The Angel And The Cross

Who is working for who? And what do they want with him anyway?

Book: The Angel And The Cross by Sigmund Brouwer, Harvest House Publishers, 2005

Genre: Supernatural, Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Boys and Girls 11-15

Subjects: Faith in God, history, Salvation, trust - knowing who to trust

Summary: It’s the year of our Lord – literally. It’s the year Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The setting is Palestine. The character is a young boy, a young Roman boy, the son of a legion commander. He has been chosen as a pawn in the war between the Zealots and the Romans. Each side is determined to use his to achieve their goal and will use kidnapping, poisoning, betrayal and any other means available to get their way.

Notes: As usual Sigmund Brouwer has a young boy who is not a believer interact with a young girl who is. Neither one is ready to trust the other one, but the boy sees something in the girl’s faith that he desires for himself and learns that even if he can’t trust her, he can trust the One she serves.
However, unlike his others, this one is poorly written. This is the only book in the Adventures of the Guardian Angel series that was written by itself, not as part of the Winds of Light series. And it shows. The “angel blog” section is essential to the understanding of the story. It’s not just a random unnecessary commentary interrupting a really good story like the other two. Instead the focus really is on the angel, more so than the real story. And the time period is quite a bit different. This story begins before Christ’s death on the cross, not during the Dark Ages.
In it’s defense, it’s message is still good. It does as good of a job as always of showing the value in putting one’s trust in Christ for salvation. So, for that, I will give it a 4 on the rating scale.
Recommendation Scale 4

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.