Book Review: Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe

Lore Olympus: Volume Four by Rachel Smythe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The complicated relationship between the goddess of spring and the king of the underworld has entered its fourth day and not only are the two protagonists that are having trouble, but it also seems all of Olympus is starting to have issues. Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe finds Hades and Persephone attempting to navigate their various feelings, traumas, and daily tasks while also figuring out whatever is happening between them.

Covering episodes #76-102 of her webcomic, Smythe begins developing the backstories for both Hades and Persephone while also expanding the roster of Greek gods in her retelling of the ancient mythos. However, this doesn’t stop the progression of both main character’s ongoing “present-day” stories and how they are dealing with the increasingly annoying gossip mill building around them amongst the citizens of Olympus as well as their family members and friends. Smythe continues to build the subplots that are expanding and filling out Olympus giving the world more depth. The artwork continues to be excellent and engaging, which given the format of the media is a must. However, for some reason while I enjoyed the filling in of the main characters’ backstory, the introduction of more gods, and the slow building of other subplots there was something this entire volume that just wasn’t clicking with me and I don’t know what exactly.

Lore Olympus Volume Four by Rachel Smythe continues storytelling whose quality I’ve enjoyed up to this point, however for everything I liked while reading there was just something that wasn’t clicking with me the entire book.

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Book Review: The Shaping of America by Page Smith

The Shaping of America: A People's History of the Young Republic by Page Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The struggle against the political encroachment of Britain and the ensuing military struggle led to independence, but now the real problems began how to follow up. The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic is the third volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series going over the history of the United States with this volume covering the aftermath of the 1783 Treaty of Paris to the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826.

Smith viewed the young nation caught between two intellectual consciousnesses—the Classical-Christian of the Revolutionary generation, whose last gasp brought about the Constitution, and the Secular-Democratic inspired by the Enlightenment in the generation that followed the Founders, though ironically led by a few of the Founders. Though Secular-Democratic thought came out on top, it was deeply influenced by the intellectual viewpoint it had replaced especially as the international scene saw the resurgence of absolute monarchism in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Though politically the Secular-Democratic intellectual view was victorious, socially the Protestant Christian emphasis on redeeming the world was a major thread in the American tapestry and eventually come up against the issue that the Founders and the next generation didn’t want to confront, black slavery. As Smith ended this volume, he highlighted the growing cloud that slavery was becoming for those in the North and South while the “original” West was beginning to pick sides. But once again I found Smith’s facts about Native American tribes inaccurate in some instances that I was shaking my head, and I don’t know much about that subject which speaks volumes. Overall, this was a well-written and fascinating look at the history of the young republic, while Smith’s analysis or chosen themes might not be for everyone but that is the point as it reveals the uncomfortable facts that need to be addressed.

The Shaping of America follows up the two-volume history of the American Revolution with a fascinating and engaging look at the young republic as Page Smith reveals all facets of the United States over four critical decades.

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Book Review: Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary by Martin Probstle

Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary by Martin T. Preobstle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The sanctuary is essential to the distinctive Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment and from the beginning the sanctuary has been where God has come to meet with his creation first in Heaven then on Earth. Where God and I Meet: The Sanctuary is the supplemental book of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study (4th Quarter 2013) by Martin Proebstle reveals God’s character and His plan of redemption through Jesus’ death. Through 144 pages divided into 13 chapters, Proebstle goes over the Heavenly Sanctuary, the various earthly sanctuaries (yes more than the Israelite tabernacle and Temples), the meanings of the sacrifices, the yearly Day of Atonement, and finally everything connected with the Investigative Judgment doctrine. This is a fascinating combination of Biblical history, a look at the plan of redemption, and finally how God had a plan to solve the sin problem from before it appeared.

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Book Review: G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader by Denis Fortin

G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader by Denis Fortin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Adventist history, he is known as the man who from a distance influenced opposition to a new understanding of righteousness by faith within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but this General Conference president’s opposition was misunderstood. Denis Fortin’s G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader gives added context to the events of 1888 and later the breech with John Harvey Kellogg in the 1900s.

