7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Hour, by Ginger Garrett, October 1, 2006
This review is from: Dark Hour (Serpent Moon Trilogy) (Paperback)
As evangelical, God-fearing Christians living in at least a nominally Judeo-Christian world, it's pretty easy to saunter through life a little laid back about our faith and our freedom to worship God as we choose. True, the world becomes ever harsher towards true believers every day, and the concept of "family values" and "morality" - once bedrocks of this nation - have become slippery slopes of opinions, interpretations, and "alternate lifestyle choices". It's not hard to look around and realize that we're not home yet, the forces of evil growing with each passing moment.
Still, given all that - we've got it pretty easy. We can attend any church of our choice; if we don't like what this pastor is teaching or disapprove of that worship style, we can just pick up and attend some other church. Other, alternative belief systems have become more prevalent in our society, but we really don't pay them much mind, do we? We don't have to wonder what would happen if one day, a Satanist or demonologist was elected president, and the nation's motto changed from "One Nation Under God" to "One Nation Under Beelzebub".
Go to the store, pick up Ginger Garrett's Dark Hour, and shudder as you realize just what a sanitized¸ safe life we lead. Usually, I start my reviews with some teaser elements of the story to whet my reader's appetite, but in this case, I'd hate to give away anything about this novel. Set during Jezebel's reign of terror in Old Testament times, Garrett takes the reader and thrusts them into a world far away from microwaves, The Purpose Driven Church, and churches with coffee shops in them. Dark Hour takes place during a time before Christ came to Earth, shed His blood to create a new covenant with us, when the spiritual battlefield was engaged in all out warfare for the minds, hearts, and souls of the people.
Garrett is extremely meticulous in her research and fact-finding, painting a realistic panorama of biblical times, and this story makes you powerfully aware of the tenuous existence early followers of Yahweh lived. Even as stained as it is, in today's world the institution of Christianity is a long established thing, even given all of its sects, forms, and denominations. Dark Hour confronts us with the lives of people challenged to believe in this "strange, new god" that demanded complete obedience and faith. That, and the novel's tangible essence of spiritual warfare gives it a gritty, visceral feel. We've all read great spiritual warfare novels like This Present Darkness, but we can't help but view them from a Western, Judeo-Christian perspective. Dark Hour portrays a frightening clash between holy Yahweh and old, ethereal pagan religions, and it serves to make a reader very thankful for the ease of our contemporary existence, indeed.
This is no "chic lit" book either; it's moving, powerful, and touching. Also, as the first entry into what's been tagged the Serpent Moon Trilogy, it stands alone as its own novel, while promising a deeper look into these long gone biblical times.
[...]
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Biblical fiction at its best!, July 26, 2006
This review is from: Dark Hour (Serpent Moon Trilogy) (Paperback)
"The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you...Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:11,16).
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers" (Genesis 3:15).
Years before, God promised David that his descendants "shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel" (1 Kings 9:5). But in Israel that promise is a distant memory, dimmed with the passage of time, and the royal house has been infiltrated by idolaters with dreams power and a burning desire to see the Jewish faith permanently discarded in favor of gods such as Baal. The kingdom has become divided. In Israel, Ahab rules with the scheming Jezebel at his side. One of their daughters, Athaliah, is sent to Judah to marry Jehosophat's heir, the prince Jehoram. And Athaliah is every inch her mother's daughter, bringing to her marriage new gods and a burning desire to control the throne and rival her mother's power in the north.
In Dark Hour, the first novel in the Serpent Moon Trilogy, Ginger Garrett brings this small slice of Old Testament history to vivid, colorful life. Garrett's scriptural source material is 2 Chronicles 21-23, the story of Jehoram and his son Ahaziah, and how both were manipulated by Athaliah's machinations and perverse religious influence. She was nearly successful in her carefully planned attempt to usurp the throne and destroy the line of David. Athaliah, daughter of the infamous Jezebel, absorbed all of her mother's ways, and sought at every turn to undermine the Jewish faith and consolidate power to herself and her gods of wood and stone. Her nemesis is Jehoshebeth, the daughter of Athaliah's strongest rival among Jehoram's wives. Jehoshebeth's mother dies giving birth to her, and in her death throes prophesied that her child would be Athaliah's doom. Athaliah, confident in herself and the power of her gods, raised the girl to be ignorant of her true parentage and grew complacent, forgetting her dead rival's words until her pride and ambition led to her downfall. Athaliah ruled on her own for six years following a murder spree she ordered to eliminate her rivals to the throne. One woman dared to stand against Athaliah's murderous schemes and saved the life of Joash, an heir of David, who was eventually crowned and in so doing restored the Davidic dynasty to the throne.
Out of these brief scripture references, Garrett has crafted a stunning novel that illuminates this criticual juncture in biblical history. As Garrett states in her Author's Note, "[t]heoretically, other heirs of the house of David might have been alive to continue the bloodline. But God used Joash. It's startling to think that the future of Christianity, of the person of Jesus Christ, was held in the hands of one terrified woman defying an evil queen." Based on the 2 Chronicles account, little is known of Jehoshebeth. The Bible hints at the incredible bravery and devotion to God that it must have taken to risk all in incredibly dark and dangerous times. In Dark Hour Garrett carefully crafts a very real, flawed heroine who struggles with faith, courage, and destiny, and whose bravery stands as a shining example of God's faithfulness to His promises.
Dark Hour is biblical fiction at its best -- an absorbing, meticulously researched, well-written account of a dark chapter in biblical history. Garrett is a master storyteller and succeeds in a stunning fashion, fleshing out the scriptures and bringing ancient Israel and her people to vivid life. Dark Hour more than succeeded in holding my interest -- itinspired me to delve deeper into the scriptures for further study of the fascinating history illuminated in the novel. In her Author's Note Garrett states:
"For those of you, like me, who once believed the lie that the Bible is a tale of repressed women mastered by men and submitting through force, coming to the tale of Athaliah and Jehoshebeth is a shock. Athaliah did what no woman had ever done, ruling as sole monarch in Judah. Jehoshebeth was a formidable enemy and ultimately proved her undoing. I read the Bible now and am impressed with the role of women in the story..."
Well said. I very much look forward to more from Ms. Garrett. Read this novel and be fascinated and encouraged by this incredible story of God's promises and His faithfulness shown through the life of a woman willing to stand for truth.
Book #2, Midnight Throne (the story of Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah), is due out in June 2007, and book #3, Huntress Night (the story of Samson and Delilah) is due out in spring 2008.
UPDATE March '07: Info from the author's blog -- the remaining books in the Serpent Moon Trilogy have been cancelled (only temporarily, this fan hopes!).
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Happily Surprised, September 6, 2006
This review is from: Dark Hour (Serpent Moon Trilogy) (Paperback)
I picked up this book because it was endorsed by Bodie and Brock Thoene, who write amazing historical fiction. So I thought, it couldn't be half bad.
I was pleased with it. Ginger seemed to do a good job on her research. She didn't sacrafice any of the facts to make a better "story." I enjoyed it, and it is worth the read.
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