Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye: The World’s Greatest Detective Tackles the Bible’s Ultimate Mysteries” by Len Bailey

         Are you a big Sherlock Holmes fan? Do you love the mysteries in the Bible? Then you will probably like Len Bailey's Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye. I wanted this book because I love mysteries in the Bible.  I have bought many books and pondered many hours on the unknowns. Am I a Sherlock Holmes fan? Not exactly; I've enjoyed some of the modern era shows on the character and I've read some short
stories. While I find them interesting, I don't own any of the books nor do I go out of my way to read or watch the shows/movies. All that being said, while the Bible portions of this book were interesting to me, the Sherlock Holmes crossover seemed a little too far fetched and more or less a distraction to me (mainly the time travel).
            Being familiar with Sherlock Holmes, I could see that the author went out of his way to get the writing style, characters and dialogue down to a fine art. He also made sure that he was being true to the scripture while painting a picture of Biblical scenes in front of my. I could actually picture the characters (both from Sherlock and Bible) and it did not feel far removed from the original Sherlock Holmes books. The book got me thinking about things in the Bible that I haven't really thought to ponder, which is a good thing, and it also provides scripture references for you to get acquainted with the scriptural text before you read the Sherlock mystery. The concept of this book is unique and I actually have a great appreciation for what the author is trying to accomplish (and with success). 

             For avid Sherlock Holmes/Bible Mystery fans: 4.5/5
             For the average Christian reader: 3.5/5

I received this book free for my honest review from booksneeze (booksneeze.com)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Awesome Person

Less than 12 hours away from the world premiere of the "Awesome Person Podcast".

Review: A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr

         Errol Stone, the town drunk finds himself short of cash for another night of drinking when a message from clergyman comes into town looking to deliver a message. For a price Errol takes on the challenge. What he didn't know, is that the message of great "kingdom" importance would lead him into precarious situations. He will be the object of scorn for an assassin and led into other adventures which has his life of drunkenness turned upside down as he becomes the hero of the story.

         I liked the book, but I didn't love the book. Maybe it is just me, but I could not picture the characters in my mind, the author was unable to paint their picture in my mind enough to make them interesting of believable. While the story was filled with action and little "filler content", it almost moves along too quickly for me, I didn't have enough time to get myself attached or interested in the characters. The story has some great themes and you could definitely see the Christian underlines in the story, this is often difficult to pull off without coming across as cheesy or preachy. Patrick W. Carr was able to pull of this rare ability to pull off Christian message into a Fantasy/Fiction novel without losing quality in the storytelling.
   
        The writing was fairly descriptive, but sometimes feeling a little forced to sound to "fantasyesque".
I know a lot of people enjoyed this book, and I could see how it would appeal to a large population of people, but I was not able to connect to the book and could not find myself looking forward to the next chapter. If you were to compare this book to the likes of Stephen Lawhead, I would say it does not bring itself to the same level. But for a first novel by the author, I am impressed and I am intrigued to see if he takes his writing up a notch in the next book or series. Overall I could give the book a clean 3/5 stars.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group"

Friday, January 11, 2013

Book Review: Placebo


Placebo By Steven James 


         Do you like Mystery, thriller, action and conspiracy? These are the words I would use to describe this novel. I was unsure what I would think of this novel when I first read the description. It is a little different style book than what I would normally choose. As soon as you start the novel, Steven James (author) stuns it's readers with a tragedy that ultimately plays a big role in the main character's (Jevin) decisions and personality.  I was drawn into the main character who you you tend to cheer on as the book progresses. 
         I enjoyed the book overall, it was very well written and the characters were well drawn. My only complaint is that this book is very intelligent, a little too intelligent. You can easily get confused with a lot of the science and meta-physics ect... You don't want to read this book, if you are looking for a simple, brainless, entreating novel. This novel makes you have to think about what you are reading and understand it, as it is important to the story line.  You also need to play close attention to the characters as they are introduced, because you can easy wave them off as minor characters only to forget their role earlier in the book at an important part of the story.

        It took me a long time to read this book, not because I was completely bored, but because I had to read it slowly to make sure I am not missing any content. If you want an intelligent novel full of action; pick up Steven James' Placebo, the first book in the Jevin Banks series.



"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".