In episode 26, Lena reviews 3 out of 4 books of The Lunar Chronicles, a YA sci-fi series by Marissa Meyer that starts with Cinder. Kristi reviews all three of The Emissaries, a series of biblical fiction by Angela Hunt, starting with The Woman from Lydia.
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Spoiler notice: This book will contain some mild spoilers from the previous two books in the series, The Woman from Lydia and The Sisters of Corinth.
Under Nero’s reign, Calandra helps her sculptor father create a piece for a very important Roman, who then commissions him for something greater. Meanwhile, that important Roman’s son Hadrian is tasked with visiting the imprisoned Christians regularly to make sure they’re not trying to cause a revolt. But when a fire sweeps through Rome and destroys more than half of the city, leaving many dead and others homeless, Nero places the blame on the Christians, despite their hospitality to the hurting and displaced. With friends amongst this persecuted group, both Calandra and Hadrian struggle to understand why Romans are so quick to accept this explanation.
I was expecting something quite different from this book, given the way the previous one ended. I knew there would be a new main character, but I thought we’d see more of the characters from the previous book, and I particularly thought we’d get more of a follow-up to the previous book’s main character’s sister, who ended on such a tragic note. Though Mariana and Marcus, as well as Euodia and Ariston from the first book, do appear in this book, they have pretty small parts. However, Calandra’s and Hadrian’s stories are engaging in their own rights. The explanation of how sculptures are crafted, especially large bronze sculptures, was fascinating (though eventually I did start to skim some of the details). Hunt’s author’s note puts some of that into perspective, but I really appreciate her research and her way of weaving it into a captivating story. And speaking of that, there are so many other historical elements that Hunt brings to play in this book, from speculation that Nero started or at least allowed the fire in order to make more space for his palace, political unrest in Rome, and specific well-known early church founders that are generally believed to have died in Rome during this time of persecution.
Hunt’s descriptions of the various deaths during the fire and the persecutions are vivid enough to bring them to life. Though let that be a warning to those who would struggle with the violence and bloodshed. Both of these sections of the book had me in tears, and the latter (the persecutions) left me thinking of how much I complain about petty things in my life, when I have it so very much better than many others even around the world now, who are persecuted for the very God that I am free to worship every day. It really puts things into perspective.
However, I feel like there is a pacing issue here. After the persecution, the story kind of takes a bit of a drop-off, and I don’t feel like it ever really comes back. More of interest does happen, but it feels like a really long conclusion after a climax, even though I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be the climax. Still, the story overall kept me hooked throughout, partly because, unlike the main characters in the previous two books, Calandra is not a Christ-follower at the start of this book, so I appreciated her arc. A few major moments happened near the end of the book that may have felt just a little too convenient, but really, when taking in the larger story, they actually make a lot of sense. And I would have been really disappointed without them.
Calandra’s POV is first-person and Hadrian’s is third-person. I’ve never been a huge fan of that kind of back-and-forth, but on top of that, there was at least once that I noted that Hadrian’s slipped into first-person for a line or two. It was a little jarring. In general, this book was my least favorite of the series, but I still highly enjoyed it, and I recommend both it and the series for those who like biblical fiction, especially from the time after Christ. The books could possibly be read out of order, but I think you’d lose a lot of the richness of the full story doing that.
Find out more about The Daughter of Rome
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
The new provincial governor’s son is an eligible bachelor, and the chief magistrate’s daughter, Prima, is intent on catching his eye. Unfortunately, Marcus prefers her step-sister, Mariana, who, as a new Christian, knows that it would be a bad idea for her to marry a man who worships the Roman gods. While she struggles with her options, Prima is determined to convince Marcus that she is the right choice after all.
For as much as I loved the previous book in this trilogy (I gave it 5 stars as well), this one even tops that! First of all, we have a sort of take on a marriage of convenience but with a twist, which is a trope I generally love in Christian fiction. The backstory of how Mariana and her mother became followers of Yeshua (Christ) is really interesting, and there’s the added suspense of their faith not being accepted by those in authority around them. Prima’s side of the story is shown alongside Mariana’s, and Hunt doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life during this time period—violence, idol worship, sexual immorality, etc., so let this be a warning to any who would have a difficult time with that being included.
