Hey, guys! Welcome to our first Friends on Fridays! Eep! Yay!!
Today, my friend Juliet has a book review for us. This is a book I haven’t read yet, but an author who is a friend and one I’m excited to check out.
And without further ado, here is Ms. Juliet Artman.
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A Mighty Fortress by Faith Blum
Christian Historical Fiction. 196 Pages.
Synopsis:
Joshua and Ruth Brookings are traveling by stagecoach to finally join their parents in Montana. Attacked by murderous outlaws, the teens barely escape with their lives and must survive in the barren Wyoming and Montana territories and escape the man who’s hunting them.
Seven years ago, Jed Stuart ran away from home and joined Tom’s gang. Jed is tired of the lawlessness and wants out. The only problem? He is the boss’s right-hand man and will never be able to leave. And what’s one more stagecoach robbery, anyway?
Can Joshua lean on God’s strength to keep himself and his sister alive until they find a town? Will Jed be able to face his anger or will it consume him completely? All three are running–the hunter and hunted. What will happen when they meet?
Review:
I have had this book on my bookshelf for a whole year and finally this January, I got to reading it. Now I am so disappointed I did not start it sooner so I could add the other books in the series to my Christmas list! I loved this story.
I am going to break down this book in three parts:
- Timeline
- Plot
- Character
Before we start I want to give you a quick summary of the book so you know what is going on.
It starts with Joshua and his sister Ruth, traveling out to Montana in the 1870s to live with their parents, who have started a ranch. As they travel they are attacked by a band of robbers, Jed being one of them. Jed is a broken man tormented by his part and the crimes he has committed. Years later, he is confronted with the people he has hurt in the past, Joshua, Ruth, and Elizabeth. They show him a kind of love he has never experienced and it softens his heart of stone.
Timeline
This story stretches over 1875-1877. Jed’s story goes over a few more years because it has a little about his childhood. I point this fact out, because at the beginning of the book I was constantly flipping back chapters to look at the date. It is only for the first few chapters that I had a hard time following the timeline though, then Joshua’s and Jed’s timelines start to cross, making it much easier to follow.
Later on in the book, Jed and Joshua are in different places at different times, but I was able to follow better because at that point I had fallen in love with the characters so it did not matter what time they were in.
Plot
Over the course of the book I would say there is one intense plot. It is at the very beginning when Jed is chasing Joshua and Ruth. That is an intense moment leaving me wondering what will happen next and even if this is going to be the plot for the whole book. This is a fast-lived plot, it launches the rest of the book.
The plot is very emotion based and character based. I love plots that are mostly a battle between a character and his past or his mind, and this one is layered really well. Jed battles through shame of the past and guilt for what he has done. The way that his character ache ties into the plot is really seamless and beautiful.
Characters
Ah, my favorite part of the whole book! The characters were so well-written and thinking back on each character, points out another reason why I love each one. Joshua and Jed are the main characters and most of the book is from one of their points of view. I am going to spend a paragraph on each of them, then I will talk about a few other characters.
Joshua is the first person we meet. From the beginning you can feel his spirit for adventure. Throughout the whole book, you can see how western life of bandits and cattle is a perfect fit for him. His character arc is a little obscure, but when you look back at the story as a whole you can see how it weaves together. In the first chapter, we find him getting in an argument with his brother and hold onto a grudge. We don’t see the change as plainly as we see Jed’s, but I think if I read the book again I would pick up on his character arc. When he runs into Jed again, at the end of the book, he demonstrates what he had learned about not holding a grudge and that is really cool to see play out.
Jed, oh Jed. At first I did not like him! I was a little appalled that we were getting the perspective of a bandit. When he chased Joshua and Ruth, I thought that was going to be a turning point in his character where he stopped his robbery. (SPOILER FOR NEXT FEW SENTENCES) But he did not turn away from his ways of banditry and murder. That was the point I started to wonder if things were ever going to change and I started to get exasperated with him. (END OF SPOILERS) I wanted so badly to keep reading his side of the story though, because I had to know if he was ever going to change. His journey was very well written and realistic. Jed had to come to terms with his past to embrace his future. I loved Jed in the end, even if the rest of the book I was against him. He is definitely my favorite character.
Ruth, Joshua’s sister, also has a section of her point of view and even though she did not have a big part in this book I am guessing in other books in the series, she is going to have a bigger part. I really hope she gets a bigger part, because I was intrigued by her and would love to get to see a love story with her unfold. She is super sweet and prayerful which is a really cool example.
Elizabeth has a very unique role in this story. I don’t want to go into too much depth because it would spoil a lot. I will say though that I am glad she came back in the end. She was in one scene towards the beginning, and I never thought she would come back. Again, I think her story will play into future books and I am really excited to see what happens next. Her arc really shows the struggles she has to go though to get to a spirit of forgiveness that she has at the end. It is a very realistic transformation.
Overall, A Mighty Fortress was a wonderful story. It was tied up really well and in a way that made your heart ache with sadness but also pound with peace. I would recommend this book for 14+ just because of some of the things Jed deals with. I will definitely be reading it again and the next book is already on my birthday list.
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Juliet Artman is a fiction writer who loves big families. Being the oldest in her family of six, oldest siblings are her favorite characters to write. Her desire is to be a light of Christ in all her stories and words. The Young Writers Workshop has empowered her to show God’s love through words and stories, and has shown Juliet that being an author at a young age is not a silly dream. She now has a computer full of stories, and a blog called Song of Joy, where she writes about the deeper insights of God in music. When she is not writing she enjoys serving at church, crafting, and reading books in all genres, though contemporary and historical are her favorite.