I have two days off in a row, and I’m not even sure what to think about that because this happens so rarely. I’ve had Write book review on my to-do list for multiple days now, but let’s be real… When a book doesn’t blow you away – but doesn’t actually have anything wrong to rant about – well, it can be hard to sit down and tackle said review. But here I am.
THE STATS:
Find the book on: Amazon and Goodreads
Pages: 384
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Title: The End of the Magi
Fiction
ABOUT THE BOOK
Following his vision of the coming Messiah, the prophet Daniel creates a select group of men who will count down the calendar to the arrival of Israel’s promised king. Centuries later, as the day nears, Myrad, a young magi acolyte, flees for his life when his adoptive father and others are put to death by a ruthless Parthian queen.
Having grabbed only a few possessions, Myrad escapes the city, and searching for a way to hide from the soldiers scouring the trade routes, he tries to join the caravan of the merchant Walagash. The merchant senses that Myrad is hiding secrets, but when the young man proves himself a valuable traveler, an epic journey filled with peril, close escapes, and dangerous battles begins.
With every day that passes, the calendar creeps closer to the coming Messiah. And over everything shines the dream of a star that Myrad can’t forget and the promise that the world will never be the same.
WHY I CHOOSE THIS BOOK
The cover is cool, the synopsis is intriguing, and we were approaching the Christmas season, so I thought Why Not?
WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BOOK
Sadly, I found why not; it’s because Biblical fiction is a big hit or miss for me, and so, therefore, I shouldn’t have ventured into the land of a new Biblical fiction author while getting a book for review.
First off, let me clarify, it’s not as if there’s anything wrong with this book. It didn’t appear to disregard the truth of the Bible at all, nor was the plot silly. The details were well written, and it’s clear the author excels at his craft.
Just, this book wasn’t for me.
If I hadn’t gotten it for review, I wouldn’t have continued reading, simply because it’s not the style I like. It’s more about the adventure and less about the plot or character development. We follow the main character as he escapes danger and joins a trade caravan, then most of the book takes place traveling across the desert.
Plenty of action happens along the way – although not with an excessive amount of gory details, so that’s a plus. There were a few places where the characters were fleshed out, but by the end of the book, I still didn’t feel like I knew any of them very well – although I could tell you how to become an expert archer while riding a galloping horse.
There were a few slight things I had issues with, but mostly that’s because they took all the things I always imagined about the magi, and totally flipped them around and totally changed them. But, the keyword here is that they did that with the things I imagined, not the things that were clearly spelled out in the Bible, so that’s not actually a problem.
One thing that I didn’t like is mentioned down below but is a spoiler, so read at your own risk.
(SPOILER: The way the magi got the gifts they gave to Jesus was by stealing gold from the royal treasuries. Now nowhere are we told in the Bible that this didn’t happen, but it doesn’t seem likely to me, and seemed to make the gift less special.)
CONCLUSION
This seems like it would be a great book for a teenage boy looking for an adventure story. Obviously, girls can read it too, but it seems like it’s aimed more at guys, especially since there are only three female characters in the whole story (I think), and one of them is a bloodthirsty queen.
I don’t plan on reading more by this author, but I’m sure a lot of people would really enjoy his writing style.
RATING
I’m giving The End of the Magi 2 out of 5 stars, although Amazon and Goodreads I’ll be rating it 3 Stars, because there really isn’t anything wrong with it. I’m thankful to Bethany House Publishers for sending me a copy so I could review it for y’all.
Noveltea 