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City of God #1
Transgression
What if you were studying for your Ph.D. in archaeology and decided to take a break from your crummy life for the summer by working on an archaeological dig in Israel?
What if you met a great guy in Jerusalem who happened to be a world-famous theoretical physicist working on a crazy idea to build a wormhole that might make time-travel possible … someday?
What if he had a nutball colleague who turned the theory into reality — and then decided to use YOU as a guinea pig to make sure it was safe?
What if the nutball had a gun and went on a crazy, impossible mission to hunt down and kill the apostle Paul?
It’s A.D. 57 when Rivka Meyers walks out of the wormhole into a world she’s only studied in books. Ancient Jerusalem is awesome! Rivka can’t believe her friend Ari Kazan’s theory actually worked. But when she runs into Ari’s wacko colleague, Damien West, in the Temple, Rivka starts to smell a rat.
When Ari discovers that Damien and Rivka have gone through a wormhole that’s on the edge of collapse, he has to make a horrible choice: Follow them and risk never coming back — or lose the woman of his dreams forever.
About The Book:
Transgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers.
Transgression won the 2001 Christy award for best futuristic novel in Christian fiction.
Transgression will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous vacation through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem.
Transgression is the first novel in the City of God series:
Book 1: Transgression (A.D. 57)
Book 2: Premonition (A.D. 57-62)
Book 3: Retribution (A.D. 62-66)
Excerpt:
Rivka turned and ran. “Ari!” she screamed. “Help!”
She raced outside into the sunlight, sprinted madly through a dark grove of trees with gnarled branches. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her ragged breath rasped in her ears. Was he following? Faster! Tears fogged her eyes. Her leather sandals tore at her feet. Trying to look back over her shoulder, she tripped and fell. Dust flew up all around her.
Coughing, she clambered to her feet and dared to look back. The man was nowhere in sight.
Rivka panted until she caught her breath. Her left wrist throbbed from the fall. She massaged it while she squinted into the trees, afraid that the man might be lurking in the shadows.
Nothing happened.
Finally, she turned around to get her bearings.
She blinked twice and then stared.
Across a small valley massive stone walls rose. Herodian masonry. Jerusalem limestone. Towering white walls. It looked like…
But that was impossible. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply three times, and opened them again. Absurd. Had she gone loony or something?
Rivka had visited the Temple Mount twice and studied hundreds of pictures during three years of graduate school. But she had never seen it looking like this.
So pure.
So spotless.
So new.
What if you met a great guy in Jerusalem who happened to be a world-famous theoretical physicist working on a crazy idea to build a wormhole that might make time-travel possible … someday?
What if he had a nutball colleague who turned the theory into reality — and then decided to use YOU as a guinea pig to make sure it was safe?
What if the nutball had a gun and went on a crazy, impossible mission to hunt down and kill the apostle Paul?
It’s A.D. 57 when Rivka Meyers walks out of the wormhole into a world she’s only studied in books. Ancient Jerusalem is awesome! Rivka can’t believe her friend Ari Kazan’s theory actually worked. But when she runs into Ari’s wacko colleague, Damien West, in the Temple, Rivka starts to smell a rat.
When Ari discovers that Damien and Rivka have gone through a wormhole that’s on the edge of collapse, he has to make a horrible choice: Follow them and risk never coming back — or lose the woman of his dreams forever.
About The Book:
Transgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers.
Transgression won the 2001 Christy award for best futuristic novel in Christian fiction.
Transgression will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous vacation through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem.
Transgression is the first novel in the City of God series:
Book 1: Transgression (A.D. 57)
Book 2: Premonition (A.D. 57-62)
Book 3: Retribution (A.D. 62-66)
Excerpt:
Rivka turned and ran. “Ari!” she screamed. “Help!”
She raced outside into the sunlight, sprinted madly through a dark grove of trees with gnarled branches. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her ragged breath rasped in her ears. Was he following? Faster! Tears fogged her eyes. Her leather sandals tore at her feet. Trying to look back over her shoulder, she tripped and fell. Dust flew up all around her.
Coughing, she clambered to her feet and dared to look back. The man was nowhere in sight.
Rivka panted until she caught her breath. Her left wrist throbbed from the fall. She massaged it while she squinted into the trees, afraid that the man might be lurking in the shadows.
Nothing happened.
Finally, she turned around to get her bearings.
She blinked twice and then stared.
Across a small valley massive stone walls rose. Herodian masonry. Jerusalem limestone. Towering white walls. It looked like…
But that was impossible. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply three times, and opened them again. Absurd. Had she gone loony or something?
Rivka had visited the Temple Mount twice and studied hundreds of pictures during three years of graduate school. But she had never seen it looking like this.
So pure.
So spotless.
So new.
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2000
362 people are currently reading
1788 people want to read
About the author
Randall Ingermanson
10 books14 followersSee also R.S. Ingermanson and Randy Ingermanson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
June 1, 2015
Time for another Time Travel novel
After finding Transgression: A Time-Travel Suspense Novel (and its two sequels) on Amazon for next to no cost, I downloaded all three. I hadn’t noticed that these books were classed as “Religious Sci-Fi” and I was warned off this genre by another Goodreads member. Are they really that bad? Will I have religion rammed down my throat? Will the Seventh Day Adventists find out I downloaded the books and come a knocking at my door? Will a plague of locusts devour my prized roses tomorrow?
Undaunted, I went ahead and read “Transgression” hoping I wouldn’t come out the other end a Judaism convert or a Buddhist monk or something. Turns out, it’s a pretty damn good book, written by a dude with a PhD in Theoretical Physics. Yep - the Sheldon Cooper of the religious sci-fi world folks. Okay, it’s got a few rough edges, but there’s some solid science behind the time travel bit of the story. Also, plenty of thought went into the everyday nuances of life in first century Jerusalem – like only eating twice a day, and Romans being tougher than they looked. (I’ve often wondered what those people used to blow their noses or wipe their backsides – hopefully not the same thing!)
Here we have a theoretical physicist with a Jewish axe to grind, deciding he’ll scoot on back to the first century and put paid to good old Saint Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, or whatever the hell he called himself. In so doing, he’d more-or-less kill off Christianity in the future, and prevent all the nastiness that the Christians imposed on the poor old Israelites over the coming centuries. Unfortunately, a couple of his brainy cohorts get sucked back through the wormhole too. Lucky for him since he doesn’t speak the local lingo and one of the cohorts (a hot looking female) does! How convenient – being able to speak ancient Aramaic, and Hebrew – err...and Latin too. Maybe just a little too convenient!
