Power of Pinjarra

Australian Destiny #2

by Sandy Dengler

Book 2 in the Australian Destiny series, tells the story of a nation of rogues, adventurers, and dreamers. Sounds the gospel theme: Out of what appears to be ultimate evil comes ultimate good.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian, Christian Fiction, Historical, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Nadine Keels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pearl wants to escape the back country and return to big city life where she can marry well. Marty wants to forge ahead with ambitious plans for his own land and cattle, even in the midst of a bad drought. And Indirri wishes to one day seek revenge for the past massacre of his family in Power of Pinjarra by author Sandy Dengler.

I'll confess I set aside this second novel in the Australian Destiny series on the first try, as the ending of Book One left me wanting more of those previous characters rather than the new set here. I had trouble getting a sense of direction for the story as the characters hopped from here to there, much of their lives blurring by in the background while the book fast-forwarded over some large gaps in time.

(Admittedly, I skimmed over most of the evangelistic content, as stretches of Gospel-talk generally don't work for me in fiction.)

Nevertheless, I'm glad I gave this book a second try, as the story eventually gets into a smoother groove. Although the journey toward the climax is fairly slow, the author uses it to tie hanging threads from earlier together, and when the climax does finally hit, it's explosive. Not to mention a few other parts along the way that popped with suspense or poignantly pricked my heart. Enid! Mungkala!

There's an overall richness to this historical fiction series, and I hope to continue on to Book Three.

[Kimberly Bega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book much more interesting than its predecessor. At first it seemed a curious choice to use completely different main characters from the first book, though a couple supporting characters make appearances in both books and one of the main characters in this book makes a passing appearance in book 1. Normally I hate when sequels focus on side characters or seem tangentially related, but in this case I find these characters more enjoyable and found it interesting to have more of the Aborigines' perspective, though I found some of their broken English dialogue cringy. I am curious to see how all of it ties together in books 3 and 4.

[Melissa Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The main characters both grow so much, there is some serious drama (illness, murder, plots, revenge, etc.), and there are romances. The journey from childhood to adulthood for the characters is well developed too. The characters from book 1 in this series aren't the focal point in this book, but these characters (from book 2) do make appearances in book 3.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

ties in well with Book 1, skillful begin/end connection, good salvation analogies, well written

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power of Pinjarra

[Mindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written novel about life in the Australian outback in the 1890s.