were only going to read one Dekker book, it should be Blessed Child, written with Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ).
This book is about a young boy named Caleb, who is raised by an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian monk. He spends all ten years of his life in a monastery, sheltered from the world at large, before being abruptly wrenched from his adopted father and home to flee for his life in a violent and heart-stopping escape. Jason, a jaded Peace Corps worker, and Leiah, a Red Cross nurse, are Caleb's rescuers and become his guardians. They become very aware of his unique gifting, and they attempt to make the right decisions, all the while struggling with their own personal journeys of loss and grief.
It, perhaps, goes without saying that this book is well-crafted. The characters are compelling, and the reader can quickly empathize with them in their thought processes. I have said before that I believe that Christian fiction can impact readers in a deeper way for God's Kingdom than many inspirational or nonfiction works do. This book illustrates this view in the way that Dekker and Bright envision what "walking in the Kingdom" might look like here on earth. The miracles that Caleb performs and the ultimate experiences of Jason and Leiah help the reader to fully imagine for him or herself what could be. The book's illustrations help us to see what we otherwise might miss when our eyes are focused too much on the harsh realities of this world. Blessed Child reconnects the reader with wonder, joy, true sorrow, repentance, and childlike glee.
If there were one complaint I would make about this story, it would be that I wished for more story. The story is broken up by days passed between episodes. Had the story been written as a series, more interepisodic stories could have been added. Obviously this was not the intent of the authors. However, I would have liked to get to know the characters a bit more, slowing down with them as humans a bit more, rather than pursuing them in the frantic pacing of chaotic and tragic events.
Having stated that, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse of our future home as Christians as well as anyone else who has wondered about the discrepancy between what God calls us to and what we as Christians deliver. ]]>
I just finished reading By Darkness Hid (Book I of Blood of Kings) by Jill Williamson. What can I say but "Bravo!" to an author who has published her first novel? Williamson has done a masterful job of bringing the characters to life and drawing the reader in to care deeply about each of them. I long to re-enter the world of Er'Rets while I wait for the sequel to be published. Is the second book finished yet, Jill?
The first character we meet is Achan Cham, a stray or an orphan with no remaining relatives to care for him or her. In the land of Er'Rets, strays are considered lower than slaves. Above slaves are servants, then peasants, then nobility, royalty, and council members. Teenaged Achan suffers many cruel punishments and circumstances ever since he can remember. He is forced to drink a noxious tonic every day and is beaten regularly. Early in the story, he meets Sir Gavin, an Old Kingsguard (as opposed to New Kingsguard) knight, who begins to train him as a squire--unheard of for strays in Achan's time.
We are then introduced to the story's heroine, Vrell Sparrow, in a parallel timeline. She is a noblewoman who is disguised as a stray boy in order to avoid a revolting marriage. She is, however, in another part of the land of Er'Rets, in which strays are not treated as cruelly as they are in Sitna, Achan's home. This does not mean that she does not suffer her share of cruelties. Despite the challenges, she remains true to her only God, Arman, and is drawn to a shared journey with Achan. Both of them share the gift of bloodvoicing, the ability to hear others' thoughts and speak to those who share the gift.
Although I had a bit of a challenge getting into the story initially, once I became familiar with the new culture and time period, the story swallowed me. One of the things that kept me from really getting into the story was that I noticed that there weren't any simple verbs such as "walked" or "ran." Everyone seemed to stumble, or weave, or edge, or scurry. Mostly scurry. I know that the mark of a good writer is descriptive wording, but in this case, the descriptive wording slowed me down by having me notice them rather than the story. Once I got used to the author's style, however, I was able to dig in. Having said that, every time a character "scurried," which was often, I felt like I got yanked out of the story. That was unfortunate, but I am a forgiving reader--especially when the story is so good!
My other note is that the proofreader missed a very noticeable error. In the latter part of the book (I don't remember which chapter it was), the word "taut" was meant (as in the character's mouth being taut), but the word "taught" was printed. That was the only major flaw that I noticed. Several typos or misspellings were noted, but nothing more than any other novel in its first printing would have had.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. I don't know how many books will be in this series, but I eagerly await each of them. I may just have to re-read "Book I" over and over until the sequels are available! ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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Jeanette Cameron
read and liked
Tice Belmont's
review of By Darkness Hid:
"By Darkness Hid is a novel that whisks us away to the kingdom of Er'Rets and immerses us in the troubled lives of Achan Cham and Vrell Sparrow. The story follows these two likable characters as they struggle to control their destinies and even strugg...more "
"By Darkness Hid is a novel that whisks us away to the kingdom of Er'Rets and immerses us in the troubled lives of Achan Cham and Vrell Sparrow. The story follows these two likable characters as they struggle to control their destinies and even strugg...more "
bookshelves: to-read
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bookshelves: to-read
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