There’s so much more that I liked about the story, but too much of it would involve spoilers. I’ll just say that I both cheered and cried while reading this book. It seems like it’s not nearly often enough these days that I’ll read a book that I get completely caught up in and don’t want to leave, even when it’s over, but that happened with this book. Another warning—it does end on a cliffhanger, but fortunately for me, the follow-up book is already out, so I can read it very soon! Overall, I earnestly recommend this book for those who enjoy biblical fiction, especially from the time after Christ.
Find out more about The Sisters of Corinth
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
When Euodia, a Christ-follower in AD 51, sees a young slave girl being treated terribly by her master, she buys the slave to free her. But though the slave no longer brought a profit for her masters after a Jewish rabbi had robbed her of her “gift” of divination, one of her masters claims the sale was not done legally. He takes the girl back and travels to find someone who can restore her gift so she can continue to earn money for him. Euodia and her servants follow the master and slave in the hopes of rescuing the girl who should rightfully be free.
Hunt takes a couple of passages from the book of Acts and weaves them into a rich, heart-filled story that I absolutely loved! The bulk of the story is the journey east from Philippi, Euodia trailing behind Hector Hostilius, hoping to catch up to him before he manages to restore the slave girl’s gift with an unclean spirit or sells her for being worthless to him. Even before that, though, and throughout, I was caught up in the setting, from the work Euodia does making purple clothing to the travel on the Via Egnatia and so many other things. A warning for those who might be bothered by this kind of thing—Hunt doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life during this time period—violence, idol worship, sexual immorality, etc.
Euodia’s faith in Christ came from an encounter with the apostle Paul, who is also the rabbi that “cursed” the slave girl Sabina by casting a demon out of her (these are both of the parts that came from Acts). While most of us don’t face the kind of situation Euodia is in here, trying to literally free a girl in captivity, I mentally cheered her resolve and wholehearted trust in God. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it was all going to play out. The book goes back and forth between Euodia and Hector for much of the book, and I’ll admit that that led me to expect a far different outcome to the book than it has. An unpredictable plot is a good thing, though, and there was not one thing about the plot or the ending that I would have changed. Well, maybe one thing, but it’s small and would be a spoiler to explain. And I did notice a few weird name discrepancies, wherein a slave was first given one name then later referred to by another and Hector’s business partner had 2 slightly different spellings for his last name. If either of these things was intentional, I didn’t pick up on it.
There is some romance in the story, but it also was not what I expected from early in the book, and it was my favorite kind—subtle and sweet. I appreciate that Hunt didn’t give us more than necessary in the way of physical interaction between the two involved, which I feel happens far too often in Christian fiction. Overall, I earnestly recommend this book for those who enjoy biblical fiction, especially from the time after Christ.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Find out more about The Woman from Lydia
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Though Aya, daughter of Zebulon of Tarsus, is only marrying the man chosen by her parents out of duty, she enjoys being a wife, and later, a mother, more than she expected. Though she’d like to use the talent for singing given to her by God in some way, she’s contented herself with following His will, however he chooses to use her. But when her brother, a Pharisee and member of the powerful Sanhedrin, surprises everyone by converting to following the Nazarene who was crucified a few years past, Aya and her family face some persecution from their fellow Jews in Jerusalem, and Aya is not sure how to reconcile her love for her brilliant brother with her family’s long-time religious traditions.
I think I’ll be in the minority with this book, like I was with the previous in the series. Not that I didn’t like it, but I didn’t like it as much as most seem to. Aya frustrated me early on, as I think she lets her desire to sing for people define her too much. I also don’t think there needed to be such a focus on the newlywed activities. It felt like the story didn’t really get going until both siblings were married, like it was something we had to get through first, but I didn’t really understand why it was all so important.
