Rating:  Summary: Glad I got This as a present Review: A good friend of mine gave me this book for my birthday and I enjoyed it thoroughly and am planning to take a look at some of this author's other works.It worked for me as a thriller and it also worked to make me think about religion and faith. But most intriguing were the discussions between Zoe and Thalia where they talk about the concept of God gradually changed to a male-dominated deity. One of the most striking parts is the discussion of how the changeover from a hunter-gatherer culture to agriculture may have have been the cause. And ironically, women basically invented agriculture and caused the Goddess' downfall.
Rating:  Summary: Loved Code, Love Daughter even better Review: I learned about Daughter of God from news stories about its controversial similarity to a book I absolutely loved: THE DA VINCI CODE. I love Leonardo and decided to read Daughter of God. While I was disappointed it didn't have much to do with Leonardo I was STRUCK by the great writing and the indepth information. (I see from the Amazon pre-order page that Perdue's earlier book, The Da Vinci Legacy is being re-issued in January 2004 so I will look for that) Perdue's writing is informative and smooth. I found it hard to put this book down before reading the very last page of it. If you like religious thrillers, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:  Summary: Incredible depth of solid facts and Reserarch Review: I had a minor in comparative religions in college and I was pretty amazed at the depth of Perdue's research and the accuracy. I followed up on many of the fact, including the theory on how the Goddess was gradually turned into a male and I found it solidly based in fact. But besides the satisfaction of great research, this novel moved like the wind and was the best written one I have ever read. I read Da Vinci Code, enjoyed it but find Daughter of God head and shoulders above. It seems to me there has been a rash of attempts to trash Daughter of God by people who have clearly not read it.
Rating:  Summary: Okay, not great, don't take the history part too seriously Review: I've been reading a lot of feminist theology non-fiction for fun lately, (yes, I'm serious), and my mother was just convinced that I would absolutely LOVE this book. It was okay, but really not wonderful. Yes, the parts at the beginning about history, religion and the gender/theology discussions were interesting . They really were. But, the book makes it sound like all the recent progress in a re-examination of religious history from a feminist view-point is totally cut and dried, the author can just fill in the gaps in what is a lot of speculation, theorizing, and very recent study and make it sound like it's been obvious all along. Really, it takes a little of Marija Gimbutas, and makes up what it wants from there. And I really enjoy and get a lot out of a great deal of the legitimate study in this area, i.e. Rosemary Radford Reuther. The rest of it is just your standard, by the numbers romance novel/thriller/adventure/mystery. (lots of mysterious men with guns, last minute escapes, "rippling muscles that awoke the core of her womanly desire..." blah, blah, blah). I wasn't particularly interested in any of the characters, and I didn't get that much out of the "big surprise" ending. Maybe I'm too tough a critic, but... It was a fun mystery read if that's all you expect from it. And really, if you're that interested in matriarchal cultural theories, feminist theology or the sacred feminine, do your homework somewhere besides the suspence/thriller aisle.
Rating:  Summary: Interesting ideas....but ultimately anti-climactic. Review: This book has a lot going for it: interesting characters, dramatic adventures, and a great deal of intriguing conjecture about the evolution of religious thought, the formation of modern christianity, and Hitler's fascination with religious artifacts. Unfortunately, the pacing and characterization left me cold. The husband and wife central characters are less than believable and, frankly, not well-written enough to make the reader care very much what happens to them. The two are separated at the outset of the book, and while this is certainly unhappy for the characters, we, as readers, have had insufficient time to connect to either of them, and their eventual reunion thus lacks any real emotional punch. Likewise, the bulk of the interesting theories and revelations are presented relatively early on, only to be painstakingly gone over with further proofs and confirmations through other characters. In fact, for me this book had too many narratives told from too many perspectives. The villains were so disparate and nonspecific as to be almost superfluous. By the end of the book, I was, honestly, bored. I didn't care how it all turned out, because it felt like everything of interest had already been presented and then trampled over ad nauseum. Several of the conversations about art and religion within the narrative are thought-provoking and worthwhile. But not worthwhile enough, in my opinion, to read this novel. For a more cohesive and exciting read, I would definitely suggest The Da Vinci Code instead.
