Children of Time by Sarah Woodbury

On amazon.com:

"November 1288. Bereft of a king or rightful heir, England hurtles towards civil war for the second time in a generation. When David, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Lili, travel to London to attend the wedding of William de Bohun and Princess Joan, they have no intention of involving themselves in local politics.

But as infighting leads to murder, David and Lili find themselves at the center of a far-reaching conspiracy. Trapped between history and legend, they must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to save not only their own country, but the people of England as well.

Meanwhile, back in Wales, Llywelyn and Meg discover that time is no barrier to either adventure or trouble ...

Children of Time, book four in the After Cilmeri series, continues the story of Llywelyn, Meg, and their children in the medieval kingdom of Wales."
Main Characters;

Main Characters:

The Welsh:
David ap Llywelyn, Dafydd, Prince of Wales

Ieuan ap Cynan, Welsh knight

Bronwen Llywelyn, an Amercian married to Ieuan

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, King of Wales, David's father

Marged, Queen of Wales, Mother of David and Anna

Anna, David's half sister

Mathonwy ap Rhys, Anna's husband; nephew to Llywelyn

Cadell, son of Anna and Math

Bevyn, Welsh knight

Nicholas de Carew, Norman/Welsh lord

The English:

Edward l (deceased), King of England

Eleanor of England, Edward's daughter

Joan of England,Edward's daughter

Sir John de Falkes, Castellan of Carlisle Castle

Humphrey de Bohun, Regent of Hereford

William de Bohun, Humphrey's son

Maud de Bohun, Humphrey's wife

John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury

Edmund Mortimer, Lord of the March

Gilbert de Clare, Lord of the March

My review:

Children of Time is Book 4 of the After Climeri Series.

In this book, the chapters are from each of the main characters and what they feel and think. It was not confusing to go back and forth with the chapters.

King Arthur is brought into this book and I personally liked the addition.

No sex and the language is not bad. I think these books would be good reads for young people interested in history.

I think the readers should read the prequel, Daughter of Time, but each book does stand alone.

I am giving this book a 5 star because it held my interest. It is a fast read.

I got my copy to read from my library system.

Dedicated to my sister (who is nothing like Megs's sister even if they live in the same house)

 

A Voice in the Wind

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

A historical novel set after the the death of Jesus Christ and most of the book is based in Rome. A graphic book with the details of the Gladiators, brutal treatments of the Christian people and also of the Jewish. Rome is the ruler at this time period. The reader is taken into the lives of the people.

An interesting book to read. The research of the time period is very complete. Some historical characters but most are fictional. The details of the Christians, the Romans, the Coliseum, people, dress, food and even the cemeteries are good. For one that has studied Roman history and knows a lot of the customs, it helps the reader.

Hadassah, the main character, is a Jewish slave that has become a Christian. She is the slave of Julia, sister of Marcus who falls in love with Hadassah. The parents of Marcus and Julia is Phoebe and Decimus Valerian. She is very devout to God. Sometimes, I think I wished she could bend a little. A faithful slave and such an understanding of people.

This is the first book of the Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers. Francine Rivers is a New York Times Best Seller Author.

I would not recommend this book for younger readers, I suggest at least High School. Good for a Christian book club. There is a discussion Guide on page 521. There is a color Roman Empire Map- C. 117 AD. The book is 524 pages including the guide.

Contents:

Forward by Mark D. Taylor ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Part l: Jerusalem page 1

Part ll: Germania page 23

Part lll: Rome page 41

Part lV: Ephesus page 349

Francine Rivers has dedicated this book to her mother, Frieda King.

I look forward to reading the other two books of this series, Echo in the Darkness and As Sure of the Dawn

I give A Voice in the Wind a 5 star.

The author may be reached at www.francinerivers.com

I wish to thank Tyndale Publishers and Francine Rivers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Leona Olson

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, Felix J. Palma and Simon & Schuster to read and review. The opinions are my own.


The book has been translated from Spanish to English by Nick Caistor.

I was first interested in this book because the cover said the book would have characters such as H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, two of my favorites.

Interesting read but a little confusing at times. I actually was reading this book and put it aside then began to read again. The review is just a touch because the reader must read the book to get the real details and content of the book or "Tale(s)" as the author has said.

H. G. Wells was one of the main characters in this book. His book, The Time Machine, was all the rage in Europe.
There are three parts of this book. Part One goes into the past, Part Two goes into the future and Part Three goes way into the future as well as a lot of this section stays in the book's time period of the late 1880s.
Andrew Harrington in Part One wants to go into the past to kill Jack the Ripper before he kills his love, Marie Kelly by using the machine that took the character, George, into the future with his Time Machine which is described in the book written by Wells, The Time Machine. Andrew is suicidal and his cousin, Charles, takes Andrew to see H. G. Wells so Andrew could travel back to the past. Marie is a prostitute in the Whitechapel area in London. I did some research and find the names I checked are the women Jack the Ripper killed except the name was Mary Kelly, not Marie. This section is very descriptive in the gruesome acts of what Jack the Ripper does to the women.
Part Two of The Map of Time journeys us into the future and time travel. Gilliam Murray has developed a program that takes men and women of London area from 1896 to the year 2000 and it is called Murray's Time Travel. The passengers are transported into the fourth dimension on a tram where they find automations are trying to take over the world in a legendary battle between humans and automations. The hero is Captain Derek Shackleton and his job is to defeat the king of the automations.

Claire Haggerty has decided to go to Murray's Time Travel with her friend, Lucy, but makes plans not to return to her time period. Claire has decided that the century in which she lives is boring and she has no interest in men in her time era. She believes the future holds more for her. When the passengers are getting ready to depart, Claire hides and see Captain Shackleton without his helmet, which had hidden his face during the battle. She tells him she loves him and wants to be with him in this time period. The man in charge of the group finds Claire and tells her she must leave with the rest of the group; Derek Shackleton rushes out of sight.

The tale is interesting and there are many details of people and events. H.G. Wells and his wife, Jane, are brought into the tale closer to the end.
Part Three has a Scotland Yard detective who believes that someone from the future is committing murder in London. This section is mainly about Wells but also has Henry James and Dram Stoker. H.G.Well's book, The Invisible Man, is part of this tale.

This book is difficult to read because there are so many different occasions happening and the book seems to jump into different areas but the author still brings the tales together. It is a page tuner and so many details and people are in this book, even if only a mention. After I started the book again, I started with Part Two and went back to Part One. The "Map of Time" is described in Part Three and well worth waiting for the meaning. It pulls the book together.

Some names are Jules Verne, Dram Stoker, Henry James, German chemist who developed aspirin (Felix Hoffmann) in the late 1800s and the chemist who invented Coca Cola.
Felix J. Palma has done a remarkable job on The Map of Time. It seems like he is in London and for the readers who have been to London, it puts the reader there but in another time era.

Anyone interested in time travel will find this a good read.

I have to give this a five star plus because of all the details in the book/tales.
Leona Olson

mnleona.blogspot.com