Customer Reviews

The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession (Left Behind #7)

5 star:		(175)
4 star:		(98)
3 star:		(76)
2 star:		(55)
1 star:		(65)

 

 

The Indwelling is the 7th book to be released in the Left Behind series, written by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. The Inwelling picks up immediatly where Assassins, book #6, left off and reveals who killed the Antichrist. The assassin was somewhat predictable, but many other suspects clouded the actual identity of the assasin. The Indwelling gets very spiritually in depth, especially when Rayford Steele flys back home all by himself, and when Tsion Ben-Judah begins "dreaming dreams." When the safety of the safe house is questioned, David Hassid locates the STRONG Building, which will hopefully house all of the Trib Force and then some. As the funeral nears, the pace picks up somewhat, and a few mysteries surface. When Nicolae Carpathia (the Antichrist) is indwelt by Satan, he begins quoting Jesus and claiming his "divine power." The Indwelling is probably one of the best books so far, but the story moves slowly. The entire book only goes over a period of about 3 days, and that's not very much when it's a book that long. The book leaves us with only a few small cliffhangers, unlike the previous book, Assassins. The upcoming 8th book, The Mark, should answer the question of who might betray the Trib Force, what the numbers of the ten kingdoms mean, and the rise of a new technology, a mark that everyone will have to have to be able to buy or sell. I give The Indwelling 4 out of 5 stars, even though it hosts a slow plot, it takes you for a wild ride.

Two Thumbs up to these authors for their heavenly inspiration of what life may be like if you are not ready the first time around. It is so refressing to see Christian authors in the spot light. I completed all seven of the books and wanted more, so I have started reading the "Left Behind series for Kids". They are just as good. They even include the main characters from the adult series. In less than a week I completed 4 out of the 8 books, which are less than 150 pages each. I have gotten my kids interested in them, and they love them. I tell my kids I HAVE to read the books before they do(smile). I truly believe we are in the end-times and that these books will be a tool to cause many people to really think about where their lives are going.

If you want to get a person started reading this series, just give them the first book and they are hooked. I have not read books so intensely since "Piercing the Darkness" and "This Present Darkness" by Frank Peretti.

Any book that makes people think about being left behind after Christ returns is a must read. Also the Left Behind series is written by experts. It is a fictious story written around true facts. ENJOY, but be ready to examine yourself...

I bought The Indwelling at lunch yesterday and could not put it down until I finished it last night! For all of the readers who rated the series negative for lack of action, this book has lots of it. The AntiChrist is dead, Rayford is on the run as the prime suspect, and you don't find out who did kill Carpathia until over halfway through the book. If readers would remember that this is fiction based on the Bible, I believe they would be more satisfied with the series. I am eagerly awaiting The Mark!

A very riveting volume in the Left Behind series. Read it in 3 days and cannot wait for the next book to be scheduled for fall 2000 release. Reading about Tsion's heavenly experience was wonderful.

The Indwelling is the seventh book for the Left Behind series and it is absolutely overwhelming in the excellence of the writing of this book. The authors keep you turning pages throughout the entire book. There isn't one single boring part in this book. You will not be disapointed with the continuation of Assassins. You finally find out who killed Carpathia, and what is happening with the dangerous situations the characters that watched the assassination. I eagerly wait for the next book, The Mark, coming out on Nov. 14 this year.

I pre-ordered this book in March. When it finally came, the power in my city was out due to a bad storm. Propped up against a window for light, I devoured this book as if it was my last meal. LaHaye and Jenkins are truly gifted. If you like the other 6 books, then you will definitely love this one.

These authors have done it again! They've written an absolutely incredible book that does an excellent job of picking up where Assassins left off. It also leaves you anticipating the next book in the series. The continuing character development is great as you see Rayford, Chloe, Buck, Chaim and others deal with the events around them. I whole-heartedly recommend these books for anyone!

