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Summary: Hungry for the Word
Review: I first learned of these books about a month and a half ago, I went out immediatly and bought the first of the series "Left Behind",(and finished all six in a little over two weeks)not only did the novel keep me on my toes, the more I read the more hungry I became to learn. As I read I kept my bible near, and I read scripture quoted in these books (the doubting Thomas...I had to see for my self that "it truly was the word)I found it strange that in the first book, I recognized my character right away, and the more I read on, the more real she became, I found myself urging her to believe, to accept what was true....that "Jesus is our Lord and Savior".....then it dawned on me....I realized I was not really urging the character ....I was urging myself! When I got to book 5 "Apollyon", I could not comprehend how one could not possibly believe NOW, I mean....what does it take, but still....many did not believe. If I wasn't sure by now....I surly would be after the Demon Locusts....Your books re-affirmed what I thought I believed, and made me even a stronger believer and christian. When I finished the last of the series...I seemed to have found a peace within me that I have not ever had, but had often prayed for....I guess it comes in "God's Time". Your books have ministered to me, and I am forever grateful to you. You can be sure I will pass these on!
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Summary: A LOOK AT THE NOVELS OF REVELATION
Review: I am a very big fan of novels that deal with the Biblical Apocalypse and, with so many different types, thought it would be worthwhile to give an overview of the ones I have read.
Left Behind, by Tim Lehay- The series that started it all. These novels are, in truth, somewhat boring, but it covers the bases with a depth that none of the others do, probably owing to the fact that there are so many of them. They lack character development and deep theology, but are a fun, if shallow read
The Christ clone Trilogy by James Beauseigneur- Well written novels that focus on the scientific and political. Tom Clancy meets Left behind is not too far off the mark. I greatly enjoyed these books although I felt a little let down by the ending. Overall, a good political take on the End.
We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell- Certainly the most controversial of these novels. The focus here is the individual and why someone would ever in their right mind reject salvation. Very brutal, although probably more realistic, in its depiction of the End. This is certainly not a book for the timid, but for the rest, I found it the most intelligent, well written, and, oddly enough, spiritual of the bunch. It's hard to walk away from this book with feeling to need to take a fresh look at one's own relationship to Christ.
Blood of Heaven, by Bill Myers- These are intelligent, character focused novels. I found the theology again to be a little weak, but really enjoyed following the distictive characters.
The Last Gentile Trilogy by Cary Bybee- Better written than Left Behind, but lacking the scope of that work. Like conquest of Paradise or Christ clone, it it based in science, but perhaps too much. Not enough religion for my taste.
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Summary: Christian Propaganda
Review: This series of novels is inspired by "The Revelation to John", the last book in the New Testament, the third section of the Bible, the Christian holy book. "The Revelation to John" (which is often misnamed "The Book of Revelations") tells the Christian myth of what will happen at the end of the world. Basically, the authors took this story, which is barely 20 pages long, and turned it into a series of 12 novels plus a spin-off series that deals with kids. The Christian view is that only the people that believe that Jesus lived 2,000 years ago and died for their sins will be saved and receive an eternal reward in Heaven. What makes this worse is that individual merit based on good or evil deeds is not taken into consideration, because Christians believe that human beings cannot be put right with God except through Jesus. Christians believe that they are saved through faith alone; no amount of good works can win God's approval. So, all of the people that don't believe in Jesus will receive an eternal punishment in Hell, regardless of how many good deeds they do and how caring they are to other people. Meanwhile, the Christians will be saved no matter how evil they behave, because they've got Jesus on their side. "The Revelation to John" tells of an event known as the Rapture: all of the Christians are taken up to Heaven, and everyone else is left behind on Earth. After an event known as the Tribulation and world rule by someone known as the Anti-Christ, Jesus finally returns to Earth and defeats his enemies. Then the old Heaven and the old Earth go away, and a new Heaven and a new Earth are established - with God as King, of course. This took 20 pages in the Bible. Imagine reading the same story stretched over thousands of pages. As a non-Christian, I'm alarmed at what I consider to be an evil religion perpetuated by zealous idiots. Christians base their beliefs on documents that are close to 2,000 years old but don't quite date back to the time period that the events within allegedly occured. There