Customer Reviews

For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Clash! Bang! Ka-ching!" The valley echoes with the sound of iron upon iron. Tight-lipped the two solitary foes circle each other, thrusting, slashing, striking, and warding off the blows of the other. Suddenly, the younger man, dressed in Jewish garb, and armed only with a sword and buckler, dashes under the heavily armed Roman's sword. The sudden impact throws the Roman to the ground, though the Hebrew is stuck hard on the head. Brushing aside the blood that pours down his forehead the Jew siezes his knife and and raises it, to end the life of his prostrate fiend. "Strike, Jew! I am Titus!" the Roman boldly states. Who are these two combatants? What do they have against each other? The Hebrew is 19-year-old John of Gamala, a hero to the Jews and a scourge to the Roman army. Titus is General of the Roman army invading Israel, whose people are fresh from throwing off the Roman government. How will this deadly duel play out? Never mind. This excellently written novel is much better than Super Glue ever dreamed of being. "For The Temple", if anything can, will glue you to your seat so that it will take a bulldozer to dislodge you. {note: we don't recomend the use of this book for repairing broken toys, however.} "For The Temple" chronicles the life of a Galilean teenager at the time of the fall of Jerusalem. From the storm on Lake Tibereas, to the siege at Jotatpata, you will grow to love and admire John, son of Simon, as he grows, wars, and has adventures of all kinds defending Josephus, Gamala, his betrothed wife, and finally the Temple in Jerusalem. Will he survive that monumentous occasion? More importantly, who will win the afforementioned duel? READ THE BOOK AND FIND OUT! (no, Amazon did not hire me to sell their book, I did this originally as a school assignment) I highly recommend this historically accurate book to people who like history, adventure, or just plain good books. Also to people who HATE history, as a good way to gag it down.

Combining accounts from Josphus and the Old and New Testament, Henty weaves a tale of bravery set in the time between Christ's crucifiction and the destruction of the Temple. As with all Henty books, his hero is brave, honest, kind, and resourceful, modelling the best aspects of behavior. Highly recommended.

"For the Temple" is so far my favorite of the G.A. Henty novels. Before I read this I knew almost nothing about the destruction of the Temple. Now I understand it clearly. The politics and different factions of the time period are described very well. You come away with a very good understanding of how all the events unfolded. Plus, the dialogue is not quite as lengthy as some of the other Henty novels. Worth reading.

My 11 year old daughter reccomended this book to me after reading it twice. I read it and loved it! Mr Henty is a master story teller - it would be hard to find a modern book of this caliber. We especially note the strong message of intergrity and character. We have purchased serveral other Henty books and enjoyed them all. For the Temple is a family favoite!

G.A. Henty, the 19th century master of historical fiction, demonstrates his tremendous ability to weave a great story into the details of history. His accounts of the fall of Jottapotta, Gamala, and Jerusalem are faithful to all first hand accounts of Rome's war in Israel. In places whole passages can be linked with Josephus' account of battles and seiges. This is a must read for any historical fiction fan, and a dynamic story for those who just want good reading. I strongly recommend this book. (1LT Gary Thompson)

This book does a wonderful job of explaining many different factors contributing to the fall of Jerusalem. Eventually, the characters do come alive. It gets redundant at times, which is not helped by the over-use of dramatic emphasis throughout the reading--the listener has to group and weigh information in spite of the reader's inflection rather than being helped by it. Overall, worth the time, but I would rather have read it out loud myself than fight the recording. Recording does not indicate listening time or publication date of the original work.

I love history but cant read history books. Historical fiction is a great way to learn and not be board to death i cant wait to read all his books

Offensive to Jews and historically off-base, this novel will be enjoyed by Christians, for whom it has a "happy ending".