This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Merciless
(Bethany House – July 1, 2008)
by
Robin Parrish
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robin Parrish had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract.
More than ten years he spent writing for various websites, including About.com, CMCentral.com, and Infuze Magazine, which is a unique intersection between art and faith which he also conceived of and created.
One of his more “high concept” ideas for Infuze was to return to his love for storytelling and create a serialized tale that would play out every two weeks, telling a complete, compelling story over the course of nine months. That serialized story eventually came to the attention of several publishers, who saw it as a potential debut novel for Robin Parrish.
In 2005, Bethany House Publishers brought Robin full circle by contracting him for the rights to not only that first book, Relentless — but two sequels including Fearless and Merciless. A trilogy that unfolded in the consecutive summers of 2006, 2007, and this year, 2008. One massive tale — of which that first, original story would form only the foundational first volume of the three — spread across three books.
Robin Parrish is a journalist who’s written about pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture. He and his wife, Karen and son live in North Carolina.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The world as we know it has ENDED.
DEATH and CHAOS creep across the globe and only the POWERLESS can RISE UP to stop it.
But can anything stop the onslaught of the DARKWORLD
From the earth’s depths crawls a figure with skin like granite, flames for eyes, and the face of Grant Borrows.
Oblivion has arrived.
Every clock around the world has stopped. Time has frozen.
The Secretum have fulfilled the prophecy, unleashing on earth the most powerful being to walk the earth in thousands of years. His name is Oblivion and his touch is death.
He can’t be slowed.He can’t be stopped.
And he can’t be killed.
But as long as any live who trust in hope and love and freedom, the fight is not over.
They have only one chance before he brings forth the Darkworld.
Oblivion is: Merciless
“Robin Parrish is the kind of writer who understands how to entertain from the word go. His stories are sure to shape fiction for years to come.”
~TED DEKKER, author of ADAM
If you would like to read the first chapter of Merciless, go HERE
MY REVIEW:
Merciless is the first novel by Robin Parrish that I have read. If it is any example of his skill, it definitely won’t be the last. I am already thinking about acquiring the first two installments of the Dominion trilogy just to see what I have missed.
As other reviewers have stated, Merciless is an epic novel about a different breed of superheroes and unthinkable evil. The action packed story moves at an intense pace with barely a pause for breath. I can totally see a film (maybe three?) based on this series. I probably could not watch because I have a problem with visual violence – I can read about it but not watch it. Nevertheless, Merciless has all the ingredients for a spectacular, blockbuster movie that would appeal to action lovers (especially guys).
At first, I was a little disappointed at the absence of a gospel message but concluded that as a fantasy novel, Merciless contains an abundant amount of spiritual truth. Merciless contains a strong message of courage, perseverance, forgiveness, redemption, and sacrifice. I also felt that the Ringbearers were trying to save the world under their own strength, but after some thought, realized that the powers of the Ringbearers could be symbolic of spiritual gifts.
I would recommend Merciless to anyone who enjoys a suspense filled thriller that won’t let you go until you reach the last page.
