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Short Review: I wanted to like it more than I did. But not nearly as bad as many of the reviews.

Allegiant is the highly anticipated third book in dystopian trilogy.  Starting with Insurgent and then Divergent, Allegiant tells the story of a post-apocalyptic Chicago.

Five factions (essentially small tribal groups) formerly to ruled the city.  But after Tris and Four released a video at the end of the last book, everyone realizes there is something outside the border, something that is influencing how the factions work.

Tris and Tobias leave the city as part of a larger group to find out what is outside the city.

Early reviews of Allegiant have not been good.  As I started writing this review on Friday the 25th, just 3 days after it was released there are already 746 reviews on Amazon, 300 of them are 1 star reviews. (Monday morning the 28th, 6 days after released there were 1311 reviews with only 502 of them being 4 or 5 stars.) The fans that have been waiting more than 18 months for this third installment are not happy.

I think some of the criticism is valid.  The beginning was a bit rough.  It took me a good quarter of the book to get into the real groove of the story and be invested in the characters again.

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Summary: Interesting as a new version of the classic, but not as good as the full book.

I am not an objective listener to Ender’s Game Alive.  I have read Ender’s Game more than any other books (I would guess around a dozen or so times.)  I usually say it is my all time favorite book.

So when Orson Scott Card started promoting a full cast audioplay (an old fashioned radio drama) I picked it up. (Of course it was timed to release right before the new Ender’s Game movie which released Nov 1.)  Orson Scott Card got his start writing as a playwright.  And as a stand alone play, it is well done.

Stefan Rudnicki (who is my favorite narrator) performed and produced the audioplay.  So he was a familiar voice (he narrators and produces almost all of Orson Scott Card’s audiobooks.)  And there are very good (and familiar) other voices that are a part of the audioplay.  The production values are very good, this is just like the best of the old fashioned radio plays.

But there were two things apparent to me almost immediately.  First, this is a book that is mostly about children. But all of the voices were adult.  I don’t know what I expected.  It is not something that I thought was odd when I have listened to the regular audiobook or other children’s audiobooks.  But audiobooks are narrated by one or two voices and I don’t have an expectation of hearing children’s voices.

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To attempt a sequel to one of the most beloved children’s books in the Western cannon might seem audacious at best, arrogant at worst. But with only a few missteps, Jacqueline Kelly manages to pull it off, and the result is a loving continuation of the whimsical adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, Toad, and a few new friends.

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Takeaway: Evangelicalism seems to keep having the same battles while trying to achieve the same successes.

I try to read pretty much anything that Mark Noll writes that I come across.  So when Intervarsity Press re-released this series in paperback and offered me a copy to review I picked it up.  The Rise of Evangelicalism is the first of a four book series by various authors.

The early history of Evangelicalism is not unknown to me.  I have read a number of accounts (primarily through biographies or brief retellings as part of other arguments.)  But reading all of in together focused on telling the whole story several things rise to the top.

First, the initial revivalism that gave rise to the movement of Evangelicalism was led by very young men (primarily it was men that were the preachers and leaders, but the movement used the religious power of women to influence families and communities to a great extent.)  Whitefield, Edwards and the Wesleys were all 30 or less when they were getting started (except for John who was a little older, but still single.)  Whitefield traveled throughout the US on a ten month revival tour when he was just 26.  Edwards was about the same age when revival broke out in his church.

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Summary: A wonderful little books for young pastors, academics and lay leaders on the importance of theology and the humble advice on how to do theology right.

I am a sucker for books like this. I want to be an armchair theologian (I just am not smart enough to be an academic theologian and even if I were, I don’t have the academic background for it.)

But I highly recommend this book. Kapic thinks very broadly about what a theologian is.

Whenever we speak about God we are engaged in theology. The term “theology” means a word (logos) about God (theos), so when anyone speaks about God, whether that person dropped out of high school or completed a PhD in philosophy, he or she is engaged in theology.

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