Author: Lynn Austen.
Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Biblical Fiction.
Plot: Hezekiah was one of the few upright kings of Ancient Israel yet we know very little about his childhood and upbringing. This book takes a fictional though very convincing look into how his character might have been formed.
Born the second son of wicked King Ahaz, Hezekiah's young life was ripped apart when he was forced to watch his father sacrifice his elder brother to the pagan god Molech one horrifying night. His life became a living nightmare and he grew to hate his perverted father greatly. The one constant thing he could still love and trust was his mother, Abijah. While mourning the loss of her firstborn son and fearing for Hezekiah's sanity, Abijah vows to save him from his brother's fate and turns back to the God of her childhood, Yahweh. Risking her life with this new-found belief in Israel's one true God, Abijah secretly moves her aged father, Zechariah - a temple priest with guilt riddling his heart over a past failure - into Hezekiah's room in the palace in the hopes that Zechariah might be able to help her child. Brought to the lowest point in his life and suddenly aware that he doesn't want Hezekiah to have the same future as his father and grandfather before him, Zechariah begins to teach the boy about Yahweh.
But when his mother is taken away, his grandfather put under house arrest and Uriah, the power-hungry High Priest-turned-palace-administrator, running the country for the now constantly drunk King Ahaz, Hezekiah's youthful faith wanes. On top of that, his new tutor - an Egyptian named Shebna - doesn't believe in any gods at all. Hezekiah, not knowing any better, turns to weapons training as a means to save himself from Molech.
Fast forward about twenty years and Hezekiah is a grown man, ready for the task Yahweh has set for him. But how can he be ready when the faith of his childhood has grown to a vague memory?
Likes/Dislikes: I liked this book a good deal. It did seem to drag a little here and there but the climatic ending made up for that. Toward the beginning there are two or three kissing scenes between Ahaz and his wife Abijah but nothing beyond that. There is some violence; children being thrown into a pit of fire and a death scene at the end but these didn't effect me. This portrayal of what Hezekiah's childhood could have been like was highly interesting and very well researched. I didn't like the fact that the author used the New International Version of the Bible but I couldn't help that very much. In short, a very enjoyable read; I recommend it to older teens and adults.
Rating: PG-16 and up for content.
Date Report Written: October 29, 2011.
I received this book for free from the publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.
2 comments:
Glad you enjoyed this book, Austin is a favorite author of mine!
Yeah, she did a pretty good job. I was surprised and impressed. :) Can't wait to read the next one! ;)
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