Customer Reviews

Marina (Heirs of Anton Series #3)

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

 

 

WOW! What a punch this novel has in its own place of the three (so far! another one OKSANA comes out in August 2005) Heirs of Anton Series! I laughed and smiled and cried. You will too! Romance at its best as well as history and life's spiritual meaning from days gone by as well as drawing you into the Christian viewpoints which these authors hold most dear to them! It is so obvious and delightful! A GREAT read! I recommend them all. #1 EKATERINA, #2 NADIA, and now #3 MARINA. I have to wait for #4 OKSANA in August 2005!!

Marina is the third book of the Heirs of Anton Series. Each one of these books is outstanding--filled with intrigue and romance, and set in Russia. Marina is the book that answers a lot of questions from book #1, Ekaterina. I highly recommend this whole series. I found each one of the books fantastic!

Of all the books in this series, I have found this one the most difficult to read. The first two were written really badly, but at least the plots were plausible and interesting. This book is actually better written -- at least we don't have clothes screaming at us -- but suffers on several other fronts.

First, there's actually too much going on. There's a love story -- that's fine, all the other books in the series have a love interest -- but the two partisans are involved with what feels like A Cast of Thousands, so that you have to keep reading over previously-read material to figure out who is who, and who belongs to what group. There is the continuing lack of awareness of Orthodox culture, although I must give the authors credit for at least respecting the Russian Orthodox Church -- not many evangelicals would, and I appreciate that. There is quite a bit of involvement with the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union; while this is historical fact, I felt that the details of the occupation kept getting in the way of the story, which was supposed to be about the disillusioned Marina and the American who reawakened her faith. (I think. It got to be tough to figure out the main point, with all this peripheral stuff going on.)

But the most glaring flaw in the book is its shallow character. This book takes place during the Second World War. At this point in history, Russia was firmly in the grip of the Bolsheviks, and Communism, with all its "workers of the world" philosophy, had taken hold to such an extent that Stalin actually had to enlist the aid of the Church to get people stirred up about being Russian -- they didn't want to go to war with their "fellow workers," and had to be reminded that they were Russians. None of this is anywhere in evidence in this book. There could have been so much more depth if the authors had made the Nazi element just a peripheral nuisance, and had focused on the partisan liaison, Edward Neumann (a German name, by the way?! Would I have trusted this guy with so many other Germans running around?!), and his solid Mennonite faith, pitted against the Russian partisan Marina and her bitterness about losing her new husband to the war.

All in all -- eh. I only finished it because I had choked my way through the first two, and by now I realize that all of them point the way to the fourth one, so I will have to read all the previous ones to understand that one. Sigh.

"German voices to the south, moving closer. Tears burned her eyes. She clung to the tree and hung her head. She wouldn't stay here to be murdered. Putting a hand over her womb, she gulped in a deep breath and edged away from the trunk, gathering her legs under her.
A flock of birds betrayed her. Gunfire chipped bark from the trees. Marina clamped down her scream and pumped her legs.
Another shot, then another. Heat seared her, wrapping around her ribs and pitching her to her knees. The ground crumbled beneath her.
Falling.
She felt free, separated, as if she'd departed from herself. Dmitri.
She hit water with a numbing slap. The last things she felt was the water's cool blanket filling her ears, her nose, covering her body as she sank below the envelope of Velikaya River."

--Excerpt from Marina

More on the romantic side, yet certainly not lacking in high spirited action, Marina is the story of a young girl's struggle against the Nazi invasion of her homeland Russia and the tide of bitterness and anger that threatens to engulf her. As she buries her young husband, a casualty of the meager struggle to protect the Ukraine, those she holds dearest to her are murdered before her eyes. All she has left is the hope of life in her womb, but will that be taken from her as well?
Still reeling from the merciless execution of his love, Katrina, Edward Neumann enters Marina's life as her protector. An ace sniper, Marina shoots down her enemies with a cold heart and all the while feels the tug of God pulling her toward forgiveness. Marina has changed her name to "Mara" for all the bitterness she holds. Can Edward allow himself to love again, and can Mara learn to change from being an embittered woman to become "Magda", a tower of strength?
Susan K. Downs and Susan May Warren fill this book with unexpected twists and teach the reader to understand and appreciate old Russia and its culture. Russia is mostly forgotten when World War II is thought of. However, the authors do an excellent job of portraying the horrors that the impoverished Russians endured through the course of the war. Marina is an exciting book to read as well as one that warms the hearts with its tender moments. I highly recommend it.

"Marina", the third novel in the "Heirs of Anton" series about four generations of women and their adventures in Russia, is set in the middle of World War 2. This book has more of a romantic element, and less of the mystery of the first two books, which is nice for a change of pace, but at the same time, is a bit disappointing. The action-packed momentum of the first two books in the series seems to slow down in "Marina"; however, much of the intrigue of the first two books points to the interaction between Edward and Marina, so this novel is certainly central to the whole series. I found the writing quality to be a bit lacking in this book - a bit too sensationalistic for my taste, too overly dramatic. All the same, i enjoyed this novel, and greatly enjoyed the first two in the series, so I am looking forward to reading the final book of the series next!

Grade: B