My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Review: The Cross-Shaped Life: Taking on Christ's Humanity

The Cross-Shaped Life: Taking on Christ's Humanity The Cross-Shaped Life: Taking on Christ's Humanity by Jeff Kennon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was very curious about the author’s take on what is arguably the central concept of Christianity … to live like Christ.  There really is nothing terribly new here; however, the author does provide a highly accessible treatment of the subject that is useful for instruction and meditation on the Christian Life … why was the cross necessary and significant is covered in the first half; although we don’t get much in the way of how the cross actually calls us [Christians] to live Christ’s example [and how to do so] until the second half … with a fair amount of repetitive thought and discourse along the way.  Ultimately we get the idea that “Sacrifice” is “at the core of the cross” … meaning that we are called to walk a path of sacrifice in service to others … this probably won’t come of much of a surprise for most [devout] Christians; however, it does provide an opportunity to review how well we do it … and where we fall short and need correction.

Introduction
Chapter 1: Our Roots
Chapter 2: Our Ruin
Chapter 3: Our Rescue
Chapter 4: Our Restoration
Chapter 5: Humility: A Life in Perspective
Chapter 6: Service: A Life Focused on Others
Chapter 7: Obedience: A Life of Depth
Chapter 8: Sacrifice: A Life under the Cross

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheCrossShapedLife #NetGalley.

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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.