Don’t be put off by the cover. You need to read this!
There are times that people say something along the lines of, “this book was so good I couldn’t put it down.” For me, with this book, I literally couldn’t put it down and I read it cover to cover in one night. It’s that good!
Imagine if you could cross John Piper with J.K. Rowling – OK, that’s icky. Imagine if you could cross the theology of John Piper with the creativity and writing talents of J.K. Rowling – what you’d get is the incredible writing ability and style of Conlan Brown.
Set in the modern day, The Firstborn is a fictional tale (I think) of three groups of Christians who have similar but different spiritual gifts. Some see visions of the past, some see visions of the present and some see visions of the future. Each group distrusts the other groups because they don’t understand each others giftings and so are threatened by them.
Brown skilfully weaves a story of terrorists, kidnappings and power struggles with fear, mistrust and animosity and shows through it all how love, faith and obedience conquer all and are more important than anything else.
Walking the reader through opposing, yet very true to life, religious and political viewpoints and exposing some of the harsh realities of life in some countries today, Brown paints a picture that we can all relate to and learn from.
My wife and I generally figure that there are two kinds of books: The ‘should read’s’ (non-fiction) and the ‘want to read’s’ (fiction). Somehow, Conlan Brown has made this a ‘want to read’ while at the same time creating a work which I would without a doubt put on the ‘should read’ list.
If you can read this expertly written, thrilling, fast-paced, gripping story and come away without a greater sense of the need for unity within the Church and without a greater desire to love your enemies, I will be very shocked!
The Firstborn is published by Realms, an imprint of Strang Books, and can be purchased from Amazon:
(Kindle Edition)
Peter, thank your for such a fantastic review! But what’s wrong with the cover =)? The cover is actually a huge hit with a lot of readers – but if there is something that could be done to improve for the next book I’d love to hear it 🙂
Hi Conlan, thanks for stopping by.
What I meant about the cover was that it makes the book seem quite dark and as if it is a sci-fi or fantasy book.
I like the cover, but I like sci-fi/fantasy. The cover kind of reminds me of the show ‘Fringe’ or the movie ‘Aliens’.
My comment about not being put off by the cover was to try to reassure non-fantasy lovers that this was a book they could really get into and enjoy!
Sold! I trust your judgment Peter, so I’ll try and find it at the bookstore on my way home. Don’t you let me down!
Billy,
I’m confident you’ll love it… but just in case, I’m moving house and not telling anyone where I live. I don’t want to end up like one of those four navy seals….
Sounds very interesting. I’ll look into it- thanks Peter!
Super review Peter! I know Conlan personally and I got my hands on this book as soon as I could! I read it all in one sitting too! Waaaay super good!
Sounds like a great read! Which reminds me, I need to write a review for The Noticer…
Thanks for the review – I’m in need of more books to add to my list! In return I would definitely recommend author Ted Dekker esp. The Cirlce Trilogy
Thanks Gemma.
I’ve never read and Dekker – people keep talking about him, I’ll have to check him out!
heh, asked about Dekker on the other post and saw that you’ve answered the question here.
My favorite was probably Blessed Child / The Man Called Blessed… Seriously great stuff there. Ted wrote it in conjunction with Bill Bright.
Note to self: check out Conlan Brown 😀