I’ve always felt that, if you went back in time too far, you’d probably die of culture shock! So now we’ve got three modern people stuck in ancient Jerusalem in a time where, if you said what you really thought, you’d get stoned – and not the type of stoned you get from smoking “university cigarettes” or eating Wild Aunt Betty’s special brownies. If you kept announcing your views out loud, the local Jewish Priests, Scribes, Elders, Sadducees (take your pick) might just dob you in to the Romans, who took a dim view of people who caused ruckuses. They would exercise their “dim view” by having you nailed onto a tree or piece of wood and stick you by the side of the road to advertise what happens to troublemakers. Kind of like a Bad Behaviour Billboard if you will.
Our author has obviously done his research before writing the book and mixed in plenty of thrills to keep you reading on to the next chapter. Yes, there’s plenty of religious stuff thrown in there with God giving our friends a helping hand when they needed it, but it’s set in the Holy Land for goodness sake! Don’t let the spiritual stuff stop you reading this book – it’s great!
And now on to my next book: “Pit Bulls Vs Aliens”. God help me!
After finding Transgression: A Time-Travel Suspense Novel (and its two sequels) on Amazon for next to no cost, I downloaded all three. I hadn’t noticed that these books were classed as “Religious Sci-Fi” and I was warned off this genre by another Goodreads member. Are they really that bad? Will I have religion rammed down my throat? Will the Seventh Day Adventists find out I downloaded the books and come a knocking at my door? Will a plague of locusts devour my prized roses tomorrow?
Undaunted, I went ahead and read “Transgression” hoping I wouldn’t come out the other end a Judaism convert or a Buddhist monk or something. Turns out, it’s a pretty damn good book, written by a dude with a PhD in Theoretical Physics. Yep - the Sheldon Cooper of the religious sci-fi world folks. Okay, it’s got a few rough edges, but there’s some solid science behind the time travel bit of the story. Also, plenty of thought went into the everyday nuances of life in first century Jerusalem – like only eating twice a day, and Romans being tougher than they looked. (I’ve often wondered what those people used to blow their noses or wipe their backsides – hopefully not the same thing!)
Here we have a theoretical physicist with a Jewish axe to grind, deciding he’ll scoot on back to the first century and put paid to good old Saint Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, or whatever the hell he called himself. In so doing, he’d more-or-less kill off Christianity in the future, and prevent all the nastiness that the Christians imposed on the poor old Israelites over the coming centuries. Unfortunately, a couple of his brainy cohorts get sucked back through the wormhole too. Lucky for him since he doesn’t speak the local lingo and one of the cohorts (a hot looking female) does! How convenient – being able to speak ancient Aramaic, and Hebrew – err...and Latin too. Maybe just a little too convenient!
I’ve always felt that, if you went back in time too far, you’d probably die of culture shock! So now we’ve got three modern people stuck in ancient Jerusalem in a time where, if you said what you really thought, you’d get stoned – and not the type of stoned you get from smoking “university cigarettes” or eating Wild Aunt Betty’s special brownies. If you kept announcing your views out loud, the local Jewish Priests, Scribes, Elders, Sadducees (take your pick) might just dob you in to the Romans, who took a dim view of people who caused ruckuses. They would exercise their “dim view” by having you nailed onto a tree or piece of wood and stick you by the side of the road to advertise what happens to troublemakers. Kind of like a Bad Behaviour Billboard if you will.
Our author has obviously done his research before writing the book and mixed in plenty of thrills to keep you reading on to the next chapter. Yes, there’s plenty of religious stuff thrown in there with God giving our friends a helping hand when they needed it, but it’s set in the Holy Land for goodness sake! Don’t let the spiritual stuff stop you reading this book – it’s great!
And now on to my next book: “Pit Bulls Vs Aliens”. God help me!
July 11, 2015
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I downloaded this as an Amazon freebie because I like time travel. I didn't really know what else the book was going to be about to be honest. I'd recommend you not to read the full blurb since it's one of those that tell so much about the story already.
American archaeologist Rivka (who happens to know a lot of dead languages by the way) learns about Ari and his time travel device and gets trapped in the Jerusalem of 2000 years ago.
At first I thought the book was a bit too strong on the religion side, and although is was more interesting since I know less about the different groups of Jewish faith but there's a scene particularly anti-Christian (and I don't like my books anti-anything). I was afraid this would be the tone for the rest of the novel, but luckily, although religion does seem to play an important role in the rest of the novel it didn't feel pushy anymore and it didn't really bother me.
Rivka's transgression into the new society is very smooth. She happens to know the language and figures out extremely easy how it's supposed to be spoken. There are a few mentions in the beginning of her finding the right wording, but after that she can hold very long and difficult conversations. The same goes for the rest of her transgression. The story that Damien tells her is utter crap and I can't believe she fell for that even in the beginning.
Besides these things I did find myself enjoying the novel, but not so much I'm already planning to read the rest of the novels. Perhaps some day.
Transgression is the first book in the City of God series, the other books are Premonition and Retribution.
I downloaded this as an Amazon freebie because I like time travel. I didn't really know what else the book was going to be about to be honest. I'd recommend you not to read the full blurb since it's one of those that tell so much about the story already.
American archaeologist Rivka (who happens to know a lot of dead languages by the way) learns about Ari and his time travel device and gets trapped in the Jerusalem of 2000 years ago.
At first I thought the book was a bit too strong on the religion side, and although is was more interesting since I know less about the different groups of Jewish faith but there's a scene particularly anti-Christian (and I don't like my books anti-anything). I was afraid this would be the tone for the rest of the novel, but luckily, although religion does seem to play an important role in the rest of the novel it didn't feel pushy anymore and it didn't really bother me.
Rivka's transgression into the new society is very smooth. She happens to know the language and figures out extremely easy how it's supposed to be spoken. There are a few mentions in the beginning of her finding the right wording, but after that she can hold very long and difficult conversations. The same goes for the rest of her transgression. The story that Damien tells her is utter crap and I can't believe she fell for that even in the beginning.
Besides these things I did find myself enjoying the novel, but not so much I'm already planning to read the rest of the novels. Perhaps some day.
Transgression is the first book in the City of God series, the other books are Premonition and Retribution.
September 13, 2014
I haven't read a book that I've thoroughly enjoyed as much as this one.
The idea of going back in time to kill Paul was interesting enough for me to pick up the book, but it was the great writing and the real characters that kept me hooked. It's really hard no to love the characters (at least for me).
