| |  |
| Biblio-File A collection of fiction and nonfiction book reviews. | | by: | |
|
| Item Genre(s): Other
Access Restrictions: None | Intro Rated: E |
Item Size: 25 Entries
Created: 1:32pm on 07-31-2006
Modified: 4:27pm on 11-19-2007 | |
| |
|
[ <<-- Previous || Back To Entry List || Next -->> ]
|
Entry #547758, added on 11-08-07 @ 3:10 pm EST.
[Entry Access Restriction] None.
Title:
Babylon Rising
After a wonderful experience reading Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series, I had high expectations for the Babylon Rising batch of books. However, while the story was interesting, I found it to be not quite up to par with LaHaye’s previous success. It’s not so much that it was bad as that it wasn’t as good.
Michael Murphy is a biblical archeologist in search of artifacts that prove the truth of the Bible. He is also a university professor who loves to teach, and, of course, a devout evangelical Christian. As the novel begins, Murphy is engaged in an Indiana Jones-like struggle for a clue. Unlike Jones, however, Murphy doesn’t even know why he is risking his life until the contest is over. The clue he receives leads him to the three pieces of the brass serpent, which then leads him to the statue prophesied of by Daniel.
The story itself was interesting, intriguing, and engaging. The characters are fairly realistically portrayed, although I did have a problem with two. It is hard to imagine someone as evil as Talon, or as unfeeling as Shane, though I suppose such cruelty is out there. Still, both were consistent in all of their acts; I just had a hard time fathoming such people. But I’m fairly naïve.
The problems I struggled with came primarily from the writing style. The most immediate issue came in the first chapter. We are plunged immediately into action, which grabs our attention. However, in the middle of falling to his possible death, Murphy engages in a prolonged flashback that takes time to explain how he got there. This distracts significantly from the action at hand, and I think it could have been done a little smoother.
But the worst part came every time our professor lectured. Because he almost always lectured. We would read a chapter of straight lecturing. Not only is this an ineffective (albeit dominant) way to teach, it also is rather boring. Even worse, if I was a student in Murphy’s class, I might be intrigued, but I would also demand a refund for my tuition. He spent a lot of time on archeology he was currently performing. What about verified, documented, already proven archeology? Is there any? Is there none? That would be what I would mostly want to learn about as a student, with current expeditions mentioned as a footnote or after-class instruction. These lectures, of course, served as a way to lecture the reader on all of the background information relating to Daniel and the serpent, but I would have preferred a more integrated way to learn such things. Even Indy didn’t spend chapters lecturing.
I did like the novel, and if I hadn’t already read books by LaHaye and the Left Behind co-author, Jerry Jenkins, I might not have been as disappointed. The story was interesting, but I didn’t find it quite as gripping as previous novels. I have a feeling the other three books will take me some time to get through, because they don’t create the page-turning feeling of intensity.
| ASIN: 0553383493 | Babylon Rising
Product Type: Book
| List Price: $ 15.00
Amazon's Price: $ 10.20
You Save: $ 4.80 | [Buy Now!] | | |
© Copyright 2007 Scottiegazelle (UN: scottiegaz at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Scottiegazelle has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
[ <<-- Previous || Back To Entry List || Next -->> ] |
 Login To Leave Feedback
|
Login To Leave Feedback |
|
| | | | From Our Sponsor | | | By Online Authors | | | |
![View cissyccr's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/costumicons/ps-icon-cornucopia-40.gif "View cissyccr's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]"){kind=icon}
![View scottiegaz's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/costumicons/ps-icon-regular-60.gif "View scottiegaz's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]"){kind=icon}
![Email User: scottiegaz [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/mail-off.gif "Email User: scottiegaz [Offline / Private]"){kind=small}
