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Really 3.5 stars.
I didn't know this author until reading this book, although others have commented on his masterful storytelling. I have to say, I agree -- ish. The stories of Maviah and those around her are captivating. Maviah is a strong woman protagonist, which I appreciated. The journey described was also edge-of-my-seat "however are you going to get out of THIS one?" writing.
As the book went on, however, it began to drag. The interjection of Yeshua (Jesus) and his followers felt gratuitous and simplistic. Dekker wrote in his prologue about his Christian beliefs (the title itself gives away the bias -- A.D. vs. C.E.), and so this book tries to be both an adventure story and a tribute to Jesus. For me, the combo didn't work. I'm not against having historical characters infused into stories, or in authors trying to fill in the blanks about time periods and individuals based on what we do know about history. But this felt like two different stories altogether.
The other thing I found very distracting was a technique he used (other authors do this and I find it equally bothersome) of repeating the start of a phrase again and again. I didn't save direct quotes, but an example would be something like:
"For I was Maviah -- the daughter of... Maviah, the one who always... Maviah, a woman who..." in succession. Or "I did not believe as others did that... I did not believe that I was meant to... I did not believe that, together we would..." A few times arguably sounds lyrical; he overdid it, in my opinion, and it just became tiresome to me.
Knowing he has also written a sequel -- A.D. 32 -- explains why loose ends are left dangling. Much is left unanswered at the end of this book, and characters who had been more central earlier in the book just kind of fade into the background. Do I go ahead and read A.D. 32 to get my questions answered? I'll let you know... :)
I didn't know this author until reading this book, although others have commented on his masterful storytelling. I have to say, I agree -- ish. The stories of Maviah and those around her are captivating. Maviah is a strong woman protagonist, which I appreciated. The journey described was also edge-of-my-seat "however are you going to get out of THIS one?" writing.
As the book went on, however, it began to drag. The interjection of Yeshua (Jesus) and his followers felt gratuitous and simplistic. Dekker wrote in his prologue about his Christian beliefs (the title itself gives away the bias -- A.D. vs. C.E.), and so this book tries to be both an adventure story and a tribute to Jesus. For me, the combo didn't work. I'm not against having historical characters infused into stories, or in authors trying to fill in the blanks about time periods and individuals based on what we do know about history. But this felt like two different stories altogether.
The other thing I found very distracting was a technique he used (other authors do this and I find it equally bothersome) of repeating the start of a phrase again and again. I didn't save direct quotes, but an example would be something like:
"For I was Maviah -- the daughter of... Maviah, the one who always... Maviah, a woman who..." in succession. Or "I did not believe as others did that... I did not believe that I was meant to... I did not believe that, together we would..." A few times arguably sounds lyrical; he overdid it, in my opinion, and it just became tiresome to me.
Knowing he has also written a sequel -- A.D. 32 -- explains why loose ends are left dangling. Much is left unanswered at the end of this book, and characters who had been more central earlier in the book just kind of fade into the background. Do I go ahead and read A.D. 32 to get my questions answered? I'll let you know... :)