This is a wonderfully rich historical fiction adventure that takes the reader to the midst of 14th Century Italy with all the religious and political strife of medieval times in the air surrounding Rome and the Vatican. Ms Bergren has penned such vivid descriptions and imagery into her tale of these Christians who were well before their time – in a climate of danger and persecution, perhaps even death for those who dared to question the Catholic church of that day – that the reader is not only transported to their time and locale it is as if they are experiencing the events as the characters themselves.
The author weaves so many different elements into her book that this series can easily cross many genre lines and does not truly fit any one box as far as type of novel is concerned. Romantics, adventure lovers, mystery buffs, fantasy fans, historical junkies, suspense readers and many more will all find something to love and enjoy in this book and it’s sequels.
Ms. Bergren has taken the time to heavily research the era and atmosphere she is writing about and how that would have played into her characters’ lives such that I as a reader was in the skin of her characters and learned about the trials people might have encountered as followers of Christ in those times. The premise for her plot is based on rumors of a lost epistle allegedly penned by Paul but never cannonized. There are few if any known facts about this letter aside from references in 1st Corinthians to other letters from Paul. This Biblical mystery so intrigued her she decided to create her own adventure story surrounding one of these letters and its impact on those who came into possession of it hundreds of years after it was written. She used topics Paul has addressed elsewhere in his cannonized epistles as the jumping off point for the contents of her fictional letter and the historical records of the political and religious atmosphere of the time period to create an amazingly realistic scenario of good versus evil and how we as Christians can face our own trials and persecution. Many of the lessons and concepts her characters face and learn we as Christians either are seeing in a minor way already or will likely experience perhaps even to the level of the Gifted in these stories as Christ’s Second Coming continues to approach and The Enemy ramps up his attacks against those who refuse to submit.
Be sure to check out this historical page turner as well as its sequel in time to get your hands on the third book of this series this fall. Read my interview with the author. I’ll also be posting a review of book two soon and in the meantime don’t forget to leave a comment on yesterday’s post for a chance to win a copy of The Begotten and check out what other CSFF members have to say using the links there or in the blogroll on my right sidebar. You can also check out the book’s Amazon page for more reviews and info. Happy Reading till we meet again.
