The Last Year of the War ~ Susan Meissner

(3+) Library ebook

I really appreciated the honest look at ageing in this book -  the struggle with the onset of Alzheimer's, called Agnes the thief - and that Meissner chose to end the book realistically
with Meissner creating a way to have the characters reconnect before one of them dies;  for me, that added to the story, not detracted from it.
Mariko's story became lost and blurred as the story progressed, maybe the author intended that to reflect the loss and disconnect Elise was feeling and going through (?).   I wasn't really that interested in Mariko by the end of the book.

The story has more romancy-schmancy than I like in a fiction book - why kissing, and a honeymoon night seems to require an explanatory and descriptive dialogue beats me - perhaps the best way to pigeonhole this would be "clean romance with a sensual undertone".  The romance was a bit too pat;  and, the marriages, especially the way the author line up the second marriage, just felt a bit off.  For me, those things detracted from the story. 

Extra:  Meissner doesn't shy from having an attempted rape in this story and has dealt with it as non-gratuitously as I think she could have, almost euphemistically.

A.D. 33: A.D. Series, Bk2 ~ Ted Dekker

narrated by Ellen Archer  11hrs 30m  (3)

Synopsis: 

   They call her the Queen of the Outcasts. Maviah, a woman whose fate was sealed on her birth by this world - unwanted, illegitimate, female, a slave - subject to the whims of all. But then she met a man named Yeshua who opened her eyes. She found strength in his words, peace from the brutal world around her. Because of what he taught her, she has gathered her own travelling kingdom of outcasts deep in the desert, wielding an authority few have seen. But when her growing power threatens the rulers around her, they set out to crush all she loves, leaving her reeling as a slave once more. She must find Yeshua to save her people, but when she does, she will be horrified to discover that he faces his own death.

   Enter a story full of intrigue, heart-wrenching defeat, uncompromising love, and staggering victory - one that reexamines everything you thought you knew about the heart of Jesus' stunning message and the power that follows for those who follow his easily forgotten way.

My review contains spoilers....

The story was interesting enough to keep me listening, Ellen Archer is a great narrator, and I was keen to see how contact with Yeshua played out in the lives of the central characters from book one.   

** spoiler 1:  My hunch about Judah not being the best match for Maviah paid off - life circumstances became a 'rip off' for him :-(  and his character didn't grow in strength but into bitterness and revenge. 

** spoiler 2:  Dekker leads us straight to the beginning, at the end of the book, of the era of Christian martyrs.  I thought the author was setting us up, and, was resigned to the thought that he was going to have Talya, Saba, or Maviah give their life in that arena.  

I think what let the story part down for me were the preaching chapters towards the end of the book (I enjoy a good sermon - just not inside my historical fiction read where the author has tried to disguise their lengthy sermonising into the guise of supposed storytelling dialogue between the characters).  Added to that, Dekkers portrayal of how he thought Christ acted after his resurrection was a bit of stretch for me.  One example is where the author had him winking at people -  like in scriptures where he that "winketh with his eye/s" is a seriously bad action. 

PS: I wonder if Dekker's editor noticed the overuse of the word thundering?

Tom Brown's School Days ~ Thomas Hughes

narrated by Jamie Parker  (book & audio) (5) (Children’s Classic)

I switched between the book and the audiobook, and Jamie Parker made this an absolute joy to listen to!

If you purchase the free ebook first then hop over to audible, this audio version is much cheaper.

It pays to note that in the early part of the book Hughes does tend to veer away from his story occasionally to pontificate on class segregation in his time; very Charles Dickens-ish ♥.  The underlying story and the growth of character in Tom and his closest chums make those early diversions worthwhile.

I can see why the book is no longer ‘popular’ reading today:  the author uses racial slurs common in that era - one which included Irish woman  - boarding school bullying is right up there (!!), capital punishment is meted out; and, there are pockets of Christianity/bible focused discourse: Hughes includes a discussion about accepting Christ as the saviour so one of the boys can take the sacrament, not sure of the church this could allude to, perhaps Anglican?

For those that appreciate vintage books similar to those republished by Lamplighter Books, you would probably enjoy this book. However, anyone that finds it hard to navigate through stories with a Victorian era, and Christian-based, worldview you may want to skip this one.  I appreciated the Christian thoughts the writer interjects into the story with excerpts like the following, where Tom is grieving at the church altar over the death of his beloved School Master, Dr Thomas Arnold who died of a heart attack at age 46:

   And let us not be hard on him, if at that moment his soul is fuller of the tomb and him who lies there, than of the altar and Him of whom it speaks.  Such stages have to be gone through, I believe, by all young and brave souls, who must win their way through hero-worship, to the worship of Him who is the King and Lord of heroes.   For it is only through our mysterious human relationships, through the love and tenderness and purity of mothers, and sisters, and wives, through the strength and courage and wisdom of fathers, and brothers, and teachers, that we can come to the knowledge of Him, in whom alone the love, and the tenderness, and  the purity, and the strength, and the courage, and the wisdom of all these dwell forever and ever in perfect fullness.