Official Review: A Gathering of Lions and Lambs
Posted: 12 Nov 2013, 21:36
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Gathering of Lions and Lambs" by Roger Jackson.]
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A Gathering of Lions and Lambs by Roger Jackson is a fictional story of a teenage boy that tells his story about what happened after a global pandemic. This book is geared more towards young adults because of its simplicity and being the genre of book, it was not my normal "read", however I was very captivated by the way the story was told. A story has never brought tears to my eyes before but this one definitely tugged at my heart. The author did a wonderful job with the descriptions of everything going on and played on your emotions. I also liked the quotations he used in the beginning of the book because along with the title, it gave you something to think about while you read.
Jacob Trimble, the main character in the story, tells his account of what happened when the pandemic swept the earth and then after everything grew quiet. In the story as the main character is forced to grow up faster than any child should ever have to, he encounters new people, and slowly a community is created. They all try to hold on to some semblance of the past lives, while moving on and trying to survive the new world that they live in. A world where they are forced to take and learn new skills from each other and work hard to survive. As time goes on and the community grows they develop friendships and eventually come to see each other as family.
While all the characters come together in the story, Jacob faces his own personal demons and has to overcome them and deal with the negative events occurring around him in order to maintain peace, or risk everything falling apart. A Gathering of Lions and Lambs is symbolic of that. He has to either back down and become just another person or take charge and continue building on what he started. That was my favorite part of the story. To me, it depicts what would need to happen in a post apocalyptic world in this scenario. This story held a lot of life lessons. One being how easy it is to become broken come to rely on things such as alcohol and drugs to get you from one day to the next.
I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat while reading this, unable to step away from the book. I had to know what was gonna happen yet. The author takes Jacob through several different scenarios throughout the book. Young love, the pain and fear of losing everything you once knew, to starting over in a world where there is nothing but loneliness. Even after he finds companionship again there is still that sense of grief, of loneliness and it is portrayed so that the reader, no matter their age, can relate what is being said and what is going on.
I didn't like, however, was that there didn't seem to be much description backing the main character, Jacob Trimble. While all the other characters were given a general description as they came along, I felt Jacob Trimble was not described properly. If anything, I feel he should have had a little more description than the rest. I like to be able to put a face to the characters I'm reading about but I wasn't able to do that with Jacob Trimble. There were a few small mistakes through the book, such as, grammar, missing words, and missing punctuation but I have read much worse books in that sense. With the mistakes, though, this book was still easy to read and figure out what the author was trying to say.
With all that being said I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to readers of all ages. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives, and I think this is a book everybody would enjoy. A Gathering of Lions and Lambs is a very good, emotional book to read, and I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to read it. I would gladly read it again.
***
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Jacob Trimble, the main character in the story, tells his account of what happened when the pandemic swept the earth and then after everything grew quiet. In the story as the main character is forced to grow up faster than any child should ever have to, he encounters new people, and slowly a community is created. They all try to hold on to some semblance of the past lives, while moving on and trying to survive the new world that they live in. A world where they are forced to take and learn new skills from each other and work hard to survive. As time goes on and the community grows they develop friendships and eventually come to see each other as family.
While all the characters come together in the story, Jacob faces his own personal demons and has to overcome them and deal with the negative events occurring around him in order to maintain peace, or risk everything falling apart. A Gathering of Lions and Lambs is symbolic of that. He has to either back down and become just another person or take charge and continue building on what he started. That was my favorite part of the story. To me, it depicts what would need to happen in a post apocalyptic world in this scenario. This story held a lot of life lessons. One being how easy it is to become broken come to rely on things such as alcohol and drugs to get you from one day to the next.
I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat while reading this, unable to step away from the book. I had to know what was gonna happen yet. The author takes Jacob through several different scenarios throughout the book. Young love, the pain and fear of losing everything you once knew, to starting over in a world where there is nothing but loneliness. Even after he finds companionship again there is still that sense of grief, of loneliness and it is portrayed so that the reader, no matter their age, can relate what is being said and what is going on.
I didn't like, however, was that there didn't seem to be much description backing the main character, Jacob Trimble. While all the other characters were given a general description as they came along, I felt Jacob Trimble was not described properly. If anything, I feel he should have had a little more description than the rest. I like to be able to put a face to the characters I'm reading about but I wasn't able to do that with Jacob Trimble. There were a few small mistakes through the book, such as, grammar, missing words, and missing punctuation but I have read much worse books in that sense. With the mistakes, though, this book was still easy to read and figure out what the author was trying to say.
With all that being said I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to readers of all ages. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives, and I think this is a book everybody would enjoy. A Gathering of Lions and Lambs is a very good, emotional book to read, and I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to read it. I would gladly read it again.
***
Buy "A Gathering of Lions and Lambs" on Amazon
Buy "A Gathering of Lions and Lambs" on Barnes and Noble