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Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Can an author have more betrayed her readers?

A book review of 30 Pieces of Silver (The Betray Series) by Carolyn McCray. Contains SPOILERS The basic plot is this: in the modern day a Special Ops team needs this lady scientist to help track down Judas' 30 pieces of silver because, of course, they are just chock full of special powers. Meanwhile back in the day opf Jesus and Judas, which the author for some unfathomable reason incorrectly dates as AD 42, there is a plot afoot on the part of Jesus and family with the assistance of Judas, that Judas is personally selected by Jesus to betray him. Someone else is supposed to die on the cross so it can appear that Jesus arose from the dead (So Passover Plot, doncha know, so unoriginal on McCray's part). The twist is that Judas ends up dying on the cross and James' brother of Jesus stabs Jesus to death, leaving unanswered the whole question of what then was the powerful message that swept the Mediterranean Basin and changed human history. What I write below is what I posted to Amazon, where I bought the book for my Kindle: Really? Have any of you who write these reviews actually read this book? I have to ask because I cannot think of an occasion when an author has more betrayed that which is due the reader than this book. In fact, I think this author has acted in such an irresponsible manner toward her readers that I will never read another book by this author again. First of all, the title really should tell the reviewer what this book is about. Anyone who doesn't recognize the significance of 30 pieces of silver is just plain uneducated. Therefore I think it it extremely reprehensible of the author to place certain historical events 8 to 10 years later than they actually did. That is either a case of ignorance, misinformation, editing failure or a willful playing fast and loose with historical events. Given the rest of the book, I think the latter. Oh, sure the main events are page turners, the main characters likable, the developing love between the 2 main characters is mercifully free of pornographic details. BUT. The author raise certain "what ifs" about certain historical events. Almost a staple in these post modern times to come up with the "what ifs." However a responsible author would answer the "what ifs" she raises and this author does not. She leaves the biggest "what if" the world would ever have to face dangling, unanswered, ignored. That is just plain irresponsible. That is a betrayal of the implicit contract between author and reader. That is why I will never read anything by this author in the future. I don't think you should either.

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