Rating: 
Summary: The Oath is Awesome!
Review: Frank Peretti is an EXCELLENT author! I really recommend his books! The Oath is full of suspense. I really like the fact that I couldn't figure out everything that would happen; it's kind of disappointing when I can figure out the ending easily. I couldn't put it down to go to sleep at night - GOOD book. It's also a great spiritual book; a great analogy is drawn between our sin and.....that's enough. You're going to have to read it yourself. :o)
Rating:
Summary: Wow, great book!
Review: I just finished reading this book and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! At first you tend to wonder what Steve is going to do about his godliness, but then at the end it all makes sense. Wonderful book about a dragon. Wonderful book about life in general. It really makes you think about your own spiritual walk with God. I will definately find more books on this author!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book! Must Read!
Review: This is a very good book! I enjoyed every page of this novel. I could not put this book down, I carried it everywhere I went! You should take time to just sit down and read this book. I love the suspenseful writing techniques that Frank Perretti uses. Has an unsuspected ending. Hope you enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Dragon of Sin?
Review: I'm used to Mr. Peretti's "Good v.s. Evil" thrillers, but I can't really say that I would
have expected him to write a novel that almost qualifies as a horror novel. This book
could easily be compared in quality to Stephen King, though without the swearing ;0).
A personification of sin? That's an interesting concept. A dragon as a personification
of sin? That is an AWESOME concept! And I really liked how the author showed the effects
of hiding your sin and wallowing in it. A top notch book.
Rating:
Summary: Sobering and thought provoking
Review: This is not a "feel-good" book, as the subject that it deals with is not a feel-good subject, but it is one that all must deal with in reality... sin and the consequences of it. I read it once and unlike other Peretti books, I couldn't bring myself to read it again right away because of the subject matter, but I think I'm ready to read it again
Rating: 
Summary: So close, and yet so far.
Review: Frank Peretti, The Oath (Word, 1995)I got this a few years back from my mother as a Christmas present. I pointed out to her that Peretti is widely known as a Christian author (one would think that the book's publisher, who also releases books by folks like Billy Graham, would have been a giveaway there), and her response was "it certainly doesn't sound like Christian fiction. It sounds like Stephen King." And Frank Peretti is, without doubt, the Christian version of Mr. King, both in subject matter and in sales figures that make the rest of the publishing industry quake in fear. One thinks that when Frank Peretti grows up, he wants to BE Stephen King. And with The Oath, he comes very, very close. There's something very large, very nasty, and very hungry hanging around near the town of Hyde River. When it kills and half-eats an outsider, nature photographer Cliff Benson, Benson's brother Steve starts poking around. As he gets closer to the identity of the killer, however, he finds out that the town doesn't necessarily want to find out what killed Cliff Benson-and may go to great lengths to stop Steve from doing so, either. Good, scary, keep-you-up-at-night stuff. And for the first four hundred pages of this five-hundred-odd page book, that's what it remains. The only thing during this portion of the book that keeps Peretti from achieving the standard of writing set by horror authors like Stephen King and Dan Simmons is that Peretti isn't quite as good at writing his minor characters; as with a lot of lesser lights in the horror genre, Peretti sets up some of his minor characters with the "I'm going to die in a few pages" signs on their foreheads and then leads them to their grisly ends. (For the record, at least Peretti's minor characters usually stick around for a while, and do have some other function aside from dying.) There's no real life in them the way there is in Peretti's major characters. And while this makes the book suffer, it's a forgivable thing, especially when the book is as fast-paced and readable as this one is. Also in those first four hundred pages, before I start firing off criticisms at the end, Peretti does a great job with his symbolism and the obvious points he's trying to get across. Let's face it, you pick up a book by a Christian author published by a well-known Christian imprint, you know you're in for an object lesson. And in the first two-thirds of this book, Frank Peretti shows you what the word "parable" means. Everything is low-key, well-done, visible to those who know what to look for. Peretti even takes the secular convention of the local religious nut and bends it to his own ends in a wonderful way; Levi Cobb wouldn't be out of place in almost ay eighties horror novel I've ever read. Had he stayed right where he was and kept going in this vein till the end, The Oath might have hit my top ten reads of the year list. Then everything went downhill... and fast. The book's climax throws everything you just read about above out the window. Symbolism? Subtlety? Well-drawn characters? See you later. Peretti takes the velvet cover off the sledgehammer and starts beating. The message doesn't just become the medium, it overwhelms it. Those of you who have heard me trying to illustrate this particular point and haven't been able to follow what I'm talking about, read this book. You can see both good socially-conscious writing and bad socially-conscious writing in one fell swoop, and because you're still in the same story, it becomes obvious which is which. Peretti's already got the skills to be a major player in the field, and judging from the first four hundred pages of The Oath, he's already better than most of the competition. Now, if he'd take a few tips in parable writing from authors like Madeleine L'Engle or Francois Mauriac, he could turn sales of two million copies into sales ten times that, and get his message across to secular readers as well-for isn't that the whole point? **
Rating:
Summary: Creapy, honest, powerful
Review: I just finished reading The Oath and was shaken. It's written in the style of writers like Stephen King and Peter Straub. I don't think I've ever seen anything so dark and creepy in all of Christian literature. I hightly recommend this novel to anyone seeking to read a Christian novel that breaks the mold that so many Christian author are stuck in. A great price of writing, I couldn't put if down.