is no physical evidence of the existence of Jesus. There are no non-Christian records of Jesus (not even in Roman execution records). There are no records by astrologists of the time period that describe such an event as that which supposedly occured during Jesus' crucifixion. I belief that the reason that Christianity has endured and grown as much as it has is because it's the only religion in the world that threatens the non-believer with an eternal punishment. Christianity is, at its core, a religion that rewards the "yes" people and punishes the nonconformists. The Bible itself orders Christians to spread the religion throughout the world. Christians feels that it's their duty to convert all non-Christians to Christianity. They pity non-Christians and "pray for their souls". They place themselves into a group of the elite - the saved. They start missions to convert the "heathen" non-Christians and "bring them over to Jesus". The Roman Catholic Church even has a division, called Propaganda, that specifically tries to establish churches in non-Christian nations. An example of a Christian mission is this book series. The authors are trying to bring readers to Jesus through these novels, which have, sadly, become best-sellers. I think that Christians should abort their missions and just leave people of other religions in peace. I'm so glad that there are billions of non-Christians in the world. It would be horrible if the Christians converted everyone. The world needs a balance of beliefs. Otherwise, it would lose its diversity. If you want to read a good book of a battle between good and evil, then read "The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition" by Stephen King. It tells a similar story, only better and in only 1,000 pages. The premise is that a superflu kills millions of people (we don't see what's going on in the whole world, just the United States), and those that are left band into two opposing camps of good and evil. The thing that makes King's book a lot better than this series is that no explanation is ever given for why these people are immune to the superflu. All types of people are left behind, both Christians and non-Christians. The authors of the "Left Behind" series make it seem like the world would fall into chaos if all of the Christians disappear, which is ludicrous. King wisely avoids this in his book. Buy it and enjoy it. Skip the "Left Behind" series. If you want to know what happens, take an hour to read "The Revelation to John".
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Summary: Unabridged CD version
Review: Two reviews in one... what a bargain.
First the book. This one sort of dragged. There were a number of exciting scenes, but a whole lot and I mean a WHOLE lot of phone calls and baby talk. I had to fast forward at times to get through it.
Now the CD quality. I listen to a lot of books on CD because I'm not a very strong reader (big words confuse me). Typically they select someone with a good voice who can do a moderate number of characters/dialects. This one sounded like a children's puppet show. The voices were some extreme that they were either comical or hard to understand and words and names were pronounced differently on this CD than on the first few. Just read me the book... make my life easy, I don't like to try very hard.
Rating: 
Summary: The First Three Are Good - These Past Two Are Not As Good
Review: Book five continues the twist and turn towards something that feels more like a Bible tract that needs to be handed out door-to-door. Moving away from the fantastic plot and character development of the first three books, LaHaye and Jenkins really begin a downward trend of not following upon previous successes for the series. There are several new characters that get added to the mix - some believers, some not. No background is explored on these new characters - so it is as if they are just dropped into the story as convenient stage props for the story. Honestly, this is the worst of the series thus far, simply because of the poor plot and character mechanics that these two have chosen to ignore in favor of treating the story as a well-bound Bible tract.
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Summary: LOCUSTS DECEND
Review: These Left Behind books are becoming a guilty pleasure. I can't stop reading them. This and SOUL HARVEST have been the best. The series hits its stride here. The pacing is terrific and it keeps you craving more.
Rayford Steele learns his wife Amanda was NOT a spy as insinuated in the previous installment. Hattie just made it appear that she was.
Nichoale can do nothing to stop the two witnesses as he and Tsion Ben-Judah have a showdown in Jeruselem. The Witnesses cannot be killed in spite of Nicholae's declaration of open season on them. Hattie's baby is stillborn and deformed. She has developed some serious hate for Nicholae and vows to kill him herself. What a nut.
After the sun darkens a full one third even Chaim Rosenzweig admits there is no explanation but the Lord. But best of all, locusts decend upon the earth to sting the non-believers and making them wish they were dead. Those stung cannot even kill themselves for relief. Next will be 200 million horsemen who will kill off one third of the world's remaining population.
And Chloe had her baby.
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Summary: Jeebus, where are you?
