A Voice in the Wind - Likewise Book Reviews

"All time favorite!! "

"This book started slow which had me worried I wouldn't like it but then sped up and got me so invested in the characters! The ending DEVASTATED me"

"A stunning book. I love the historical detail and depth. Uplifting yet heartbreaking ❤️‍🩹 "

"3.5 stars! This definitely had very slow start for me. I’d say more than half way the book was slow. I held out hope thought because of how much I love Francine Rivers! A lot of things were hard to understand (Roman talk & stories of Jerusalem etc). Once I got past that, I did grow an attachment to Hadassah. I’m sure Francine does this on purpose, but Marcus, Julia & her friends aggravated me to no end. I’m still holding out hope for Marcus. The ending was devastating. I wish I had book 2 in my hands because that ending was shocking. 😭💔"

"phenomenal!!! never thought i could love characters this much!!"

"I only read part of this book but it was a little hard for me to follow "

"Absolutely changed my perspective on what it means to be selfless."

"This is by far the best book I’ve ever read. I said the same thing about Redeeming Love, another one of Francine Rivers’ books, but this book strikes something so deep in my core that it will never leave me. This book has changed me from the inside out. I am in awe at Rivers’ writing and undying faith!"

"This is my very favorite book! I’ve read and listened to it several times. Book 2 is awesome as well."

"AMAZING! "

"Best book series I’ve ever read before."

"Love it!"

"I read lots and lots of good christian books and other books...but this one and this whole series over all is by far my most favorite. I’ve never lived so real in a story and never wanted to not put a book down so bad. It’s not only captivating and interesting, but also gives us a lot to think about and learn from. It’s the #1 series I’d suggest to anyone"

"4.5 stars<br/><br/>wow. I'm writing this right after finishing, so I haven't even fully processed everything that just happened in the end. But I mean... what the hell?? First of all, Hadassah is a saint, and I want to be more like her Gentle, kind, compassionate, loving unconditionally. the only flaw I think she had was that she was so ready and willing to love everyone, that it made her blind to the wrongs people would do against her. I'm not sure if this is because of Francine Rivers' writing style, but I also don't really like the romantic developments between her characters. They occur so suddenly after a conversation or two and seem entirely based on physical attraction at first, rather than love sprouting from truly knowing a person. I'm not sure if she does this intentionally, perhaps as a way to distinguish between ancient times and now, where people lived much shorter lives and girls seemed to be a bit more... "passionate" and more easily swayed in the heart. Perhaps Rivers didn't even want to focus on the stages of falling in love, but rather what happens after, when both parties are in love and emotionally attached. Either way, it definitely felt unnatural. For example, Julia had been making eyes across the room with Caius for a bit, and the minute they take a walk into the garden and kiss, Julia is professing her love?? That doesn't make much sense to me. Though maybe Julia isn't the best example. There were two characters that stood out to me in this book: Julia and Hadassah. Right from the beginning, I knew Julia would be one of my least favourite characters to have ever read about, and that proved to be true. Throughout the story, I felt like I was watching the moral decline of Julia Valerian until at the very end, she once and for all became morally bankrupt when she turned on the one person who loved her unconditionally despite her many many many flaws. She was just so unlikeable!! As a matter of fact, I'm going to forgo going into too much detail on my thoughts of Julia, because thinking of her makes my blood boil, and I'm sure thats not the intention Francine Rivers had in mind when writing about her character. Rather, I think it best to think about her the way Hadassah does (though perhaps with a bit less love and fondness), and hope that there is a way for her to come of her path of destruction.<br/><br/>On to Hadassah, despite her at times not being in tune with peoples anterior motives, I think even that can be argued to be a strength. Everywhere she went, she brought peace, though I love that she wasn't even aware of that. Simply by trying to live as Jesus would, Hadassah touched many peoples hearts, though she felt as if she was letting God down by her fear of declaring herself a Christian. Hadassah has such a strength to her, having seen her entire family die, being taken from her home, her people murdered, a part of a hated race, Hadassah was still so grateful for everything she had and every small kindness shown to her. How could you not love a girl like that? The ending of this book really crushed me, but I understand its what is needed to bring other characters a bit closer to God.<br/><br/>On to matters of romance, I can't say I was too on board with Hadassah and Marcus. For starters, as a person of the 21st century, living in a place and time where the idea of slavery is absolutely abominable (to most people anyway), it was very hard to get over the subservient nature in which Hadassah was forced to enact. I also don't like how casually men hit women in this book, and Marcus hitting Hadassah was when I was just about ready to write this romance off. To me, something like that is absolutely unacceptable. I understand he was frustrated that she wouldn't deny God and simply wanted her to see reason so her life would be spared. But its really not something I can forget. And like I said before, the way Rivers writes about these romances is very quick and unfeeling. The characters see each other and suddenly they're in love. That doesn't make sense to me, which is why it was hard for me to get on board with it. If they had actually gotten to know each other a little better, then by all means I would be on board. Yet something about this relationship felt very incomplete.<br/><br/>On to Atretes; out of all the characters in this book, I think he by far had it worse. He really had to cut huge pieces of himself simply to earn back his freedom. But I found myself wondering what exactly the point of freedom would be if you have nothing left of yourself by the time you get it. I love the way Hadassah's kindness touched him, and I hope the scars around his heart heal.<br/><br/>The story line/plot of this book is excellent, though it was bogged down a bit by all the information I had to trudge through to get to what actually mattered. I really wasn't too interested in the technicalities of gladiators, or their roman religion, or the exact details of what the street looked like. But overall, it was definitely worth it."

"Such a great series! My favorite series she has written. Love the time period and the stories keep you guessing. You’ll want to read them all one right after the other."

"This series is my absolute favorite series. Highly recommend this book. "

"Best trilogy ever"

"My favorite fiction book of all time. The main character grows throughout the book in beautiful ways and the other characters are all very complicated but intriguing. It’s set a few decades after Christ’s death and explores each character’s faith journey. I also really enjoyed how the book switches perspectives. Overall, amazing book!"

"I think it’s a great series. It’s very well researched historically and very well written. The characters are dynamic and it has a compelling plot. It doesn’t shy away from gritty, difficult topics. This series is written from a strong Christian worldview, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might not like it "

"This series is so good! I'm currently reading Between the Wild Branches by Connilyn Cosette and I love it! "

"This is my favorite book series of all time!"

"Definitely my favorite book series I've read it 4 times over. "

"Amazing"

"The first book in a wonderful three-part series called Mark of the Lion."