A wildly creative journey through time that feels a bit constrained by its immensely powerful heroes.
This third installment of a series focuses on Christian-fueled time travel.
When readers first meet Mia McNeal, the mixed martial arts fighter is staying at a luxurious hotel in North Carolina. Mia is still recovering from a defeat in the ring that she lost under suspicious circumstances. While she may not officially be a champion, she can (and will) still halt a convenience store robbery with a few well-practiced moves. Mia goes to see her Uncle Nate when suddenly they are confined and accused of being time travelers. Meanwhile, a government agent named Jonathan Jayne finds his career in jeopardy and his beautiful fiancee with another man. But neither Jon nor Mia needs to worry, as it is soon revealed that they are both, in fact, very capable of traveling through time with the help of Jon’s father, an extraordinary man named Marcus. Marcus lays out all of the incredible science of time travel, including some key caveats that help prevent many traditional problems with the concept (for example, “Law Five—There is no Butterfly Effect”). Added into the mix for the heroes are bonuses such as the ability to freeze time and the uncanny ability to see whether or not someone’s soul is headed for eternal damnation. A complex adventure unfolds that involves plenty of hand-to-hand combat, missions to save the souls of others, and a wild time with an advanced society that existed prior to the biblical flood. Giants and humongous spiders are just a few of the fantastical elements the characters encounter and their odyssey proves to be highly imaginative, if disorienting. One moment, Mia is trying to get her dying friend to accept biblical truths, and the next, Jon is awed by the majesty of gopher wood trees. Light’s (Once Upon a Time…Traveler: The Reluctant Tourist and the Hitchhiker, 2014, etc.) novel is thoroughly unpredictable, albeit the excitement is diminished as the safety of the protagonists is just about always guaranteed. They can, after all, freeze time if they are facing danger. While it proves surprising to see when and where the players will end up next, it seems that readers never need to be concerned about their ultimate fate.
A wildly creative journey through time that feels a bit constrained by its immensely powerful heroes.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-973600-51-0
Page Count: 405
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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