If you read this book primarily to find out who killed Carpathia, chances are you will find yourself somewhat disappointed. The book does answer this question, however, you have to wait after the very detailed plot and character development before this mystery unravels.

The tribulation force is now scattered and facing several dangerous challenges. The battle between the tribulation force and the Global Community Forces take place in several different areas:

*Rayford must escape Isreal while giving himself a spiritual inventory.

*Tsion Ben-Judah gets a glimpse of battle in the spiritual realm through a series of dreams.

*David, Annie, Mac and Abdullah are on the front lines of the war as they battle for the tribulation force right under the enemies nose

*Buck Williams investigates the mysterious disappearance of Chaim Rosenweig

*Leah runs into another believer who has an inside track on Hattie's location

All of these subplots initially develop separately as communication between the body of believers is temporarily severed. They then come together and the plot climaxes as Fortunato seems to gain more political and supernatural power. Does Satan take possession of Carpathia's body and ressurect it? This question is answered near the explosive end of the book.

Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkins' talent for excellent character development and incessantly intriguing story lines is manifested in this book. You must be patient and appreciate the details in order to fully enjoy it. The authors know how to tease you enough so that you keep reading. Although a lot of question are answered in this book of the series, it creates new questions that will make the reader hungry for the next book "The Mark!"

First, let me say that I enjoy the series, enjoying the novelty of the apocalypse, suspense and God-based themes. I will definitely read all the rest and I will/do recommend the series.

...but

I find the plot to be basic and character development to be random and rarely deep.

I mean, first of all, do the authors really need a 12 book series? A teacher once told me that an essay should be as long as a young lady's skirt: Long enough to cover the details, but short enough to keep your attention. As I read through #7, I really got the feeling that the authors could have added a few pages to #6 and said, "...and Carpathia came back to life." I tend to think that the authors spend too much time on unneccessary details. Who didn't know what Albie's plan was as soon as he said he had one? Were the pages of suspense really necessary? or could the authors have just streamlined the next few pages? 5 more books to read over the next 4 years? oy vey.

For character development, I suspect that the authors keep coming up with new characters in order to just be able to kill them off, thereby making the "tribulation so emotionally challenging." For example, the character who dies in #7: What do we know about him? What happened in his life that was important to the readers and/or important to the plot except that he performed a very necessary act? (I hope I'm not being too cryptic, but I don't want to spoil the book for someone who hasn't read it.) Another example: Chloe's fears/plans for her son. Out of the blue, she comes up w/ some non-Christian attitudes, then all of a sudden at the end of the book, the way she resolves them is...well.. shallow. I don't know what else to say.

I have a really hard time understanding the authors' motivations for non-believers. I find the rationale which the authors use to describe the non-believers' explanations for the end-time events and their all-to-easy adoration of Carpathia to be much too convenient and not well supported at all. Example: the lands around Israel have been hotly contested for years with religious differences being an incredible stumbling block for peace. ...and all of a sudden a One World faith emerges? well, that's a good way to shape a plot to suit one's needs, but not a very interesting one. ..and all of a sudden the US is going to concede control to Carpathia after a couple of bombs in the 3rd book? Have the authors ever watched Red Dawn or the old TV series, V? I simply feel that the authors' lack of focus on non-believers makes the plot less realistic.

Last but not least, I have to say that the plot is not as deep as I would have liked. The bad guys are protrayed as bumbling fools, but come on, if the AntiChrist was around, don't you think he'd be *really* smart and not be easily outwitted by the tribulation force? Simple things like his reaction to the 2 witnesses: lame-o His administration's approach to using computers: bo-ring. I mean, with all the talk of *Global Community*, you would think there would be at least a few chapters on how Carpathia was doing something increadibly sinister with the Internet. Granted, the authors probably know very little about the Internet and the series was started in 1995 when the Internet was just starting to gain in prominence in our lives, but I just have to think that there would be an evil twin of David Hassid who does really bad things with our networked world.