Rating:  Summary: Entertaining, Informative and Inspiring Review: So often books today are either commercial reads that are a kind of "brain candy" or they are literary works that are dense and dull even if they have something worthwhile to say. Daughter of God is a wonderful exception. A book that is both entertaining with a fast paced thriller plot and also interesting and even inspiring. THIS IS WHAT A NOVEL SHOULD BE! A fascinating fast-paced story, powerful emotional impact, thought-provoking ideas, and insights into faith and spiritual history. What more can a reader hope for? And in this day when few books are well edited Daughter of God is certainly way above average. There has been some controversy about comparing this book to another popular thriller. Read this one and make up your own mind. I can assure you, you won't regret taking the time to read it.
Rating:  Summary: Even better the Second time Review: I read this book when it first came out and found it a very deep and enjoyable read. I decided to pick it up again after reading about all the controversy. I found that the author did an incredibly deep job of exploring the role of the Goddess in modern religion -- far better than any other book. Perdue used his characters to explore the various facets of the subject and even the tough issues of how people of faith can keep believing even when they find their faith may have some false parts. While this was a well-told, fast-moving thriller, it offered a lot more meat than the average novel and helped me think about areas of my own faith and how religion shapes and is shaped by society. I can't think of any other book I have read this year that was SO worth the time I spent.
Rating:  Summary: Great premise, disappointing read Review: I was very excited to read this book, as I love books that explore alternate views on Christianity. I was hoping for a book similar to Irving Wallace's The Word (okay, I realize there are not many authors of his caliber around today, but a girl can hope!). My expectation was that the idea that there was a daughter of God would be brought up and the topic explored in depth through interviews of and postulations by characters in the book. That through this process they would come to some greater understanding of themselves and their own views, as well as the view in society, on religion and God. What did I get? A beginning with so much promise, the anticipation of what was coming was so great that I was flying through the pages. And then it crashed. It became a kidnapping story with very little further thought to the title subject. It was used as a background to force otherwise stable characters into outrageous decisions. The plot was unlikely, contrived and too violent for the subject matter. I read it to the end with the hope that the subject might be broached again, but after it all the only thing that was discovered was that there was a possibility - that's it, just a possibility. Which is exactly where the book started, so why did I bother to read it at all?
Rating:  Summary: Kept me up all night Review: This book would not let go of me. I started it last night and I just had to finish it. I've got a serious case of sleep deprivation today because of that, but it's a worthy fatigue. As a historian and freelance book editor here in the Chicago area, my threshold is remarkably high, but Daughter of God went over the bar with room to spare. There are really two books here, a well-fleshed-out, non-fiction book about women and religion and a thriller where the action just didn't stop. The historian in me loved the history, especially the well-reasoned rationale Perdue makes for why the Goddess was replaced by Big Daddy in the sky. He ties it in with the rise of agriculture, the demise of the hunter-gatherer culture and the availability of excess food. I've never seen his hypothesis before, but find it well-founded on fact. I'd encourage him to develop it as a paper to be submitted to a scholarly journal. The escapist in me loved the action and the very different and creative methods employed. Finally, the editor in me loved the characters, how they came alive, lived, struggled with both internal and external elements and changed as life pressed upon them.
Rating:  Summary: Exquisite tale of religious intrigue Review: I find Daughter of God to be a very visual book. He creates vivid images and remarkable action scenes with a masterful use of language that I found enthralling. I was also fascinated my the depth of history and religious detail that digs far beneath the surface without getting boring. Daughter of God is a phenomenally well-written book and, indeed until Mr. Perdue got into a controversy over the Da Vinci Code, the many reviews here confirm my feeling. I am suspicious of the motivations of the sudden burst of extremely negative reviews since that controversy began
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