Book Reviews

Penury City book reviews:

It has been a while since I read a book that caused me to stop and reflect every few pages as this one did. I think it was the timing more than anything else. Written in 2016, it so descriptive of what is actually going on in America in 2021 that it makes you think that either Thomas E. had a crystal ball, or he is lying about when he wrote it. I very much doubt the latter.

Thomas gives us an account that weaves together so much of life. How much we can identify with is dependent on our personal experiences. For example, to those that have stayed away from major media networks in the last five years, what you read concerning what has happened to America may come as a shock. To those who have limited experience with faith in a divine Being will be surprised at the people of no faith, some faith, and total faith in the story. Those that don’t know their history will be wakened to the fact that evil has been with us for over 2,000 years no matter how hard some try to hide it.

But the author’s writing does more than that. Those that are so busy enjoying their present state of affairs will not be able to say “no one told me” after reading Penury City. Read more …

Penury City book reviews:

This is the second of a three volume work by Thomas E. In Volume I we are introduced to a failed world, primarily in the U.S. It is a world that sadly can be described by many American cities today as well as by what many predict the rest of the U.S. and other other western countries may look like in the next few decades. It is that world that a number of folks, some people of faith, some just fed up with what they are living through, seek a way out. Such a way is provided by a woman named Maria. But getting to that city that they believe is so different requires an incredible journey and a complete suspension of one’s doubt in a spiritual world. You can read my review of Volume I here.

Volume II takes us through various tunnels, oceans, and wild events, sometimes being chased by the evil guards of the Enemy and barely escaping. At long last, all the intended pilgrims are united and embark on the last stretch of their voyage to the City they seek. Upon arrival, their reactions are as varied as they are. Some, especially our lead character in Volume II (Dr. Saul, the former abortionist who is simply along on the journey in order to catch up to his ‘partner’ and love interest, Janess) is totally disgusted at what he sees in the City they all nearly died to get to. He feels he was duped. One by one, the pilgrims are dealt with in accordance with their stage of faith, or lack thereof.

Saul has a lot of work to do and he is assigned to a much more accomplished believer and person of faith. To his dislike, his mentor is to be the very Sister that gave him a hard time on the voyage. Their relationship develops over the various chapters as Saul learns the lessons of faith with her help. Much to his surprise, he seems to have learned them all until he gets to the very last one — one that requires a real ‘leap of faith’. A leap that no human being could accomplish on their very own, and yet it seems there cannot be another human being that will help him achieve it. Read more …

Penury City book reviews:

This is the third of a three-volume trilogy by Thomas E. My reviews of Volume I, can be accessed by clicking Light of Gabriel and of Volume II, by clicking on The Ire of the Shekel. In essence, the author, a devote believer in God, describing in very exciting terms and actions, and using a formula that comprises the Bible, the Church, history, current events, various writing techniques, delivers a thrilling story to his readers. I can’t leave out travel via ‘treetubes’ but you’ll need to discover that for yourselves. If you like fantasy, military escapades, spiritual battles, and character-development in a story, this series and especially Volume III, is your book.

Here is where Thomas takes all the unfinished details and explanations, the incomplete business, the failed relationships, and brings them together in a grand finale in a way that didn’t allow me to put the book down until I finished it.

The message is clear. It’s a terrible world we currently live in. The battle between good and evil has begun. The Enemy of the Good is strong. The Good are weak. And we’re stubborn, without faith, and without love. We don’t understand the Power available to us to fight Evil if we were to be serious about it.

But how do we move forward to the point where we can see what must be done without giving up? How do we take our eyes off the suffering you are experiencing and relabel it as a lesson that will prepare us for ultimate success? Read more …

I recently reviewed each of this Trilogy’s three volumes [you can catch those write-ups separately] but I feel so strongly about the general message of the series that I wanted to share my thoughts on the entire work.

In this Trilogy, we not only have our eyes opened to what is going on in the world today, but also what we can expect in the next two or three decades. The backbone of his plot is based on a vision of the beginning of the End Days.

All three volumes are well written with lots of action, suspense and emotion. Mr. E. has a considerable liking for the supernatural and he applies it well, in the appropriate doses, and in a way that most of it, if it were necessary, could be backed up by what many believe is possible and is predicted in our sacred writings, and in Thomas’s case, the Bible.

The story starts off in North America, and works its way miraculously to Europe where the major battle between good and evil is eventually fought.

A fellow reader, who does much more reading of fiction than I do, told me, after reading the series, that she sees some similarities in concepts also noticed in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (especially when Thomas introduces some evil creatures); Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time (a cloak that hides one from the enemy and the ability to split one’s sub-conscious into two in order to mentally pursue various aspects of what is going on in different places while remaining physically in another); and to Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds’ Feet on High Places (the idea of one being taken on a difficult journey, and after arriving at their destination, being sent back in order to bring others there as well). Read more …