The Stone Testament

by Celia Rees

11,000 years ago the countdown began. Now reports of strange phenomena signal the approach of the Endtime.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook

419 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Celia Rees (born 1949) is an English author of children's, YA and Adult fiction.

She was born in 1949 in Solihull, West Midlands but now lives in Leamington Spa with her husband. Rees attended University of Warwick and earned a degree in History of Politics. After university, she taught English in Coventry secondary schools for seventeen years, during which time she began to write.

Since then, she has written over twenty YA titles. Her books have been translated into 28 languages. She has been short listed for the Guardian, Whitbread (now Costa) and W.H. Smith Children’s Book Awards. She is a regular tutor for the Arvon Foundation. She has been Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group and on the Society of Authors’ Management Committee.

Her first book for adults, Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook, was published by HarperCollins in July, 2020.

Reviews

[leynes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is, sadly, another piece of trash fiction, and I really didn't click with the story at all. I think it was trying to shock with all of these death waves, but it left me beyond confused. Also, it was so set up to be a series, and then it just ended and never got continued? loool

[marilynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Barely read about 40-50 pages and I think it's safe to say that i absolutely hated that book. I couldn't understand what was going on half the time and i don't have the patience to stick it out to find out. I've been thinking of DNFing it for quite some time but I just got the courage to do it.

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like the blurb (the many "signs of the end of the world" such as crying statues and milk producing stone cows are present for all of one sentence) and hard to get into but worth persevering for an end of the world time hopping fantasy novel.

[Lottie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sceptical at first, I'm glad I kept on going with this one.

It has a strange set up; about the first 300 pages are foundation and then everything suddenly happens at the end. I got a little confused at times, but I suppose that is the nature of stories that contain time travel in the way this one does.

The exploration of deities and earth magic is just wonderful, especially if you're a massive nerd for that sort of thing. It pieces itself together and really makes you think about the ancient past, and beliefs that we dismiss now, but who are we to do so? What lies beyond our reach? As imperfect as the book is in places, such as the letters (which, though dry at times, were still interesting to me) it far makes up for it with the Elder Time and the vivid ending.

[Shrilaxmi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The good: The reason I liked this book was how seemingly random events were connected. It was well written too.

The bad: It killed me to get to last punctuation mark but I did it. And I had such high hopes in the beginning too. The story was great but it got a little boring in the middle. The long descriptions were one of the myriad flaws of this book. Without them, it could have been really impressive. The ending was also pretty abrupt.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an enjoyable read for the most part, but unfortunately the structure is rather confusing, and even unengaging until about halfway into the book. I can see the appeal of the idea, and Rees does deliver in terms of descriptions and a blend of two timelines, but it was hard to be immersed in the tale when perspectives are jumped between so much and the plot isn't clear. Not one I'll read again, but it was interesting.

[Kiandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly confusing. It started out well, with one of the characters waking up surrounded by dead people, but after the first couple chapters I quickly lost interest. There were more flashback chapters than chapters actually featuring the main characters so I didn't really get attached to any of the characters. I found that nothing much happened for the majority of the book and it was too confusing for me to find much enjoyment in.

[Refentse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
The lore was fun; the play on different timelines intersecting was so engaging for me; and the religious (Biblical) overtones were also beautifully done. I plan to reread her many times in the future :)
*Don't look at that rating up there, the book is good y'all!

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

[Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been better

[Sheryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it, but wasn't expecting the ending that it gave. Rather clever....

[Emorie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the references to mythology, both past and present! Although it gets a bit confusing when they go back to Elder Time, I think that's kind of the point - but I also think it's intriguing how Stone was able to communicate with them despite having died in their world. The ending also showed a rather unique perspective on what would have happened had the C6D/Order never existed, despite Adam remembering it somewhat clearly... I feel as though it had been written down by Abraham from what Adam described. Overall pretty good reading.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you haven't already heard, the world is going to end in 2012. In this book, it isn't too late to set right what was once toppled. With shades of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and nods to Madeleine L'engle's Swiftly Tilting Planet, it's up to three teenagers to go back to Elder Times and make sense of the mystery and magic surrounding the crystal skull. Unfortunately, the nature of the book didn't translate well to audio. Too many changes in points of view, too many characters. Although the narration itself was good, it was too confusing. Conceptually it was interesting but probably would have been more enjoyable had I read it.

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zilah, the only survivor of a world-wide suicide cult finds her life entwined with Kris, a streetwise gang leader and Adam, an orphan who has been raised by a religious order. Guided by two mystical adults and writings from the past these three must travel back in time to prevent the distruction of the world which according to the ancient Mayan calendar will happen on the winter solstice.

It took me longer to connect with this story than with the other two books I've read by this author [Witch Child and Pirates:]; but, I liked it enough to finish.

[Georgie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although, I usually find Celia Rees to be a fantastic author with many brilliant books I didn't get as much from this novel. The Stone Testament makes you think and questions not only your idea of reality but what lies beyond this one, however I found the characters emotionally hard to connect to, possibly due to the minium use of dialogue. THe storyline was good and very inventive but with so many character's roles in different eras linking to one event it was difficult to sort out each individual person.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich habe noch nie so ein Buch gelesen, bei dem das Potential einfach aus dem Fenster geschmissen wurde. Echt traurig.
Der Anfang der Geschichte ist sehr gut und dann lässt es schnell nach. Ist zuerst interessant und packend und dannach wird es nur langweilig.
Ich muss auch sagen, dass Ich die Geschichte zum Teil auch nicht verstanden habe, denn mir blieben viele Fragen unbeantwortet.
Um es noch ein mal auf den Punkt zu bringen, die Idee dahinter ist genial und auch etwas anderes vielleicht auch neues, aber die Umsetzung ist einfach nur furchtbar.

[Noodle The Naughty Night Owl]

Tried to read, but just couldn't get into, The Stone Testament by Celia Rees.

It started out with good promise, but was way too disjointed for me to get the feel for it.

I like a bit of mystery in my stories, but this one began to downright baffle me. Was it about a cult or about the end of the world? Or maybe it was about evil gods or something.

Anyway, this one gets...

‎2/10: "Managed half the book, tempted to read more but just couldn't get there" on the NBRS.

[Nami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have literally JUST started reading this. :B Fingers crossed its as good as it seems.- I wrote this days ago.

A recent update:

This book is awesome. Purely. Its adventure packed, thrilling, exciting, makes you think tonnes and is a soon to be fave!!! Im nearly finsihed..will let you know soon! :D

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celia Rees is one of my favourite authors and while this is quite different from some of her other books, it is a good read. It's not a casual read, you do need to read it quite thoroughly or you might get lost but it is well worth it - although if you asked me for a summary I don't think I could give you one!

[Celia]

I couldn't finish this - I thought it would be a good apocalyptic teen novel, but it was so dull. I realised I was skimming in desperate hope that it would end soon, and when both the main characters were made unconscious, I decided to give up.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy, but very interesting. It's definitely not light reading--to start with, it's about the impending end of the world. The main characters travel through time, but in a completely non-traditional way that feels much more believable and intact.

[Steff S (The Bookish Owl) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish. It was going OK, I was getting through but then you had pages and pages of seemingly unrelated letters which to me were too detailed to be letters and it was just boring.

[Bekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strange book that completely baffled me towards the end. Was left completely confused with the book!

[Venessa Stella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like this book! To my mind it was really confusing and boring!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first 300 pages or so nothing really happened and at times was really confusing but I really liked the ending!!!

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it's either I've grown out of these kinds of paranormal / different world books, or the whole story's just not igniting any passion nor imagination in me.