Rating: 
Summary: The emptiness of Ecclesiastes illustrated!
Review: This Rita award winning novel further chronicles the life of Marcus and Julia as part of Francine Rivers' highly acclaimed "Mark of the Lion" series. Volume 1 ("Voice in the Wind") portrayed the voice of God in the life of Hadassah, and now in volume 2 Hadassah's voice continues to echo in the dark and empty lives of Marcus and Julia (p.12-13). The darkness and emptiness of their lives is one of the highlights of the novel. Rivers has created a vivid and wonderful portrait of the truth of Ecclesiastes - the emptiness and vanity of a life where one pursues anything except God. Just like today's world, Rome offers wealth, pleasure, power and knowledge (p.292). Both Marcus and Julia come to discover the pursuit of pleasure, work, money and sexuality eventually proves to be meaningless and empty - the same conclusion as Ecclesiastes. But will they come to discover that meaning is found instead in God? That is the central question of "An Echo in the Darkness."This central question makes "An Echo in the Darkness" much more introspective than "Voice in the Wind". Readers who enjoyed the excitement and action of Rome's bread and circuses in Volume 1, will be disappointed to find that the conflict of Volume 2 is more of an internal nature. Instead of gladiators and lions and battles in the arena, Rivers focuses more on the thoughts and inner battles of the heart, as Marcus and Julia search for peace and meaning in their lives. Rivers demonstrates that she is as skilful at portraying inner conflict as she is at portraying outer conflict, displaying a remarkable ability to convey and describe human emotions, feelings and struggles. In contrast to the emptiness experienced by Marcus and Julia, is the fullness and joy experienced by Hadassah (you thought she was dead didn't you?) Her scars still testify to the "mark of the lion", but beneath veils, Hadassah becomes known as Rapha, a healer who through God's power develops a miraculous ability to heal. Hadassah proves to be instrumental in the resolution of the internal struggle for both Julia and Marcus, and in the end the lives of this three-some converge in a rather remarkable way. Sad to say, the book is riddled with theological errors or questionable ideas. The notion of miraculous healing (as worked by Hadassah) is highly questionable - certainly it took place during the generation of the apostles, but it is doubtful whether it extended beyond the apostles themselves or beyond their time. The unique appearance of "Paracletos" and direct revelations from God (p.295 & p.299) are hardly credible in an era when the church was established and God revealed Himself almost exclusively through apostles, prophets, and the written writings. This is a particularly unfortunate weakness because the Paracletos incident functions as a turning point in Marcus' life. There are also difficulties surrounding Marcus baptism (p.301) - was it administered by an office-bearer, and was the extent of his confession and understanding of Christ sufficient for this? - later events seem to prove the contrary. And of course Rivers' concept of accepting Jesus into your heart (p.101,302, 412) and the notion that every one is precious in God's sight (p. 101,273) is typical of Arminian theology. I wonder whether her idea that lost sinners hunger for living water from birth (p.306, 375) sufficiently takes into account the total corruption of the lost human conditions where sinners do not hunger for God but rather hunger for sinful passions (Rom. 1). The function and importance of the revealed and written Word and the church community did not in my opinion play a sufficient role in the novel. What's more, love and forgiveness is presented as a Christian duty independent of repentance (p.136), whereas Scripture suggests that repentance functions as an important pre-requisite for forgiveness and reconciliation. The notion that Abram's obedience in sacrificing Isaac made his descendants the chosen people (p.119) flatly contradicts Scripture which says it was God's mercy alone (eg Deut 9:1-6). And whether prayers to Jesus (p.132) instead of to the Father can be defended as a Scriptural practice is highly debatable. Another major concern is Hadassah's character - it's not surprising that so many readers admire her faith - because it's hardly believable. Stating for example that she has not one particle of vanity in her (p.138) belittles the truth of Romans 7 - that even believers who have the Spirit still have an evil nature against which they must struggle daily. I fear that Hadassah's character could thus be discouraging to Christians because it presents as a model an ideal that they cannot possibly reach in their personal lives. There are literary flaws too. The amount of coincidence it takes to integrate the lives of Hadassah, Marcus and Julia at the end is disappointing. Also suspiciously coincidental is the amount of people who become Christians - it seems rather disproportionate to the real world, since the central characters of our lives do not all become Christian. This makes the ending rather too happy and optimistic, in contrast to the ending of "Voice in the Wind" which was much more plausible - and so much more powerful. "An Echo in the Darkness" is in the end a rather inferior effort when compared to "A Voice in the Wind". The picture of the emptiness of human life without God is certainly a redeeming quality. But unfortunately, it's not enough to overcome the many weaknesses and make this book as good as the first.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite Good
Review: This was a good book. But I was a little let down. It was kinda slow after all the action in the first book of the series. I thought it was interesting that after all the years Julia rejected God, suddenly at the end of her life she accepted Him as her Lord and Savior. Hadassah seems a little unrealistic, maybe it's because I'm human, (well so was she) but I thought it was kinda hard to believe that Hadassah immediatley forgave Julia for sending her to the lions. Well, anything is possible with God, but I don't think I would have been able to forgive like Hadassah did, after everything she had been through. The end was my favorite part in the entire book
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: Who could have guessed that the book that follows "A Voice In The Wind" would live up to the impossibly high standard of its predecessor? But "An Echo In The Darkness" does just that. The plot actually thickens and Rivers deftly potrays characters she knows backwards and forwards...beyond what she tells us. And Francine takes us beyond culture shock. You spend time in Rome, Ephesus, Israel; talk about major differences in ideologies, religion, culture, food, everything. But Francine has researched and embraced it all; you sit in these characters' homes and you know them. You can hear, taste, smell every detail... it blows your mind. And it all comes together with this love story. She writes the kind of love story that makes you hold your breath--ah, the agony and the ecstacy! Francine understands how a man can be aware of a woman and fall in love with her before he admits it to himself. The powerful undercurrent leaps off the page. This book never drags; you can't put it down.
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