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Genesis Trilogy #2
He Who Lifts the Skies
Powerful imagery creates a 'you are there' immersion in the story of the post-Flood world. Kacy Barnett-Gramckow fans raved about her extraordinary job of moving the Flood off the Sunday School flannelgraph board and into life in the Heavens Before. Now, she continues to flesh out the Bible's brief account of the rise of Nimrod and the Babel rebellion with scintillating characters and a wealth of imaginative detail.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
66 people are currently reading
389 people want to read
About the author
Kacy Barnett-Gramckow
9 books96 followersSome of Kacy's works have appeared devotionals such as Seasons of a Woman's Heart, and God's Abudance for Women. She also has written under the pen name of R.J. Larson, and Elizabeth Larson, as seen in A Moment A Day, and The Women's Devotional Bible. Kacy also writes inspirational fantasy fiction as R. J. Larson.
When Kacy is not relaxing with her books and writing, she is working, cooking, tatting, spoiling other people's kids, and enjoying her family.
When Kacy is not relaxing with her books and writing, she is working, cooking, tatting, spoiling other people's kids, and enjoying her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 27, 2019
*2019*
This book was almost as much of an emotional journey as it was the first time. Knowing the ending didn't keep me from reading and feeling it all over again. This series is one of my favorites of all time.
*2017*
Yesterday, I wasn't feeling good. Instead of working on the books on my Kindle, I grabbed a book that had newly arrived on my shelf. As it also was an emotional day, escaping into this world was a double blessing.
I didn't think that the second book could come close to The Heavens Before, but this did. Wow! This story is steeped in creation based science and grounded in the Bible. The story takes place between Noah's Ark and the Tower of Bable. Kacy Barnett-Gramckow made the book rich with culture, full or emotions, and with characters that pull at your heart.
Kacy departed from the normal strong girl who questions how God could let anything bad every happened to her, who complains through the story and doubts her faith. Keren loves and clings to God even when things are at their darkest.
The emotion in this story was powerful. I nearly cried a couple of times. While I feel stories deeply, I don't cry at many stories. This was powerful stuff. The faith element was so strong. If you took it out, the story would collapse. However, nothing ever felt forced.
The romance in this one was not nearly as strong. I don't want to give anything away, but the plot prevents any until the end. Yet, I will say that guy she ends up with I liked from the start.
I cannot sa enouh about these books. I highly reccomend them to anyone who likes biblical fiction, emotinal tales, and stories that point you toward God.
This book was almost as much of an emotional journey as it was the first time. Knowing the ending didn't keep me from reading and feeling it all over again. This series is one of my favorites of all time.
*2017*
Yesterday, I wasn't feeling good. Instead of working on the books on my Kindle, I grabbed a book that had newly arrived on my shelf. As it also was an emotional day, escaping into this world was a double blessing.
I didn't think that the second book could come close to The Heavens Before, but this did. Wow! This story is steeped in creation based science and grounded in the Bible. The story takes place between Noah's Ark and the Tower of Bable. Kacy Barnett-Gramckow made the book rich with culture, full or emotions, and with characters that pull at your heart.
Kacy departed from the normal strong girl who questions how God could let anything bad every happened to her, who complains through the story and doubts her faith. Keren loves and clings to God even when things are at their darkest.
The emotion in this story was powerful. I nearly cried a couple of times. While I feel stories deeply, I don't cry at many stories. This was powerful stuff. The faith element was so strong. If you took it out, the story would collapse. However, nothing ever felt forced.
The romance in this one was not nearly as strong. I don't want to give anything away, but the plot prevents any until the end. Yet, I will say that guy she ends up with I liked from the start.
I cannot sa enouh about these books. I highly reccomend them to anyone who likes biblical fiction, emotinal tales, and stories that point you toward God.
September 13, 2017
Shem and his wife are saddened that so many of their and his brother's descendants have turned away from the Most High. Nimr-Rada is the most defiant of all, building a Great City and Tower to reach the Heavens. A descendant of Shem, Keren is a a devoted follower of the Most High and resists Nimr-Rada at every opportunity. Her sister, Sharah, is in cahoots with The Mighty Hunter and both make Keren' s life very miserable. This is a courageous story of a young woman who is determined to be faithful despite danger and opposition.
March 3, 2019
The second book in Barnett-Gramckow's Genesis series focuses on Nimrod and the building of the Tower of Babel. Since little is written in the Bible regarding what happened before The Tower of Babel, this is purely speculative based on the history of the time period and the knowledge of the evil that occurred during this Biblical time period.
The beginning chapters of the book were difficult for me to read for a couple of reasons. There is a wide cast of characters introduced (although a few are from Book 1), B-G uses Hebrew names not the familiar Biblical names, and finally there was no genealogy to help assist in knowing which person was descended from which of Noah's sons. Once the story begins to focus on the main character Keren then the reading flowed much more smoothly. When, to my surprise I finished the novel, there was not only both a pronunciation guide and explanation of the meaning of each character's name but also at genealogy at the very END!!! It would have been much more helpful at the beginning or a note at the beginning to indicate that it was at the end.
I did enjoy the story of Keren, a great-great granddaughter of Noah, who was raised among Shem's descendants who were the last remaining enclave of people still worshipping the Most High. She is taken by Nimrod to become the priestess of his Tower, and the story follows the tragedies that face this young woman. The writing was well done; and other than the first part, I very much enjoyed this story. This book definitely gives a suggestion as to what life might have been like during this Biblical time period as well as how evil were those who had strayed away from the Most High.
I would definitely recommend this series to those who like Biblical fiction.
The beginning chapters of the book were difficult for me to read for a couple of reasons. There is a wide cast of characters introduced (although a few are from Book 1), B-G uses Hebrew names not the familiar Biblical names, and finally there was no genealogy to help assist in knowing which person was descended from which of Noah's sons. Once the story begins to focus on the main character Keren then the reading flowed much more smoothly. When, to my surprise I finished the novel, there was not only both a pronunciation guide and explanation of the meaning of each character's name but also at genealogy at the very END!!! It would have been much more helpful at the beginning or a note at the beginning to indicate that it was at the end.
I did enjoy the story of Keren, a great-great granddaughter of Noah, who was raised among Shem's descendants who were the last remaining enclave of people still worshipping the Most High. She is taken by Nimrod to become the priestess of his Tower, and the story follows the tragedies that face this young woman. The writing was well done; and other than the first part, I very much enjoyed this story. This book definitely gives a suggestion as to what life might have been like during this Biblical time period as well as how evil were those who had strayed away from the Most High.
