Esther by
Angela Hunt gives us the viewpoint of the story of Esther from Esther herself,
and also from the eunuch Harbonah. I appreciated
how Ms. Hunt gave me another angle to look at for the character of Esther and
what may have been going on in the harem not to mention more of the Persian
culture and their laws. I have seen a
couple of movies where the king is either a madman or they focus much more on a
romantic hero. I very much liked how he
was shown in this book. He was a man who
was deeply troubled by his defeat from the Greeks and trying to live up to his
father’s reputation before him. He was a
powerful man who was heavily influenced by others to help him make his decisions
and especially with the silver tongued Haman, very unwise decrees were sent
out. We saw the king’s character through
the eyes of Esther and his personal eunuch Harbonah. I also liked how she portrayed Esther, as at
first a very starry eyed girl who was chosen to be the Queen by her much older
husband whom she was very infatuated with.
As she matures, this story has a timeline of several years, she realizes
that she cannot change the king but listening to some wise counsel she comes to
the conclusion that he was her husband and she was simply to love him.
Staying very close to the Biblical story and using the writings
of the Greek historian Herodotus, we have a very interesting story of Esther
and how again the Bible fits into history.
Answering questions such as what happened to Vashti and why was the king’s
son Artaxerxes so favorable to the Jews during Nehemiah’s time years later. This is not a romantic tale, but a tale of a
young woman who realizes there is more than this world can offer even with all
its royal trappings, glamour, and even the fickle love of a powerful husband. Bravo.
I look forward to how she tells the story of Bathsheba in the next Dangerous Beauty Novel. I received my copy for an honest review from
The Book Club Network, Inc. and the opinions are my own.
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