Abiding Flame Book Review
Darkness can be overcome…
Terminally ill Lynette Lamb is forced to reunite her wayward son and grandson. Her options are as limited as her strength and mobility. Through a fateful series of events, the rejoined pair will leave Earth to become part of a colony orbiting a new planet. Sam Austin and his wife mourn the loss of their only child and decide to make a fresh start at the space station. The same ship holds the one who will fulfill the dark planet’s prophecy, but a demonic force boards to stop the vessel. The demon’s obedient but unwilling servant is sent on a suicide mission to keep the ship from reaching its destination.
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My Review:
I received
a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
This story
is set many years in the future, where Christianity is practically extinct and
Bibles no longer in print. The Tulamites
believe that a savior will arrive on their planet from Earth. To make sure this occurs they require 50
civilians to arrive on the new colony once a year.
Lynette
Lamb is dying and raising her grandson has become too much for her ailing
body. Now she is forced to send Jeremy
to live with the father he barely knows on a space colony. Lynette has raised Jeremy no to conform, but
to follow God’s word and look to him for guidance. Lieutenant Lamb avoids his mother at
all costs and has wanted nothing to do with his son since his wife’s demise.
Sam and
Tanya are excited to be on their way to the space colony. Tanya had been withdrawn and sad since the
accident that caused the death of their 19 year old son two years prior. This will be the fresh start they both so desperately
needed.
William
Huxley was given to be of service to a demon since birth. Celfarus taunted Bill to no end, and when
Bill didn’t obey the repercussions were unbearably painful. When Bill takes the final spot for the space
colony, the battle of good versus evil ensues.
Will they be able to overcome the problems that arise? Will they be able to stand firm and trust God
in the midst of the storm?
I have
never read a Christian Science Fiction novel before and this one was just
fantastic! The characters were
wonderful, with each person having their own unique personality. This book was fast paced and very
engrossing. So much so, that I read it
in one afternoon! My favorite character
was Jeremy. He could have given in to
his father’s wishes and saved himself a lot of problems, instead he decided to
stand firm in his beliefs. He had an
admirable strength in character, even for a twelve year old. All in all, a wonderful book about trusting God even in your darkest hour. I look forward
to reading more from this talented author.
Author Bio:
In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy. Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been a #1 Bestseller in Christian Fantasy and been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. Her debut novel, Sanctuary, won 1st Place Christian YA Title 2013 Dante Rosetti Award and is now available as an audiobook. #1 Bestseller on Amazon in Christian Sci/Fi and Fantasy (October 2013) One of Pauline's short stories has won the CCW Short Story contest. Other short stories have been published in Fear & Trembling Magazine, Obsidian River and Avenir Eclectia. An urban fantasy short will appear in The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves from Port Yonder Press, and a vampire short will appear in Monsters! from Diminished Media Group.Excerpt:
“Freak,” a boy in green
yelled, drawing Lynette Lamb’s attention from her second story window.
Three boys caught up with her eleven-year-old grandson, Jeremy, and
blocked his path. “Why you look so weird?”
“Do–” Jeremy clenched a pharmacy bag. “Why do I look so weird?”
The
green one laughed. “That’s what I asked. See, he doesn’t even know.”
Snickering, two of the boys punched each other in the shoulders.
Lynette could smell their
bloodlust on the breeze. Like rough burlap, her tired lungs scratched
against her rib cage, but she ignored the pain and watched the three
boys who harassed her grandson. One wore red, one blue, and one green.
Otherwise only a modicum of disparity existed among them. That was the
problem with normalization. In an effort to make everyone look the same,
society succeeded in taking away individuality. She could hardly tell
the kids apart anymore. She coughed, and splatters of blood stained the
washcloth she gripped in her weak fingers.
“Is your doctor blind or
sumthin’? ’Cuz I can almost see through you, white boy.” Green smacked
Jeremy in the chest to punctuate his words. “And what’s with those
teeth? Was yo’ momma a horse?”
“No.” Jeremy attempted to cross the street.
The boy in red pushed him and knocked the pharmacy bag to the sidewalk. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
The one in blue giggled like a hyena. “Yeah. Unless it’s to a doctor. It’s called normalizing. Ain’t you never heard of it?”
“Shut it.” The one in red smacked Blue in the back of the head.
Blue cowered, nearly falling backwards as he stepped off the curb.
Jeremy
focused on the bag at his feet and stood still. His tall, lanky frame
and pale skin made him an anomaly to the normalized, olive-skinned
children his age. Because of his recent growth spurt, he seemed to be
more knees and elbows than his limbs accounted for. Next to the other
children, he stood like an awkward, leafless cedar.
Lynette clenched her teeth,
hoping none of the young brutes held a weapon. If only she had the
strength and wind in her lungs to yell at them! Tears filled her eyes.
It crushed her that she could no longer take care of her grandson like
he needed.
Green poked Jeremy in the chest to emphasize each word. “Why. You. Look. So. Weird.”
“I look the way God made me.”
Lynette’s
heart swelled. But the primary colors doubled over and slapped each
other on the backs. Green barked laughter, but stopped, spit on the
ground, and said, “You one of those religion freaks, ain’t you? I knew
it.”
Blue giggled, hand over his mouth, and pointed at Jeremy. “My dad said you was extinct!”
Red gripped the front of Jeremy’s shirt and growled, “Well, I says we make you extinct.”
He rammed his fist into Jeremy’s stomach. The other two boys jumped into the fray, arms thumping in a wild rhythm.
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