4 out of 4 stars
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Gideon: The Sound and The Glory by Joseph Ganci is a fascinating novel that retells stories from the Old Testament of the Bible. Written in the third person perspective, the book alternates between various characters.
While the main story is about Gideon, the book is split between five parts and delves into the time before and after Gideon’s life. The first part is about Barak and his quest to get rid of Jabin, the king of Canaan. The second part is about Gideon and his quest in freeing Israel from the Midianites. The third part is about Abimelech, Gideon’s son, and his quest to become king. The fourth part is about Eli, the Ephod of Gold, and the Ark of the Covenant. The fifth part is about David and his life before he became the king of Israel.
Gideon is called by God from his life as a woodcutter to become the commander of the Israelite army. At first he is doubtful that he could ever drive the Midianites out, but his faith and trust in God allows him to grow more confident in his quest. Gideon creates an object, known as the Ephod of Gold, that brings misfortune and evil to those who misuse it. The Ephod of Gold is passed from Abimelech to Eli and from Eli to David. Each of these characters has a major role to play as they struggle between their will or God’s will.
Although the book takes stories from the Bible, particularly from the Book of Judges, the author does a great job in retelling them. Growing up as a Christian, I was familiar with most of characters and stories in the book, but they are so much more detailed than the ones in the Bible. I like how the author took a few stories from the Bible and expanded it into a more detailed account of each character. The characters were also well developed and realistic. Gideon’s progression from being doubtful to being confident made him one of the most relatable characters.
In the second part, it is mentioned that Gideon was the son of Joash, but in the first part it only mentioned that Joash had three sons and none of them were named Gideon. I was confused on why it wasn't mentioned in the first part that Joash had another son named Gideon.
I noticed a few grammatical errors, but they didn't detract from the book. The theme of good vs. evil is portrayed all throughout the novel. It was easy to see that the author is very knowledgeable about the Book of Judges. Even if you are not familiar with the Old Testament, it was easy to follow the stories from character to character.
Overall, I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars. I throughly enjoyed reading this book. The author created a new and more detailed perspective of the Old Testament stories. The scenes leading up to the battle scenes made the book more suspenseful, and the amount of action was well mixed with the development of each character. I recommend this book to those who like to read historical fiction novels, especially novels based off of the Bible.
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Gideon: The Sound and The Glory
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