Customer Reviews

The Lost Prophecies (Medieval Murderers Group 4)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Six writers of historical mysteries and thrillers come together in The Lost Prophecies to imagine the far-reaching consequences of a book foretelling future events. This book is fabulous: to quote one of its characters, "A combination of history, religion, and mysticism was like manna from heaven" to me.

The events prophesied in The Lost Prophecies originate in a small black book, laid out in enigmatic and beautifully lettered Latin: they are the ravings of a possessed orphan in sixth century Ireland. Easily twisted around true events, the prophecies of the little black book seem to hold truth within their twists and turns. Six mysteries of intrigue and treason, rebellion and murder result over two millenia and we the reader are brought to realize truly the power of the written word.

The Lost Prophecies captivates as it moves through the past and forward in our our current century to a future of small but determined hope for mankind. This book has its roster of heroes, good decent people who look for answers beyond (ironically) the written word and the popular lines and doctrines, people who find truth in their hearts, sustenance in their goodness, and knowledge through their very human failings. Maybe such heroes are mythical but I don't think so. We see something familiar in them, something to hope for and aspire to. And that is the true power of words.

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Since I have retired, I am looking forward to reading more. This was one I needed after I read the first one in the series.

Gooden shows promise as an Author I might like to read in the future, so I gave it 2 stars.

I can appreciate the superstitious world of A.D. through the 1600s; didn't see too much wrong with the storylines up through Act 5, except for one possible fatal flaw: If the Church of those ancient periods had found a book like that, they would very likely have burned it as heretical/not a part of Scriptural canon and been done with it. End of Story. But the most difficult to swallow was C.J.'s "end of days" scenario.

Keep in mind that the reader is persuaded to believe that the prophecies all come to pass up through Act 5, complete with the book's author mysteriously vanishing into thin air in the prologue. And, they come to pass despite the attempts of a few loonies to change the outcome of some of the earlier prophetic writ to favor themselves.

However, Act 6 deteriorates into something totally different. Without giving too much away, the storyline steps away from mystery (what the reader really wanted) into the increasingly tired mantra of "environmentalism good, Christianity bad" drivel. Atheism (or at best, Agnosticism) wins the day for humanity.

Where earlier reviewers see the power of the word (myth) controlling human behavior, I simply see a bit of modern existentialism oozing a little through the first "acts" of the book, and then gushing out in the end.

I like these Medieval Murders collections of short mysteries on a theme. They are just long enough to read one story before bedtime but keep the same theme. It's a great premise.

In this case, the premise is about a lost book of prophecies written by a "mad" man and hidden before he disappears.

This particular set of stories didn't quite seem to mesh as well as some others in this series (The Tainted Relic, for example).

However, for some quick, light reading it is very enjoyable.

The book arrived quickly and in new condition, as advertised. I recommend this seller.