Rating: 
Summary: An Ending
Review: This series started out really fantastic - interesting characters, fast paced action, suspense - all a reader could ask for. It started going downhill about book 4, and slowly declined after that, but I kept reading because I had liked the characters so much in the beginning. This book is about 7/8 pages and pages of scripture out of the mouth of Jesus and the angels to 1/8 of characters thinking to themselves how wonderful they feel.
From a fiction perspective, this book is interesting only to (1) keep score - see who actually makes it all 7 years and (2) discover that, if you didn't survive, you are not going to get to help repopulate the Earth for the next 1000 years.
From a religious point of view, well, I'm not a biblical scholar, so I don't really have any insight as to their predictions of what might occur. Neither do I expect to need this information in my lifetime. So I'm happy for those for whom this book was a moving experience, but it really wasn't one for me. What moved me about the earlier books in the series was the reactions of the realistic characters imagined by the authors. Since the second coming is, by definition, so awesome that human minds cannot possibly encompass it, the ending here felt forced and unnatural to me, rather than uplifting, because it was impossible for the characters with which I identified to react to it with any degree of understanding.
Rating: 
Summary: Read with caution
Review: Given Mr. LaHaye's association with Rev. Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church, it is difficult to accept his peculiar interpretations of Biblical prophecy as credible.
Rating:
Summary: dissapointed
Review: I have all of the other books and was looking forward to this one. I have a few problems with the event order. Although Revelations is not in chrono order, I never read where Jesus returned judged ALLLLLLLL and THEN reign for 1000 years (NO ONE IS LEFT) I know this is just your way to write another book but it degraded the great job you had done in the past. You should have made this the last book and not make room for more. Your series just lost its appeal to me with this book. Just my opinion!! But I guess after The Passion of Christ all books and movies pale in comparison.---
Rating:
Summary: Not the Jesus I know
Review: Jesus is portrayed as a vengeful, bloodthirsty killer determined to destroy all those opposed to him. How does this make him different from the anti-christ Carpathia? How does this reconcile with such passages I read in my Bible as:Matthew 11:28-29 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart" Luke 6:27-28 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless thoses who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." According to the fundamentalist theology which the authors profess to believe, these are Jesus's words inerrantly recorded in the Bible. Did Jesus say these things for us to believe and follow while He doesn't? Also concerning the central idea of millenialism theology, the creation of a thousand-year reign of Christ on Earth, how is that reconsiled with John 18:36 "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest. But now my kingdom is from another place" Again, Christians profess to belive that these are Jesus's words. How does that reconcile with a belief in an earthly 1,000 year reign. And how is the 1,000 year figure taken literally concerning an earthly millenium, when, elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus also says that the sheep on 1,000 hills are his. Does this mean the sheep on ONLY 1,000 hills are his, or is the figure symbolic of Jesus's ownership of all things? If this is a symbolic figure, why isn't the other reference also symbolic? The whole of premillenial dispensational theology rests on selective proof-texting of the Bible. Too many Christian believe this erroneous theory and don't want to do the work involved in doing their own reading and study of proper Biblical theology. Thank God this series is over (maybe). Go read some historic Protestant theology and let's let this series die.
Rating:
Summary: Is this really the end?!
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. I also was not pleased with Armageddon. This book took too long to get to the best part! I found myself aimlessly skimming through yards of scripture, desperate to get to the anticipated appearing of Christ.
I have a Bible, and while I realize that the authors wanted to get the "word" out to unbelievers, I felt that it was too much. I probably skipped about 1/3 of the book because it was all scripture. I read this book to get some fiction, I read my bible to get the truth.
