Ten years ago, Grace saw something that would forever change the course of history. When evil in its purest form is unleashed on the world, she and others from their religious community are already hidden deep in the hills of Tennessee, abiding by every rule that will keep them safe, pure--and alive. As long as they stay there, behind the red perimeter.
Her older brother's questions and the arrival of the first outsiders she's seen in a decade set in motion events that will question everything Grace has built her life on. Enemies rise on all sides--but who is the real enemy? And what will it cost her to uncover the truth?
For the first time, bestselling authors Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker team up and deliver an intense, tightly focused ride through the most treacherous world of all.
Liked: Wow, I really enjoyed the whole premise of the book. I really didn't know what to expect going in because the summary was a little confusing. But wow, did it blow me away. How our fear can blind us and yeah. The setting and descriptions of the way they lived their life in Haven Valley were really good. It was a great idea and amazing execution by this father/daughter duo.
Liked: Those characters thooooo! Oh man, each character had their traits that made them definable and human-like. While the first-person parts are Grace, you don't have much trouble recognizing the other characters. The antagonist was chilling and the rest of the characters were relatable. And when some characters did certain things that were either good or bad, you really felt for them and sympathized. The authors made even the so-called "bad" guys sympathizable. You never really hated a character (no matter how much you were tempted to) because you
understood why they were doing that thing, and I really liked that.
Liked: I feel like this book had more plot twists than The Last Jedi. And that had a lot of plot twists. You really had to think on your feet for the entirety of this story. As soon as you
thought you knew who someone was, it turned out that you were wrong. I really liked that, because right before this, I had been reading several mysteries so I was on my game y'all. But yes, this is a story that will leave you guessing till the end.
Disliked: There were some things that were rather confusing and were never really cleared up? Like, who exactly was Eli? Was he Grace's adopted brother or not? And yeah. Just a few things that had me scratching my head even when I finished.
I thought that this was really great but reading other people's reviews, apparently, this isn't Ted Dekker's best work. I would love to read his really great work if this was considered so-so.
A big question in this book (I'll get to the second one in a moment) is the question: Are only a select few saved? Do only a few people get to go to heaven? There is a common misconception that Catholics believe that only Catholics get to go to heaven. I say misconception because we don't believe that. In fact, I overheard a conversation and one person said, "Yeah, Catholics believe that only they get to go to heaven" and I thought, "We do?"
There is not a select number of people who get to go to heaven. We can all attain heaven. God wants us ALL to go to heaven because He loves us. Just because we belong to a certain religion does not guarantee a pass into heaven. While Baptism washes away our original sin, we are human, and so cannot help but sin and have to confess in order to purify ourselves.
This ties into my next point, the community of Haven Valley were trying to purify themselves
without the help of God, and that is just laughable. It's impossible. We cannot attain a state of holiness that is required to enter into heaven through our own force of will. We need God's grace, because we are just mere men. And the Sacraments are an amazing way of receiving grace. When we receive Holy Communion, we have Christ
in us. If that doesn't bring us amazing grace, I don't know what does.
The second big thing in this book is the question: Is God a God of fear or of love? The people of Haven Valley forgot that God is also a God of love and focused a lot on the fear. They kept saying "God's love" but they didn't remember the true meaning. Yes, we should fear God, but we shouldn't fear Him so much that forget His beautiful mercy and love.
One couple is a 19-year-old girl and 40-year-old man and it's implied that he desired her so they gave her to him as a wife.
The "religion" of Haven Valley is no religion, but a cult.
There are some people dying and getting beat up.
I would recommend this for people ages 14+
And I'm giving this one 4.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion from Revell Reads.
Sorry I didn't post last week! I was sick (yay) Have you read anything by Ted or Rachelle Dekker? Are you going to try this one? Also, new review layout who dat
