The Digital Renaissance: Review: The Book of Lilith

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Review: The Book of Lilith

The Book of Lilith by Robert G. Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story is a fantastical retelling of the mythic origins of man (and woman) told from a moderately feminist point of view with a fair amount of eastern philosophy mixed in. It begins with the presumption that Lilith was actually the first human soul and that through her love for others, God granted souls to all living things ... Including Adam, the first man. As the story unfolds, the author introduces from very interesting concepts about why we were created, what the soul does for us and how we have the [flawed] moral rules that guide us today. We also find a more rational explanation of man's ejection from the Garden of Eden and a new perspective of the story of Cain.

Unfortunately I thought that rational treatment took away from the mythic quality of the story in general and could not avoid the feeling that I was reading a fancy textbook in school. To be fair, I did learn quite a bit from the story and did enjoy it from that point of view; however, the story seemed to lack several of the critical elements of an entertaining page turner. Part of the problem for me might have been the graphic [sexual] nature of several parts of the story and the subsequent clinical treatment of the subject within. While such content is actually fairly common in ancient text, it is not part of the genre that I typically read for entertainment, making it difficult for me to truly enjoy the book.

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment

My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.