I thought it had a good combination of science fiction, adventure, drama, love, and even humor (at times). It was pretty difficult to put this book down. I usually get sleepy while reading books (terrible, I know), but I found myself staying up all night just to finish the story.
I would definitely recommend!
The idea of going back in time to kill Paul was interesting enough for me to pick up the book, but it was the great writing and the real characters that kept me hooked. It's really hard no to love the characters (at least for me).
I thought it had a good combination of science fiction, adventure, drama, love, and even humor (at times). It was pretty difficult to put this book down. I usually get sleepy while reading books (terrible, I know), but I found myself staying up all night just to finish the story.
I would definitely recommend!
May 1, 2020
Unexpected find, this book. Once I started reading, I read some reviews defining it as religious SciFi... Didn't know about that category and don't know if I would go for it as such. But while yhe book falls in SciFi category by its definition, I'd classify it more as an historical novel. We are talking real sites and real people here. Religious component for the characters is very important but for me, more than anything, is educational. As a practical Catholic I still got surprised with details of the story. And while I enjoyed that aspect a lot, mere experience of reading one of the possible realities made me think about how do we build our history narrative based on archeological finds alone. History is so much more than just buildings or graves, and the way we fill in the gaps is very much influenced by our educattion and culture. Here we have three highly educated sccholars of 21st century understanding that even though they "knew" the story, the place, the history, they were in many ways list in it. Nicely written, easy to read, curious to go for the next one.
October 11, 2014
A physicist creates a wormhole into first century Israel and embarks on a quest to kill the apostle Paul in an attempt to prevent the rise of Christianity. A messianic Jew Rivkah) tries to stop him, accompanied by the physicist's partner (Ari). This is a thrilling premise, and one I was eager to pick up.
I love time travel stories, and there are not a lot of them in "Christian Fiction" so Trangression grabbed my attention straight away. I was not let down. This was an exciting story with a lot of depth.
The book explores the history of Christianity and Judaism. It explores the sometimes tenuous relationship between Jews and Christians. The protagonist Rivkah embodies this relationship as a Jewish Christian. This relationship is mirrored by the relationship between Rivkah and Ari, who is a secular Jew.
If you're looking for an intelligent and slightly edgy time-travel story then you can't pass up Trangression.
I love time travel stories, and there are not a lot of them in "Christian Fiction" so Trangression grabbed my attention straight away. I was not let down. This was an exciting story with a lot of depth.
The book explores the history of Christianity and Judaism. It explores the sometimes tenuous relationship between Jews and Christians. The protagonist Rivkah embodies this relationship as a Jewish Christian. This relationship is mirrored by the relationship between Rivkah and Ari, who is a secular Jew.
If you're looking for an intelligent and slightly edgy time-travel story then you can't pass up Trangression.
May 19, 2017
Not being a fan of science fiction fantasy, this novel threw me. My assumption upon discovering quickly it was going to involve some wormhole travel was that it was going to be just nonsense. Shocker to me... it was highly engaging and within no time I was hooked. And... having completed it, I am already delving into the second in the series. It would be a shame to have missed this one, based on my genre prejudice. This author combined the magic of time travel fantasy with the reality of the beginnings of Messianic Judaism. As lame as it seems, I think the most effective review I can give is simply put, WOW!
May 24, 2020
I was really intrigued by the premise of traveling back in time to the Biblical time of the new testament.
The book did draw me in at the beginning, but at the halfway point I started to kind of loose interest. I think that I was hoping for a bit more. I didn't like how there wasn't much resolution to the questions posed in the book about christianity. I personally don't like how much of an emphasis many people put on Paul as the main character of Christianity, and the thought that if he died, Christianity wouldn't be what it is now. Christianity is about Jesus, not Paul.
The book did draw me in at the beginning, but at the halfway point I started to kind of loose interest. I think that I was hoping for a bit more. I didn't like how there wasn't much resolution to the questions posed in the book about christianity. I personally don't like how much of an emphasis many people put on Paul as the main character of Christianity, and the thought that if he died, Christianity wouldn't be what it is now. Christianity is about Jesus, not Paul.
October 17, 2019
I finished this book last night in 18 days. I am loving this series. The first of the trilogy of The City of God is a relearning of my faith, questioning what it is that I truly believe in.
Then it questions the issue of time travel and makes it happen. It involves so much that i hardly know where to begin with this review.
What the author says About the Book :-
Transgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers.
Transgression won the 2001 Christy award for best futuristic novel in Christian fiction.
Transgression will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous vacation through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem.
There are really only three main characters to think about -
1.Rivka the Jewish archaeologist who is in Israel on a dig. She doesn't want to admit to being a Messianic Jew, and wants to get away from God for her own reasons.
2. Ari the Jewish physicist who doesn't really believe in God and hates the name Jesus. He is creating what his cousin Dov, calls a Time Machine, but calls it a worm hole.
3. Damien who is another physicist working with Ari in the lab who doesn't like Christians at all. He is currently working with Ari on his Time wormhole and has an idea that he can go back in time to the first cenury A.D. to get rid of the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus). Beleiving that he is the one who is the cause of the murder, and torture of the Jews throughout the first 2000 yars.
When, through synchronocity, all three of them travel through time to 57A.D. they begin their journey, centring around finding, killing and protecting Paul. But only one of them wants to kill this Apostle. The other two have a love affair and argue about their faith and belief in what really should happen, what shouldn't as well as how it should happen.
Finding Paul is only a part of their journey however. The best part of their journey is finding new friends, albeit from two milenia past, learning new languages, new customs, and new ways of thinking - or old. Being right out of their comfort zone, they somehow manage to find a way of surviving to eventually make a life for themselves.
Will they ever return home, to thier own time? What happens to them is a surprise you will have to read to the very end.
I couldn't put it down without wincing and walking away wondering what will happen to these characters along the way.
I highly recommend it no matter what you believe. Simply for the fact of it being a book on Time Travel - who hasn't ever wanted to go back to before you were born to see what really happened in the past?
Then it questions the issue of time travel and makes it happen. It involves so much that i hardly know where to begin with this review.
What the author says About the Book :-
Transgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers.
Transgression won the 2001 Christy award for best futuristic novel in Christian fiction.
Transgression will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous vacation through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem.
There are really only three main characters to think about -
1.Rivka the Jewish archaeologist who is in Israel on a dig. She doesn't want to admit to being a Messianic Jew, and wants to get away from God for her own reasons.
