Thank you to Bethany House for my copy in exchange for my honest review -
When I was younger I could never fully understand The Old Testament - besides the stories you hear in church. I got the main points, but it was near impossible for me to see them as more than stories - that they were actually real people and real situations - except for a few people such as: Noah, Moses, Adam and Eve, Rebekah and Isaac, Esther for examples. I believe it was because there were SO many names and SO much happening it was hard to keep it all straight. Because of this, I would get bogged down and eventually give up with The Old Testament preferring the New Testament.
As I got older (mostly because of being homeschooled for high school), I found myself reading more about Saul, Jonathan, Samuel, Samson - but even still the prophets, the other people mentioned (such as Nehemiah) were stories. I understood on a different level that they were indeed real people and real situations, but it was so strange to me to think of God as a "fire and brimstone" God (He is so so much more than just that though!) - which is odd because I had no issues seeing him that way when it came to Moses and the Egyptians. Not only that, but I found all those stories to be (God forgive me for this) rather boring and dull.
Just in the last three years or so, I have actually gone out of my way to read through the whole Bible (pretty sure I have done so, but by jumping around) in order - still working on that because I get bogged down with all the old laws and all the names. However, I have found I want to learn more about all the stuff I couldn't care less about when I was little. I suppose that means I am growing as a Christian.
Anyway, I found over the years that if I watch a show or read a fictional book about the Biblical stories and then read them in the actual Bible I understood and cared more. So, when I discovered that Lynn Austin was writing a series about The Old Testament, I was very excited and couldn't wait to read it. Now, I haven't read the first one in the series, but I have read this one.
Good news to people who just pick it up - it CAN be read by itself. The characters are very alive and very real - which is a great thing! Each time I read a few chapters I couldn't help saying how much Ezra (in the book) reminded me of my father. The further I got the more Devorah reminded me of my mother - so it was rather entertaining to me what happened in the book. I was able to guess one thing that happened much later in the book and while it surprised me that I was correct, I wasn't overly surprised (I do that a lot).
The book is very well written and you can tell a lot of time and research went into it. If this is the way Lynn's other books are, I will have to check it out because I have greatly enjoyed this one. I give it 5 stars out of 5! :D
P.s. It has helped me put real personalities and "faces" to the Biblical people, so thank you Lynn!