Aside from that, I thought the appearing was well done, though not long enough. I wanted to read more about the reunion with the trib saints and those who were raptured (namely Ray's wife and son). It was a tremendous let down. I put in a great deal of time, energy (sleepless nights trying to finish the books) and emotion to read this series and to know the characters. Yet, I managed to get through the end with hardly a word from some of the main characters who died. (I won't reveal who I mean). It was very dissappointing and the only reason I give three stars is because there is nothing better than imagining the return of Christ.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wrap Up for the Fans
Review: With only hours to go before the return of Jesus to set up his earthly millennial reign, Buck and Ray are unaccounted for. While members of the Tribulation Force try to find out what happened to them, the forces of Carpathia are taking over Jerusalem and lining up to attack Petra again. Chaim is trying one last effort to save those who might still be undecided. But the thought foremost on everyone's mind is, today is the day we will get to see Jesus. So really, the question comes down to, will fans like it? As with just about every book in the series, reaction will be mixed, but I liked it. There were some amazing scenes and it once again renewed my faith in God's awesome power. Yes, there were some things that made me roll my eyes, especially characters desires to get to a particular place to see what would happen. I know why the authors did it (so we could see it), but it did seem to get out of hand a few times. They even managed to explain logically some of my biggest complaints with the ending of the last book. However, there are some flaws. The second half of the book seems to really slow down with pages of scripture quotes. While some of that is fine, it got to be excessive at times, and I found myself skimming past it. And, while the final chapter was wonderful for us long time fans, that chapter was what I was looking forward to most and could have been longer. In the end, I think fans will find it a satisfying end to the series. New comers will be lost if they jump in here. It really is best to start at the beginning. And people who don't like the series will certainly want to steer clear as there will be nothing here to change their minds.
Rating: 
Summary: HOMERUN FOR SERIES
Review: I LOVED THE BOOK!!!! MUST READ FOR ALL!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Payoff I Hoped For
Review: I've never been a dyed in the wool fan of the Left Behind series. The characters were always a little underdeveloped, and some easily confused with others. The storylines, while tight and suspenseful on some pages, faltered and lumbered on to dead ends on others. The plot twists contradicted themselves at times and some of the books' wide margins suggested that a little more compacting might have gotten us to the end of the saga a little more quickly with less money. That said, I've read every one of the Left Behind books! As with most Christians, I'm very interested in biblical prophesy regarding the coming of Jesus and while these volumes have their problems, the subject matter is compelling enough to leave you always wanting to know what's going to happen next!
Unfortunately, "next" in The Glorious Appearing, is next to nothing. Yes, Jesus returns, finally, on page 203. Despite the major entrance on the clouds which leaves us with no doubt as to His identity, He keeps trying to convince the faithful of that very thing. Scripture verse after scripture verse of I am this I am that....It seems that this Jesus doesn't know that he's preaching to the choir. Don't get me wrong, I have much respect and deep reverence for scripture, but after being apart from us in the physical sense for 2000 years, I want to hope that our Lord has New Words to say.
The rest of the book is nothing more than a mishmash of the various other characters scrambling around like aimless ants. Even they admit that they don't really need to be where they find themselves. There's Mac in Jerusalem, George et. al in the desert, Abdullah in his helicopter. I'm assuming that this is all a creative function of using characters to give the reader the eyewitness view of every detail. But the method fails when we have to wonder why these folks aren't sitting back at Petra, where their only true function is to wait on the Lord.....
At the end of the day, I can say that I read the entire Left Behind series. I don't regret it, but the payoff isn't nearly what I hoped for.
Rating:
Summary: Great Wrap up Yet still Disappointing!
Review: First let me start by saying that I'm glad that the Left Behind books were written and I have thoroughly enjoyed them throughout the past few years. Jenkins had done a fabulous job creating these wonderful characters in which to tell the story through and throughout the series I've fallen in love with Buck and Chloe and everyone. But this is where the book falls short where it previously excelled. The death of Buck and the resulting resurrection at the end does not do the character justice. I fully expected to be in tears when Irene and Rayford meet again. Instead I was completely unimpressed and oddly unmoved. The character development took second place to long pages of scripture, which while interesting, didn't really do a lot for the story. The earlier books in the series, such as Nicolae, were much more interesting to me than the latter, which is odd, because the action takes place in the end! To me the most exciting and interesting parts were in the stables where the antichrist and Lucifer separate and when Jesus speaks to each member personally during prayer. This book is so close to being completely awesome that its extra disappointing to me that it falls short. I miss the characters and reading this book did not bring me much closer to reuniting with them.
Rating:
Summary: More than expected!
Review: I have read all of the "Left Behind" books, including the latest, "Glorious Appearing", which I finished last night. I must say that even though I am aware that it is a fictional account of the book of Revelation, in The Bible, it helped to see the relevance of thoses passages. I was a Catholic for forty years, but within the last few years, I found less and less comfort in the church. I decided to read the Old Testament and the New Testament, and participate in a bible study group. When I first started the Bible, I was confused, with the language, and determining analogies from actual happenings. After reading the Left Behind series, in conjunction with bible study, I became clearer on what the Lord wants of us all. I could actually see myself caught up in the fiction of the Left Behind series, but what I really liked were the direct quotes used throughout the books, to explain certain happenings of Revelation. I liked the series very much!
|
