The Restorer's Journey

A week ago, my lovely wife, wonderful son, and I went to the book launch for Sharon Hinck's latest opus, Symphony of Secrets. But since Jill and I had a copy of said book already, I purchased her other latest release, The Restorer's Journey. One of the guests at the gala said that he had gotten a copy of this book and read it in two days.

And now, so have I.

Susan Mitchell and her son, Jake, go back to the People of the Verses but things go decidedly awry as Susan falls into the hands of enemies intent on destroying her and Jake ... well, let's just say that Jake has problems of his own which I won't divulge because I try not to give out too many spoilers.

To put it bluntly, I couldn't put this book down. Once I got going, I had to keep reading to find out what would happen. Hinck constructed the book to compel readers to keep going by spending a few chapters with Susan and then a few chapters with Jake. The reason why this worked so well is because it'd keep you reading. She'd end a section describing what was happening to Susan on a dramatic note, which propelled me into the section on Jake. I'd want to read Jake's section quickly, but by the time I was halfway through Jake's section, I'd be into his story again and wanting to keep going with that. But then Susan's story would come back and I'd read through her story to get to Jake's adventures... You get the idea.

Part of the fun with the Restorer series (and all of Sharon's books, for that matter) is the fact that she always has an interesting point to make about faith. In The Restorer's Son, for example, she vividly portrayed a person wrestling with God. Or sword fighting, as it were. This time, Sharon gave me some food for thought on the question of evil. I won't say what that thought was because I'd rather you go and find it for yourself.

So make sure you pick this one up. Just be ready for a marathon reading session.