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Obras de Donovan M Neal

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The Third Heaven: The Rise of Fallen Stars gives us the answers to the question most readers of the Bible have ever asked: How did Satan come to be? This novel is speculative fiction about how this angel fell from grace and became God’s worst enemy. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about how it happened, so it is in a sense, a pre-quel to the Bible.

The Third Heaven starts out interestingly enough. We are given beautifully detailed descriptions of heaven and of the different angels. Lucifer (the angel who eventually becomes Satan) is described several times as shining like living diamonds and his body also made beautiful music. We learn about the work that the angels do in heaven during the seven days of creation.

The book is flawlessly edited. That made the reading easy. What made the reading not so easy was the switching back and forth from old English (King James Bible English) to modern day English.

I followed along well enough through to about the halfway point in the book. What I found interesting were the parallels that the author drew among the scenes in his story and the stories in the Bible. An example would be where they are having a meal just before El (God) goes for his day of rest and he tells his angels that there is a betrayer among them. They ask who it is and El says it is the one he shares the sop in the cup with. Then he hands the cup to Lucifer. This is a parallel to Judas and Christ at the Last Supper. There were several of these types of parallels in the book. Unfortunately that aspect of the story will be lost on those who are not familiar with the Bible.

Once past the halfway point in the story, I found that the book just bogged right down for me and got decidedly boring. I was kind of struggling up until this point anyway because I really had a hard time being invested in any of the characters. I didn’t really like any of them and I didn’t really hate any of them. I did find El to be rather cold and distant, not the kind of loving and just sort of God that I know Him to be.

The scenes in the second half of the book just dragged on and on. I even skimmed part of the book just to get through it. I think the battles could have been shortened. I admit I was disappointed. I was so looking forward to reading an exciting book about how Lucifer thought himself better than God.

For me, this book was a 1 star out of 5, but that’s just my personal opinion.

I bought this book on Amazon for the purposes of reviewing it.

This review was published on my blog Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/09/book-review-third-heaven-ri...
… (mais)
 
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KathrynSvendsen | outras 3 resenhas | Sep 10, 2014 |
The Third Heaven is an imaginative tale that blends biblical scripture from the King James version of the Holy Bible with a fictitious account of the events leading up to the War in Heaven led by an archangel known as Lucifer, the “Son of the Morning Star,” who tries to usurp God’s power, and as a result is cast out of Heaven along with the rogue angels who have chosen to serve him instead of God.

The story is narrated in third person and provides not only Lucifer’s perspective but those of the other archangels, especially Michael who seemed to be the closest to Lucifer. The story is set during the first six days of God’s creation until the drama escalates into an intense, bloody civil war that takes place on the seventh day, when God rests. I am impressed by the vivid description in the world building that Neal has painstakingly incorporated into his storytelling. His expressive prose paints a beautiful and compelling verbal picture of God’s creations and reflects his obvious passion and enthusiasm for this subject.

During the entire reading experience, I was completely enthralled by the series of events that occur in this well-thought-out, complex, richly developed plot that, although speculative in nature, could certainly be a conceivable account of Lucifer’s rebellion. Neal is thorough in his depiction of the bloody battle that ensues among the angels as their loyalties to whom they will serve become divided.

In his storytelling, Neal uses terminology to describe the world and characters that may be unfamiliar to some readers. For example, angels are called “Elohim” and they refer to God as “El.”Although Neal does provide a glossary of the major terms, unfortunately I didn’t find it until after I finished the book. I would have preferred that it be placed at the beginning and perhaps expanded to include more definitions of terms used less often but still referenced, such as “manna” and God’s alternative name, “Jehovah.” I did find minor proofreading errors but they were infrequent, and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book.

I think anyone who has ever wondered about the emergence of Satan as God’s chief antagonist will enjoy the spellbinding tale that Neal has woven.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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Sunmtn | outras 3 resenhas | Jan 26, 2014 |
Where do I start? Creative, descriptive, vivid? I say all three. Creativity as well as extensive knowledge on the bible was needed to bring this book into fruition.

The author took something he loved and studied and mixed it with his creativity and vivid imagination to bake something sweet and tasty. Something that not only satisfies our sweet tooth but is also healthy for us!

This book grabs our attention from the start, and, instead of focusing our thoughts on worldly things, it spins our mind and propels it towards Pondering the wonders of God.

From start to finish we are supplied with the movie which played behind the author's eyelids. We see the angels. We see Lucifer in all his splendor. We see the battles and the fall. We see the rampant emotions of hate, greed, jealousy...all of which are displayed engeniously!

The author did not just slop something together, but presented us with a detailed masterpiece of what might of happened.

I do, however, have a word of caution to future readers. The author is showing us a war. A war that divided heaven and caused the casting out of a third of heaven's angels.

Unfortunately, I don't personally fancy extended battle scenes. But even though I don't, I still enjoyed this book and hope you will too!
… (mais)
 
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Elle.Bee | outras 3 resenhas | Jan 6, 2014 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
I was enthralled by this vivid account of the heavens. Rev. Neal was very effective in his personification of Angels we thought we know so well. I loved the way he presented the true meaning of "free will" and how that affected Heaven. If you're open minded and read this from a lighthearted point of view it gives you insight into how things might have happened before our arrival here on earth. I was especially touched by the revelation of the love of God in this work. He shows both a compassionate and loving God and the other side of the coin the sad but merciless side of God. If you're looking for another Bible this is not your book but if you love a good story with vivid imagination pick this book up you won't be able to quit reading until the very last line. Thank you Reverend Neal… (mais)
 
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amclarney316 | outras 3 resenhas | Dec 20, 2013 |

Estatísticas

Obras
1
Membros
23
Popularidade
#537,598
Avaliação
½ 3.7
Resenhas
4
ISBNs
1