Connilyn Cossette

Voice of the Ancient is a truly engaging story about two young people (mainly) who are living at the beginning of King Saul's reign in Israel - and they each have their own set of difficulties. Avidan is a Levite living amongst the Benjamites, but he would like to be a soldier instead of handling worship music, like his father. A born storyteller, he is close to his cousins, and when King Saul calls for all able bodied men to join his army to repel the Ammonites, he and his older cousins go to join the rest of the men - and they soon discover that their 15-year-old cousin, Shalem, has followed them. In the aftermath of the battle, Shalem is missing. Guilt ridden, Avidan is determined to find him before he goes home.

Meanwhile, Keziah, a young girl of the tribe of Manasseh, is being sold in marriage to a wicked, older man, Vadim, by her father in exchange for protection for their village against invasion. At first, she is resigned to her fate, but when she learns some things about Vadim and about her own heritage, she escapes on her prized stallion while dressed as a boy. When Avidan and Keziah meet, they join forces for practical reasons (no spoilers). Along the way, Keziah learns through Avidan and his stories that Elohim, the God of Jacob, is not what she had always believed, having grown up with stories of the kind goddesses and the angry, tyrannical god. Will she come to faith in the true God? Will Avidan learn to trust and rely on God instead of trying to control things himself? Will Avidan and Keziah reach their goals? Is something growing between Avidan and Keziah beyond helping one another during their journeys? Read it and find out!! I truly enjoyed it!… (meer)

My Review:

Genre: Biblical fiction.

My Rating: 5 stars! (I’ve found some good books this week!)

My Recommendation: 13 to 16 up depending on how readers like romance. . . Warnings below, too.

My Favorite Character: Though she made mistakes and was at first a somewhat spoiled character she soon grew into a wonderful woman who fits perfectly with this

My Verse for Rivkah is Mark 5:34
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. (King James Version.) (Plague in this verse has to do with Rivkah’s sins.)

My Thoughts: This Biblical fiction, was actually Biblical fiction — set during Bible times but not changing a book of the Bible. There isn’t much that people know about the time this novel was set in but Cossette showed what I imagine life was like during the time. She did amazing with the setting and stayed true to the time without taking away from the enjoyment of fiction. I loved this book and I don’t often say that about the Biblical fiction I read.

Warnings: A man drugs a woman, slavery, some drinking, mentions of being unfaithful, (not true.), characters die . . . They are at war sometimes so, yeah, all that and stuff.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review — all the thoughts are my own.… (meer)