Trevor Lund reviews Uther (A Dream of Eagles, Book 7) (affiliate link) Uther is not so much a retelling of the story Jack Whyte has crafted as it is a development of the character of Uther we couldn’t see from the books written from Merlyn’s perspective. Here are my thoughts to this addition to the A Dream of Eagles series.

If you’d like me to review your book ( I don’t charge for the review, but need to charge for the syndication and PR) find out how to get a sponsored review.

Watch Now>>>

Trevor Lund reviews The Eagle (A Dream of Eagles, Book 9) (affiliate link). The Eagle is the culmination of a story that spans four generations and plausibly explains the Arthurian legend. I really think this series should be made into several movies…but it would never be as good as the books.

If you’d like me to review your book…and more importantly let my readers and social network know about your book… find out how to get a sponsored review.

Watch Now>>>

Trevor Lund reviews Dream of Eagles #6 Clothar the Frank (Affiliate link). Clothar the Frank is the first book of two in the series told from the perspective of Clothar the Frank who would become known to us through legend as Lancelot. Jack Whyte wrestles with the love triangle of myth and in this book sets up the person of Clothar before he even meets Arthur.

If you’d like Trevor to review your book…and more importantly promote the review to his reader and social network…find out how to get a sponsored review today.

View Now>>>

Trevor Lund reviews The Sorcerer, Vol. 2: Metamorphosis (A Dream of Eagles, Book 6) It’s book 6 of the A Dream of Eagles Series told from the perspective of Merlin as he transforms from a leader of armies into the solitary figure of myth and legend. Jack Whyte does an amazing job creating plausible history from legend and here are my thoughts on this book in the series. If you’d like me to review your book and more importantly, tell my readers and social network about your book, you can find out how to get a sponsored review here. 

View Now>>>

Trevor Lund  Reviews The Sorcerer, Vol. 1: The Fort at River’s Bend (A Dream of Eagles, Book 5) Jack Whyte is a masterful storyteller who creates plausible history from legend for his readers. If you’d like Trevor to review your book and broadcast his review across his social network find out how to get a sponsored review.

Watch Now >>>

Trevor Lund Reviews The Saxon Shore by Jack Whyte. It is book 4 of the A Dream of Eagles Series telling the story of Arthur from the perspective of four generations starting with the ones who remained in Britain after Rome left. Listen to what Trevor has to say about the book and the series.

Find out how to get Trevor to Review Your Book across his social networks.

Watch Now >>>

I’m always excited to check out new translations of the Bible. The Voice is an interesting one to read. Any time something is translated from one language to another there needs to be a decision how to translate along the continuum.

What I mean by that is that you can translate word-for-word, thought-for-thought or concept-for-concept. Really the difference is a matter of degrees. Word-for-word is almost impossible from Koine Greek to English because Greek verbs and nouns don’t need to be anywhere near each other to agree while in English we like noun-verb combinations.

The translators of The Voice chose a hybrid version that has to be read to be understood. My first impressions of it was “It’s like I’m reading the Qu’ran.”

There are over fifty people and events found in the Bible that are also in the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran tends to have more details and therefore (I think) better story telling. It also focuses on moral and religious points than the Bible tends to.

Yes, the Voice really reads like the Qu’ran…I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s what I like about it.

Unfortunately I found the inconsistencies in the text and found them distracting. For example, the pointing out of morality in Matthew generally happens before the narrative while in Mark it almost always comes after and seems more preachy. I also noticed a few places where the text is not italicized where it really should have been.

Another distracting feature to me was the editors choice to include obscure texts. For example, at the end of Mark there is a verse that’s only found in 1 manuscript. It’s an interesting choice to include it.

Lastly I have to mention the choice make narratives like scripts by pulling the speaker out and setting off what they say often with directions. I thought more than once that it went against the goal the editors have to make it read like a story.

I found reading The Voice devotionally was the best way to use it. As with all translations reading it to see the differences and what you don’t agree with is not as profitable as reading it to let it read you.

Can I recommend The Voice New Testament? My recommendation is for you to read it to experience the text in a new way. My guess is for most people it will be a refreshing tool for devotional reading.

New Testament has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson

I need to confess I’ve stayed away from Modern Western Apologetics for a number of years. I found they tried to answer questions no-one was asking and answer questions to convince the convinced. It was in a moment of weakness that I agreed to review Mere Apologetics by Alister McGrath and I am so glad I did.

The book is written as an introduction to apologetics by a master of it. McGrath is a teacher who is passionate about having his students understand. At times when I read I was wishing I had him as my teacher when I studied apologetics.

He skillfully outlines the different ways apologetics can and are used and I began to see the reason for my dislike of how I’ve seen it used most often. I also agreed with his analysis of how it can be best used in various situations. Apologetics is not evangelism, but it goes hand-in-glove with it. I think I said,“Amen!” out loud on the bus when I read his call to love instead of argue people to the faith.

Mere Apologetics is written to introduce people to the field of apologetics. It’s a good tool to regularly think about your faith and how to better explain it to those who ask. This book will help you.

“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group”.

I was happy to get my advanced reader’s copy of Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll. I only have a little bit of knowledge of what they’ve been doing at MarsHill Church in Seattle, so I really didn’t know what they were going to say.

I appreciate the “principles-not-method” approach they consistently remind the reader of. I appreciate the candid-ness of their story. I appreciate their reliance on the word of God. Here’s a bit about my experience reading the book…
 

The video trailer for the book is here…

Do I recommend the book? I’ve seen a lot of critics say it’s a return to the 1950′s marriage. Dude, it’s a return to 3050′s BC marriage. I’m reminded of an Emerson quote “All my best ideas were stolen by the ancients.” It’s certainly true for marriage.

Trevor

“Advanced Reader’s Copy of the book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson”.

Trevor Lund of http://revtrev.com reviews “The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF” an anthology of 21 Science Fiction stories