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Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (Left Behind No. 3)

Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 376 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Finally Picks Up Again.... 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Well I finally dragged thru the second book. #3 is a much more faster paced book, but I was expecting to learn more about Nicolae since this is the name of the book. It was more about the adventures of Buck, who seems to always get into stuff, but always makes it out. It is interesting to read how he does it. I am getting about sick of Chloe though, she's always nagging, whining, worrying and calling Buck at the most inappropriate times. Other than that a good read!

The Future Is Clear!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
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From the moment I started reading this series, I was hooked. With each chapther I found myself more and more intriqued. Every book is an enthralling installment in the Left Behind series... and Nicolae was probably the best one Ive read yet. It's exploding with action and suspense, tying scripture with fiction. I highly recommend the series. Cant wait to read the 4th one, Soul Harvest.

Editorial Review:

It has been nearly two years since the day of the mass disappearances. In one cataclysmic instant, millions all over the globe simply vanished, leaving everything but flesh and bone behind. Nicolae begins as global war has erupted. The Red Horse of the Apocalypse is on the rampage, and the Tribulation Force sets a suicidal course that places them in direct opposition to the rise of Antichrist.

A Voice in the Wind: Mark of the Lion #1 (Mark of the Lion)

Francine Rivers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 139 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderful on so many levels ... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Well written ... check.
Historical ... check.
Spiritual ... check.
Adventure ... check.
Romance ... check.
Characters you love ... check.
Characters you don't ... check.
Pondering when you set it down ... check.
Today's reality revealed ... check.
Lessons for life ... check.
Growth in your heart ... check.
Inexplicable deep meaning ... check.
Wish you read it earlier ... check.
A hunger for more ... check.

Bon Appetit!

Glad I Found This One 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book was recommended to me by multiple people and I found out why once I read it. It is my new favorite book, and Francine Rivers is definitely a new favorite author. Francine Rivers knows how to create an exciting story plot and bring you into it with vivid descriptions and believable characters.

Another Amazing Read from Francine Rivers! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

From Jerusalem to Rome to Ephesus, travel with Hadassah, a young slave girl, as she clings to her faith in the face of the decadence of Rome in "A Voice on the Wind". As usual, Francine Rivers crafts a beautiful work of fiction full of poignant and thoughtful moments that touch the heart. There is also plenty of action as the author brilliantly draws the reader into the breathtaking locations of her tale. She brings Biblical characters to life beside her fictional creations in this wonderful novel. I highly recommend this novel and am proud to have it in my collection.

This book also contains a very helpful glossary of terms and an invaluable discussion guide for use with any reading group.

Editorial Review:

Torn by her love for a handsome aristocrat, a young slave girl clings to her faith in the living God for deliverance from the forces of decadent Rome.

Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 246 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Left Behind Series #11 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

With this book I now have the complete set. The book arrived in great condition and in a timely manner. No problems and a good deal.

LaHaye/Jenkins do it again. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The eleventh book in the best-selling Left Behind series doesn't disappoint. Whit Christ's return eagerly awaited, Tribulation Force member face the greatest trials thus far in the tribulation. In this book, we see major changes in the main characters. It is difficult to say who will survive until the Glorious Appearing. As the Antichrist's armies mass on the plains of Meggido, the tension is as finger-biting level.
I enjoyed this book. It is easy to see that the end of the series approaches by how the characters are developed. I was sad to see some of my favorites not make it to the end. I did find at least one character, Leah, left hanging. Her story line has carried through the last few books, but disappeared early on in this one. The overall level of violence compels me to remind parents this is not a book for children or even younger teens. Some scenes are very graphic. Overall, I think "Armegeddon" is an excellent piece of fiction, with Biblical lessons we all can benfit from.

Editorial Review:

Book 11 in The Left Behind Series

A New York Times Bestseller

The scattered Tribulation Force is drawn inexorably toward the Middle East, as are all the armies of the world, when history homes in on the battle of the ages. By the time of the war of the great day of God the Almighty, homes have been uprooted, new alliances forged, and the globe has become a powder keg of danger. Who will be left standing when the battle leaves the Tribulation Force on the brink of the end of time and the Glorious Appearing?

Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind (Left Behind, Book 2)

Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 448 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A light read considering the heavy subject material 4 out of 5 stars.
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It's not hard too hard to understand why this series was so successful. It's written in a very easy to read style, the pacing is quick, the subject matter is very interesting, and it's obviously written in a style to appeal to women and men. The romance element of this book is a little strange; why in a book about the end times and the Antichrist is a romance element so prominent? (Does she like me? Does she not like me?) The book is definitely not as heavy as Randy Alcorn's Deadline (Ollie Chandler Series #1), which is more intellectually stimulating but a more challenging read. Having said that, I plan to read at least one more book in the series.

Two minor criticisms: The phone call from Eli at the end of the book was strange. When Buck had such as significant meeting with him earlier, it seems awkward to reduce Eli to a normal sounding phone conversation. The last 10-15 pages were awkward too. Why fast forward 18 months and change so many characters' situations so quickly?

Editorial Review:

Rayford Steele and Cameron ("Buck") Williams find themselves pressed into service for the man they believe could be the Antichrist. Nicholae Carpathia takes over the United Nations, signs a peace treaty with Israel, and begins to lure the nations of earth together to form one global village. Meanwhile, the judgment of God begins to fall on the earth. Buck and Rayford, along with their pastor and Rayford's daughter, must fight to stay alive and battle the forces of evil in the strength of their fledgling, newfound faith.

Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides (Left Behind No. 4)

Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHaye

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 371 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A slow read... 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

LaHaye and Jenkins' fourth book in the series, again offers a slow and winding ride to the Glorious Appearing of Christ. Though not as slow as Nicolae, it's still in the early stages to know if it's going to get better. Though I'm now 1/3 of the way to the end of the series, I have a sneaking suspicion they probably could've condensed it into seven books instead of twelve.

I'm a Catholic and I love stories from the bible and am very interested in the Book of Revelations, so I had high hopes for this going in, but I feel like I'm going to end up with a 'meh' feeling at the end. Instead of increasing the urgency of the times, the authors take every chance they get to preach the word to every new person they meet. Okay, we get the point, accept Christ into your hearts or you won't be accepted into heaven.

I don't mean to seem blase about the whole thing, but you want people to be entertained as well. The authors dispense with the obvious thrill aspect and fill it with boring exposition. Example: A quarter of the world just died...DIED. The horrors around them should be horrendous, the stench should be overwhelming. I wanted to feel that apocalyptic sense of urgency and yet it was played off like a day at the doctor's waiting room and "let's read the bible some more."

It could've played out like a thrilling Christian movie on a grand scale, not a 17-hour sermon.

Editorial Review:

The fourth book in the popular Left Behind series from Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is now available in trade softcover. In Soul Harvest the world is reeling from a great earthquake. As Nicolae Carpathia begins a worldwide rebuilding campaign, his rage is fueled by an evangelistic effort resulting in the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen. Meanwhile, Rayford Steele and Buck Williams search for their loved ones who haven't been seen since before the earthquake.

Out of the Silent Planet

C. S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 161 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Clever sci-fi AND a compelling allegory! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Elwin Ransom, an Oxford don and an ardent philologist, is enjoying a solitary cross country ramble on his vacation when he encounters Professor Devine, a long-time acquaintance from his student days at Oxford, and Weston, a somewhat distracted and grumpy, reclusive individual. Weston is, in fact, a physicist who has secretly built a space craft in which he and Devine plan to return to Mars (Malacandra, in the native Martian populace's language) with nefarious ideas of plunder and planetary domination. As part of their plan, they drug and kidnap Ransom to take him along as a sacrificial peace offering to the native population.

