must read books – Madi's Musings

Title: The Refrain Within (Music of Hope, Book Three)

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Publisher: Gilead Publishing

Length: 320 pages

Available: Wherever books are sold

About:

To save a life, would you betray everyone you love?

Hungary in 1944 is a dark place. The Nazis have invaded and turned the country upside down, their evil making its way into every life.

Clarinetist Eva Bognar is engaged to conductor and composer Patrik Kedves, happily planning her wedding. At first she doesn’t think the war will affect her directly; everyone around her can be trusted to do the right thing. Then her Jewish best friend and sister-in-law Zofia goes missing–and instead of the Gestapo being to blame, a friend says it was Patrik who led Zofia away. Has he betrayed Eva and everything the family stands for?

When the rest of the family’s lives are directly threatened, Patrik’s secrets must come to light. The Bognars flee for the border in hopes of getting out of the country to the safety of Palestine. Eva must put her life and the lives of everyone she loves in the hands of the very man who betrayed her–and they may not all make it out of the war alive . . .

Positive Elements:

Characters risked their lives to save others.

Negative Elements:

None.

Spiritual Elements:

Characters pray; a character does her best to trust God; characters put their faith in God’s hands and discuss hoping in God; God using Rahab is mentioned; a passage from Revelation is quoted.

Violence:

It is mentioned Jews are being rounded up en masse; characters are roughed up, beaten, injured, and interrogated; cities are bombed with injuries sustained and lives lost; it is mentioned characters are taken to Auschwitz; a character is kidnapped; innocent lives are taken; a character is struck by a car; it is mentioned a minor character was involved in two rapes and murders; one character’s torture and another’s suicide are described in a non-gruesome manner; it is implied a character is executed.

Other:

Characters kiss; characters lie to protect others and get Nazi officers drunk.

Rating:

5 Stars.

Conclusion:

Be prepared to be teary-eyed during certain parts of this book. Excellently written, powerful, and heartbreaking, The Refrain Within evokes emotion with sympathetic characters and plot. For the reader who recognizes the parallels between current events and WWII, The Refrain Within is not only an emotional read, but a chilling one, as well. Liz Tolsma is a master weaver of words and did an excellent job. This book is a must read.

Title: The Revisionary (The Rogues, Volume 1)

Author: Kristen Hogrefe

Genre: Dystopian

Page Count: 402

Publisher: Write Integrity Press

Available: Wherever books are sold

About:

A Revisionary rewrites the rules.A Rogue breaks them.Which one is she?

Nineteen-year-old Portia Abernathy accepts her Revisionary draft to the Crystal Globe with one goal: earn a Dome seat so she can amend the satellite rules and rescue her brother. Her plan derails when Head Gage Eliab brands her as a suspect in a campus Rogue attack, and in a quest to clear her name, she questions if the vigilante Brotherhood responsible might be fighting for a cause greater than itself, a cause championed by the last civilization. But the current leaders have obscured history’s pages, and if she dares to engage the past through her training technology, they might wipe her own memory as well.Her shifting loyalties pit her against Luther Danforth, her Court Citizen ally who believes in reform, not revolution. Joining the Brotherhood makes a future with him impossible—and Portia must decide if it’s better to rewrite the rules or to break them.

Positive Elements:

A sister will do anything to find her brother; characters want to remain true to marriage vows; a character is willing to sacrifice himself to save another; the importance of thinking for yourself and not taking society’s word for everything is shown.

Negative Elements:

None.

Spiritual Elements:

Symbols in the Bible are alluded to; evolution is referenced to multiple times by antagonists; the Mayflower Compact is read; a Bible verse is referenced; the characters are taught they are gods; a character claims there is no God; the Codex is negative toward faith and Christianity.

Violence:

Dissension is forcibly dealt with; there is mention of the aftereffects of wars; minor characters die; a character is thrown and injured; characters are forcibly drugged; characters are brainwashed; characters are injured and beaten; characters are injured in an ambush; a character is slapped; it is mentioned someone is interrogated to death; it is revealed satellites are really death camps; a character is attacked; a character harms others to defend herself.

Other:

The dangers of socialism are shown; minor characters drink.

Rating:

5 Stars.

Conclusion:

I’ve seen one dystopian movie and have never been particularly interested in the genre, but after looking at the reviews for The Revisionary, I decided to give this book a try. The Revisionary is the first dystopian book I’ve read, and wow, does it set the bar high for other books in the genre. Five stars is not a high enough rating. The plot is incredible, the characters relatable, and the settings chilling.

My favorite character is Gath, and my least favorite character is Professor Mortimer. As much as I despise Felix and the horrible higher-ups, Professor Mortimer is, in my opinion, the bad guy of bad guys in this book. He is cruel, squashes those who do not conform with perfection, has no issue harming and setting traps for his students, and I imagine him looking like Grand Moff Tarken from Star Wars.

The Revisionary is a powerful, thrilling read. Whatever your opinion of the dystopian genre, this is a book you have to add to your TBR list.

Congratulations, Kristen. You’ve won this picky, finicky reader over to the dystopian genre.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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