2. Ari the Jewish physicist who doesn't really believe in God and hates the name Jesus. He is creating what his cousin Dov, calls a Time Machine, but calls it a worm hole.
3. Damien who is another physicist working with Ari in the lab who doesn't like Christians at all. He is currently working with Ari on his Time wormhole and has an idea that he can go back in time to the first cenury A.D. to get rid of the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus). Beleiving that he is the one who is the cause of the murder, and torture of the Jews throughout the first 2000 yars.
When, through synchronocity, all three of them travel through time to 57A.D. they begin their journey, centring around finding, killing and protecting Paul. But only one of them wants to kill this Apostle. The other two have a love affair and argue about their faith and belief in what really should happen, what shouldn't as well as how it should happen.
Finding Paul is only a part of their journey however. The best part of their journey is finding new friends, albeit from two milenia past, learning new languages, new customs, and new ways of thinking - or old. Being right out of their comfort zone, they somehow manage to find a way of surviving to eventually make a life for themselves.
Will they ever return home, to thier own time? What happens to them is a surprise you will have to read to the very end.
I couldn't put it down without wincing and walking away wondering what will happen to these characters along the way.
I highly recommend it no matter what you believe. Simply for the fact of it being a book on Time Travel - who hasn't ever wanted to go back to before you were born to see what really happened in the past?
June 17, 2014
I've yet to read a book by Randy that I don't like and this is no exception. In Transgression, a physicist goes back in time to murder the apostle Paul. An archaeologist follows to stop him and another physicist follows out of love for the archaeologist. The book weaves elements of physics into a historical suspense set in Israel, both now and two-thousand years before now.
Transgression contains no cliched predictability, you have to keep reading until the very last page--and therein lies its only flaw. I'm a slow reader. No housework, no writing,no fellowship ensued while I was immersed in this novel. Ingermanson left no easy place to close the book--and should you be able to lay it aside, you'll be picking it back up quick.
I'm ready for the sequel.
Transgression contains no cliched predictability, you have to keep reading until the very last page--and therein lies its only flaw. I'm a slow reader. No housework, no writing,no fellowship ensued while I was immersed in this novel. Ingermanson left no easy place to close the book--and should you be able to lay it aside, you'll be picking it back up quick.
I'm ready for the sequel.
June 12, 2016
I absolutely love this book. Its is a story of Time Travel, Suspense,and Drama.
I have never read any books that dove into the world of Jewish people. I also know very little of the Jewish Culture other than what I know from the Bible. With that said, I must say it is one of the reasons I had to keep reading. This is a wonderful story of Jew and Christian beliefs as they intertwine in the lives of people both here in the present and also in the past. This Author also includes detailed explanation to help with understand each faith. For me I found this very helpful as I tried to understand the Jewish culture.
I can't wait to start the next book in this series.
I would recommend it to everyone.
Thank you Randy Ingermanson for a great read. You are a Blessed writer.
I have never read any books that dove into the world of Jewish people. I also know very little of the Jewish Culture other than what I know from the Bible. With that said, I must say it is one of the reasons I had to keep reading. This is a wonderful story of Jew and Christian beliefs as they intertwine in the lives of people both here in the present and also in the past. This Author also includes detailed explanation to help with understand each faith. For me I found this very helpful as I tried to understand the Jewish culture.
I can't wait to start the next book in this series.
I would recommend it to everyone.
Thank you Randy Ingermanson for a great read. You are a Blessed writer.
August 7, 2009
This is actually just one of three in the City of God series. They were an amazing immersion of two modern people into the time just after Christ in Jerusalem. The incorporation of the book of Acts and Josephus' writings with an incredibly real placement of the reader in that time. I found myself thinking in the language that they referred to people. HaShem as "the name" referred to God. Rivka the main female character and Ari the main male character really taught me something about faith in prayer, particularly praying and forgiving your enemies. How can a work of fiction that is so great to read be so instructive???
July 28, 2014
The idea of someone going back in time to kill St Paul really intrigued me, so I got the free Kindle edition of the book. Then I discovered good writing, real characters you care about, and multiple points of view so you could really understand where they were coming from. Add to this the whole subject of Christianity/Judaism/Atheism, and done very well I must say, and I was really hooked. Well researched, well written and a real page turner. Highly recommended. The minute I finished the book I went and bought the next one. Can't wait!
February 18, 2020
A cleverly-done time-travel tale - thoroughly enjoyable.
UPDATE
I just reread this and enjoyed it just as much the second time. I think I'm going to up it a star to 5. (My original was 4.)
I'm now going to enjoy the next two in the series again. To be honest, I'd rather hoped the author would continue with the series past these three books by now but it appears not. Ah well. Still worth the second read.
UPDATE
I just reread this and enjoyed it just as much the second time. I think I'm going to up it a star to 5. (My original was 4.)
I'm now going to enjoy the next two in the series again. To be honest, I'd rather hoped the author would continue with the series past these three books by now but it appears not. Ah well. Still worth the second read.
May 16, 2019
Transgression(a City of God Book)by R.S Ingermanson
This was free and might still be; so I picked it up along with a few other free books and attempted to read two others before I started into this one. I won't name the other two since I might attempt yet to read them some future date. This is the only of the three freebies that grabbed my attention from the beginning. It managed to keep my attention for one long read in a rather quiet day.
This is a fair novel and as I said it grabbed me right away; but there were a number of things that were annoying to me. I think though that it's worth a read for anyone who likes to mix their science fiction with a bit of theology. Having already read both Oxygen novels (Oxygen and Fifth Man) and finding those entertaining, I'm not surprised that this one also entertains. It unfortunately contains many of the pitfalls that are in both oxygen stories. The writing is based on a formulaic method that in itself is fairly tight, but lends itself to some things I find particularly annoying.
As with many novels today the formula is to start with an action scene that draws the reader in by creating or display a bit of tightened drama and action (because the reader wants this?). This novel certainly does that; and its blurb hawks itself as a mystery suspense so this snippet at the beginning is meant to roll the mystery footage. The trouble is that it becomes mostly vital and probably is there because the actual first chapter is rather sedate and might not carry some readers into the story. For me chapter one was intriguing enough and all that the prologue did was keep me anticipating that at some point the novel was going to pick up the pace. It does pick it up but in a large way that prologue is really like those preview scenes from a movie that highlight all the action in the movie so that the best parts have been viewed before the movie-goer gets to the theater for the show. So when it reaches that point the main character Rivka manages to do a 180 turn on the drama and loses the momentum started by the prologue. She next wanders off like a tourist; rather than someone who was just hijacked into the past.