I would definitely recommend this series to those who like Biblical fiction.
October 30, 2025
From early 2006 through the COVID-19 years, I immersed myself in the study of comparative religion. It was during that contemplative phase that I read this book.
*He Who Lifts the Skies*, the second volume in Kacy Barnett-Gramckow’s *Genesis Trilogy*, continues her quiet rebellion against the silences of Scripture. If *The Heavens Before* was the whisper before the storm, this novel unfolds in the bruised stillness after it — the world washed clean, trembling under the new sun. The Flood has receded, but what remains is not paradise reborn; it is trauma preserved, memory reshaped into myth, and a small band of survivors trying to convince themselves that beginning again is even possible.
The story centres on Sharah, daughter of Shem and Annah — that same Annah whose voice was restored in the first novel. Sharah grows up in a generation that never knew the pre-flood world, only its echoes. To her, the “before” is folklore, the Flood an inherited grief. The human race is, in a sense, restarting from its own ashes, and Barnett-Gramckow paints this aftermath with both awe and melancholy. The ark has landed, the covenant rainbow gleams, but beneath the promise lies the unmistakable pulse of old human hunger — power, pride, envy — stirring again. The world has been cleansed, yes, but not cured.
In this fragile dawn, Sharah’s life becomes a meditation on inheritance — not of land or wealth, but of moral memory. She struggles between obedience and curiosity, faith and the unspoken yearning for something more than a rebuilt village and endless retellings of “what the Lord has done.” Her generation did not witness the deluge; they inherited its story. In that sense, Barnett-Gramckow touches on something deeply postmodern: the second-hand relationship with truth. The Flood becomes both history and myth, a story told so often that it risks becoming just that — a story.
Where *The Heavens Before* was about rediscovering faith amid chaos, *He Who Lifts the Skies* is about sustaining faith in the long, quiet aftermath. The drama is not cataclysmic; it is existential. The skies have lifted, yes, but what does it mean to live beneath them again? When one has seen the world remade, how does one return to ordinary life — planting, marrying, raising children — knowing what divine wrath once looked like? In a subtle, almost psychological way, the book deals with post-traumatic theology. Sharah’s inner world mirrors the spiritual confusion of a species still haunted by water.
Barnett-Gramckow’s prose retains its mythopoetic cadence — a kind of ancient pulse beneath modern syntax. She writes with the consciousness of a believer and the craft of a novelist who knows that belief alone is not a story. Her descriptions of the new earth are lush yet tinged with foreboding. Rivers flow where mountains once stood; the soil is fertile, but the air carries the weight of remembering. The language often feels like liturgy disguised as narrative, a devotional rhythm that both comforts and unsettles.
At the heart of the novel is the same tension that animates all second-generation faiths: the struggle between tradition and innovation, revelation and reason. Sharah’s encounters with outsiders, her growing doubts, her yearning for meaning beyond inherited obedience — these echo the philosophical restlessness of any age after its apocalypse. The old gods have been drowned, but the human need for transcendence remains unsatisfied. In this, Barnett-Gramckow gestures toward a universal condition: the ache of being post-catastrophe, post-revelation, yet still human.
Her men and women are not cardboard saints; they are weary survivors. Shem and Annah, who once embodied faith’s triumph, now live in a kind of holy fatigue. They have seen too much — too much death, too much salvation. They try to raise their children in the shadow of a God who both destroyed and delivered them, and this paradox seeps into every interaction. There is tenderness, but also unspoken dread. Every rainfall is both a blessing and a warning. Every sin, no matter how small, trembles under the memory of the last judgement.
Barnett-Gramckow’s narrative technique here becomes more confident, more interior. The external spectacle of the Flood gives way to the internal storms of conscience and choice. Dialogue carries theological weight without losing emotional resonance. Faith, in her hands, is no longer a simple binary of belief and unbelief; it’s a continuous negotiation between memory and desire. In this sense, the novel aligns itself with the postmodern idea that meaning is never fixed — it is always in flux, like the rivers reshaping the new earth.
One could read *He Who Lifts the Skies* as an allegory for every culture trying to rebuild itself after collapse — post-war, post-pandemic, post-truth. The survivors inherit a world stripped of illusion, but their children grow restless for mystery. The old certainties no longer suffice. In Sharah’s rebellion and reconciliation, we glimpse the eternal rhythm of faith: doubt as devotion, questioning as prayer.
The novel’s pacing, slower and more meditative than its predecessor, mirrors this thematic deepening. It asks the reader to linger — to breathe the thin air of a newborn world, to feel the uneasy calm after a divine storm. There are moments where the narrative meanders, where scenes seem less about advancing plot and more about contemplation. But perhaps that is precisely the point. The Flood was an event; what follows is endurance. Barnett-Gramckow understands that apocalypse is easy to dramatise; what’s harder, and more truthful, is depicting what comes after.
As before, her moral universe remains clear, but she introduces shades of complexity through generational tension. The younger characters are not faithless; they are questioning. Their scepticism is not rebellion for its own sake but the natural evolution of inherited belief. The parents’ certainty feels heavy; the children’s doubt feels necessary. That dialectic — old faith versus new curiosity — becomes the book’s heartbeat.
And then there is the title — *He Who Lifts the Skies*. It evokes awe, sovereignty, and the divine architect resetting the cosmos. But it also carries an unsettling implication: if He can lift the skies, He can lower them again. That latent threat — the possibility of another collapse — haunts every act of human rebuilding. The title, like the novel, oscillates between reassurance and terror.
From a comparative religion standpoint, the novel offers fascinating parallels. The Flood myth, found in the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, in Hindu cosmology, and in Norse sagas, always returns to the same human truth: destruction as purification, survival as burden. Barnett-Gramckow’s retelling doesn’t just align with the Judeo-Christian narrative; it participates in the universal grammar of renewal and repetition. What she adds is a distinctly modern anxiety — the fear that even salvation cannot save us from ourselves.
In terms of literary craft, *He Who Lifts the Skies* is more nuanced, less plot-driven, more reflective. Its beauty lies in quiet observation, in small acts of faith rather than grand miracles. It’s a book about continuity — about how stories, even sacred ones, evolve with each retelling. The Flood may have ended, but the world remains fluid, uncertain, and porous.
By the final chapters, as Sharah’s understanding of her world deepens, the novel achieves a haunting stillness. We realise that the true act of divine lifting is not cosmic but interior — the raising of the human spirit above despair. Faith, Barnett-Gramckow suggests, is not about surviving the deluge but learning to live after it.
