Month: March 2019

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#BookReview: With by Skye Jethani

Skye Jethani’s With: Reimagining The Way You Relate to God was my first book through the BookSneeze review program, and I’m honestly glad I found the program and this book on it. You see, this is one of the more mind blowing books I’ve ever read – which is saying something, considering I’ve read books such as Ted Dekker’s Circle Series and most books Bill Myers has put out.

If you want to quit reading this review now, I’ll leave you with this: READ THIS BOOK. You will NOT regret it.

Some details:

Mr. Jethani – an editor of a leading Christian magazine – uses the first half of the book to talk about the four basic ways most of us relate to God:

Life UNDER God is basically what I call “Talibaptists”, though Mr. Jethani never gets CLOSE to using that word. These people believe that we must live life strictly by the Bible and that if we don’t, we’re doomed.

Life OVER God essentially uses the Bible as a divine “how to” manual, nothing more, nothing less. These are the people that keep the “self help” authors in business.

Life FROM God sees God as a divine bank account that can never run out. This is the consumer culture variant of Christianity.

Life FOR God sees life as a mission. These people will go to Outer Mongolia at the drop of a hat – and still miss the point.

In each of the first four chapters, Mr. Jethani delves into each of these first four ways of relating to God, and shows both their strengths (yes, they have them), and their critical weaknesses.

In the remainder of the book, Mr. Jethani describes a life WITH God, what it looks like, and why it is the epitome of a Biblical understanding of our relationship to God. While I’ve tweeted a lot of amazing quotes from this book, you’ll just have to read it to see them for yourself, as well as the remaining treasure trove I simply couldn’t tweet out for many reasons.

In my Kindle edition, the appendices began at roughly 80% or so, and included both a discussion on some “how to pray” techniques as well as a brief discussion guide for the book. Overall, the only weakness that I saw – though it was a bit glaring – was that when I hit the appendices, I was still looking for a more succinct summation chapter than the one we got.

Overall, a VERY strong book, and I would give it a 5/5 without any hesitation at all.

This review of With by Skye Jethani was originally published on September 27, 2011.

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#BookReview: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer

I don’t care who you are, where you are from, what you are doing, or what your religious or political beliefs are – you NEED to do yourself a favor and read this book.

The author is a former Southern Baptist preacher who one day woke up to the realization that perhaps much of what he had been taught and was teaching about Jesus was wrong. As he began his own journey to truly discovering Jesus and all the implications of Him, he stumbled across some dramatic discoveries that would shake him to the very core. He founded InternetMonk.com, where he began writing about this journey, and eventually wrote this book.

I literally wound up highlighting about half the book on my Kindle. It was THAT mind blowing.

Fair warning though: No matter your beliefs – and my own were relatively similar to the author’s going into the book – be prepared to be challenged, perhaps in ways you never considered. To me, that is perhaps the greatest value of this book.

This review of Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer was originally published on September 10, 2011.

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#BookReview: Callsign: King by Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis

I’ve read every single book Mr. Robinson has put out so far, though Mr. Ellis is new to me. So I have a pretty good feel for Mr. Robinson’s writing…

… and like the title says here, I couldn’t tell that there were two authors involved in this project. It flows just like any other CHESS TEAM book, though the only member of the Team that appears in this one is the titular leader.

The story is GREAT – basically 1/5 of a full-team CHESS TEAM book, full of the same type of action, adventure, and ancient mystery that series is becoming known for. Overall, this novella adds to the overall mythos in a surprising (based on the prior mythos) yet refreshing way, and portends even more adventure for the Team in the face of the new twist. While having read the prior CHESS TEAM books will give a richer depth to the story, this novella could also serve as a good intro to the overall style for those hesitant to commit to a full book, and thus can be recommended for both fans of Mr. Robinson as well as people looking for new action-adventure authors.

I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing where Mr. Robinson and Co. go with this novella series – 2011 just got a lot more interesting!

This review of Callsign: King by Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis was originally published on July 11, 2011.

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#BookReview: Insomnia by Jeremy Robinson

Overall, the short stories in this collection are just that – short. Yet Robinson still manages to tell distinct, engaging stories in each. The explanations after each are rather interesting as well. For example, the motivation for the actual ‘Insomnia’ short story was Robinson’s own battle with a disorder he has given a character in one of his actual books and how it typically keeps him awake at night longing for sleep.

This project was something Robinson has called a “test bed” of ideas, and many of them worked well.

Going down the list:

‘Insomnia’ could very well be made into a 1984-type long form book, and the possibilities there are intriguing.

‘The Eater’ was intriguing in short form, as the story of three young brothers who deal with an unknown black substance, but I think a long-form treatment would have to go a more horror route, which I’m personally not a fan of.

‘Harden’s Tree’ could very easily be made to fit into an almost ‘Chess Team’ style book, and was another solid short story.

‘Star Crossed Killers’ was a Mr and Mrs Smith style story that worked well in this collection.

‘Counting Sheep’ could be very interesting as one scene of a much longer story.

‘Hearing Aid’ was probably my least favorite of this collection, but I appreciate that Robinson is stretching what he normally does.

‘Dark Seed of the Moon’ could be another potential book for Robinson, and maybe even an ANTARKTOS level series if played right.

Overall, the collection was very solid and a refreshing look at an author actively working to test and refine his craft.