Rating:
Summary: The Oath is a GREAT Book.
Review: This book is full of suspense and sends chills down your spine. It is a great novel that I fully encourage you to read! The mystery in this book is one of a kind. I give it my two thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE OATH?
Review: Quite simply, "The Oath" is one of the finest thrillers I have ever read. Frank Peretti's morality tale of a monstrous evil that haunts a small town and uses those who think they use it is not only a delightful read but food for Christian thought as well. Never preachy, Peretti delivers his message in fluid, descriptive prose that brings the story to magical life. The characters are fully human and easy to identify with, and the relentless horror that hovers over all builds steadily to a devastating climax. Highly recommened to Christians, fans of fantasy or thrillers, and anyone who loves a good morality story.
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid Becoming dragon Bait!
Review: I recommend _The Oath_, but its premise has disturbed me since 1995, when I first read it, staying up way too late. Mr. Peretti's premise shook me: sin, even if seemingly small and inconsequential, draws Satan's attention!
He created many characters, attractive and unattractive who could never make up their minds about whom they would serve, and Frank portrayed the only Christian as the town eccentric. He didn't quote Bible verses as much as he developed biblical themes that reminded me of passages like Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked . . . "; 1 Peter 5:8,9 "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour . . . "
What if I heard a lion ROAR, every time I gossiped, or bucked my husband's plans -- or popped an extra candy in my mouth? What if I felt the hot breath of a satanic creature, every time I laughed at a joke, a joke whose punch line was something Christ died to save me from?
I do not care much for fantasy books and because of some of its detail, I squirmed when I read it. (I did give it to an unbeliever who is attracted to Stephen King novels, however.) Yes, I felt several times in the book, Mr. Peretti skated right up to the edge of questionable material. And I kept thinking, "Uh-oh, Frank, This is not good --. " Nevertheless, on the very next page, he showed me why his fantasy was so disturbing. Sinful behavior and passions, my second-nature, *are* disturbing and have grievous consequences! This disturbing fiction showed me how the "O.K. sins," sins even Christians seem dull to, can produce alarming consequences! This book warned me that a real enemy is lurking, and I better be sure my homing devices are disconnected through the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. AND that I don't fiddle around with *any* switches, looking for a buzz! By that I mean, Christians sometimes dabble in worldly stuff, TV, movies, music, conversation, food, drink -- and discount how "stuff" can feed our sin nature. We are slow to confess and repent. The picture of how attractive, but foolish people -- characters I came to care about in the book -- allowed a little "lust" to take root, blossom and attract the enemy scared me silly! _The Oath_ moved me to probe my heart for my "comfortable" sins that I too readily excuse, to look at my sins with the lens of the Holy Spirit -- and *be* terrified. Accommodating my sin nature is risky business. Thank God for Jesus Christ who is the only effective shield against so awful a dragon. Frank Peretti gave me a graphic reproof however to get rid of any and all "dragon bait!"
|
