I have to say that this book was a major disappointment. In the final installment of a six part series, I was expecting a climactic ending and a satisfying resolution. I got neither. And what's worse, the awesome writing that I had come to expect from the Theones was gone. The writing seemed half-hearted and rushed. They had obviously not put much heart into this book. It was like they just wanted to get it over with. Okay, I knew from Saga of the Sierras that the Theones were capable of some pretty shoddy writing, but I wasn't expecting to find it here!
Okay, anyways, the story picks up where book five leaves off, it follows the three boys, Emet, Haor-Tov, and Avel as they journey from Galilee to Bethlehem; it takes Nakdimon ben Gurion to Jerusalem where he tries to convince the council that Yeshua of Nazareth is not a threat to national security; and it takes Marcus Longinus to Pilate's aquaduct building project outside of Bethlehem. These five meet up again in the novel's climax during the riot and subsequent massacre in Jerusalem on the Passover holiday. And then the novel abruptly ends.
That's not so bad. What is bad is that the novel ends as a commercial for the Theone's next series: The A.D. Chronicles! It's like this whole book has been a teaser trailer for another series! Not only do I not like that, I also think it's very, very bad form and highly unethical. Okay, maybe the unethical part is taking it too far, but can you understand just how disappointed and frustrated I am? I mean, how would you like to go to a movie you were really looking forward to and when you got you found out that this movie is actually just a commercial for another movie and you're going to have to pay if you want to watch it to find out what actually happens? That would make just about anyone mad, especially considering the cost of theatre tickets. Well, books are pretty expensive too. Especially Christian books.
And not only that, but they obviously didn't think through their writing! For example, there's one part where Gamaliel and Nakdimon are studying the Old Testament profecies to determine whether or not Yeshua of Nazareth can be the Messiah and Gamaliel directs Nakdimon to Isaiah 52. What? The Torah wasn't divided into chapters back then! The Bible was divided into chapters by a monk who was riding the train or something during the dark ages. Or something like that. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it shows just how little thought was put into this book, that the writers were obviously just writing this in a hurry to finish off the series because they had something else in mind, like The A.D. Chronicles.
Also, and, I promise, this will be my last complaint--what's up with Jesus? In this book he seems like little more than a parlour magician spouting off feel-good philosophy! I know they didn't intend to make him seem that way and if you take his portrayal over all three books they actually do a pretty good job, I think, but in just this one--it stinks.
Finally, for what I liked about this book: the gospel was exceptionally clear. That was amazing! The book totally shows how Jesus fits into prophecy and into the whole history of Judaism and how everything in the Old Testament has meaning that points towards the coming of the Messiah. That was really awesome and it's almost worth reading the book just for that. So by all means, read the book, just skip the beginning and the end.
Okay, anyways, the story picks up where book five leaves off, it follows the three boys, Emet, Haor-Tov, and Avel as they journey from Galilee to Bethlehem; it takes Nakdimon ben Gurion to Jerusalem where he tries to convince the council that Yeshua of Nazareth is not a threat to national security; and it takes Marcus Longinus to Pilate's aquaduct building project outside of Bethlehem. These five meet up again in the novel's climax during the riot and subsequent massacre in Jerusalem on the Passover holiday. And then the novel abruptly ends.
That's not so bad. What is bad is that the novel ends as a commercial for the Theone's next series: The A.D. Chronicles! It's like this whole book has been a teaser trailer for another series! Not only do I not like that, I also think it's very, very bad form and highly unethical. Okay, maybe the unethical part is taking it too far, but can you understand just how disappointed and frustrated I am? I mean, how would you like to go to a movie you were really looking forward to and when you got you found out that this movie is actually just a commercial for another movie and you're going to have to pay if you want to watch it to find out what actually happens? That would make just about anyone mad, especially considering the cost of theatre tickets. Well, books are pretty expensive too. Especially Christian books.
And not only that, but they obviously didn't think through their writing! For example, there's one part where Gamaliel and Nakdimon are studying the Old Testament profecies to determine whether or not Yeshua of Nazareth can be the Messiah and Gamaliel directs Nakdimon to Isaiah 52. What? The Torah wasn't divided into chapters back then! The Bible was divided into chapters by a monk who was riding the train or something during the dark ages. Or something like that. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it shows just how little thought was put into this book, that the writers were obviously just writing this in a hurry to finish off the series because they had something else in mind, like The A.D. Chronicles.
Also, and, I promise, this will be my last complaint--what's up with Jesus? In this book he seems like little more than a parlour magician spouting off feel-good philosophy! I know they didn't intend to make him seem that way and if you take his portrayal over all three books they actually do a pretty good job, I think, but in just this one--it stinks.
Finally, for what I liked about this book: the gospel was exceptionally clear. That was amazing! The book totally shows how Jesus fits into prophecy and into the whole history of Judaism and how everything in the Old Testament has meaning that points towards the coming of the Messiah. That was really awesome and it's almost worth reading the book just for that. So by all means, read the book, just skip the beginning and the end.
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