For a reader shaped by years of comparative study, *He Who Lifts the Skies* feels like a theological meditation disguised as narrative fiction. It explores what happens when myth becomes memory, when revelation becomes history, when faith becomes heritage. It understands, perhaps better than its predecessor, that beginnings are easy; continuance is divine.
And so, as the skies lift and life resumes, Barnett-Gramckow leaves us with a quiet paradox: every new dawn carries the echo of the last flood. We rebuild not because we have forgotten, but because we remember. And maybe that — that fragile defiance against forgetting — is what it truly means to live beneath lifted skies.
Give it a try.
*He Who Lifts the Skies*, the second volume in Kacy Barnett-Gramckow’s *Genesis Trilogy*, continues her quiet rebellion against the silences of Scripture. If *The Heavens Before* was the whisper before the storm, this novel unfolds in the bruised stillness after it — the world washed clean, trembling under the new sun. The Flood has receded, but what remains is not paradise reborn; it is trauma preserved, memory reshaped into myth, and a small band of survivors trying to convince themselves that beginning again is even possible.
The story centres on Sharah, daughter of Shem and Annah — that same Annah whose voice was restored in the first novel. Sharah grows up in a generation that never knew the pre-flood world, only its echoes. To her, the “before” is folklore, the Flood an inherited grief. The human race is, in a sense, restarting from its own ashes, and Barnett-Gramckow paints this aftermath with both awe and melancholy. The ark has landed, the covenant rainbow gleams, but beneath the promise lies the unmistakable pulse of old human hunger — power, pride, envy — stirring again. The world has been cleansed, yes, but not cured.
In this fragile dawn, Sharah’s life becomes a meditation on inheritance — not of land or wealth, but of moral memory. She struggles between obedience and curiosity, faith and the unspoken yearning for something more than a rebuilt village and endless retellings of “what the Lord has done.” Her generation did not witness the deluge; they inherited its story. In that sense, Barnett-Gramckow touches on something deeply postmodern: the second-hand relationship with truth. The Flood becomes both history and myth, a story told so often that it risks becoming just that — a story.
Where *The Heavens Before* was about rediscovering faith amid chaos, *He Who Lifts the Skies* is about sustaining faith in the long, quiet aftermath. The drama is not cataclysmic; it is existential. The skies have lifted, yes, but what does it mean to live beneath them again? When one has seen the world remade, how does one return to ordinary life — planting, marrying, raising children — knowing what divine wrath once looked like? In a subtle, almost psychological way, the book deals with post-traumatic theology. Sharah’s inner world mirrors the spiritual confusion of a species still haunted by water.
Barnett-Gramckow’s prose retains its mythopoetic cadence — a kind of ancient pulse beneath modern syntax. She writes with the consciousness of a believer and the craft of a novelist who knows that belief alone is not a story. Her descriptions of the new earth are lush yet tinged with foreboding. Rivers flow where mountains once stood; the soil is fertile, but the air carries the weight of remembering. The language often feels like liturgy disguised as narrative, a devotional rhythm that both comforts and unsettles.
At the heart of the novel is the same tension that animates all second-generation faiths: the struggle between tradition and innovation, revelation and reason. Sharah’s encounters with outsiders, her growing doubts, her yearning for meaning beyond inherited obedience — these echo the philosophical restlessness of any age after its apocalypse. The old gods have been drowned, but the human need for transcendence remains unsatisfied. In this, Barnett-Gramckow gestures toward a universal condition: the ache of being post-catastrophe, post-revelation, yet still human.
Her men and women are not cardboard saints; they are weary survivors. Shem and Annah, who once embodied faith’s triumph, now live in a kind of holy fatigue. They have seen too much — too much death, too much salvation. They try to raise their children in the shadow of a God who both destroyed and delivered them, and this paradox seeps into every interaction. There is tenderness, but also unspoken dread. Every rainfall is both a blessing and a warning. Every sin, no matter how small, trembles under the memory of the last judgement.
Barnett-Gramckow’s narrative technique here becomes more confident, more interior. The external spectacle of the Flood gives way to the internal storms of conscience and choice. Dialogue carries theological weight without losing emotional resonance. Faith, in her hands, is no longer a simple binary of belief and unbelief; it’s a continuous negotiation between memory and desire. In this sense, the novel aligns itself with the postmodern idea that meaning is never fixed — it is always in flux, like the rivers reshaping the new earth.
One could read *He Who Lifts the Skies* as an allegory for every culture trying to rebuild itself after collapse — post-war, post-pandemic, post-truth. The survivors inherit a world stripped of illusion, but their children grow restless for mystery. The old certainties no longer suffice. In Sharah’s rebellion and reconciliation, we glimpse the eternal rhythm of faith: doubt as devotion, questioning as prayer.
The novel’s pacing, slower and more meditative than its predecessor, mirrors this thematic deepening. It asks the reader to linger — to breathe the thin air of a newborn world, to feel the uneasy calm after a divine storm. There are moments where the narrative meanders, where scenes seem less about advancing plot and more about contemplation. But perhaps that is precisely the point. The Flood was an event; what follows is endurance. Barnett-Gramckow understands that apocalypse is easy to dramatise; what’s harder, and more truthful, is depicting what comes after.
As before, her moral universe remains clear, but she introduces shades of complexity through generational tension. The younger characters are not faithless; they are questioning. Their scepticism is not rebellion for its own sake but the natural evolution of inherited belief. The parents’ certainty feels heavy; the children’s doubt feels necessary. That dialectic — old faith versus new curiosity — becomes the book’s heartbeat.
And then there is the title — *He Who Lifts the Skies*. It evokes awe, sovereignty, and the divine architect resetting the cosmos. But it also carries an unsettling implication: if He can lift the skies, He can lower them again. That latent threat — the possibility of another collapse — haunts every act of human rebuilding. The title, like the novel, oscillates between reassurance and terror.
From a comparative religion standpoint, the novel offers fascinating parallels. The Flood myth, found in the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, in Hindu cosmology, and in Norse sagas, always returns to the same human truth: destruction as purification, survival as burden. Barnett-Gramckow’s retelling doesn’t just align with the Judeo-Christian narrative; it participates in the universal grammar of renewal and repetition. What she adds is a distinctly modern anxiety — the fear that even salvation cannot save us from ourselves.
