I had a little bit of a hard time getting into it at first but as the story progressed, I could not put it down and got a lot of gardening done. I had a bit of a hard time with the descriptive violence which felt like overkill. It was off putting and I skipped by those. Also, it seemed like there was a real lack of common sense in how they handled security in their valley at times. I have listened to many such novels and I often found myself thinking, ‘ did they really do that?’ For the length of the story, a little less time could have been spent on the gore and more on common sense actions.

One thing that annoys me about this writer is how he adapted the term ‘already’ messing up sentence structure to seem in with the times’ to appear cool. Kids speak that way but not adult men.

Anyway, last night Ai finished the books and it took me for an emotional rollercoaster ride that I don’t usually experience with literature. I was in tears during the last battle and casualties. I just happened to listen in the wee hours of the morning when I could not sleep. I was crushed by the deaths and had to sit down and cry up a storm. I was impressed that this author also did not bash Christianity but showed the main characters experiencing a ‘spiritual homegoing’’ where they were reunited with their loved ones in heaven. There had been some doubt in their minds if they would make it to heaven after having to kill so many people, even in protecting their family. It is something I have not seen in other similar stories. It was very refreshing.