On the face of it, a beautifully written Out of the Silent Planet has a simple classic sci-fi plot and can certainly be enjoyed at this level. But virtually every reader will recognize that Lewis' work probes far more deeply than that. His strongly held Christian beliefs, never far from that surface plot, are apparent in his criticism of human prejudice and greed. It is also clear that he holds extremely strong views against notions of eugenics and the then universally held belief in the natural supremacy of western white civilization as compared, for example, to aboriginal populations elsewhere in the world. Even though his allegorical tale goes so far as to include a version of angels and an archangel, the story never becomes preachy, odious or whiny.

Astute long-time readers of science fiction are always on the alert for errors of scientific fact. So Lewis may be mildly criticized for making a fundamental error in how gravity would work aboard a space craft but this certainly detracts in no way from the quality of his story. To the contrary, I thought he earned top marks and high praise for crafting, for example, a startlingly accurate description of the appearance of the sky in the transition zone from atmosphere to space at extremely high altitudes (at a time, of course, when space travel was at best a twinkle in scientists' eyes). I also noted a single quite astonishing comment that seemed to predict Einstein's work on cosmology, travel at light speed and relativity ... "But if the movement were faster still ... in the end, the moving thing would be in all places at once." His brief exposition on linguistics and the possibility of a universal syntactical structure of languages was also fascinating without being distracting or pedantic.

For fans of soft sci-fi, Out of the Silent Planet will provide a smorgasbord of delights - alien characters and personalities, philosophy, ethics, survival in a potentially hostile environment and descriptions of alien flora and fauna that are near poetic in their beauty and majesty. I'm looking forward to reading the next novels in his masterwork trilogy, "Voyage to Venus" and "That Hideous Strength".

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

Editorial Review:

In the first novel of C.S. Lewis' classic science fiction trilogy, Dr. Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' - Earth - whose tragic story is known throughout the universe...

The Remnant: On the Brink of Armageddon (Left Behind No. 10)

Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 213 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Christian Fiction 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Another one of those Christian Fictions that bespeaks doom and destruction for all who don't turn their lives over to Jesus. If you can get past the religious psychobabble, its a good book. Otherwise, Buddha is a much better choice and his followers are typically less intolerant and war-like.

I can't believe these books are still getting 5 stars 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am so bogged down with this series it has taken forever to get this far and I hope as i've said before that I finish these books before Jesus comes back. I'm sick of Chloe who should be at home taking care of her child instead of running around impersonating GC. And I'm just about tired of everyone else too. The ones you want to stay end up getting killed off and the were left with only the Trib Force. whatever.

Editorial Review:

Street date: July 2, 2002

The Great Tribulation unfolds as the forces of evil and the armies of God prepare for mankind's ultimate battle. Millions of Christians are protected by God as the anger of the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, burns against them. The biggest novel of 2002 is highly anticipated by consumers worldwide.

Glorious Appearing (Left Behind)

Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHaye

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 286 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Sunday school from Hell 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I'd like to say that my title is more than a little harsh, but frankly I can't. I skimmed through probably 2/3rds of this book searching for when the droning sermons would end.
Quite frankly, I don't think Jesus is that boring, nor that cruel to make his children suffer through a holier than though monotone sermon that covers not one but up to six pages at a time. Nor do I think, as it's been pointed out from other reviewers, that He would get such manical pleasure in incinerating millions of people and as was pointed out from another, so many innocent horses.
One thing that really irritated me about this book is how all of sudden Nicolae/Lucifer is turned into the biggest bafoon in all of creation. My apologies to the everyone who had a hand in publishing this book, but Lucifer did not command an army of millions of angels during the great Battle, nor has he spun his charms on so much of mankind by being a complete idiot.
The fact that I am not a Christian will cause many to say that that is why I don't like the books, and I'm completely missing the message. The message I gleaned from this book, and many of the books in the series is that fear mongering is still a preferred method of recruitment into the Christian ranks. It is because of this philosophy that millions of others like me will fear not our Lord Creator, but those who would wish to murder us because we aren't self-defeating sheep and have the nerve to think for ourselves.