Fortin’s biography of George Butler is only the second written about the two-time General Conference president, and unlike the first that the author references this one tries to add context to the biggest controversy of Butler’s tenure the 1888 General Conference session in Minneapolis. Yet while that is the literal heart of this volume, Fortin reveals that this wasn’t the first “controversy” of Butler’s time in office, nor would it be the last in his long career in service of the denomination. As this is the first book published in the Adventist Pioneer Series in four years, Fortin readily referenced previous biographies to contrast his findings and interpretations of Butler’s actions and activities to previous research. Through the 680 might appear daunting for some, the last 60 pages are a bibliography of Butler’s writings and an index, yet the remaining 620 pages of text includes several pages at the end of each page of notes thus giving the reader assurance of a thoroughly researched subject. Personally, I came into this biography intrigued given the way Butler has been colored by previous historians and came away impressed while also seeing the controversial events Butler is associated with in a fuller context.

To the average Seventh-day Adventist that knows that name of George I. Butler, the initial thought might not be positive. However, after reading Denis Fortin’s well researched and thorough biography one will have a better understanding of the man and his perspective of events that he is seen in a negative light.

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Book Review: Themes in the Gospel of John by E. Edward Zinke

Themes in the Gospel of John by E. Edward Zinke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The last gospel to be written is different from its predecessors, speaking from a different perspective and for a different goal to communicate to all believers than the other three. Themes in the Gospel of John is the supplemental book of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (4th Quarter 2024) by E. Edward Zinke reveals God the Creator in human flesh, walking, teaching, and healing to all He met while on Earth. Over 128 pages and 13 chapters, Zinke with John Reeve, Bill Knott, Kiersten Zinke, Jiri Moskala, and Anthony Kent bring out points from the like of Christ that John wanted to emphasize to his readers of his time and us today. However, the fact that there was six different authors in this book is what made it read a bit internally incoherent unlike other supplemental book and is my major issue with it, but saying that doesn’t mean what was written wasn’t good just jarring from chapter to chapter.

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Book Review: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The world of Scadrial doesn’t know it’s under attack by a god from another world that has multiple plans to take control from the planet’s sole god. The Lost Metal is the seventh Mistborn novel in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere which sees Waxillium “Wax” Ladrian, Wayne, and Marasi Colms travel to the city of Bilming to confront the Set and save the world.

Over the course of almost 750 pages, Sanderson weaves three interconnected story arcs focused on Wax and Wayne, Marasi, and Steris each doing what they can to stop or mitigate a disaster put into motion by the Set led by Wax’s sister who is the avatar of the god Autonomy looking extending her reach beyond her home domain. This culmination of a four-book series not only completes the arcs of the character’s mentioned but also shows how over the course of less than a decade in the timeline the planet went from late 19th Century/early 20th Century technology to the verge of Scadrial’s version of an “atomic” and early Cold War era rocket technology all while including the magical system first introduced in the original trilogy making interesting stories to read. This last installment of this Second Era finds the greater Cosmere truly impacting Scadrial as well as having vibrations across the rest of the Cosmere as a result given the reveal of a certain character in the epilogues. Overall, this was a very good read that brought things to a satisfying conclusion while also making me interested in how Scadrial will develop in two planned future trilogies.

The Lost Metal concludes the Second Era of the Mistborn series in satisfying fashion, once again showing Brandon Sanderson knows how to construct a multi-volume story.

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Book Review: The Corsican Shadow by Dirk Cussler

Clive Cussler The Corsican Shadow by Dirk Cussler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To protect the spirit of France from the Germans in the summer of 1940, a secret mission is launched to save the nation’s greatest citizen from the hands of its eternal enemy with a nice shiny bonus. The Corsican Shadow is the twenty-seventh installment of the Dirk Pitt series and the second that Dirk Cussler has written exclusively to continue this father’s creation.

Dirk Cussler wrote a tight, engaging narrative in which the protagonists, though separated from one another, interacted with two factions of the same antagonists. Though Cussler tried to hide the fact that the body of Napoleon was the big treasure with diamonds, the book’s title—though a character was included as a misdirection—and the size of the crate basically gave things away. Another nitpick was that fact that the antagonists didn’t kill any of the protagonists instead of just tying them up to be blown up and having one of the antagonists thinking this same thing before deciding to blow Summer Pitt up, while addressing the issue it just highlighted it even more. Yet, this was a page-turner of a novel that overall had very good writing and followed one of the series’ good adventures.

The Corsican Shadow is another good installment written by Dirk Cussler to continue the Dirk Pitt series begun by his father.

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