Day of Atonement by David A. deSilva (Book Review)

Day of Atonement: A Novel of the Maccabean Revolt

by David A. deSilva

(received in exchange for an honest review)

Genre- Fiction / Historical

Published by- Kregel Publications

Copyrighted- 2015

Number of pages- 320

Age Group- Adult

Description of book- paperback, listed price- $15.99, ISBN 978-0-8254-2471-7

Jason wants to help his city of Jerusalem become more modern with the help of the Greeks.  His brother, Honiah III, the high priest, wants the city to stay the same.  Who will win?  What lengths will the Greeks and the Jews go to keep the city the way they want it to be?

There is an author’s note and character list also in the book.

About the Author-

David A. deSilva has written over twenty books.  He currently lives in Florida with his family.  He serves as Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland.

My thoughts-

I thought this book was not very interesting when I first began it, but the more I read it, the more I liked it and became invested in the characters.  I have not studied this time in history, so I learned a lot.  I appreciated that this book was historical fiction.  Often it is much easier for me to learn about history with a book that is fiction rather than nonfiction. 

There were a lot of characters.  David deSilva did a good job of describing them, so compared to many other books with a lot of characters, I did not get them confused as often.  I was pleased to see the list of characters in the back.  It helped me when I had questions about whether a person know from ancient sources or made for this story.  I would have like the list of characters to be in the front of the book.  Many people might miss the list, because it was in the back.

I did not like how the book ended.  I wanted to know how the revolt ended.  I learned that the Jews were becoming the victors, but there was no concrete ending say that the Jews were able to take back Jerusalem. 

I would recommend Day of Atonement to anyone who wishes to learn about the Maccabean Revolt and read a good novel.

Disclosure of Material Connection- I received Day of Atonement: A Novel of the Maccabean Revolt, by David A. deSilva, for free from Kregel Publications’ Blog Tour.  All links were current when posted.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.