I found this book to be quite good!

It was my first foray into biblical fiction, and I have to say, it did not disappoint.

Normally, I'm a memoir, non-fiction, and horror kind of girl, so I'm not sure what made me pick this one up, but I did, and I'm not mad about it. It tied in nicely with the biblical story of Noah and the flood but made the whole thing so much more human and heart-tugging. It is, of course, fiction, though much of the main plot is biblically based. But as a human myself, I can see how much of what happened -- particularly the people-to-people interactions and the way the "crazy Noah family" was treated -- was probably pretty close to what really happened.

After all, we've all known someone the world thought was crazy, and we've all seen how society treated that person and that person's family (if they happened to believe that person's crazy).

It really was quite a beautiful story, and if all biblical fiction is as relevant and emotionally investing as this one, I may have to read more of it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook for my honest review!

I have to admit that I was hesitant at first to dive into this one being that the Bible stands for one hundred percent truth on its own. But taking the stance of historical fiction I found that I really enjoyed seeing the building of the ark from a son’s perspective and diving into the culture that surrounded the time frame.

I took my time getting through this one and would often re-listen to parts.

Definitely recommend!

Noah was a prophet and years were spent preparing for impending doom. But he was not alone in his endeavours, he had a family. Jayfeth was one of his sons but was not a prophet himself. This novel is a version of his story. His trials and tribulations of being a dutiful son whilst having his own doubts.

Very well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook). Great characters give Jayfeth and those he encounters an adventure beyond their control. There is hard physical work, travels to strange lands and plenty of dangerous situations. A life of faith in a time of turmoil.

• Title: Son of the Doomsday Prophet: A Fantasy Adventure in the Days of Noah
• Author: Steven J. Byers
• Publisher: Steven J. Byers
• Publisher's website: https://stevenjbyers.com/
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B0CLC6Q4C8
• List Price : $17.99
• Reviewer: Debra Gaynor
• Email: debg121254@gmail.com
• Website: Book Reviews By Debra www.facebook.com/bookreviewsbydebra BookMark column in HancockClarion.com

Son of the Doomsday Prophet: A Fantasy Adventure in the Days of Noah
Steven J. Byers
The plot of this book is wonderfully unique. The main character is Jayfeth, the oldest son of Noah. That’s right, Noah, the one that built the Ark.
Noah was a prophet from God. He attempted to share God’s message of turning away from their wickedness, a few were touched but they didn’t completely understand. Many were wicked and refused to listen. The more he preached, begged and cajoled the angrier the people were. Noah and his family were unwelcome even in their own tribe. God has laid a heavy mission on Noah’s shoulders. His mission was to build an ark that will save the ones that turn from their wicked way.
Noah takes his sons with him to purchase tools for building the Ark. There were Nephilim in the community. The ruler asks Noah to speak to the people. They cheered when they heard Noah’s message. He gave them a gift, a beautiful wood carved eagle. It was so realistic it looked as if it would burst into flight, at any moment. But the people misunderstood the gift, and they turned to it in worship. Nephilim was evil. After Noah angered them, they threatened both Noah and his family.
Jayfeth is still young and immature in many ways, but his father is patient with him, encourages him and teaches him. As the oldest son he travels with his father and witnesses his prophesizing and people’s reactions. But he also has his own doubts, he has questions but no answers. Noah takes the young man on a quest. They travel to an area that is beautiful with green everywhere. Noah realizes Jayfeth must face the bemouth. It is a learning experience for the young man. He has much to face in his future, things that will test his courage, strength and faith.
Author Steven J. Byers has forced me to look deeper into the Biblical story of Noah. Byers is very talented he brought the scripture to life. I felt as if I were walking beside Jayfeth. I never thought much about Noah’s family. They faced hardships and abuse at the hands of others. They each must have doubted God’s calling at one time or another.
Byers handles the pagan religion and wickedness in a superb manner. He didn’t dwell on it he gave just the right amount oof description to imprint the degeneracy on readers. The characters were well done; they came to life on the pages of this tale.
I have always enjoyed Old Testament stories, such as Noah’s Ark. Son of the Doomsday Prophet is an absorbing read. Kudos to author Steven J. Byers.
Thank you NetGalley for the review copy of this book. As always my reviews are my personal opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a copy of Son of the Doomsday Prophet. I was really interested in picking this up since I’ve never read anything from this period of time before. I loved that the story used aspects from the story of Noah’s Ark but fleshed it out into a fully developed and vivid world in the days of Noah whilst maintaining key aspects of the biblical story and beliefs of the time. I also loved that we didn’t get the obvious perspective of Noah at all throughout the book but instead the only son of Noah who is not a prophet and doesn’t have visions which showed the trust and inner battle with faith that Jayfeth has at different points of his life, especially compared to his brothers who are prophets and in difficult times when it would have been easy for him to put aside his father’s visions, especially considering the weight and strain of carrying out his father’s plan.

However, I would say that it was slower in some places than others and it did take me a while to read through it. I would have also liked to have seen more development of Jayfeth’s inner battle and times he was tempted to walk away as I think this would have been more realistic and I would have liked to have seen another POV or discussion with another character of the moral decline of humanity as Jayfeth did not witness some of the worst of Humanity (although he definitely witnesses some) and think this would have added to the story a little more.

Overall this was still a really interesting and well written book which I would recommend, especially for those looking for something different but still in the fantasy/historical fiction genre.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

A really good fictionalized story of Noah and the ark taking what little we know and making it a very interesting and detailed tale. From what I’ve read from the Bible there’s obviously a lot of things that’ll be different, so don’t expect that but the idea of Noah building the ark to be safe from a flood that kills the evil people based off a message from god is the base plot and they take that and make it absolutely entertaining. I couldn’t think of a better way this story could be fictionalized. It was incredible and to be following the fun non prophet son made it all the better. I definitely recommend this to anyone Christian or not.

I'll be publishing my review on Goodreads and StoryGraph 14th October and on Tik tok most likely will add to a monthly wrap up post with review the beginning of November.