Customer Reviews

Daughter of God

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Lewis Perdue's new novel, "Daughter of God", is a deftly written fast moving thriller. The tightly constructed plot and subplots carefully interwoven with dark historical secrets and them of power, greed and deception offer a vividly descriptive and stunningly good read.

The novel concerns an ancient document, which holds a secret capable of changing history and rocking the course of Western religion. The secret involves a proof of a female messiah, who lived during the reign of Constantine and who was murdered to preserve the religious image of God as male and protect the power of the Holy Roman Empire. It's the story of fine arts broker, Zoe Ridgeway, and her husband, Seth, a professor of philosophy and comparative religion, who find themselves caught in a web of terror and deception Their hair raising expeiences are filled with unexpected twists and turns right up to the shocking ending.

Perdue has well researched his theses and raise some disturbing questions which the reader will want to ponder. All in all, this book is great fun to read and a much bigger book than its 320 pages.

I read this book when it first came out and found it a very deep and enjoyable read.

I decided to pick it up again after reading about all the controversy. I found that the author did an incredibly deep job of exploring the role of the Goddess in modern religion -- far better than any other book. Perdue used his characters to explore the various facets of the subject and even the tough issues of how people of faith can keep believing even when they find their faith may have some false parts.

While this was a well-told, fast-moving thriller, it offered a lot more meat than the average novel and helped me think about areas of my own faith and how religion shapes and is shaped by society.

I can't think of any other book I have read this year that was SO worth the time I spent.

This book would not let go of me. I started it last night and I just had to finish it. I've got a serious case of sleep deprivation today because of that, but it's a worthy fatigue.

As a historian and freelance book editor here in the Chicago area, my threshold is remarkably high, but Daughter of God went over the bar with room to spare.

There are really two books here, a well-fleshed-out, non-fiction book about women and religion and a thriller where the action just didn't stop.

The historian in me loved the history, especially the well-reasoned rationale Perdue makes for why the Goddess was replaced by Big Daddy in the sky. He ties it in with the rise of agriculture, the demise of the hunter-gatherer culture and the availability of excess food.

I've never seen his hypothesis before, but find it well-founded on fact. I'd encourage him to develop it as a paper to be submitted to a scholarly journal.

The escapist in me loved the action and the very different and creative methods employed.

Finally, the editor in me loved the characters, how they came alive, lived, struggled with both internal and external elements and changed as life pressed upon them.

Christianity strictly believes that Christ is the Son of God. The Vatican has ruthlessly suppressed that they are convinced another Messiah Sophia lived in Ancient Times. In 310 AD, the men of King Constantine murdered her for fear that her life would destroy the power of the Roman Empire and the Holy Church.

In the present era, a dying Nazi asks art dealer Zoe Ridgeway to return the stolen collection he took during the war to its rightful owners. He also wants her spouse Seth to translate the story of Sophia into English. However, before they can begin, assailants steal the artwork, kill its "owner," and kidnap Zoe. The record of Sophia vanishes. The Russian Mafia holds her prisoner in the hopes of negotiating a deal that will bring needed currency to their country. Certain Vatican officials want Sophia's Passion (the gold box that contains an account of her life). Seth wants Zoe safely returned to him, but realizes that he and his spouse know too much about Sophia for the Vatican to allow them to live.

DAUGHTER OF GOD is an action-packed thriller that ties together an art theft, a conspiracy that has existed for over a millennium, and a religious philosopher. Although the action never slows down, the characters drive the plot to its triumphant conclusion. Readers will care about Zoe and Seth while appreciating and understanding the motives of the antagonists (Russian and Vatican). This makes for a realistic feel to the rich story line. Fans know that Lewis Perdue soars with the best writers of the new millennium and will demand a prequel that stars the female Messiah.

Harriet Klausner

In Daughter of God, all the characters speak with identical diction give or take swear words. That's the first hint that Perdue is a second-rate author. People are killed for no motivation other than to show the bad guys are desperate; characters who are standing suddenly rise from their chairs; heroes try to escape in culverts (as if the bad guys wouldn't be able to figure out where the other end is); and a devout atheist becomes an instant convert the moment her first prayer seems to be answered.

Yes, the scenes are exciting (if the reader can get past the stupidity of the players). And the art history is authentic and fascinating, as are the details of the Nazi plundering of art. Perdue also presents a fascinating case for the supression of the Mother Goddess worshipped historically four thousand years ago in favor of a masculine God that empowered men and put an end to the matrilinear society that preceeded ours.