Normally I would begin with the explanation that what hurts this book the most is an attempt at keeping things a mystery. What I mean by this is that desire to keep the reader in the dark about certain facts becomes an impediment to good character development. But having read the two mentioned science fiction collaborations I would also have to say that this becomes compounded by some sort of stylistic method behind the writing. Often it feels like the narrative oscillates in and out for brief moments in the head of one character and sometimes gets too much information; and then snapping out to a far view to see characters that often display too much adolescent immaturity. There also seems to be a formulaic romance going on where Rivka is asked by Dov to find a date for Ari the physicist; creating the love quadrangle with Dov, Rivka, Ari, and Jessica. So while Jessica and Ari are suppose to get together; we discover that Jessica and Dov end up together more often and Rivka and Ari become close, then we discover there are seeming irreconcilable differences between Rivka and Ari pertaining to religion.
Finally we meet Damien West who has an almost inexplicable fondness for the manifesto of the Uni-bomber and has some agenda related to the wormhole time loop generator that Ari is having him construct.
It becomes difficult to decide if this is a romance or is meant to showcase a philosophical discussion about religion; while it becomes more certain that the science and the time travel have really minor parts and have fallen to the wayside in favor of one of those two. There are elements of what occur that definitely are locked into the need for these characters to be in the past and there is really some fun irony to the fact that of the three the one best to communicate and understand the language of the people is a woman; who is not to be spoken to directly in public. But as with other novels of this type there are characters of the past who seem all too ready to take in the time travelers despite anomalies that might characterize the future people as demons or heretics.
In the past each character seems to begin a path of examination of their beliefs as the 'truth' unfolds. And as it is this novel could not help but remind me of another recent read by Amy Deardon in her novel 'A Lever Long Enough'. She too had time travelers heading to the past to investigate the truth about Yeshua. These two novels seem almost a bit too parallel at the onset with the only difference being that in one there is a conspiracy to ultimately steer the proof in one direction; where in the other there's an attempt to end Christianity at one of its roots.
This novel is most likely best for those who might enjoy the discussion of religion and the difference between what is widely believed today as opposed to what may have been the root of our beliefs. Anyone that read 'A Lever Long Enough' could enjoy this book, but science fiction fans might be disappointed about the light treatment of the science involved.
Overall it's an enjoyable read; but if it was meant to be thought provoking it might have missed that mark for me.
J.L. Dobias
This was free and might still be; so I picked it up along with a few other free books and attempted to read two others before I started into this one. I won't name the other two since I might attempt yet to read them some future date. This is the only of the three freebies that grabbed my attention from the beginning. It managed to keep my attention for one long read in a rather quiet day.
This is a fair novel and as I said it grabbed me right away; but there were a number of things that were annoying to me. I think though that it's worth a read for anyone who likes to mix their science fiction with a bit of theology. Having already read both Oxygen novels (Oxygen and Fifth Man) and finding those entertaining, I'm not surprised that this one also entertains. It unfortunately contains many of the pitfalls that are in both oxygen stories. The writing is based on a formulaic method that in itself is fairly tight, but lends itself to some things I find particularly annoying.
As with many novels today the formula is to start with an action scene that draws the reader in by creating or display a bit of tightened drama and action (because the reader wants this?). This novel certainly does that; and its blurb hawks itself as a mystery suspense so this snippet at the beginning is meant to roll the mystery footage. The trouble is that it becomes mostly vital and probably is there because the actual first chapter is rather sedate and might not carry some readers into the story. For me chapter one was intriguing enough and all that the prologue did was keep me anticipating that at some point the novel was going to pick up the pace. It does pick it up but in a large way that prologue is really like those preview scenes from a movie that highlight all the action in the movie so that the best parts have been viewed before the movie-goer gets to the theater for the show. So when it reaches that point the main character Rivka manages to do a 180 turn on the drama and loses the momentum started by the prologue. She next wanders off like a tourist; rather than someone who was just hijacked into the past.
Normally I would begin with the explanation that what hurts this book the most is an attempt at keeping things a mystery. What I mean by this is that desire to keep the reader in the dark about certain facts becomes an impediment to good character development. But having read the two mentioned science fiction collaborations I would also have to say that this becomes compounded by some sort of stylistic method behind the writing. Often it feels like the narrative oscillates in and out for brief moments in the head of one character and sometimes gets too much information; and then snapping out to a far view to see characters that often display too much adolescent immaturity. There also seems to be a formulaic romance going on where Rivka is asked by Dov to find a date for Ari the physicist; creating the love quadrangle with Dov, Rivka, Ari, and Jessica. So while Jessica and Ari are suppose to get together; we discover that Jessica and Dov end up together more often and Rivka and Ari become close, then we discover there are seeming irreconcilable differences between Rivka and Ari pertaining to religion.
Finally we meet Damien West who has an almost inexplicable fondness for the manifesto of the Uni-bomber and has some agenda related to the wormhole time loop generator that Ari is having him construct.
It becomes difficult to decide if this is a romance or is meant to showcase a philosophical discussion about religion; while it becomes more certain that the science and the time travel have really minor parts and have fallen to the wayside in favor of one of those two. There are elements of what occur that definitely are locked into the need for these characters to be in the past and there is really some fun irony to the fact that of the three the one best to communicate and understand the language of the people is a woman; who is not to be spoken to directly in public. But as with other novels of this type there are characters of the past who seem all too ready to take in the time travelers despite anomalies that might characterize the future people as demons or heretics.
In the past each character seems to begin a path of examination of their beliefs as the 'truth' unfolds. And as it is this novel could not help but remind me of another recent read by Amy Deardon in her novel 'A Lever Long Enough'. She too had time travelers heading to the past to investigate the truth about Yeshua. These two novels seem almost a bit too parallel at the onset with the only difference being that in one there is a conspiracy to ultimately steer the proof in one direction; where in the other there's an attempt to end Christianity at one of its roots.
This novel is most likely best for those who might enjoy the discussion of religion and the difference between what is widely believed today as opposed to what may have been the root of our beliefs. Anyone that read 'A Lever Long Enough' could enjoy this book, but science fiction fans might be disappointed about the light treatment of the science involved.
Overall it's an enjoyable read; but if it was meant to be thought provoking it might have missed that mark for me.
J.L. Dobias
August 10, 2014
Comfortable but interesting
Comfortable but interesting
I very much enjoyed this book. It was interesting and easy to follow. Many good Christian points were also made in the book. I will recommend this book to anyone.
