Because the Heirs of Anton series begins in contemporary times and gradually goes backward in history (which is plenty intriguing but also something I'm not used to), and because historical fiction often has a stronger pull on me than contemporary, I started with Book Two of this ChristFic series, which takes place in the 1970s. My thought was that if I felt like I was missing something after finishing the three historical novels, I'd go back (but ahead in time in the saga) and read Book One last.

Well, folks. I'll be going with that thought, because Book Three riveted me from start to finish and left me so messed up.

So meaningfully, wonderfully messed up.

I liked Book Two well enough, but after being floored by this third novel, I had to go back and reread some related chunks of Book Two. Chunks that now hold so much more significance to me. Now that I remember certain questions that the second book doesn't answer, I want to prolong my own suspense and find out the answers to those questions last. When I get to the first book—where I'm assuming those answers are.

Whew! What a rush this is turning out to be.

Granted, the rush isn't because this story is a "fun" adventure, which of course it isn't. It's a depiction of war, deadly and tragic. (Heads-up: Two brief mentions of harm to a child particularly hurt my heart, though the mentions aren't overly graphic.)

On a different note, it seems that a few of the characters' emotions and intentions sometimes swing from up to down or way from the left to the right or wherever, even if it means swinging in a matter of minutes. I'm sure that's meant to create engaging tension, but for me, it made the characters somewhat hard to make sense of in places. Also, I found quite a bit of repetitive actions and descriptions in the writing, such as the "cupping" of this or that, the "tracing" of faces, and the rather frequent mentions that one or another character's hair is blond and their eyes are blue. In the end, though, that was all minor.

The characters' spiritual reflections and comments felt organic to the story to me, not shoehorned in for the sake of a faith message. And the resounding hope in the beautifully bittersweet ending...

My goodness. Wonderfully messed up, I am.

I reckon a part of me will remain this way until I finish the series. ( )

RTC ( )