I think the other reason that the story didn’t work as well for me is that I couldn’t really connect very well to one of the two main characters. The perspective alternates between Aya and her older brother, Sha’ul (the apostle Paul). But once Sha’ul had converted to Christianity, his perspective is barely shown. When it is, it’s mostly just to tell us about events that we can read about in the book of Acts. Overall, it seemed shallow to me. Not much happened that I couldn’t have predicted, and I didn’t connect to the characters much as we sped through months and years of time.
The idea of what the family of the man who wrote many books of the Bible went through when he went against the tradition of the day to follow Jesus is an interesting premise. I felt it could have been explored more deeply, but I do think that many other fans of Biblical fiction will enjoy it more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Find out more about The Apostle’s Sister
See what I’m reading next.
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, which starts with No More Broken Promises.
Cassie returns home near the end of a long summer to find her family has become enthralled with her step-brother Nick’s new friend, a giant of a man named Dustin. Cassie doesn’t appreciate being thrown together with him just because Nick and Andrea, Cassie’s best friend, happen to be dating. Even as Cassie finds herself liking him more and more, he’s about to ship off to be in the army for 2 years, so she does everything she can to guard her heart.
Here at the final book in the series, I find that my reaction to it is related at least as much to how it calls back to the rest of the series as it is to this story itself. For example, Cassie immediately dislikes Dustin, mostly just because everyone else likes him. That’s been a rather tired recurring theme for her throughout the series, as she dislikes almost everyone new, and not always for the same reason. Overall, though, she’s clearly just not very accepting of change. She also has shown this amazing ability to turn the head of a lot of guys in the series, often just by being “different” from everyone else around. And finally, despite the lesson she should have learned from the previous book where she “fell in love,” she again convinces herself that she can date a non-believer and change him.
Also like some of the other books in the series, I had a feeling I knew where this story was going to go. Fortunately, it didn’t quite follow my predictions completely (which also happened with some of the other books too), and the story came out interesting in the end. I think I would have liked something a little more final for the last book in the series, but Cassie is still a teenager at this point, so a satisfactory wrap-up to this particular story would be difficult to swallow anyway. And since these were written in the early 90s, I don’t have much reason to hope for a follow-up. The series overall averaged about 4.5 stars for me, and I’m so glad I read through the whole thing again recently. I will be recommending the series to my daughter (currently 11) and do think it’s worth looking into for other Christian girls in the middle school to early high school range.
Find out more about The Glory of Love
If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, which starts with No More Broken Promises.
Cassie auditions for and wins a spot on a national singing tour for the election campaign of a man running for president of the United States. At first, it doesn’t matter to her what his position is on any policies because of the amazing opportunity and the exposure she’ll get as a singer. Besides, she’s too young to vote, so it doesn’t really matter whether or not she agrees with him…does it?
Very shortly after going with Andrea to New York City for Andrea’s chance as a fashion model, Cassie is off on another adventure, this time by herself. And for a while, it’s nothing but lights and music and fun. Not that it’s not hard work to memorize the songs and routines in the small time frame she and the other 7 singers are given, and I really liked the descriptions we’re given about how the rehearsals and shows go. I’m sure it could have gotten repetitive, since a lot of what happened was the same from day to day, or it could have just been skipped over and left a really short book. But Hunt made it interesting and focused more on things that did change from day to day, mostly things that happened with the singers, or meager encounters with the man they were promoting.
Then a medical situation forces Cassie to stop singing, and even to stop talking, and all that’s left to do is to listen. And she doesn’t like what she hears. As a teenager whose parents aren’t really Christians, Cassie has to wrestle mostly alone with the moral implications of endorsing a man whose stance on certain political issues go against the faith she’s still somewhat new to. I really like the way it all plays out, and I think it can give anyone who reads it encouragement to make the right choice when faced with a difficult decision like this ourselves. This book is a solid addition to the series in which I’m sad to only have one book left to read.