Comfortable but interesting
I very much enjoyed this book. It was interesting and easy to follow. Many good Christian points were also made in the book. I will recommend this book to anyone.
September 3, 2015
Time travel, history, suspense, and romance combined to create a story I liked, but I didn't think it needed so many points of view.
January 24, 2016
Pulled me in from the beginning. The historic and cultural differences are fascinating. Just bought book 2 and am diving in.
November 6, 2018
If you could go back into the past, could you change history? Could you prevent someone else from changing it? Would you even want to prevent them? These are among the issues Randy Ingermanson addresses in his novel, Transgression, the first installment in The City of God series. Set primarily in the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 57, the action in Transgression centers around a plot to kill the Apostle Paul.
The main character, Rivka Meyers, is a young, American Jewish woman who is a follower of Yeshua (Jesus), a fact that, at the beginning, she seeks to keep secret. While in Jerusalem to work at an archaeological dig, she becomes a friend of Dov Lifshutz, another archaeologist, and his friend Ari Kazan, a theoretical physicist and a native Israeli. Ari is working on a device (what the layperson would call a time machine) that could conceivably transport a person into the past by means of a "wormhole," a tunnel, as it were, through time.
Ari, we learn, blames Christianity for the mistreatment of his people, the Jews, throughout the history of Western civilization. He finds himself attracted to Rivka, but when he discovers through correspondence with a friend in America that Rivka's home synagogue is messianic, her faith becomes a source of tension in their relationship.
Rivka's association with Ari leads to her acquaintance with Damien West, an experimental physicist who works alongside Ari on his "time machine" project. Early on in the narrative, we become aware of Damien's belief that modern technology, made possible, in his mind, by the influence of Christianity, is responsible for most of humanity's woes. As he sees it, the Apostle Paul gave shape to the Christian vision that eventuated in the advance of science and technology. The assassination of Paul, then, would spare the world a great deal of sorrow. Damien's driving obsession is to return to the past to put a bullet in Paul.
And his plan, ironically, involves using technology to do so. Damien aims to pirate Ari's device to transport himself to ancient Jerusalem in order to carry out his evil design. Since the device has never been tested, however, Damien tricks Rivka into entering the wormhole before him. Once he is convinced that she has survived the journey, he himself follows.
When Ari discovers what has happened to his friend Rivka, he too enters the tunnel and arrives in first century Jerusalem. Before long, Rivka comes to understand Damien's intent and senses God calling her to stop him from killing Paul. Ari, who is at first ambivalent about Paul's survival, finds his love for Rivka compelling him to help her (or, at least, to protect her).
This is an engaging story, combining elements of the science fiction and Christian-inspirational genres. The author, Randy Ingermanson, is himself a physicist, and his mastery of his discipline informs not a few of the novel's passages. The reader need not, however, be rehearsed in science to follow the narrative.
While the book is clearly a "Christian novel," the tone is not preachy, and Ingermanson is balanced and fair in his treatment of divergent religious viewpoints. I recommend this first installment in the City of God series. It will entertain, inform, and even prove to be thought-provoking.
The main character, Rivka Meyers, is a young, American Jewish woman who is a follower of Yeshua (Jesus), a fact that, at the beginning, she seeks to keep secret. While in Jerusalem to work at an archaeological dig, she becomes a friend of Dov Lifshutz, another archaeologist, and his friend Ari Kazan, a theoretical physicist and a native Israeli. Ari is working on a device (what the layperson would call a time machine) that could conceivably transport a person into the past by means of a "wormhole," a tunnel, as it were, through time.
Ari, we learn, blames Christianity for the mistreatment of his people, the Jews, throughout the history of Western civilization. He finds himself attracted to Rivka, but when he discovers through correspondence with a friend in America that Rivka's home synagogue is messianic, her faith becomes a source of tension in their relationship.
Rivka's association with Ari leads to her acquaintance with Damien West, an experimental physicist who works alongside Ari on his "time machine" project. Early on in the narrative, we become aware of Damien's belief that modern technology, made possible, in his mind, by the influence of Christianity, is responsible for most of humanity's woes. As he sees it, the Apostle Paul gave shape to the Christian vision that eventuated in the advance of science and technology. The assassination of Paul, then, would spare the world a great deal of sorrow. Damien's driving obsession is to return to the past to put a bullet in Paul.
And his plan, ironically, involves using technology to do so. Damien aims to pirate Ari's device to transport himself to ancient Jerusalem in order to carry out his evil design. Since the device has never been tested, however, Damien tricks Rivka into entering the wormhole before him. Once he is convinced that she has survived the journey, he himself follows.
When Ari discovers what has happened to his friend Rivka, he too enters the tunnel and arrives in first century Jerusalem. Before long, Rivka comes to understand Damien's intent and senses God calling her to stop him from killing Paul. Ari, who is at first ambivalent about Paul's survival, finds his love for Rivka compelling him to help her (or, at least, to protect her).
This is an engaging story, combining elements of the science fiction and Christian-inspirational genres. The author, Randy Ingermanson, is himself a physicist, and his mastery of his discipline informs not a few of the novel's passages. The reader need not, however, be rehearsed in science to follow the narrative.
While the book is clearly a "Christian novel," the tone is not preachy, and Ingermanson is balanced and fair in his treatment of divergent religious viewpoints. I recommend this first installment in the City of God series. It will entertain, inform, and even prove to be thought-provoking.
February 19, 2018
In modern day Jerusalem, American archaeologist Rivka Meyers is working on a dig when she is introduced to her Israeli colleague’s cousin, Ari, a physicist who is working on creating a wormhole. Rivka and Ari soon become friends and may be headed towards something more when Ari discovers that Rivka’s Judaism is not what the Jewish Ari associates with his faith—she calls herself a Messianic Jew, which to Ari is a Christian, nothing more and nothing less. And Ari hates Christians, because he holds them responsible for centuries of anti-Semitic behaviour, persecution, the Holocaust, and more.
But when Ari’s secretly loony colleague, the American Dr Damien West, finally cracks the wormhole and sends it tunnelling through into the past, it is Rivka who finds herself suddenly in the Jerusalem of 57 CE. Damien follows, for nefarious purposes of his own, and Ari, willy-nilly, follows because he loves Rivka. All three of them find themselves in a city that is familiar, but not completely—and in a time that is fantastically turbulent.
