Great Book!!! A Voice in the Wind

Are you looking for a great book? Are you looking for a book to get lost in? Well this is the book. I sat at work thinking about getting home to read this book. This book is incredible! This is now on my top 10 favorite books. I am a huge fan of Francine Rivers, but have never chosen to read any of her historical fiction. I have to admit that I really struggled through the first 20 pages. I actually put the book down and called my girlfriend who recommended the book to me originally and asked her if she was sure this was the wonderful book that she read. She promised me if kept reading I would love it, so I picked it back up and started reading. Then it happened! I turned the page, then the next page, then the next, I was reading chapter after chapter, I could not put the book down! 

A Voice in the Wind is set during the Roman Empire and opens with the destruction of Jerusalem. It is in Jerusalem that we meet the main character – Hadassah. During the first chapters of the book she is sold into slavery. The story then continues with Hadassah and her relationship with her very wealthy owners. Hadassah is a Christian and she chooses to serve her owners with joy. She becomes the servant to the daughter and the daughter is a very spoiled selfish brat. Both of the young adult children are actually a mess. There is also another story within the book about a gladiator slave named Atretes and the stories mingle about half way through the book. Atretes is a Germania slave and he is forced to be a gladiator. He is a very successful gladiator and his story involves the many fights and kills that you might expect. A bit gruesome at times, but Atretes becomes a very important character throughout the book.

One of the reasons that I loved this book so much was that each character was developed thoroughly. You feel like you know them. You feel the raw emotion of the characters. Francine Rivers develops her characters better than most anyone I have read.

I would consider this book best for adults or older teens. The book deals with a very immoral society and with this comes immoral issues. The book has violence, promiscuous behavior, alcohol abuse, drugs, disobedience, conniving, murder, abortion, lying and homosexuality. As I read this book I saw so many parallels to the behavior of the USA and the behavior of the Romans. It was a bit scary to see history repeating itself, because we know it doesn’t turn out well for the Romans.

I will warn you that the book leaves you with an urgency to get the next book in the series. If I was you I would go ahead and get them all. That way you can close one book and open up the next.

 I received this book free from Tyndale. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.