About:
At eight years old, Shulle has known only life in a small village with her loving but peculiar father. When Uncle Shebna offers shelter in Jerusalem in exchange for Shulle's help tutoring King Manasseh, Judah's five-year-old co-regent who displays the same peculiarities as her father, she's eager to experience the royal court. But Shulle soon realizes the limits of her father's strict adherence to Yahweh's Law when Uncle Shebna teaches her of the starry hosts and their power.
Convinced Judah must be freed from Yahweh's chains, she begins the subtle swaying of young Manasseh, using her charm and skills on the boy no one else understands. When King Hezekiah dies, twelve-year-old Manasseh is thrust onto Judah's throne, bitter at Yahweh and eager to marry the girl he adores. Assyria's crown prince favors Manasseh and twists his brilliant mind toward cruelty, beginning Shulle's long and harrowing journey to discover the Yahweh she'd never known, guided with loving wisdom by Manasseh's mother: Isaiah's daughter, the heartbroken Hephzibah. Amid Judah's dark days, a desperate remnant emerges, claiming the Lord's promise, "Though we're helpless now, we're never hopeless--because we serve El Shaddai." Shulle is among them, a girl who becomes a queen through Isaiah's legacy.
Convinced Judah must be freed from Yahweh's chains, she begins the subtle swaying of young Manasseh, using her charm and skills on the boy no one else understands. When King Hezekiah dies, twelve-year-old Manasseh is thrust onto Judah's throne, bitter at Yahweh and eager to marry the girl he adores. Assyria's crown prince favors Manasseh and twists his brilliant mind toward cruelty, beginning Shulle's long and harrowing journey to discover the Yahweh she'd never known, guided with loving wisdom by Manasseh's mother: Isaiah's daughter, the heartbroken Hephzibah. Amid Judah's dark days, a desperate remnant emerges, claiming the Lord's promise, "Though we're helpless now, we're never hopeless--because we serve El Shaddai." Shulle is among them, a girl who becomes a queen through Isaiah's legacy.
Description and photo from waterbrookmultnomah.com
My Review:
Rating: ♥♥ two out of five hearts= wasn't the greatest
The first thing to say about this book is that it seems to be very biblically and historically accurate. Mesu Andrews has definitely done her research! You feel like you really are witnessing the rise and fall of kings during the days before Jesus walked the earth- a good thing, in that it's informative and interesting at the same time, but, as I'll explain more later, it can also be a bad thing.
Meshullemeth's story starts out when she's only eight years old, and she's such a sweet, adorable, incredibly mature kid! It's hard not to feel an attachment to her, in fact, and Manasseh is equally adorable. Their little friendship is the cutest! It's as they grow older, though, that I started to feel more distant towards them.
Of course, it's bound to happen. As we all know from our Bible readings, Manasseh is going to become one of the most evil kings to sit on the throne of Judah, and you can't help but feel sorry for whatever lies he is believing. But I just lost touch with the story, and mainly kept on for the sake of reading the ending. Shulle and Nasseh's relationship turned to be more lustful than sweet, and, as a very visual reader, it was uncomfortable to read. I got tired of all the allusions to intimacy. Also, I know it's a fact that kings married young back then and were basically considered men, but as a modern-day reader, it was really awkward for me to read, especially when I remembered that my younger brother is basically the same age as Nasseh.
This was a dark time in Israel's history, and it shows. There's not a lot of light to be seen, and I tried to read as fast as possible in order to get to the end quicker. In the whole book, my favorite part would have to be the beginning, before everything started to go so wrong, and then the end, even though it took awhile to get there- and even then it was over quickly.
Isaiah's Legacy is haunting, realistic, and hard to read. My sister thought the themes in the book were handled with care, and were portrayed in the best way possible. I agree- to a point. While I respect way it was handled, the darkness and constant references to physical intimacy made this one book I'll probably not be rereading.
Title: On Wings of Devotion
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