Rating  - Unbiblical and bad writing make for one star
This book is so flawed in every which way, it is hard to know where to begin. First of all, we are living in the end times, and when Jesus comes, that's all she wrote, folks. There's no seven years, no Christians being zapped up, etc. This is our Second Chance on Earth. No tribulation. This book takes figurative visions and tries to apply it literally, and does it poorly. Reading this book made me think that if this was true, then what's the point of trying to be a Christian. Why not just live your life the way you want to, and then when people zap out of thin air, change your life. It's ridiculous and sends the wrong message. Plus, the writing is for second graders with no redeeming characteristics to it. But I really don't think the author's care at this point (seeing how many millions they've made printing lies). My recommendation is to read the bible instead of this series; then you'll get truth and the bible is probably shorter (and much better writing). Man, not even Kirk Cameron could save this train wreck.
Rating - Worst book in the series, including the prequels.
Some may disagree, and in fact, many have asked me why I disliked this one so much; so, here is why:
- scratch 'plotting'... by this point in the story, 'plodding' is more accurate.
- caracatures over characters. A staple of the series, 2d characters; but by this point, when new characters keep getting introduced this late in the story, it becomes an annoyance, a drag and overkill.
- virtually zero gain.
the entire first half of the book is a rescue mission for a minor character and the mission, once accomplished (or not) is forgotten by the end of the book. The third fourth of the book finally starts to swing thigns back to the original LB premise of end times doom and gloom thanks to the horrific judgments; sadly, it's very boring and slow. However...
-... the book doesn't get good until the last fourth.
And that, my friends, is not good for the overall quality of this entry in the series.
By this point, it's obvious that the authors were REALLY stretching it. However, as I said, things got really good in the last few chapters and led into 'Armageddon', one of the best books in the series. How ironic.
Thumbs way down for Left Behind: The Remnant. It's sad when the best part of the book is a scene involving the antichrist sunbathing on a rooftop.
Rating  - Times are gettin' hard, boys . . . but the Lord provides
I was somewhat disappointed by the first half of this book. For the most part, it detailed the exploits of those involved in trying to rescue a member of the Tribulation Force who had been captured by the Global Community (GC) in Greece. But too many pages were devoted to these adventures and I began to wonder if this was simply filler material and if, perhaps, the authors were running out of ideas. Somehow, I couldn't quite fathom why it necessary to describe the rescue of this man in meticulous detail or even why it was so important to rescue this one man whose salvation was assured when at the same time millions of others around the world were in more dire straits -- being threatened with losing both their lives and their souls.
Fortunately, just as I was losing interest, the second half of the book came to along. Once again, the book began to relate to the broader story line of the end times and became much more interesting. Unfortunately, due to the time devoted to the adventures in the first half of the book, a couple of quantum leaps in time were necessary to get the timeline back on track. As a consequence, the authors, in my view, had to slough over a couple of episodes which might well have been worthy of discussion (e.g. evacuating Chicago; where the evacuees went and how they got there; the destruction of Chicago; Plank's execution; and two periods of six months each). In the latter half of the book, however, I was once again struck by how imaginative the authors seem to be.
The first half of the book rates 2 stars; the second half 4. 6/2 = 3 stars.
Rating - Starts out strong but ends with a whimper
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
The Jewish Remnant have fled Jerusalem and escaped to the safe haven of Petra. Attacked by Carpathia with nuclear missiles, they are protected by miraculous means and not harmed at all. However trouble continues to plague them as the Global Community army continues to attack, with some success.
Meanwhile, key members of the Trib Force have been captured in Greece, needing the aid of fellow members to rescue them. Through it all their faith ever wavers and more believers begin to come in to the fold, despite the constant threat of Carpathia looming over them all.
The beginning of this installment is action packed and non-stop, reminding loyal readers of the earlier books in the series, where Trib Force members were always getting in to, and out of, various scrapes and binds. Then things slow down again as we wait along with the Remnant for the Glorious Appearing at the conclusion of the series.
Carpathia has now fallen in to being nothing more than a bad caricature, whose non-stop screeching and railing has surpassed annoyance. Where he used to be a truly frightening monster of a man, he is nothing now but a whiny pest. Other aspects of the series also begin to lose steam and originality as well. Why on earth would false identity experts give a false name to key player in the Trib Force that is actually the person's own name, with minor differences? Do they really think it's not going to alert the Global Community "Peace keepers" that something is not right?
Loyal fans of the series will continue to read on in the series, if for no other reason but to get to the end and see what happens at the Glorious Appearing. The series did pick up again for a brief while, and this installment started out very promising, only to fall apart half way through the book.
? Kelley A. Hartsell, January 2006. All rights reserved.
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