Okay, an acquaintance I know through work allowed me to borrow this book. And, I decided to write a review since it dabbled a bit in science fiction.
Dr. Warren Wagner is dying of cancer. As a last-ditch effort, he decides to use some top secret technology to try the impossible and disappears. His estranged brother, Jim, comes for a reluctant visit to discover his physicist brother is gone. He searches for answers through the aid of Lyle Bumgardner, an atheist, and Lawrence Macklin, a Christian and retired seminary professor.
It is finally discovered that Warren went back to First Century Palestine to search for Jesus Christ. Once they finally get approval for a rescue mission, can they find Warren in time? Whose faith will stand the test in the arid climate of Ancient Israel? What will change when they meet the Rabbi Messiah?
Considering their tagline is “A modern atheist will meet the historical Jesus” (at least on the copy I read), I don’t believe it’s a spoiler to say the characters use a time machine to travel from the 2010’s to 29 AD. I’ll just confess upfront, I was less than impressed by this book. You don’t meet the acclaimed atheist until the third chapter, which made me very confused, seeing as I got the impression one of the brothers (which you meet in chapters one and two) was the atheist. (Not true, though the elder was formerly of the atheist mindset.) And, while he is mentioned beforehand, we don’t actually see Dr. Macklin until chapter 16.
The critiquing writer in me wanted to start making notes of what could be trimmed away, urge the author to choose one person to focus on in nearly every scene. (I can forgive one or two times, but consistently in every scene.) POV (Point Of View) aside, I felt the first twenty – thirty chapters dragged on by. I’ll admit, it could be that I am not overly fond of contemporary fiction and so I was desperately looking forward to the Biblical fiction, a genre I tend to find enjoyable when I find a good author.
Sticking to a single POV per scene was still an issue once we hit the second half of the book. But, the author did well in showing the raw side of Bible times and how 21st Century men had to deal with and adjust to them. It was here that I allowed for more of the “filler” happenings because even if in short term they may not seem important, they could prove so in the long term. (Even if some trimming could have still taken place.) And, the author managed to keep things moving at this point. If they weren’t actually on the move, more often than not they were planning their next steps.
I’ll admit, I read to the end mostly to be polite. If I didn’t, I probably would have stopped at chapter 5 or so. There are gems of conversations and scenes scattered throughout the book, but they are almost lost in the shifting POV’s and nonessential scenes and/or characters.
The God Portal was written by Tim Ferguson. The book is 396 pages long, divided into 71 chapters and the chapters grouped into five parts. My apologies to any fans who read this but I can only give this book two and a half dragons out of five. This idea is amazing, and this is a good start, but I believe it could use some work.
It started out as an eBook, and it has gotten a five star rating on Amazon. But, honestly, if I had bought this, I would feel I had wasted money. I have seen authors who are officially unpublished write better. I am sorry, truly. I do believe he handled the Bible scenes, especially the interactions with Jesus, well. I just wish the author could have polished this potential gem a little more. If you have read this book, I would like to hear your reasons for enjoying it (or not as the case may be).
Until next time.
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