In terms of literary craft, *He Who Lifts the Skies* is more nuanced, less plot-driven, more reflective. Its beauty lies in quiet observation, in small acts of faith rather than grand miracles. It’s a book about continuity — about how stories, even sacred ones, evolve with each retelling. The Flood may have ended, but the world remains fluid, uncertain, and porous.
By the final chapters, as Sharah’s understanding of her world deepens, the novel achieves a haunting stillness. We realise that the true act of divine lifting is not cosmic but interior — the raising of the human spirit above despair. Faith, Barnett-Gramckow suggests, is not about surviving the deluge but learning to live after it.
For a reader shaped by years of comparative study, *He Who Lifts the Skies* feels like a theological meditation disguised as narrative fiction. It explores what happens when myth becomes memory, when revelation becomes history, when faith becomes heritage. It understands, perhaps better than its predecessor, that beginnings are easy; continuance is divine.
And so, as the skies lift and life resumes, Barnett-Gramckow leaves us with a quiet paradox: every new dawn carries the echo of the last flood. We rebuild not because we have forgotten, but because we remember. And maybe that — that fragile defiance against forgetting — is what it truly means to live beneath lifted skies.
Give it a try.
October 8, 2008
Unbelievable is the one word I’d use to sum up He Who Lifts the Skies, the second book in the Genesis Trilogy by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. I was impressed with the first book. It was great story and well told, based on the Bible.
This book is pure fantasy. And there are several places in the book that are just plain silly. After five years as Nimrod’s (Nimr-Rada) prisoner, Keren/Karan has still not learned to use her weapons. Plus there is no evidence in the Bible that the first Caucasians were the great-grandchildren of Shem. In fact it states very clearly that Shem, Jepheth and Ham each produced different races, long before this fictional girl came along with her gray eyes.
From the beginning this book skips too much time without filling the reader in on what went on in between. So we are left with little or no background and a jumble of characters that we hardly know. I found it very difficult to keep track of people, let alone how they were related to each other.
I will give the author the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Nimrod being a ruler. The Bible does say that he was a mighty hunter and that he built cities. So it’s quite possible that he lead the way in building the Tower of Babel. However the whole point of the book was the tower and it received very little attention in this book.
WARNING: The following paragraph reveals the outcome of the book.
I was very disappointed in the end of the book. The tribunal meeting, in which Keren and others accuse Nimrod of horrible deeds, was way too short. It was just people (some of whom we didn’t know) shouting accusations and Nimrod brushing them off. I also found it hard to believe that Nimrod, as he was portrayed in the book, would have showed up for this witch-hunt. But the most unbelievable scene was when Shem slits Nimrod’s throat. First, the Lord doesn’t ask people to kill other people. He’s quite capable of taking care of someone’s death, if He feels its necessary. Plus, if this event actually occurred, as it’s told here, I’m sure there would have been some mention of it in the Bible. Especially since Shem, who is counted in Christ’s ascendants, was the supposed murderer.
I will read the next book, as this may be where we see the people confounded by different speech and migrate to other lands. My only hope is that it’s a better story than this one.
This book is pure fantasy. And there are several places in the book that are just plain silly. After five years as Nimrod’s (Nimr-Rada) prisoner, Keren/Karan has still not learned to use her weapons. Plus there is no evidence in the Bible that the first Caucasians were the great-grandchildren of Shem. In fact it states very clearly that Shem, Jepheth and Ham each produced different races, long before this fictional girl came along with her gray eyes.
From the beginning this book skips too much time without filling the reader in on what went on in between. So we are left with little or no background and a jumble of characters that we hardly know. I found it very difficult to keep track of people, let alone how they were related to each other.
I will give the author the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Nimrod being a ruler. The Bible does say that he was a mighty hunter and that he built cities. So it’s quite possible that he lead the way in building the Tower of Babel. However the whole point of the book was the tower and it received very little attention in this book.
WARNING: The following paragraph reveals the outcome of the book.
I was very disappointed in the end of the book. The tribunal meeting, in which Keren and others accuse Nimrod of horrible deeds, was way too short. It was just people (some of whom we didn’t know) shouting accusations and Nimrod brushing them off. I also found it hard to believe that Nimrod, as he was portrayed in the book, would have showed up for this witch-hunt. But the most unbelievable scene was when Shem slits Nimrod’s throat. First, the Lord doesn’t ask people to kill other people. He’s quite capable of taking care of someone’s death, if He feels its necessary. Plus, if this event actually occurred, as it’s told here, I’m sure there would have been some mention of it in the Bible. Especially since Shem, who is counted in Christ’s ascendants, was the supposed murderer.
I will read the next book, as this may be where we see the people confounded by different speech and migrate to other lands. My only hope is that it’s a better story than this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2010
He Who Lifts the Skies was a great read! The story of Keren immediately drew me into the story. As with the first book in The Genesis Trilogy, I give 5 stars for an amazing read! I liked how it started off with Shem and Annah – the couple from the first book, The Heavens Before. I was just so attached to Annah, that I was thrilled when they were in He Who Lifts the Skies!
Keren seemed like such a sweet girl, and I instantly liked her giving, selfless character. She reminded me of Annah! ;-) It was a different story with her older sister, Sharah - I just wanted to slap her sometimes! She set my teeth on edge with the way she treated Annah and everyone else! Sharah made the perfect ‘bad girl’ for the book! Lol
The Story of Nimr-Rada’s fall away from the Most High was sad, but real. One would think, after hearing all the stories their great-great grandparents would tell them about the Flood and the Most High, no man would turn against Him. Or, given the fact that everyone during that time was in some way related (Grandparents, Uncles, Cousins, etc), that they would want to kill anyone! But, sadly, even though God wiped evil from the world and gave His creation a new start…we’ve just ended up back into sin...
Another thing that interested and intrigued me is the fact that no man could touch Keren – if it was done, the man would be put to death. That must be so strange! And to live that way for so long! :-o Certainly an interesting twist to the story! (And if you’re wondering why this was so, you’ll have to purchase the book to find out – it’s well worth the money!)
The love story in this book is calm and sweet. Nothing overly passionate or romantic and I thoroughly enjoyed their growing affections. It was, as I said, a very sweet story! And at the end, when Keren’s lover is actually able to touch her, it is…magical!
To sum it up, I highly recommend this book, as well as the first book in The Genesis Trilogy, The Heavens Before. Both are treasure to add to your book collection!
