The Roman, The Twelve And The King

“As you go back in time to Jesus, watch Him, the Maestro, again. Watch as he carefully chooses his twelve instruments, tuning them to perfection in order to bring a full symphony of purpose into being. Once more feel the crescendo of His life symphony to its climatic end in the Passion… Feel the thrill of Messiah’s mighty encores, which has left believing audiences applauding ever since that day. You see, in order to truly make beautiful music, one must know the Subject well, and feel it deep in the soul.”

“And the subject is Messiah.” Nigel bowed humbly. “It will be an honor.”

Book: The Roman, the Twelve and the King (The Epic Order of the Seven) by Jenny L. Cote, Living Ink Books, 2012

Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Boys and Girls 10-15

Subjects: Biblical History, Salvation

Summary: Messiah. What greater theme for a piece of music could there be? Especially for an oratorio, or “ora-oreo” as Al calls it. The year is 1735 and the seven animals have been given the job of helping inspire the men who wrote The Messiah. Whether it be Kate providing the spark for a romance, writing a letter, Liz leaving a passage of Scripture open for Mr. Jennens to see in the morning, Nigel playing a mouse-sized violin, or attempting to eat someone out of house at home (Al’s specialty), the animals do their best to help provide the inspiration for Charles Jennens and George F. Handel to write the Messiah. Just when the five animals think they are making progress though, a disaster happens. Gillamon arrives and assures them that all is well, and the plans are simply different than they had thought. The creatures need further inspiration themselves and are sent back to the time of the Messiah to watch once more His ministry, death and resurrection.

Notes: Delightful, playful, entertaining, educational, enlightening – all of these words describe this series well. It covers Biblical history during the time of the Gospels. It does a great job sticking to the truth of the story as recorded in the Bible while adding entertaining commentary from the animals. This particular book shows how powerful and loving our Messiah truly is. The reader gets to observe most of the events of the Gospels through the eyes of the animals – who, being immortal, have already seen and understood the history leading up to this point. They know Jesus will be crucified to pay the price for sin. And they know of the triumph that will happen three days later. As such, the characters provide insight into the events through their conversations and observations. This book is unique in that it not only covers Biblical history, it also covers a bit more modern time period – 1735. It shows the characters interacting with Charles Jennens and George F. Handel as they write The Messiah. It gives a glimpse of the events surrounding the writing of it.

I highly recommend this book and this series.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

John 4:25-26 – The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am He."