The Days of Peleg starts off charting the adventures of the eponymous hero as he sets off on a 12 year voyage around the newly formed world after the events of the tower of babel. However, Peleg's journey soon becomes merely a series of loosely related incidents that don't build to anything and the latter part of the book changes from a chronicle of Peleg to a history of the world from the tower of babel to the coming of Abraham. Once Shem, Noah's son, enters the book he takes over the tale and you hardly see Peleg anymore, who is a likable character as he is very human with many failings, including a fear of heights. I admire Jon's intentions and I like his depiction of that early world as being very highly educated and technologically advanced. However, this book is VERY LONG at nearly 600 pages, and without a strong storyline to hold it together or a competent enough writer, I found it hard to finish. It also became very preachy at the end, and you just can't beat the Bible for tales from those early days. For writing style and content I award 2/10 but I'll bump it up to 3/10 because I admire his effort to write a book about this time in history.Saturday, January 26, 2008
Book review: The Days of Peleg by Jon Saboe
The Days of Peleg starts off charting the adventures of the eponymous hero as he sets off on a 12 year voyage around the newly formed world after the events of the tower of babel. However, Peleg's journey soon becomes merely a series of loosely related incidents that don't build to anything and the latter part of the book changes from a chronicle of Peleg to a history of the world from the tower of babel to the coming of Abraham. Once Shem, Noah's son, enters the book he takes over the tale and you hardly see Peleg anymore, who is a likable character as he is very human with many failings, including a fear of heights. I admire Jon's intentions and I like his depiction of that early world as being very highly educated and technologically advanced. However, this book is VERY LONG at nearly 600 pages, and without a strong storyline to hold it together or a competent enough writer, I found it hard to finish. It also became very preachy at the end, and you just can't beat the Bible for tales from those early days. For writing style and content I award 2/10 but I'll bump it up to 3/10 because I admire his effort to write a book about this time in history.
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2 comments:
Sounds like a very good/interesting idea - shame he couldn't live up to it!
I'm glad Inkpot took the time to check out this book. Obviously, such a book is not for everyone, but I have noticed a lot of positive reviews for it on Amazon and other sites.
As another reviewer has noted, it is "not the coming of the mothership", it still (as the Historical Novel Society notes) "blends ancient history…and fiction in a way that is enjoyable to follow" has
"well-researched historical events and legends" and
"will be appreciated by anyone seeking a different perspective on man’s early history."
I think it is worthwhile to give 'The Days of Peleg' a chance.
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