Keren seemed like such a sweet girl, and I instantly liked her giving, selfless character. She reminded me of Annah! ;-) It was a different story with her older sister, Sharah - I just wanted to slap her sometimes! She set my teeth on edge with the way she treated Annah and everyone else! Sharah made the perfect ‘bad girl’ for the book! Lol
The Story of Nimr-Rada’s fall away from the Most High was sad, but real. One would think, after hearing all the stories their great-great grandparents would tell them about the Flood and the Most High, no man would turn against Him. Or, given the fact that everyone during that time was in some way related (Grandparents, Uncles, Cousins, etc), that they would want to kill anyone! But, sadly, even though God wiped evil from the world and gave His creation a new start…we’ve just ended up back into sin...
Another thing that interested and intrigued me is the fact that no man could touch Keren – if it was done, the man would be put to death. That must be so strange! And to live that way for so long! :-o Certainly an interesting twist to the story! (And if you’re wondering why this was so, you’ll have to purchase the book to find out – it’s well worth the money!)
The love story in this book is calm and sweet. Nothing overly passionate or romantic and I thoroughly enjoyed their growing affections. It was, as I said, a very sweet story! And at the end, when Keren’s lover is actually able to touch her, it is…magical!
To sum it up, I highly recommend this book, as well as the first book in The Genesis Trilogy, The Heavens Before. Both are treasure to add to your book collection!
November 29, 2008
I have almost given up on fiction retellings of Biblical history as very rarely does an author actually stick to what the Bible states on the subject. Therefore, I was tremendously pleased to read this wonderfully, vividly written story. It stuck faithfully to the Biblically provided information, though there really wasn't much there for this period (post-Flood during the time of Nimrod and the building of Babel). This author not only is a talented writer, but she put a lot of time, research, and thought into what the post-Flood world during this time period would be like. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
July 2, 2018
Stunning, Surprises, Scripturally Challenging
I Could not put this book down . Every page drove me to
The Scriptures to check names, places and facts. Even knowing the Bible, I was unsure as to how the author was going to the it all together and bring it to a close.
I Could not put this book down . Every page drove me to
The Scriptures to check names, places and facts. Even knowing the Bible, I was unsure as to how the author was going to the it all together and bring it to a close.
January 13, 2009
Second book in the Genesis trilogy: wonderful characters! How are those who believe in the Most High God sustained in the most difficult circumstances. Kacy is a fine story-teller!
November 30, 2024
I don’t even know what I just read. I loved the first book. I started this one thinking I’d read about the Tower of Babel. But it was mostly court intrigue that happened veryyyy early to the Tower of Babel. And while I enjoy court intrigue, there was just something about this book that felt slow and dry to me. I can’t place a finger on it but I’d assume that when a book has court intrigue, a captivating overarching plot is what makes the little machinations enjoyable enough to read. This book didn’t have that overarching plot that I saw, and so the court machinations lost me.
I liked Keren and really wanted to follow her story, but nothing in the bigger picture kept me interested and excited. I thought Zekhar seemed intriguing and like we would grow to understand him but the author overdid his quiet stoicism. He was like a brick wall for 90% of the book. I really wanted to see more emotion and feeling from him, even in glimpses. We got nothing so I couldn’t understand at what point Zekhar and Keren fell in love. It happened because the author wanted it, not because it was earned.
I could say more but basically the story was too dry for me, even with some eventful happenings along the way. I skimmed through most of it and felt like I missed nothing. The end felt so anticlimactic, especially when I thought the tower would fall. I kept wondering what the whole point of the book was, when the main bad guy died in such an easy, silly way. I sure didn’t even care about the romance, then.
I loved the first book so I might read the 3rd and hope it’s better with new main characters and that we actually learn about the tower.
I liked Keren and really wanted to follow her story, but nothing in the bigger picture kept me interested and excited. I thought Zekhar seemed intriguing and like we would grow to understand him but the author overdid his quiet stoicism. He was like a brick wall for 90% of the book. I really wanted to see more emotion and feeling from him, even in glimpses. We got nothing so I couldn’t understand at what point Zekhar and Keren fell in love. It happened because the author wanted it, not because it was earned.
I could say more but basically the story was too dry for me, even with some eventful happenings along the way. I skimmed through most of it and felt like I missed nothing. The end felt so anticlimactic, especially when I thought the tower would fall. I kept wondering what the whole point of the book was, when the main bad guy died in such an easy, silly way. I sure didn’t even care about the romance, then.
I loved the first book so I might read the 3rd and hope it’s better with new main characters and that we actually learn about the tower.
April 19, 2018
I was somewhat disappointed in the sequel to The Heavens Before. While Barnett-Gramckow paints a convincing portrait of the post-Flood world, there is quite a gap in time between the novels. The characters are compelling and the heroine Keren is likeable and admirable. The continued presence of Annah, Shem, Naomi and Noah serve to enhance the story. The author has to invent quite a substantial amount of the story as the Bible offers scant information regarding both Nimrod (Nim-Rada) and the tower of Babel, but his motivations and the depiction of the tower/ city are quite believable. What is somewhat dubious, however, is Overall the book was interesting, but a few details just weakened its impact for me and I enjoyed the first book much more.
October 19, 2025
Am crezut ca mare parte din nebunia primului volum s-a sfârșit odată cu închiderea cărți, dar lucrurile au luat o întorsătură și mai neașteptată în acest volum…
Cred ca lucrul pe care îl apreciez cel mai mult este accentul pe care autoarea îl pune asupra femeilor, în fiecare carte existând o femeie curajoasă care a luptat împotriva întunericului.
Cartea demonstrează cum oamenii sunt întotdeauna atrași spre rău, din pricina căderii în păcat din grădina Eden, și ca oricât de buni ar fi strămoși unui neam, acel contigent poate fi foarte ușor corupt și sedus de plăcerile de o clipă ale păcatului.
Dar, așa de rea cum poate fi lumea, Dumnezeu nu lasă ca cei cel cheamă să fie dați de rușine sau părăsiți. El este lângă cei cel cheamă și-L caută pe El. Și aceasta este cea mai mare speranță pe care o poate avea un om pe acest pământ!
Eu o să citesc cu speranța în suflet această serie, pentru ca știu ca binele va birui întotdeauna răul…chiar dacă pare ca răul nu se mai termină😊
Cred ca lucrul pe care îl apreciez cel mai mult este accentul pe care autoarea îl pune asupra femeilor, în fiecare carte existând o femeie curajoasă care a luptat împotriva întunericului.
