Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.48 AVERAGE
4.48 AVERAGE
An Echo in the Darkness Book 2 Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers
Read March 2024
An Echo in the Darkness is a fabulously written, exciting, and romantic edition to A Voice in the Wind, the first book in Rivers’ fascinating series. A page turner for sure and a must-read for any Christian young adult or adult.
Positive messages: 5/5
Hadassah shares many positive messages with others about God. Compassion, empathy, and forgiveness are evident in this story and you will be crying once it ends! God is the great healer and many get healed by Him. Hadassah gives God the credit for healing His children and won’t accept any credit herself.
Positve role models: 5/5
Hadassah, even after being thrown to the lions and meant to be killed by Julia, forgives her. She shares God’s love with everyone around her no matter what they have done for her and leans on God in every decision she makes. Marcus shows that it doesn’t matter what you look like but your heart that matters towards the end of the book and ends up getting saved and giving his life to Jesus. Pheobe is healed by God and prays for other constantly. Julia learns that it doesn’t matter what you have done in your lifetime but God is a just and loving God and will forgive anyone.
Drinking/Drugs: 2/5
Drinking is briefly mentioned throughout the book. Some characters say that they want to get drunk just to forget pain and hurt.
Language: 1/5
‘Damn’ is used occasionally and some characters curse gods or other characters.
Violence and Gore: 2/5
Marcus is stripped naked and robbed and sliced so that his ribs are broken. There is much blood when a women is struggling with giving birth (the baby is upside down and cannot be born).
Sex, Romance, and Nudity: 3/5
At the beginning, Marcus stops a potential child rape when he walks in on an adult kissing a child violently. Temple prostitues are mentioned. There is some kissing towards the end of the book. Flashbacks of Julia’s old life are briefly mentioned.
What Parents Should Know:
This book is perfect for young adults and adults who are eager to learn more about God, history, and like a bit of romance, too. This book will encourage teens in their faith and walk with God because Hadassah has such a firm foundation on The Rock, Jesus Christ. Something to take into consideration is that much of the content in the previous book, A Voice in the Wind, are brought up. Julia mentions how she married a homosexual so that she could live her own life with Atretes, whom she loved, and her husband could live his own life and sleep with whomever he wanted. This is a very bad relationship and marriage situation, but the book displays it in a bad light so that readers can understand that this way of living is not God’s will. Prostitues are mentioned and sex and rape are also mentioned briefly. However, this is an amazing book of triumph, courage, faith, love, and forgiveness and is much cleaner than many other books I have read similar to this particular one. I greatly enjoyed it and hope that you will, too.
Age Range Recommendation: 14+ YA/A
Reading Level (by grade): 10th-12th
Read March 2024
An Echo in the Darkness is a fabulously written, exciting, and romantic edition to A Voice in the Wind, the first book in Rivers’ fascinating series. A page turner for sure and a must-read for any Christian young adult or adult.
Positive messages: 5/5
Hadassah shares many positive messages with others about God. Compassion, empathy, and forgiveness are evident in this story and you will be crying once it ends! God is the great healer and many get healed by Him. Hadassah gives God the credit for healing His children and won’t accept any credit herself.
Positve role models: 5/5
Hadassah, even after being thrown to the lions and meant to be killed by Julia, forgives her. She shares God’s love with everyone around her no matter what they have done for her and leans on God in every decision she makes. Marcus shows that it doesn’t matter what you look like but your heart that matters towards the end of the book and ends up getting saved and giving his life to Jesus. Pheobe is healed by God and prays for other constantly. Julia learns that it doesn’t matter what you have done in your lifetime but God is a just and loving God and will forgive anyone.
Drinking/Drugs: 2/5
Drinking is briefly mentioned throughout the book. Some characters say that they want to get drunk just to forget pain and hurt.
Language: 1/5
‘Damn’ is used occasionally and some characters curse gods or other characters.
Violence and Gore: 2/5
Marcus is stripped naked and robbed and sliced so that his ribs are broken. There is much blood when a women is struggling with giving birth (the baby is upside down and cannot be born).
Sex, Romance, and Nudity: 3/5
At the beginning, Marcus stops a potential child rape when he walks in on an adult kissing a child violently. Temple prostitues are mentioned. There is some kissing towards the end of the book. Flashbacks of Julia’s old life are briefly mentioned.
What Parents Should Know:
This book is perfect for young adults and adults who are eager to learn more about God, history, and like a bit of romance, too. This book will encourage teens in their faith and walk with God because Hadassah has such a firm foundation on The Rock, Jesus Christ. Something to take into consideration is that much of the content in the previous book, A Voice in the Wind, are brought up. Julia mentions how she married a homosexual so that she could live her own life with Atretes, whom she loved, and her husband could live his own life and sleep with whomever he wanted. This is a very bad relationship and marriage situation, but the book displays it in a bad light so that readers can understand that this way of living is not God’s will. Prostitues are mentioned and sex and rape are also mentioned briefly. However, this is an amazing book of triumph, courage, faith, love, and forgiveness and is much cleaner than many other books I have read similar to this particular one. I greatly enjoyed it and hope that you will, too.
Age Range Recommendation: 14+ YA/A
Reading Level (by grade): 10th-12th
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hands down one of my new favorite series
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
I think I loved this one even more than the first and that’s saying something.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
*sigh* Marcus is a man of amazing stuff. He changed so drastically from the first book to the end of the second book. Obviously, he finds Haddassah again, but how, and the effects of God's hand is amazing. Julia changes to, although the book doesn't exactly show when, or how it happens. A lot happens in the book.
What I love about this series, which is the only one I've read by Francine Rivers, is that what is so lovely about the story isn't just the plot line, or the faith displayed, but the writing. I can read the end and beginning of a book, I'll still be desperate to read the middle.
What I love about this series, which is the only one I've read by Francine Rivers, is that what is so lovely about the story isn't just the plot line, or the faith displayed, but the writing. I can read the end and beginning of a book, I'll still be desperate to read the middle.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes