Rating: 
Summary: Realistic and yet, it's fiction...
Review: The Gates of Zion is a wonderfully written book about one young lady's choices during post World War II, in the setting of Jerusalem. Throughout the book she must decide whether or not she wants to involve herself in politics that are much larger than the comfortable and sheltered world to which she has grown accustomed. Through her choices, she learns more about herself and those around her, including the two men between whose love she must decide. This book is the first in a series titled The Zion Chronicles. Bodie Thoene wrote this series first and then later wrote a series to precede this called The Zion Covenant. I would rate the first series a full five stars. All were excellently written. I found them to be very well developed and descriptive. I found The Gates of Zion to be no exception to this style of writing. Bodie Thoene did a superb job of painting scenes for my imagination to witness. The level of description in all of her books creates a separate world through which I am able to watch her characters live their lives. I rate this book at four stars solely based upon a fault of my own. Not being very well informed as to post WWII history, I found that this book, The Gates of Zion, was slightly more difficult to get into than those of the first series. It took me a while to get fully absorbed in it. However, once I started to understand a little better the events taking place, I could hardly put the book down. I found the book to always have me wanting to know more. It was very exciting in the way that I was constantly being surprised. It was not a predictable book in the least. I had to read it to find out what the end results would be. If there was any guessing on my part it was only speculation as to what new twist the author was going to send my way next. I found this to keep me on my toes and kept my interest in the book. I just had to know what was going to happen, and therefore found it difficult to put away when my time would not allow for reading. I also found this book to be inspirational. The faith in God the characters exhibit in their daily lives and when in the face of adversity is very encouraging. I know that this book is fiction, and yet the faith and trust they show in God is something that I believe anyone can obtain. It is not unrealistic in that the characters have a faith of which no one would be capable. It is presented in such a way that it makes you forget that the book is indeed fiction. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting book. It has the ability to keep one on the edge of their seat wanting to know more. I know this was defenately the case for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerfull and Accurate
Review: This book was very powerful! The stories were taken mostly from actual events that took place post WWII in Palestine and Jerusalem. A must read book!
Rating: 
Summary: Christian historical fiction, a bit pulpy
Review: This series is a fairly "pulpy" but quite clean love story cum adventure story a la Indiana Jones. It is moral without being spiritually deep. (I have a problem that all the Jews in the story seem to believe in the Messiah-hood of Jesus, as do many of the Arabs, unless they are maniac terrorists.) It's historically interesting, but the series progresses maddeningly slowly. There are neat references in each book's prelude to scenes at the Fall of the Temple in about 70 AD which link to scenes in the 20th century story of the formation of Israel. Impossible adventure sequences abound. This series is, however, much better written than the "prequel" series written more recently by the same author. Overall, my reaction to the Zion Chronicles series is mixed.
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