Cartea demonstrează cum oamenii sunt întotdeauna atrași spre rău, din pricina căderii în păcat din grădina Eden, și ca oricât de buni ar fi strămoși unui neam, acel contigent poate fi foarte ușor corupt și sedus de plăcerile de o clipă ale păcatului.
Dar, așa de rea cum poate fi lumea, Dumnezeu nu lasă ca cei cel cheamă să fie dați de rușine sau părăsiți. El este lângă cei cel cheamă și-L caută pe El. Și aceasta este cea mai mare speranță pe care o poate avea un om pe acest pământ!
Eu o să citesc cu speranța în suflet această serie, pentru ca știu ca binele va birui întotdeauna răul…chiar dacă pare ca răul nu se mai termină😊
November 27, 2018
Not as good as the first book in the series
I was so excited to read this book as I loved the first book in the series . But this one isn't nearly as good . The writing is still good but the story of Nimrod, as told from a woman's point of view, has little to do with the biblical account of Nimrod . The author in her notes at the end talks about her research and how it supports the book. But some of it still seems to be a big stretch . I like books that fictionalize the events surrounding a biblical event without detracting from or changing the scriptural account. But I felt that this book just went too far. I still plan to read the third book in the series but , from the description of that book, I am concerned that it will be much the same as this one . But I pray that it will be like the first book .
I was so excited to read this book as I loved the first book in the series . But this one isn't nearly as good . The writing is still good but the story of Nimrod, as told from a woman's point of view, has little to do with the biblical account of Nimrod . The author in her notes at the end talks about her research and how it supports the book. But some of it still seems to be a big stretch . I like books that fictionalize the events surrounding a biblical event without detracting from or changing the scriptural account. But I felt that this book just went too far. I still plan to read the third book in the series but , from the description of that book, I am concerned that it will be much the same as this one . But I pray that it will be like the first book .
August 29, 2019
Ancient Oral History Revisited
"He Who Lifts The Skies", by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, is anything but an uplifting story. Filled with bloody treachery and cruelty, it completely describes a society and kingdom that makes the Most High God their enemy. As history has proven over and over again, a nation without God will very likely become capable of any atrocity and will strip freedom and faith away. But God! Yes, God will always win! No challenge to God's supremacy will endure. History proves this. "He Who Lifts The Skies" by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow captives the reader from the first line to the last, breathing life into ancient names by crafting a very plausible story from scant ancient historical records. This reviewer highly recommends this book.
"He Who Lifts The Skies", by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, is anything but an uplifting story. Filled with bloody treachery and cruelty, it completely describes a society and kingdom that makes the Most High God their enemy. As history has proven over and over again, a nation without God will very likely become capable of any atrocity and will strip freedom and faith away. But God! Yes, God will always win! No challenge to God's supremacy will endure. History proves this. "He Who Lifts The Skies" by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow captives the reader from the first line to the last, breathing life into ancient names by crafting a very plausible story from scant ancient historical records. This reviewer highly recommends this book.
July 4, 2018
One thing confused me - chapter 28 Keren becomes Karan and it is a few pages before it is clear that the Ancient Ones call her this and it is not a typo.
Unsure about Nimrod being executed by Seth - but Bible history is silent on his fate.
I have copy of The Two Babylons mentioned by the author. It is a good reference for such a work.
Those things out of the way - I enjoyed the book. The characterization of the people is excellent. I was involved in what happened to them. I am looking forward to reading the next one.
Unsure about Nimrod being executed by Seth - but Bible history is silent on his fate.
I have copy of The Two Babylons mentioned by the author. It is a good reference for such a work.
Those things out of the way - I enjoyed the book. The characterization of the people is excellent. I was involved in what happened to them. I am looking forward to reading the next one.
January 17, 2021
Betrayed by her avaricious sister, stolen by a vicious tyrant, Keren struggles to protect those she loves from Nimr-Rada. The Mighty Hunter, Great King Nimr-Rada, is determined to have Sharah and Keren, cherished descendants of Annah and Shem, join his plans to challenge the Most High. Sharah is all too willing to fulfill her glorious role, but Keren will not be so easily persuaded. Nimr-Rada’s promises of freedom will only bring his people enslavement to a false god and to Nimr-Rada Himself. Keren must risk death to defy the Great King and end his tyranny.
July 12, 2017
Love this series, and this is my second time through them. This time I am reading them because of their lovely new cover designs! Keren is an ancient precursor of Daniel, standing for God even as those around her bow to a man-made idol--Nimr-Rada. Love how the early, post-Flood families are fleshed out.
October 14, 2018
Not awesome... Her first book was wonderful, but this kept me feeling like, when was she going to finally be rescued? Though it has a happy ending, I won't be finishing the series. Kacy usually sucks me in and though her characters go through stuff, I always feel hopeful! Sadly not this time. This time I left feeling a bit depressed. Not a good way to end a book... Just my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2024
Even better the second time!
Love her insight and study on Nimrod. The reader is instantly transported into the past. The possible realities, the easing away from God, and what we today would call an uncommon reverence to God in many playing throughout. Looking forward to re-reading the next one again as well.
Love her insight and study on Nimrod. The reader is instantly transported into the past. The possible realities, the easing away from God, and what we today would call an uncommon reverence to God in many playing throughout. Looking forward to re-reading the next one again as well.
January 29, 2018
The author the second book in the series continues to give a excellent look into the scriptures.
Much work and research gives the reader of this book gives the reader a look into the past. You will enjoy the content.
Much work and research gives the reader of this book gives the reader a look into the past. You will enjoy the content.
September 21, 2018
Book 2 of The Genesis Trilogy story. This is powerful story of the Post- flood .This story has adventure, faith based and drama.
September 22, 2018
Wonderful story about Nimrod, the great hunter, and the Tower of Babel. I highly suggest that you read the first book in this Genesis Trilogy. Many of the same characters spill over.
June 9, 2019
I continue to be fascinated with the strength of God’s people in the midst of so much hatred and evil. Enjoyed the book immensely.
November 15, 2025
Less world building and a bit too fast paced and messy for my liking. Lacks character building as well. Some parts were way too sudden.
March 17, 2011
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Labels: Ages 14+, Biblical Fiction, Christian Books, Favorites, Fiction, Historical Romance, Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, Romance, Ten Stars
Saturday, March 12, 2011
He Who Lifts The Skies by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow
Powerful imagery creates a "you are there" immersion in the story of the post-Flood world. Kacy Barnett-Gramckow fans raved about her extraordinary job of moving the Flood off the Sunday School flannelgraph board and into life in the Heavens Before. Now, she continues to flesh out the Bible's brief account of the rise of Nimrod and the Babel rebellion with scintillating characters and a wealth of imaginative detail.