I liked the core idea behind Transgression: it’s interesting to imagine how the world would have been different if Paul had not been allowed to live on to influence the Church in those early years. I have no idea how accurate (or not) Ingermanson’s research into ancient Jerusalem is, but he does bring it pretty vividly to life, especially when it comes to social and religious beliefs and traditions. Plus, since his biography refers to him as a ‘theoretical physicist’, I’m curious about how much of the wormhole theory he puts forward in this book is actually plausible. It sounds pretty clever, though, to someone as clueless as me!
There were some things I didn’t like: Damien West, for instance, was a little over the top as a villain (though I liked that his back story did give a somewhat relatable reason for his motive in travelling back in time). Some language, some words here and there, came across as too corny: Courtesy King, God’s First Tiger, male chauvinist oink-oink. Plus, how come all these people, otherwise now dressed in ancient costumes in order not to attract attention, are always looking at their watches without any of their friends and acquaintances (who wouldn’t be familiar with these, obviously) wondering what this contraption was?
On the whole, an entertaining book, and with a very interesting premise. Plus, it taught me several things about Judaism and Christianity that I didn’t know. The somewhat marked emphasis on Christianity—some miracles are shown here, and there’s plenty of praying etc—might put off some atheists or non-Christians, but I didn’t mind this.
But when Ari’s secretly loony colleague, the American Dr Damien West, finally cracks the wormhole and sends it tunnelling through into the past, it is Rivka who finds herself suddenly in the Jerusalem of 57 CE. Damien follows, for nefarious purposes of his own, and Ari, willy-nilly, follows because he loves Rivka. All three of them find themselves in a city that is familiar, but not completely—and in a time that is fantastically turbulent.
I liked the core idea behind Transgression: it’s interesting to imagine how the world would have been different if Paul had not been allowed to live on to influence the Church in those early years. I have no idea how accurate (or not) Ingermanson’s research into ancient Jerusalem is, but he does bring it pretty vividly to life, especially when it comes to social and religious beliefs and traditions. Plus, since his biography refers to him as a ‘theoretical physicist’, I’m curious about how much of the wormhole theory he puts forward in this book is actually plausible. It sounds pretty clever, though, to someone as clueless as me!
There were some things I didn’t like: Damien West, for instance, was a little over the top as a villain (though I liked that his back story did give a somewhat relatable reason for his motive in travelling back in time). Some language, some words here and there, came across as too corny: Courtesy King, God’s First Tiger, male chauvinist oink-oink. Plus, how come all these people, otherwise now dressed in ancient costumes in order not to attract attention, are always looking at their watches without any of their friends and acquaintances (who wouldn’t be familiar with these, obviously) wondering what this contraption was?
On the whole, an entertaining book, and with a very interesting premise. Plus, it taught me several things about Judaism and Christianity that I didn’t know. The somewhat marked emphasis on Christianity—some miracles are shown here, and there’s plenty of praying etc—might put off some atheists or non-Christians, but I didn’t mind this.
December 27, 2016
This book surprised me. Time travel books, I've read, but one with footnotes? Yup. I used the new Kindle flip-ahead feature and read them in context. The attempts to make the book feel real despite the sci-fi backdrop was interesting, I suppose. There were times though when all the tech-talk made my mind take a bit of a snooze and scan ahead past all the babble. My favorite footnote was when Ingermanson said, "There comes a point in every sci-fi book when you wave your hands in the air and something magic happens." I could have done with a little less reality and a bit more magic technically.
I think that might have been intentional though. The characters and situations were intentionally realistic. These people, though they lived in Biblical times were as real as anyone today, and I appreciated that. Clearly, the intention was to show people such as Paul with historical reality.
Probably the best aspect of this book though was the perspectives of all the characters. With the exception of the villain, it was interesting to take on the perspective of a modern, non-practicing Jew; a modern, Messianic Jew, and both followers of The Way and Jews in Paul's day. I enjoyed picking up some of the language too.
I was a bit disappointed that no one in the book tried to dispel the attempts to combine evolution and creation and the prevalence of millenialism, but it does go to the authenticity of the characters. Every generation of believers struggles with questions like these.
I think that might have been intentional though. The characters and situations were intentionally realistic. These people, though they lived in Biblical times were as real as anyone today, and I appreciated that. Clearly, the intention was to show people such as Paul with historical reality.
Probably the best aspect of this book though was the perspectives of all the characters. With the exception of the villain, it was interesting to take on the perspective of a modern, non-practicing Jew; a modern, Messianic Jew, and both followers of The Way and Jews in Paul's day. I enjoyed picking up some of the language too.
I was a bit disappointed that no one in the book tried to dispel the attempts to combine evolution and creation and the prevalence of millenialism, but it does go to the authenticity of the characters. Every generation of believers struggles with questions like these.
July 9, 2017
Initially I thought this was going to be a novel in the vein of Dan Brown, but I was quite wrong!
Friends and colleagues from the Archaeology and Physics department as a University in Jerusalem have created a wormhole and a time machine, but Physicist Damien wants to use this for his own ends and travel back in time to assassinate the apostle Paul.
I love books such as this where I actually learn something! And I learnt SO MUCH while reading City of God. Points were always explained well, often using a religious or theological debate between friends as a way of informing the reader about different opinions. Between reading, I spent a lot of time on Google, which I felt enhanced my understanding of the book as a whole.
I did feel that the last third of the book and the ending lost momentum somewhat and was more action based than information based. This did however even the plot out nicely.
I would definitely read the subsequent 2 books in the series, as I would love to find out how Rivka and Ari adjust to their new lives, especially regarding their relationship with one another and their differing religious opinions.
Friends and colleagues from the Archaeology and Physics department as a University in Jerusalem have created a wormhole and a time machine, but Physicist Damien wants to use this for his own ends and travel back in time to assassinate the apostle Paul.
I love books such as this where I actually learn something! And I learnt SO MUCH while reading City of God. Points were always explained well, often using a religious or theological debate between friends as a way of informing the reader about different opinions. Between reading, I spent a lot of time on Google, which I felt enhanced my understanding of the book as a whole.
I did feel that the last third of the book and the ending lost momentum somewhat and was more action based than information based. This did however even the plot out nicely.
I would definitely read the subsequent 2 books in the series, as I would love to find out how Rivka and Ari adjust to their new lives, especially regarding their relationship with one another and their differing religious opinions.