Summary? well, like I said, I enjoyed reading the books and will continue to read them, but while I spent $13 each for the first 6, there was no way I was going to spend $25 for #7 or 8. At first, I was going to wait until #7 went into softcopy, but instead I borrowed it from the local library.

After reading my review, you may think I am evil, stupid, satanic or cynical, and I want you to know I am none of that. I am a Christian who loves to read. Because I have read so many novels, I feel that I am a good judge of what is good and what isn't. I have read this far and will continue to read to the end because I love the subject matter. I think more movies and novels should be written about Revelations because I don't think the subject will ever grow old, until it actually occurs. But, these authors, apparently blinded by the blind faith of the public, who buy these novels sight unseen, have decided they don't need to do quality work. Just filling up the pages will do. Here are some of my complaints. Just remember that despite all I say, I am still going to read. Maybe by the end, the authors will have changed my mind.

The first problem I have is with the plot. The "authors" have decided that they want a member of their juvenile Tribulation Force to be present at every major event of the Tribulation. That explains why Ray, Buck and T feel like they have to fly every where. How can they afford this? Where is the realism? Also, the authors made Ray land in Greece while on the way home just so they could introduce a character who has the gift of discernment. Earlier, they talked about Tsion discovering the finer points of intercession. Again, these theological details take away from the story and do nothing to persuade non-Christians. I have a feeling that those that are left behind, won't be spending there time studying deep theological issues. They will be trying to stay alive. John 3:16 is about as deep as they will get.

This brings me to a big complaint, and this is about the part when Tsion has an outer body experience and goes to heaven and sees Lucifer, Michael, and various other things. I realize the events described are probably scriptural, but it is bordering on blasphemy for them to be covered in this book.. First of all, I know it is not scriptural for a person like Tsion to get a glimpse of heaven like he did. I just get a creepy feeling all over while reading a fiction novel and then hearing the author try to describe events and scenery that NO ONE on earth knows about. Again, this adds nothing to the story except to point out that the authors know a lot about theology. I wish they would realize that the readers aren't biblical scholars, so they should quit trying to show off. They should leave the out of body experiences to Shirley McClain and leave the descriptions of heaven to the Bible. The conversation Tsion had with the angel Michael was the worst because it felt like they were adding words to the Bible.

Now, onto other problems. Also, Ben Judah is not the only person in the world who is smart enough to read the Bible and figure out what is going to happen to them. Why won't those millions of "Ben-Judahites" open their own Bible and figure out some of this stuff on their own. My wife and I had a good laugh pondering the fact that the fate of the International Co-op rested in the hands of a 23 year old suicidal college drop out who wants to kill her baby. This stuff is getting worse each book.

It is too bad we can't go back in time and give the responsibility of writing this conceptually ground breaking series to a good author who wasn't only focused on the large-print, wide margined, childish, overpriced paperback money making side of things. I feel a great opportunity was wasted because the rapture and the tribulation is a great story and a great evangelical tool, but these authors have reduced it to just a trivial matter to be solved by a bunch of super humans who fly around the globe on a whim.

Another minor complaint I have is that half of the suspense in the book revolves around cell phones. It seems like so many sections end with some one making a phone call to tell some one something, or trying to make a phone call to tell someone important information but they can't get through, or being on the phone with someone and not being able to tell them something, so they have to fly half way around the world to tell them in person. These kind of plot devices are not the work of professionals. Also, I wish Tim Lehaye would take his name off these books. It was a good concept, but since he isn't doing the actual writing, why does he want to take the blame?

One last things. Those plugs for other books are stupid. Keep those out of here.

You may ask why I keep reading if I don't like this series. Maybe it is because the story. I know a lot about the prophecy of the end times in the bible so I am not relying on this series for all of the information. I guess I am just curious. But my curiosity is about to be overcome by my disappoint in the failure of the authors to come close to writing a good story. I guess I will let my wife read the Mark first, and if she likes it, then I might read it. It is obvious these stories are geared for only the Christian market, and that is very unfortunate, because the non-Christian market is who needs a book like this.