Review: This is the fundamental question of books 1-11 of the taut, gripping (some might say svelte) "Left Behind" series. However, the answer is "He's in book twelve." So the faithful reader will have to wait another seven books before the messiah cannonballs into this pool. All we get for now is a buncha-buncha-cruncha devil bugs sent by G-d to eat the crops and fly up the noses of the unbelievers. Which I didn't really understand myself, because if they're demon locusts, why are they working for the big G? But that's a whole 'nother can of demon worms better left to the professional theologomizers and not to us unschooled readers.
All in all, Lehane's best work. "Mystic River" is a close second, maybe tied with "Left Behind #9" [I forget the title] and after that are all the other "Left Behinds" in no particular order.
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Summary: BOOK FIVE: APOLLYON
Review: If not quite as graphic or spectacular as advertised in the cover copy, APOLLYON is still an excellent continuation to the captivating Left Behind series. More space is devoted to doctrine and character development and interaction than in most of the previous books, with the result that APOLLYON doesn't move quite as quickly. Despite the generally slower pace, author Jerry Jenkins knows how to keep his target audience interested and the big payoff at the end--a horrifying plague of demonic insects--is quite scary. Another high point is the gathering of believers in Israel to hear Tsion Ben-Judah preach the gospel...even as Nicolae Carpathia plans to crash the party. Whose voice will the assembled believe? Meanwhile Buck and Chloe Williams anticipate the birth of their child and Hattie Durham struggles to come to grips with the life she has made for herself. Another quality reading experience from Jenkins/Lahaye with an eternally pertinent message.
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Summary: Better than people give it credit for
Review: A lot of the reviews I have read of these books tend to put it down by comparing it to other end of the world books. And while I will admit that these are not as smart or engaging as some of the the better books that cover the same topic like Fire of Heaven or We All Fall Down, I still really enjoyed them. A friend introduced me to the first book and I cut through all 12 books over the past two months. In a way, it's not really fair to compare them to some of the other books because they are trying to do different things. Left Behind seems to me to try to simply tell a great story about the end of the world. It's light, but what's wrong with that? I really felt like I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next when I finished a book and the very next day would order the next one. I call that a success. A book like We All Fall Down is obviously much more intense and thoughtful, the characters seem much more like real people, and it gives you more to think about, but why does that make Left Behind bad? Can't The Ten Commandments and The Passion both be good movies?
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Summary: Are you kidding me?
Review: I am an agnostic, and make no bones about it. But, I also feel that a person should not critique a work unless he has actually read it. I am now on my fifth book in this series (Apollyon), and am finding myself making excuses for having read this far. Is it the writing? Goodness no. Is it the engaging characters? Oh, sure. I honestly don't know. It's kind of like my addiction back in high school to the "Flowers in the Attic" series that was such in vogue then. Terrible writing, awful premise, bad execution. But for some reason, I kept reading. Maybe to see how bad it could get? If it could get any better? No. Mostly, it was to see what all the fuss was about, and to see what so many others actually saw in the thing. This series is basically about "preaching to the choir," and making the events of Revelation fit into some (semi) coherent story. Unfortunately, anyone with reasonable intelligence will be rolling their eyes countless times. The relative normality of human existence after all of these calamities is one sour point. Another would be that this "all knowing, all loving" God would visit such horror and calamity upon his people--believers or not. My biggest point of contention would be that no matter how good or how pure a person is, all that matters to get into heaven is to be "born again." Even the characters of Hattie and Chaim "believe" that Christ is the savior, and yet that isn't good enough. . .they haven't been "born again." Puh-leeze. Switch off your brain, and submit as a slave to Jeebus, and you're goin' to heaven! Even if you're an evil )&**&%!!! But if you're basically a good guy, but for some reason don't make the secret prayer. . .you're going to burn in eternal torment FOREVER! Boy, that's justice. People that actually believe that trip me out! It may be your interpretation of Biblical events, but it doesn't make logical sense. God gives you a brain. You use your brain to determine that it doesn't make sense that good works aren't good enough. Your brain doesn't conclude that blind faith in a book that is hard to understand is the ONLY WAY. So you are DOOOOOMED. Justice like that is hard to distinguish from the justice of the DEVIL, wouldn't you say? I'm just sayin'. . .
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