1 star. The best thing I can say about this book is that at least it was a fast, easy read.

The biggest issue, I think, is that the target audience for this book is quite specific. If you're part of it, I guess you'll love the book. Otherwise, not so much. This is something that should be made more clear in the synopsis/description to avoid getting people like me reading it and then dealing with 1 star reviews.

I did realize that the target audience was likely to be mostly for Christians. What I did not realize was how very specifically for Christians it was and that not only that, but for a very specific subgroup of Christians as well. The kind of person I would imagine would enjoy this book is a Christian who very much likes to live in a bubble where even history is painted perfect and cleaned up and suitable for the most sensitive of children.

I am an agnostic/atheist with an intense interest in all of the worlds religions, cultures and philosophies. I was so not the target audience for this book.

As it is fiction, I did expect the author to take liberties with how things went down. This was not just that though. I'm also an avid fantasy and science fiction reader and even the most outlandish works in those genres have been more in touch with reality than this book was. At least in them the characters have personalities and everything ain't prettied up.

In "The Third Dawn" the characters are all so very nice and clean - really, might like to check up on how concerned people two thousand years ago REALLY were with cleanliness. But it's not just that, this book also features the following things that just had me shaking my head in disbelief:

- well taken care off, healthy and well mannered orphans.
- bandits who were really just misunderstood and as soon as they saw baby Jesus' face they were all welcoming and loving.

And the worst, most outrageous thing - prettied up history at it's peak:

- slaves who praised their masters, talking at length at how lucky they were and how graceful their masters had been.

No, just no. It is always a difficult thing for me to give a book a one-star rating, but that last point above sealed it for me. I am no American, I have no personal ties to the history of slavery, and I am still outraged at that flat out slap in the face that all those suffering people throughout history got there.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and to the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in the exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this historical Biblical fiction. As with all fiction, there is definitely some room for creativity, I would not read this believing everything as fact.

That being said, it was a well written account of what it MIGHT have been like for Mary, Joseph, Jesus, & the disciples.

Thanks to Netgalley & the Publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Third Dawn
The Dawn that Changed the World
by Thomas Nichols
Pub Date 14 Sep 2023
BooksGoSocial
Christian| General Fiction \(Adult\)| Literary Fiction


BooksGoSocial and Netgalley provided me with a copy of The Third Dawn for review:



The young Jesus travels through the towns and villages of Israel, Palestine, and across the sea to Ephesus with his lifelong friend, Nur. Only at His side, Jesus experiences the joys and hardships of humanity-Jews and gentiles, rich and poor, believers and nonbelievers, freemen and slaves.


This unique perspective on the Messiah's life is presented by Nichols' gifted storytelling, providing a rare glimpse into His joys and suffering. When He pronounces the future on a mountaintop above Capernaum, and a spectacular miracle occurs below, the reader will experience the emotions of His power and authority.



I give The Third Dawn five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!