An Echo in the Darkness
Mark of the Lion #2
by Francine Rivers
My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical fiction
After nearly dying in the arena, Hadassah was nursed back to health by a physician whom she works with for a while afterward. She wears veils over her face to cover the scars that tend to make those who see them uneasy and eventually comes to be known as Rapha, the healer, by people she has helped. When she encounters Julia, the troubled Roman woman who sent her to the lions in the first place, she is compelled to go back and work for her. Meanwhile, Julia’s brother Marcus is devastated after witnessing Hadassah’s presumed death and travels to Judea to try to make God answer for letting her suffer and die so horribly.
There was a lot that I liked about the book, but man was it a lot of work to get there. The previous book, A Voice in the Wind, was so dark, discouraging, and full of depravity, ending with little hope or payoff for the gloom and debauchery we had to go through for most of the book. But then in this second book, glimmers of hope begin to shine and the promised payoff is particularly sweet after the long haul to get there. I still think a lot of detail could have been cut out of both books, especially detail about one particular character’s sinful life, but maybe Rivers was worried that the culmination wouldn’t have been quite so fulfilling without all of it.
There are some new characters in this book, and I came to really like some of them. Hadassah herself sometimes comes across as too perfect, especially when contrasted against the other Christian characters, one of whom is new to the faith and definitely has some work to do on his/her attitude and treatment of others (trying to be vague to avoid spoilers). My favorite parts of the story were any time we’d go back to Marcus in Judea as he tries to feel closer to Hadassah, whom he believes to be dead, and trying to force God to reveal Himself and His reasons for allowing her death. His search was well written; I agonized with him. In fact, the emotional payoff in the last quarter or so of the book hit so hard that I found myself tearing up multiple times.
Fortunately, there was a lot less graphic content in this book than the previous one had. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t really recommend skipping book #1 and going right to this one, because despite my issues with book #1, the reader would miss a lot of the depth that makes this 2nd book so rich and enjoyable. So while yes, I did enjoy this book, it’s difficult to recommend the series to anyone in particular or warn anyone away from it. Feel free to check out other opinions at the link below. (There is a 3rd book in the series, which I still plan to read, but it takes a bit of a turn. Most of the storylines are wrapped up by the end of this one.)
Find out more about An Echo in the Darkness
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
