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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
On the trail of mercy,
By Jani Salomaa (Hameenlinna, Finland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Secret of the Kingdom (Hardcover)
In The Secret of The Kindom, the Finnish author Mika Waltari tells a spellbinding tale of a man on the search for some kind of a sucstance for his life. Marcus, a wealthy and distinquished Roman, arrives in Jerusalem just in time to witness Jesus Christ being crucified outside city gates. He is marvelled by the death of this suffering man: Who was he? Was he really the son of the Israeli God? What did he mean by his teachings? And most importantly, what is the secret of his Kindom? As Marcus starts finding more about Jesus he meets many of known Bible characters, experiences the miracle of the resurrection, and begins to question the importance of his own wealth and nobility. Waltari is once again at his best in telling a semi-historic tale, in which the well depicted characters play the biggest role. Waltari's way of combining people and history, and his near-poetic writing style make the Secret of The Kindom rise well above any other historic novels. A masterpiece. Period.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Excellent Book by Valtari,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Secret of the Kingdom (Hardcover)
I read several of Valtari's books, and enjoyed them very much. In "Kingdom" he takes the reader to ancient Palestine during Jesus' times. As in his other books, he uses a framework of a very engaging historical novel to convey a timeless story of spiritual searching. I read this book in Czech years ago, and I'd love to read it again. It's too bad more Valtari's books are not readily available to American readers!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The gospel according to Mika,
By J R Zullo (São Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Secret of the Kingdom (Hardcover)
Mika Waltari is perhaps the most known finnish writer outside Finland. Deservedly, his popular historical fiction books written between 1940 and 1960 are accurate, interesting, with good plots and well-developed characters. All of these books, in one level or another, deal with christianism and its relation with ancient people and cultures (The egyptian, the roman, etc). Since Waltari graduated in theology, that's nothing surprising. The secret of the kingdom is one of his later books, being some kind of apotheosis of his career. The secret of the kingdom is told from Marcus' point of view. Marcus is a wealthy roman citizen, driven away to Alexandria because of a love relationship gone bad. In the egyptian city, he becomes involved with jewish culture and prophecies. Some unseen power, that Marcus can't understand, makes him go to Jerusalem (this is around 30 A.D.). When he gets closer to the sacred city, he witnesses the execution of three criminals by cruxification, but one of the condemned draws his attention: his name is Jesus. To understand the quiet power behind Jesus presence, Marcus starts to wander through Judea and Galilee, getting acquainted with Jesus' sermons, thoughts, and with people he knew and cured. Through these voyages and conversations, he wants to find his Path in life. Waltari's book also has this quiet power that makes the reader think. His writing style is beautiful and closer to poetry than it shows to our eyes at first glance. This book is fully peopled with characters of the New Testament, although carefully centered in the ones with a minor degree of importance (that's one of its interesting features). Although a little too conservative, The secret of the kingdom is a very good fictional portrait of Jesus' last days on Earth. In the end, what is most important about The secret of the kingdom is Jesus' beautiful message. Grade 8.8/10
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