Editorial Review:

Thousands of years of human history stained by strife, death, and sin come to an end when the King of Glory returns to earth. The satisfying conclusion of the seven years of tribulation covered by the Left Behind series portrays the return of Jesus Christ to earth in both glory and judgment at the height of the battle between the forces of evil gathered at Armageddon and the remaining Christian believers at Petra and Jerusalem. Nothing seems to be able to stop the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. But God is in control. Street date: Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)

G.K. Chesterton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 102 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Your blue sock is behind the dryer. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I went into reading this book with such strong misconceptions concerning what it was about. Like the characters whom see things completely different it seems like the readers of this book see its meaning quite differently as well. It is a crazy allegory but of what?

On a stylistic level Chesterton's prose is unique and well crafted. Chesterton has his own voice in his writing powerful, artful, and clear. On an abstract level I can't help but feel I got something out of the book but I am at a loss to say what. I was told, long ago, that the book was about the futility of much of what passes for philosophy and the book was a mockery of this in the promotion of faith and traditional religious devotion. I only vaguely got the notion that the book was about this. I could see how the book was about the futility of judging others or creating "us" verse "them" groups because we are all brothers, the ideas and classifications we use to classify each other are futile and meaningless and make a mockery of humanity in the eyes of God, so go with the established/ traditional way of doing things otherwise one is really in rebellion with oneself; but I don't know for sure if that is correct.

Bottom line though is it was a fun book to read.

Editorial Review:

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Walter M. Miller Jr.

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Total reviews: 233 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Having grown up watching 1950s sci fi I was familiar with many of the Doomsday tropes from such films as The World, The Flesh, & The Devil, & On The Beach. Most were fairly pessimistic. So, I was a bit surprised when I picked up & read Walter Miller's A Canticle For Leibowitz, in that it both used & subverted the genre & its tropes. The book is not really a novel, but 3 linked novellas that follow the Resurrection of Mankind after a 20th Century nuclear exchange, through the prism of a secretive order of Catholic priests, in the Utah desert, that prevent the total barbarism of what was once the United States of America. The 3 novellas are set about 600, 1200, & 1800 years in the future.
The 3 sections of A Canticle for Leibowitz give, at the same time, a cyclical view of history that's pessimistic, yet hopeful. Even the long suffered for knowledge of the past the Leibowitzians preserved cannot save humanity from near-annihilation, yet it is only near-annihilation. Humanity perdures. There is also a watcher- the only character that appears in all 3 tales- a combination of the desert wandering Jew & Lazarus- a deathless figure.

The book deals with many issues- large & small. For example, there is the recurring theme that most people work for purposes they have no grasp on. In part 1 Brother Francis wastes 15 years copying a Holy Liebowitzian artifact, only to have it stolen. In Part 2 Brother Kornhoer follows ancient blueprints & builds an electric light, unaware that he was doing so. Another theme is how history is shaped as much by its recorders as its participants. Just how much we think we know of the Mayas, Phoenicians, Chinese, Minoans, or even Neandertals, etc. may be our own imposition of biases, rather than fact.

Given that the book was written in 1959, during Cold War hysteria, yet is still relevant, is a good endorsement of its timeless quality. Yes, the idea that any organized religion- in this case Roman Catholicism- represents an answer, rather than a problem, is a bit of Miller's own näive-té &/or bias leaking through. After all, he portrays the Church as an unchanging vehicle for ignorance whether it be in the Dark Ages, our time, or the 3 future periods of mankind- a highly suspect proposition in the post-9/11 world. This is but a minor quibble, though, for the overriding point is it's a good tale- whose overall narrative takes precedent over any individual.

Although most post-Apocalyptic tales tend to be either to too gloomy or too optimistic, A Canticle For Leibowitz strikes a believable balance. Would that its subjects could do the same the book would be as superfluous as the devotion to the Blessed shopping list!

Editorial Review:

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.

In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itself—for meaning, for truth, for love—that offers hope for humanity's rebirth from the ashes.