Find out more about The Chance of a Lifetime
If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, which starts with No More Broken Promises.
When Cassie’s best friend Andrea wins a modeling contest and gets to go to New York City for a week, she invites Cassie to go with her. But fame and fortune affects Andrea in ways Cassie never expected. Will their friendship survive Andrea’s overnight success?
Cassie finally gets to show that she can be responsible in this story, as she’s expected to keep Andrea out of trouble when the two teenagers go to New York. Of course, there wouldn’t be a story if things didn’t go wrong in some way, so while what happens is unexpected to Cassie, it’s a bit expected by at least adult readers. Readers of the demographic this story is meant for may not expect it as much, but it’s hard to say in this day and age. I think what I question the most, though, is how on earth Andrea and Cassie are even best friends. Andrea has always been a less-than-faithful friend, ignoring Cassie for long periods of time if she’s interested in a guy or just annoyed with Cassie in some way. Suddenly at the beginning of this book, though, the two are thick as thieves again. Well, okay.
When I think about this series from when I read it as a teenager, this story was the one I remembered most. Though it was maybe a little less enthralling as an overall story than some of the others, I still liked it and am looking forward to the rest of the series.
Find out more about Star Light, Star Bright
If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, which starts with No More Broken Promises.
Cassie and her brothers are sent to camp for a week so their parents can have some time to themselves. At first, Cassie is lonely. Then she meets Ethan, a wild, reckless, older boy who flirts with all the girls and treats her little brother badly. Cassie knows he’s a terrible person, but when he turns his attention to her, she can’t help but be attracted to him.
Cassie has finally moved on from family drama, and now her focus turns to something a little more common to girls her age: a crush on a boy. She seems to have to learn everything the hard way, as here she fells into a trap that might be familiar to some of us—getting into a relationship thinking she can fix the other person. She’s certain God wants her to help Ethan, and maybe he does, but she’s still pretty immature herself and goes about it in the wrong ways. Even as the message being focused on throughout the week is about finding God’s will, including in love, Cassie keeps mis-applying it to herself and making another common mistake of assuming Ethan needs this truth more than she does.
It was nice to see Cassie move beyond her selfish whininess in the past books to a new type of problem. And the story didn’t go the way I assumed it would, so that was nice. I’ve enjoyed this series so much, even with my small complaints about Cassie’s selfishness, and hope to be able to recommend them to my daughter when she’s a little older (they’re not easy to find). The next story in the series is the one I remember the most from when I was a teenager, and I’m looking forward to continuing!
Find out more about Love Burning Bright
If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, which starts with No More Broken Promises.
Cassie’s mom and step-dad think she’s completely self-centered, so she sets out to prove them wrong by helping a social outcast at her school change her image. What really happens, though, is that Cassie learns to be more grateful for her own blessings.
If I thought Cassie was childish and annoying in the last book, she really hits new heights in this one. She is just downright mean (of course, this is from the perspective of a parent, which is probably different than the perspective of a teenager who might read this book). I can’t even say that plenty of teenagers in her situation wouldn’t act the same way, but it does get a bit difficult to read. Fortunately, this book puts an end to all of that. And here’s where I begin to feel like this series is basically a series of after-school specials for Christian teens (not in a bad way). Parents getting divorced and remarried, a classmate with AIDS, and now the serious topic brought up in this book. I won’t say more, because it’d be a spoiler for the climax. Though I did suspect it earlier in the book, I don’t think as many younger readers would. Then again, these days, teens have seen a lot more than they had in my day, whether in real life or on TV.
The story about Cassie helping Sandy Shore didn’t go the way I expected it to at all, which is a good thing. And Cassie definitely saw her own life in a new light by the end, which explains why the next few books finally get her away from the drama of her home life and into whole new messes. Though it looks like she won’t be at school as much in the rest of the series, I really hope we get a chance to catch up with Sandy Shore before the end.
Find out more about The Much-Adored Sandy Shore
If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
A Journey of Words 