2008-05-23 Decent entertainment, bad morals

This series certainly is much better than the "Left Behind" series, because it doesn't stretch the story into a million volumes. As entertainment, it works, but the characters are rather one dimensional. The most puzzling aspect of the novel is that the people in the Christian underground, who are supposed to be the heroes of this story, and those with the highest moral standards, are hypocrites. The condemn pornography and terrorist acts committed by a self proclaimed Christian they perceive to be a charlatan, yet they themselves pray for God to ruthlessly kill every firstborn in the world. This seems no less evil to me than the oppressive government they're fighting against.

Like "Soon", the pace of "Silenced" is somewhat uneven and there's much focus on Paul's wife Jae, and lots of scripture quotes. And like Soon, the last half is more entertaining than the first.

I think most who enjoyed "Soon" or the "Left Behind" series will enjoy this. If you're not a big fan of the vengeful god of the old testament you'll likely find this morally questionable.