The Review:
My Ranking: 10 out of 10
Ages: 14 & up
He Who Lifts The Skies was an amazing book that captured my attention immediately. The second book in Kacy Barnett-Gramckow's Genesis Trilogy was very well researched and written. Gramckow did an amazing job at portraying people's lifestyle, culture, mindsets, etc. back then.
Kacy's characters are always very well laid out and described. I loved Keren and her personality, and Zekaryah and his mysteriousness.
I felt my heart strings pull as I watched numerous unfortunate circumstances befall Keren. She is first kidnapped and then had to watch as her own sister commit terrible sins and leave her own husband and son behind to marry a king who's ways were displeasing to God. Then being taken to a city where evil manifests itself and, to make things worse, any man she touches being sentenced to death...it must have been very hard for Keren, and I felt her despair. Still, I was amazed at how she handled it - with courage and faith that only God could bestow. She set a great example.
Zekaryah was awesome. Period. I was intrigued by him from the very first mention of his name - literally. I was wanting to know more and more about this mysterious and quiet character. Gramckow did an excellent job with Zekaryah's character and I instantly fell in love with the bad guy who longed to be good. The fact that he manages to protect Keren without touching her was really awesome and it made the ending all the more amazing! I loved Zekaryah's protective attitude. :-)
There are a few things to caution. Sharah is an adulterer. She leaves behind her husband and son to marry a pagan king. She also at the end of the story has an affair with another man aside from whom she's married to. Nothing is descriptive, just made known. Zekaryah and Keren also kiss pretty passionately at the end, but it was nothing that made me uncomfortable. It may be a little much for young readers, though.
All being said, this is a fantastic book that I highly suggest you read! I would recommend reading The Heaven's Before, the first in Gramckow's series, first as there is a lot you would be able to understand more if you have that for a background.
December 9, 2010
Kacy Barnett-Gramckow’s Genesis Trilogy takes place in the days immediately before and after the Great Flood. The first book, The Heavens Before, starts before the Flood and ends after Noakh and his family begin their new life on the cleansed Earth. This book, He Who Lifts the Skies takes place many years after the Flood, where the tribes of the earth have begun to scatter and it’s hard to keep up with who is the son of this son or that cousin.
In He Who Lifts the Skies, our main character is Keren. Keren’s eyes are silver in a world where everyone has brown eyes and brown hair and coppery skin, being all of the same gene pool. Her sister, Sharah, has silver eyes, light colored hair, and pale skin, making them both an anomaly. Their unique coloring draws the attention of Nimr-Rada, the grandson of Noakh’s third son. Nimr-Rada has set himself up as king in a great city, demanding tributes from the other tribes and murdering without a second thought. Nimr-Rada takes both women to his city, Sharah by her own greedy choice and ambition, and Keren through her selflessness in not wanting Nimr-Rada to kill her family for her refusal. Nimr-Rada declares that Keren is “poison to men” and that no man may touch her. He insists that she wear face paints, extravagant clothing and jewelry so that no man may be unaware that to touch her, even accidentally, will result in his swift execution.
For the majority of the book, we are focused on Keren and her household, learning to live with the cruel and tyrannical rule of Nimr-Rada. He begins to build a Tower to Shemesh, the sun, which Bible-readers will recognize as the Tower of Babel (the central theme to the third book in the series, A Crown in the Stars).
This series is one of my favorites. It shows an accelerated version of humanity’s fall: from a time when everyone honored and obeyed the Most High God to a time when He is relegated to myth and scorn. In the series, this shift takes place over maybe 200 years. 200 years for humanity to completely turn away from the Most High, even though they live in full awareness of the Great Flood and the coming of the Promised One who will save us. The relationships between the characters are especially drawing. I won’t give anything away; you can read it for yourself and find out!
It’s worth noting that The Heavens Before is one of my favorite historical fiction books of all time. The characters of Shem and Annah are captivating, and Kacy Barnett-Gramckow’s ability to transport you from wherever you happen to be reading to the anti-deluvian world is extraordinary. I had never considered that the Earth would be fundamentally different, harsher and less beautiful, until I read this book. Books 2 and 3 do not disappoint!
Cross posted to my blog (http://starlightbookreviews.wordpress...)
In He Who Lifts the Skies, our main character is Keren. Keren’s eyes are silver in a world where everyone has brown eyes and brown hair and coppery skin, being all of the same gene pool. Her sister, Sharah, has silver eyes, light colored hair, and pale skin, making them both an anomaly. Their unique coloring draws the attention of Nimr-Rada, the grandson of Noakh’s third son. Nimr-Rada has set himself up as king in a great city, demanding tributes from the other tribes and murdering without a second thought. Nimr-Rada takes both women to his city, Sharah by her own greedy choice and ambition, and Keren through her selflessness in not wanting Nimr-Rada to kill her family for her refusal. Nimr-Rada declares that Keren is “poison to men” and that no man may touch her. He insists that she wear face paints, extravagant clothing and jewelry so that no man may be unaware that to touch her, even accidentally, will result in his swift execution.
For the majority of the book, we are focused on Keren and her household, learning to live with the cruel and tyrannical rule of Nimr-Rada. He begins to build a Tower to Shemesh, the sun, which Bible-readers will recognize as the Tower of Babel (the central theme to the third book in the series, A Crown in the Stars).
This series is one of my favorites. It shows an accelerated version of humanity’s fall: from a time when everyone honored and obeyed the Most High God to a time when He is relegated to myth and scorn. In the series, this shift takes place over maybe 200 years. 200 years for humanity to completely turn away from the Most High, even though they live in full awareness of the Great Flood and the coming of the Promised One who will save us. The relationships between the characters are especially drawing. I won’t give anything away; you can read it for yourself and find out!
It’s worth noting that The Heavens Before is one of my favorite historical fiction books of all time. The characters of Shem and Annah are captivating, and Kacy Barnett-Gramckow’s ability to transport you from wherever you happen to be reading to the anti-deluvian world is extraordinary. I had never considered that the Earth would be fundamentally different, harsher and less beautiful, until I read this book. Books 2 and 3 do not disappoint!
Cross posted to my blog (http://starlightbookreviews.wordpress...)
November 24, 2012
This is the second book in the Genesis trilogy by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, and I can only say that she's done it again!
