I was literally blown away by this book. Now I have read Hadassah and the Hadassah Covenant, books Mark Andrew Olsen wrote with Tommy Tenney. If you've read the blog for awhile, you know I enjoyed those books.
The Watchers was nothing like them, yet similar. The book can best be placed in a spiritual warfare genre. It's like This Present Darkness grown up -- and I loved This Present Darkness...reread it many times. I picked up this book having no idea what it would be about and found it nearly impossible to put it down.
I am EXHAUSTED, but satisfied after finishing the book. I'm also a bit behind in my work. But the book was worth it even when I've thrown many spiritual warfare novels against the wall. In fact, if I'd realized that was the genre, I probably wouldn't have picked the book up. Boy am I glad I didn't realize the truth :-)
Writers often talk about "high concept" and "fresh" writing. Well, this book has both.
"A woman's awe-inspiring vision launches her on a quest through distant lands and ancient history, face-to-face with eternity and into the arms of a family line on the brink of annihilation...A man who is hired to exterminate her discovers the folly of blind loyalty, then learns how to wage war in a realm he never believed had existed...An extraordinary saga of the unseen war against evil, the reality of the supernatural, and the transforming power of forgiveness."
This book takes spiritual warfare to a new level and is a really refreshing race -- not to save the world -- but to understand a mystery from the ages as well as save Abby Sherman's life. One of the interesting devices was that Abby was asleep for the first several chapters that she is a main character, yet you still get a real sense for her character and begin to fall in love with her from her blog posts. Yep, blog posts.
It all begins when Abby has an intense dream -- the kind that makes her wonder if it could be something more. She posts it on her MyCorner page. And thus sets in motion a chain of events she couldn't have anticipated. And launches a round the world search for answers and healing.
Her unlikely cohort is a man who is a trained assassin. In the process, he is forced to choose sides in a war that he didn't even know existed.
The action is fast-paced, the character realistic -- though Dylan's spiritual arc was a touch forced -- it had to be to fit the book's time line. In many ways this book struck me as a rightful heir in the tradition of This Present Darkness. The author throws out some interesting spiritual ideas, like tracing our spiritual heritage that got me thinking. And thinking, as they say, is always good.
All in all, if you are looking for a fast-paced suspense with strong spiritual warfare overtones, you will really enjoy this book.
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