An Echo In The Darkness By Francine Rivers - A Review

It took some time, but I finally got my hands on book two and book three of the Mark of The Lion series by Francine Rivers. After all that time, the story remained fresh in my mind and I was able to pick up where I left off.

In An Echo Of Darkness, Marcus comes into focus. What he learns from Hadassah and her life begin to weigh upon him and the many unanswered questions seem to burden him.

Marcus goes on a quest to find the answers to the question of life. He tries to find out about Hadassah's God and ultimately goes on a search for Him. Marcus does not even know if he believes in this God of Hadassah's all he does know is that he is very angry and he wants some answers.

While A Voice In The Wind is set mostly in Rome, An Echo In The Darkness also features Ephesus, Jerusalem and Galilee. We get to go back to the place where Hadassah is born and meet the people she knew before she lost her family.

Both A Voice In The Wind and An Echo Of Darkness deal with the topic of slavery in Rome and Ephesus. Gladiators are still very much present but the love to hate, and much misunderstood ( or dare I say more understood than other characters) Atretes is not present in this book.

As it focuses on Marcus, it touches on the rest of his family. His father is dead and his mother Phoebe has become a believer. She spends day after day praying for the salvation of her two children, Marcus and Julia. Marcus' personality, his thoughts and his feelings are clearer and we begin to understand the way he thinks if not why he thinks the way he does.

In An Echo Of Darkness, it seems that Julia is still as much in the dark as she was in A Voice In The Wind. There seems to be no hope for her and when reading her story, you may tend to feel somewhat stressed and without hope. Surely she will come to a wicked end - or will she?

The echo in the darkness, in this book is actually the echo of the voice of the Lord. God's voice that was in the wind in book one is now an echo. Marcus mistakes it for Hadassah's voice and it takes him some time before realizes who is calling him. When he finds out, he comes to a realization.

I would honestly call A Voice In The Wind and An Echo of Darkness one book. The two go together and they cannot be separated. I would not say which was my favorite as the story flows smoothly from one book to the next. I thoroughly and equally enjoyed both books

As this is part two of a series, I would, obviously, recommend that part one be read first. There is a part three to the series but part one and two does complete an entire story and the reader may be content with just that. ( I was not and went on to part three).

The book deals with many issues. Slavery, idolatry, adultery and other sins are mentioned and condemned, however, some characters, just as real people still embrace it and not every story has a good ending. There are lessons that can be learned from it but parental guidance is advised. As a parent, you should always read the books that you wish to introduce to your children.

©