This book takes place years after the Great Flood. Shem and Annah are now great-grandparents. One of their grandchildren, after having seven sons, finally has two daughters. The older is named Sharah, and the other Keren. But both girls are very strange. Sharah has pale skin, blond hair, and pale eyes. Keren has dark skin and dark hair like her ancestors, but she too has pale eyes. The two are also very different. Keren is helpful, sweet, and caring, but Sharah is demanding, selfish, and manipulative.
But that's not all. Some of their brothers have abandoned their family to serve the mighty Nimr-Rada, a great hunter and the grandson of Khawm, who has founded a city and has established himself to be the "Promised One", the man prophecied to re-establish the relationship between the Most High and man. But Keren knows this can't be right. Nimr-Rada is descended from Khawm, not Shem, whom the "Promised One" will descend from. He's also demanding, selfish, and manipulative in his own right.
However, when Sharah is offered the powerful position as Nimr-Rada's wife, Sharah hastily agrees, and lets Nimr-Rada's men kidnap her sister, whom Nimr-Rada has also decided to use in his plan to rebel against the Most High. Keren knows that unless she can escape, the people under Nimr-Rada's control will continue to rebel against God. But will she escape? And if so, how?
Once again, we are given beautiful descriptions of the landscape and complex characters. I admired Keren for standing up to Nimr-Rada, while I couldn't help but despise Sharah for her power-hungry personality. Another great book by Mrs. B-G!
These are the ratings I'll give for the following.
Story: 10/10
Heroine: 10/10
Hero: 10/10
This book takes place years after the Great Flood. Shem and Annah are now great-grandparents. One of their grandchildren, after having seven sons, finally has two daughters. The older is named Sharah, and the other Keren. But both girls are very strange. Sharah has pale skin, blond hair, and pale eyes. Keren has dark skin and dark hair like her ancestors, but she too has pale eyes. The two are also very different. Keren is helpful, sweet, and caring, but Sharah is demanding, selfish, and manipulative.
But that's not all. Some of their brothers have abandoned their family to serve the mighty Nimr-Rada, a great hunter and the grandson of Khawm, who has founded a city and has established himself to be the "Promised One", the man prophecied to re-establish the relationship between the Most High and man. But Keren knows this can't be right. Nimr-Rada is descended from Khawm, not Shem, whom the "Promised One" will descend from. He's also demanding, selfish, and manipulative in his own right.
However, when Sharah is offered the powerful position as Nimr-Rada's wife, Sharah hastily agrees, and lets Nimr-Rada's men kidnap her sister, whom Nimr-Rada has also decided to use in his plan to rebel against the Most High. Keren knows that unless she can escape, the people under Nimr-Rada's control will continue to rebel against God. But will she escape? And if so, how?
Once again, we are given beautiful descriptions of the landscape and complex characters. I admired Keren for standing up to Nimr-Rada, while I couldn't help but despise Sharah for her power-hungry personality. Another great book by Mrs. B-G!
These are the ratings I'll give for the following.
Story: 10/10
Heroine: 10/10
Hero: 10/10
March 9, 2017
I was so glad that Noah and his sons were still alive for this book (and the 3rd book in the trilogy). I really liked those characters! This book follows two of Shem & Annah's great-granddaughters. Raised to worship The Most High, Sharah & Karan are taken to the Great City. Sharah is only to happy leave the Most High. Sharah has abandoned her infant son and husband to marry Nimr-Rada. Karan is forced to live in the city Sharah rules together with Nimr-Rada. Nimr-Rada has put a curse on Karan: Any male who touches her is instantly put to death. And so an accidental brush against her causes a dear friends death. As the years in the Great City pass, Karan acquires more enemies; Nimr-Rada evil continues to grow. Karan is poisoned, but survives. But her illness allows her to leave the city and return to her mountain home. Shem & his brothers decide to take action. A meeting is called and Karan confronts Nimr-Rada that ends in his death.
It is interesting to me how an author can take just a few verses from the Bible and create an entire book. The Bible says that Nimrod was a great hunter. And to be honest, I didn't even say that I ever considered him "bad." He established many cities (a good thing, I thought). I think I will do a little more research to see if this is an accurate representation of Nimrod. I also found it curious that so few years past (and that Noah & his Sons were still alive) before Babel was built. How quickly people forget the grace and goodness of God. I'm sure many of the inhabitants would have met Noah and then to say that he is just talking stories. It seems unbelievable.
It is interesting to me how an author can take just a few verses from the Bible and create an entire book. The Bible says that Nimrod was a great hunter. And to be honest, I didn't even say that I ever considered him "bad." He established many cities (a good thing, I thought). I think I will do a little more research to see if this is an accurate representation of Nimrod. I also found it curious that so few years past (and that Noah & his Sons were still alive) before Babel was built. How quickly people forget the grace and goodness of God. I'm sure many of the inhabitants would have met Noah and then to say that he is just talking stories. It seems unbelievable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2010
Personally, I liked this one more than the first book. I think I liked the protagonist more. Keren had a backbone. She never broke. She pushed, as her name implies. I loved that about her.
I thought the author expertly tied all the plots and the characters together, because I wondered how she would handle all of these little subplots with so many characters, but it wound up being surprisingly cohesive. I also could appreciate the spiritual message woven into the plot.
I would only shave off half a star because I didn't really like when she switched from the main narrator to another; although it didn't take away from the story, the short vignettes from different narrators got a little confusing.
Overall, I was pleased. I loved the romance and the suspense and I'm excited for the next book. My only warning for those seeking to read is there are a lot of Hebrew names to keep up with and their resemblance to one another makes them hard to keep up with. Fortunately, you get used to seeing the names of the central characters.
I thought the author expertly tied all the plots and the characters together, because I wondered how she would handle all of these little subplots with so many characters, but it wound up being surprisingly cohesive. I also could appreciate the spiritual message woven into the plot.
I would only shave off half a star because I didn't really like when she switched from the main narrator to another; although it didn't take away from the story, the short vignettes from different narrators got a little confusing.
Overall, I was pleased. I loved the romance and the suspense and I'm excited for the next book. My only warning for those seeking to read is there are a lot of Hebrew names to keep up with and their resemblance to one another makes them hard to keep up with. Fortunately, you get used to seeing the names of the central characters.
September 10, 2016
I was pleasantly surprised. I read this as a fiction inspired by bible, not as a bible story, thus, I could enjoy it without wondering if it was biblically true or not. The plot, the characters, the descriptions of the world there, the story, were able to make me stayed up all night and ruined my sleeping time.
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