Song of Redemption Book

Song of Redemption is the second book in the Chronicles of the Kings series about the life of King Hezekiah of Judah, who's story is told in 2 Chronicles, 2 Kings, and Isaiah in the Bible.

I only bought Song of Redemption because Ms. Austin cruelly started a romance at the end of Book 1, and I HAD to see how it panned out. Ironically, the romances in this series are not heavy-handed, and the culmination of the aforementioned romance was not what I expected.

However, the rest of the book was very enjoyable. Maybe this sounds bad, but unlike a couple of other reviewers, I liked the violent aspects of this book because they felt authentic for the time period. And although it's clear what violence occurs, Ms. Austin does not write the violence with as excruciating detail as she could have.

Perhaps my favorite part of this book and the next one in the series is that it made certain parts of Scripture come alive for me like never before. I have spent a lifetime reading the Psalms as metaphorical, and working to apply it to my current day life, things like, "When I'm surrounded by my enemies, the Lord will destroy them all." But to see it in action, to read a well-written story where, when they are surrounded by enemies, and against all logic put their hope in the Lord, that the Lord actually DOES come to their defense... well, that's just cool.

One other thing Ms. Austin does well is to depict the tension that would have occurred among the highest level of government officials when dealing with a crisis. The constant building of pressure, the questioning on what to do, the second guessing of decisions, the desperation, all felt authentic and was well-done.

Ms. Austin did, once again, super-impose today's beliefs onto characters who wouldn't have had them, but this time I barely cared. The titular redemption, and the way the character comes to accept it, is one of the best I've ever seen in Christian fiction.

In short, I really liked it.