book reviews from an avid reader

Book Reviews From An Avid Reader is a website run by Joan Nienhuis who does reviews of a variety of books, with emphasis on the Christian genre.

This is a good fictional look at the early church and how a few of the disciples may have found their place in it. It is also a good description of the conditions leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Joan Nienhuis

Here’s her review of:

Book Cover: The Last Disciple: Crisis in Jerusalem

My Review

This is an interesting novel exploring the person of John, the last of Jesus’ disciples to die. It is also an exploration of the early church. We read how disciples tried to work out how to obey Jesus’ teachings and how they discussed the need for more writings like those of Paul. This latter concern was pertinent to John who knew Jesus well. I was a bit surprised at the strong feelings against the Romans, John carrying a staff with him as protection.

Brouwer suggests this John was a cousin of Jesus (527/3392). This was a new concept for me but I did find some evidence for this to be true based on the various descriptions of the women at the crucifixion. I liked delving into John’s personality, such as his struggle with not being Paul or Peter as he visits various churches. I did want to know how John supported himself and his care for Mary. While other disciples fished from time to time, John’s method of support remained a mystery. Brouwer’s writing style was good although I did find his failure to supply quotation marks between successive paragraphs of the same person talking a bit disconcerting and confusing.

This is a good fictional look at the early church and how a few of the disciples may have found their place in it. It is also a good description of the conditions leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

If you are looking for good books to read, Joan has been amazingly prolific in doing book reviews. You can find her at: BookWomanJoan.blogspot.com.

This review is part of the Celbrity Lit Tour:

Celebrity Lit

What Is Celebrity Lit?

Celebrate Lit is a ministry whose goal is to bring great Christian Authors’ work into the hands of readers. It is our sincere prayer that you will find books within our “pages” that will bless you and meet new authors that will inspire you in your faith.

Celebrity Lit

Yours in Christ, Kurt

For more on my book, click here:

My New Book Is Out!

Similar Posts