But in the end, Perdue's art historians, who are inexplicably uninformed of the existance of the Sumerian documents that prove that Genesis was a simplified version of Sumerian tales, maintain the Big Lie: That, male or female, God is "Out There" and must be cajoled or bribed into helping out the person who prays the hardest (as opposed to "In Here," in which everything that happens, including "death," is part of a Master Plan).

Perdue has accused Dan Brown of plaigiarizing this book in the "Da Vinci Code" and says he's planning to sue. I've read both books and what they have in common is that they're both printed on paper. Perdue's prose is purple; Brown's is efficient. Brown's characters have distinct speaking patterns, and not a word in his novels is wasted. It's educational to read both books simply as an exercise in comparison: A real page-turner to a formulaic read. (I leave it to the reader to determine which is which!)

A character in "Daughter of God" says, "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. And those that can't teach, administrate." To which I would add, "And those that can't do any of these things, sue."

I learned about Daughter of God from news stories about its controversial similarity to a book I absolutely loved: THE DA VINCI CODE. I love Leonardo and decided to read Daughter of God. While I was disappointed it didn't have much to do with Leonardo I was STRUCK by the great writing and the indepth information. (I see from the Amazon pre-order page that Perdue's earlier book, The Da Vinci Legacy is being re-issued in January 2004 so I will look for that)

Perdue's writing is informative and smooth. I found it hard to put this book down before reading the very last page of it.

If you like religious thrillers, I highly recommend this book.

I work at Bible research. Sometimes we have to "stretch" our mind to learn new things. "Daughter of God" is an exceptional book. I could not put it down.

Okay, so some of the thoughts are not what we were raised to believe (me a Baptist), but the story line is great and the historical information was even better. The author comments and explanations in the back of the book made it even more exciting. This much research into writing a book, I can only say is without a doubt a superior work of art.

One of the best books this year.

As a caveat before reading Daughter of God, I must admonish you that while it bears some uncanny similarities to The Da Vinci Code, it is not, however, a mere facsimile. It was, in fact, written before its much more popular counterpart. So, the reviewers that mercilessly lampoon this tome as a lame attempt to cash in on the success of Dan Brown are patently erroneous.

While the suspense is not as commanding as The Da Vinci Code, there is, perhaps, more character development in this novel. The success of the historical fiction novel seems to always rest on a slippery slope. Excessive embellishing of history or, conversely, excessive didactic reading of said history can irreparably destroy the foundation of the novel and make it either highly implausible or, even worse, amazingly boring.

Lewis Perdue, much to my surprise, has succeeded in avoided these too-often-visited pitfalls. Faith in God seems to pervade this novel and present itself as the central theme. Zoe and Seth Ridgeway, our hero husband and wife protagonists, embark on a journey of unexpected peril and danger when presented with a bizarre offer involving looted Nazi art. Their journeys take them from their pedestrian lives in America to the Old World in a confrontation with not only the horrific evils of the Nazi past but also with their own souls. Overall, an engaging and provocative read.

"Maybe you had a false certainty that's gone now," Zoe said. "Maybe all certainty is an illusion."

"I think that God delights in our searching," Zoe pondered. "Maybe the ultimate truth is that there is no ultimate truth -- that what we're supposed to do is to keep searching all our lives."

I had a minor in comparative religions in college and I was pretty amazed at the depth of Perdue's research and the accuracy. I followed up on many of the fact, including the theory on how the Goddess was gradually turned into a male and I found it solidly based in fact.

But besides the satisfaction of great research, this novel moved like the wind and was the best written one I have ever read.

I read Da Vinci Code, enjoyed it but find Daughter of God head and shoulders above.

It seems to me there has been a rash of attempts to trash Daughter of God by people who have clearly not read it.

To begin with, I read Da Vinci Code last year. When I picked up Daughter of God, I had a deja vue thing.

What really turned me on with Daughter of God was the very real, totally three dimensional characters who struggled with their own internal demons. It was especially rewarding to see Seth and Zoe changing inside.

My wife read this as well and pointed out that this was a very romantic thriller, as much about relationship as the other plot elements which is probably why, she saysm Romance Times gave it such a very high rating, and why they reviewed it at all.

I highly recommend this book.