September 1, 2017
Glad it was free
Downloaded this after purchasing the author's Snowflake guide to novel writing (which is useful for figuring out how to get your teeth into writing something as long as a novel) and reading some of his other writing advice to see how he applied it himself. While I can see how he's used concepts like MRUs and scene-sequels to tell a coherent story, I didn't find it very interesting. The characters feel flat and shallow. The language is boring. One thing after another happens, the author feeds us the characters' boring, shallow reactions, and then it's back to action again with no interesting reflection and none of the zoomed-out world building that is enjoyable in sci-fi by e.g. Iain M Banks. I often wished the characters would get their thumping hearts and tears of rage out of the way and let me see the world they inhabit. The pacing felt far too fast for a novel, and yet I don't think I'd want to spend more time reading it.
Downloaded this after purchasing the author's Snowflake guide to novel writing (which is useful for figuring out how to get your teeth into writing something as long as a novel) and reading some of his other writing advice to see how he applied it himself. While I can see how he's used concepts like MRUs and scene-sequels to tell a coherent story, I didn't find it very interesting. The characters feel flat and shallow. The language is boring. One thing after another happens, the author feeds us the characters' boring, shallow reactions, and then it's back to action again with no interesting reflection and none of the zoomed-out world building that is enjoyable in sci-fi by e.g. Iain M Banks. I often wished the characters would get their thumping hearts and tears of rage out of the way and let me see the world they inhabit. The pacing felt far too fast for a novel, and yet I don't think I'd want to spend more time reading it.
September 29, 2018
Surprisingly unique
First time I've read a story where Natsari/Netzari/The Way/HaDerech is the main focus and the main character is of this faith. Also first to see where faith and the clashes between faiths were major factor in the relationships of the characters without it overtaking the main plot or becoming preachy.
This was a well written story. Research was also well done in so many areas and a few took were completely new to me.
To also have read this during Sukkot… well, I don't believe in coincidences as even physics has proven there is no such thing as "random". Everything happens for a reason. Cause and Effect, or should I say, Effect and Cause according to quantum physics. Things happen the way it should happen.
Magnificent novel and writing! 1000/100 stars!
First time I've read a story where Natsari/Netzari/The Way/HaDerech is the main focus and the main character is of this faith. Also first to see where faith and the clashes between faiths were major factor in the relationships of the characters without it overtaking the main plot or becoming preachy.
This was a well written story. Research was also well done in so many areas and a few took were completely new to me.
To also have read this during Sukkot… well, I don't believe in coincidences as even physics has proven there is no such thing as "random". Everything happens for a reason. Cause and Effect, or should I say, Effect and Cause according to quantum physics. Things happen the way it should happen.
Magnificent novel and writing! 1000/100 stars!
September 4, 2024
This was my first time to read a time travel book. Since I'm not a fan of science fiction, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I'm also not a fan of books that flip back and forth between current day and days of the past, but I enjoyed it in this book because it stayed mostly in the biblical days of the Apostle Paul. I liked that the author didn't constantly muddy the story by flipping back and forth between timelines. I picked up the book because I thought the idea of going back in time to save the Apostle Paul from an assassination attempt was an interesting idea. The fact that it was modern people who went back in time made it feel less like a historical fiction book which, again, I liked because historical fiction isn't typically my favorite genre. I really enjoyed it and think I'll read book two at some point in the future.
June 2, 2020
Transgression is a powerful book that really made me think. The adventure was fast-paced and the personal stories very 3D. I could relate to Rivka on several levels, though I'm not Jewish. I could see where both Ari and Damien were coming from. It was believable. (as believable as time travel ever is :) ) But what got me most was Hana. She's been through the wringer, rejected and hated, and basically trapped. And even though she was possessed, she fought back. That was real courage.
There's a satisfying ending, so it can stand alone, but just knowing there's more, I'm excited to read book 2, to find out what happens next.
(I bought this one myself and chose to review it. All thoughts are my own)
There's a satisfying ending, so it can stand alone, but just knowing there's more, I'm excited to read book 2, to find out what happens next.
(I bought this one myself and chose to review it. All thoughts are my own)
January 11, 2018
I almost don't even know WHAT to think of this book. I'm a fairly well educated Christian and a faithful one at that. I used to even teach religion....so there were parts that I started to think...."is this even accurate?" Which is very silly when we're talking about a time travel book. And overall, does it even matter if it's accurate?
But the bottom line is; I just liked it. It was well thought out and well written and it made me think. It wasn't a hard push toward faith so much. So, I think even non-religious folks could enjoy it as well. I'm glad I read it and would certainly recommend it to others.
But the bottom line is; I just liked it. It was well thought out and well written and it made me think. It wasn't a hard push toward faith so much. So, I think even non-religious folks could enjoy it as well. I'm glad I read it and would certainly recommend it to others.
December 9, 2021
Very interesting intersection of science and religion! A major departure from what I usually read and maybe for others too. The idea of going back in time to alter history makes one wonder if it’s even possible. Or the crossing over of contemporary academies with literally old school inhabitants of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. This novel is what I would classify historical fiction based loosely on facts. It’s about Jews and Christians as we know them to be today and what they were which is not the same thus the conundrum that makes this book worth reading. I would award 3 1/2 stars if I knew how!
March 7, 2018
Great faith based time travel thriller
Loved the book, Rivka's faith, Ari's obstinacy, the setting of first century Jerusalem! It was well written and fast paced - hard to put down!
While the premise was fantastical, the characters were believable - except for Damian West. He seemed shallow - even with the back story. Details like he always had a backup for his backup were incongruous with the fact that he didn't bother to learn the language or his "I don't care" attitude about everything.
Loved the book, Rivka's faith, Ari's obstinacy, the setting of first century Jerusalem! It was well written and fast paced - hard to put down!
While the premise was fantastical, the characters were believable - except for Damian West. He seemed shallow - even with the back story. Details like he always had a backup for his backup were incongruous with the fact that he didn't bother to learn the language or his "I don't care" attitude about everything.
October 10, 2019
Good book! I love time travel / fish out of water stories. The Christian aspect was good too. A follower of Yeshua who prays for healing and expects it to happen. So different from most of today's Christians who hardly even pray anymore. There was many discussions of Judaism vs Christianity that were interesting. Also seeing how the religions have changed over the years. I look forward to the second book.
May 31, 2024
I read this more than 20 yrs ago and it was well worth reading a second time. The author blends both history a physics and opens up much possibility. Yet God is omnipotent and if time travel is or isn’t possible. You can’t change the past. I also really appreciated how he looked at early Christianity and Judaism. An enlightening read. Although I didn’t always like the heroines. She could be kinda stupid by times.
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