This review of Insomnia by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Jan 26, 2011.

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#BookReview: The Last Hunter (Collected Edition) by Jeremy Robinson

This book was originally published in 5 parts. Here are my reviews in order:

DESCENT:

I’ve been speaking with the author over the past couple of days about this book, and my trepidation of buying it even though I am an avid fan of his work. The reason for my trepidation is one factor alone: the Young Adult classification.

But I bit the bullet and bought the book last night – and even though it didn’t arrive on my Kindle until 12:01a, I’ve already finished it. It is that good. I don’t know how Kindle lines translate to pages, but as far as length goes this was 4K or so lines compared to 6K or so from Lee Child’s Worth Dying For, which was the first book I bought on my Kindle.

TRUST ME: Buy this book! It is from the ANTARKTOS RISING universe, and as its title implies, it is set up to be a multi-part series. That fact – that you can feel throughout that it is destined to be a multi-book story – is the ONLY drawback to this book. It is set at least a few years prior to the events of ANTARKTOS RISING, as the creatures are still buried under the ice.

The story is intense. Shortly after his 13th birthday, a young boy travels to Antarctica – the land of his birth – with his parents. While there, he is abducted, taken underground, and broken. He is forced to learn an entirely new way of life, encountering myriad strange creatures. He is nearly killed several times, and comes face to face with many of the entities and characters from ANTARKTOS RISING, many of which are terrifying. Along the way, he becomes a strong, stealthy hunter – the last hunter.

It is at this point that he learns what is truly expected of him – and that there is much more to him than even his captors realize.

This story takes the ANTARKTOS RISING mythology to a whole new level, and I’m going to have to re-read that story now! Truly looking forward to seeing how this new series comes out, and how it dove-tails into the ANTARKTOS RISING story line. This is truly Young Adult in name only, and while it is debatable as to whether this is truly among the author’s best work – or maybe even the best (a claim he made yesterday), if you’re a fan of Jeremy Robinson – or Matt Reilly or David Golemon – you’ll be THRILLED with this latest addition.

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#BookReview: Instinct by Jeremy Robinson

I literally finished this book in about 36 hours after starting it – I couldn’t put it down!

The action starts with the Chess Team getting ready for a relaxing barbeque with the President – his way of thanking them for their battles in PULSE and other successful missions between the books, since they refuse any other medals or commendations.

All of a sudden, the Team is called out on a mission – without Deep Blue, their eye-in-the-sky fearless leader.

King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, and Rook get dropped into a hot LZ in Vietnam along with Pawn, a CDC virus specialist. The mission is to keep Pawn alive while she can track down a cure to a virus that has already claimed the life of the President and threatens to kill every male on the planet – including King, Knight, Rook, and even Bishop.

Facing Vietnamese Special Forces, along with a far more sinister and unknown adversary, the Team fights to keep Pawn alive, as well as themselves. Will they survive, or will the adversaries – human, virus, and unknown – kill every single member of the Team and doom humanity?

For that, you’ll just have to read this AMAZING book.

Pay attention to the end of the tale for the reveal of Deep Blue’s real identity, among other surprises…

This review of Instinct by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Amazon on June 28, 2010.

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#BookReview: Anarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson

This was an AMAZING book. Better than Cussler’s *Atlantis Rising*, better than Alten’s *Domain*, and yet this guy doesn’t have a major publishing contract yet!!

I found Jeremy Robinson on myspace after he invited me to be his friend there. Ordered Antarktos Rising and Didymus Contingency that day from his site, got them two days later, and had Antarktos finished 2 days after that. (Actually closer to within 36 hours. 300+ page book, and when I wasn’t working or sleeping, I was reading it. It was THAT good, and THAT interesting!)

As far as specifics: The ‘Day After Tomorrow’ type scenes early in the book were excellent, as was the ending of that sequence. (Touches of 10.5 there.) The battle scenes with the Chinese army were excellent – you could TOTALLY see the Red Army doing exactly as they did – as was the tension in the American team, particularly after they ‘adopt’ another member. Furthermore, I found that the theories revealed in the endgame were intriguing, in a similar fashion as to those revealed in the later stages of Alten’s ‘Domain’.

I fully look forward to a sequel, and have officially found a new author that will have at least one buyer of any book he puts out as long as I am alive.

This review of Antarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Amazon on Feb 25, 2008.

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Featured New Release of The Week: The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio

This week, we’re talking about a new to me time period of historical fiction from yet another new to me Lake Union author. This week, we’re talking about The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio.

This was an excellent tale of going on a quest to find one’s true self – and along the way, we meet and get a very human look at some Hollywood legends in Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. Monroe in particular is central to the tale in the back half of the book, even when off screen – she inadvertently provides a major revelation, just from being human and wanting something comforting from her childhood.

But the tale of Kate Morgan’s quest to find herself is the tale of the book, and it is truly beautifully executed. From frustrated waitress in her family’s restaurant to naive traveler to finding herself in a place she never actually thought she’d be, Kate is truly the star of this book – even with Monroe present in several scenes with her.

And then there is the titular Beautiful Stranger – the one Kate is sent on a quest to find. The author’s decision to end every chapter with more of this being’s perspective is intriguing, and in fact drives much of the story as it unfolds. And yes, there is in fact another beautiful stranger in the book, hence the plural of the title. But who is it? Well, you’ll just need to read the book… 😉

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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