Keith Madsen

Usually I stay away from books with religious undertones, but not for lack of believing. I myself am a Christian, but find that most books with undertones are too extreme in one direction or the other. Either I end up enraged, or feeling as if the author is trying to shove his beliefs down a readers throat through the guise of a novel. But being a history dork, soaking up shows and books on ancient ruins, specials on the existence of Noah and his flood; the premise was too good to pass up. And I was not disappointed.

In a time when books on vampires, werewolf’s, and wizards run ramped through the bookstore, it was a breath of fresh air to see a novel with a premise I hadn’t seen before – searching for the Garden of Eden, really, who has done that recently?

The characters are lively, individual, and believable. The pain Evan feels from the loss of his daughter, being a mom myself, was often too relatable for me to read. I can’t imagine how one would move on after that, but he does, and begins chasing something his daughter spoke of. I think that’s something any parent could see themselves doing after losing a child, clinging to something their child loved or talked about, in hopes of somehow connecting with them again. This part of the story was done well, but not so much on the forefront that it overshadowed the story or distracted from the journey.

As Evan and his new companions travel through war torn countries, you get a great sense of adventure; I think most people at some point in there life have dreamt about doing something extreme, packing up and going on a dream adventure. But not only do you get the air of adventure, but a deeper feeling of standing in the depths of war. Having a brother who served his time in the very lands mentioned in the book, who saw so much that even today he doesn’t speak of it, one would have to have a cold, calloused heart to walk away not having a greater understanding of what war does to people. Not only the soldiers, but the civilians surrounded by it.

The amount of research that must have gone into this book is mind boggling to me. Throughout the book you find snippets of information on ancient facts, and wonderful tidbits to a history dork like me. I did do a quick check on some of them, and found them to be true, but weaved throughout are far too many for me to research for accuracy. But this is a novel, so keep in mind it doesn’t all have to be factual, it has to be believable. Which they all are. You can wrap your head around the excitement of it the same as many did with the prospects novels such as The Davinci Code proposed. I did at times find it to be a tiny bit overwhelming, but had to take a few things into consideration; one that without those bits the story wouldn’t have held the same feeling, and two that they weren’t put into the story as big information dumps by the writer. Which I hate. It was worked into the story, not dropped down into it like a giant, info dump cinder block.

The ending was lovely to me, all of the characters walking away from their journey undoubtedly changed (as they would be from such an experience). Overall this was a good read for me. Although written by a preacher, it wasn’t the least bit preachy to me. I think Madsen did a fine job touching on an area not currently explored, and possibly some are fearful to explore – with such controversy surrounding the current wars going on. I would recommend this book to someone who is a mild history buff like me, enjoys a sense of danger or adventure, or likes to walk away wondering about the prospects of it could really be true – could you really find the Garden of Eden?

**My review copied from my blog, http://crazyladywithapen.blogspot.com/… (mer)