A Voice in the Wind

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

Well my friends, I am sorry this review is going up so late... my bad..
So this book is one I have been thinking alot about. I actually finished it almost 2 weeks ago, but I haven't been able to decide it's rating. It was very good, I couldn't put it down. However there was alot of stuff in there that made it hard to make and easy decision. Gah it was super hard!

Flash back to the early years after Christ's death. Jerusalem is being destroyed. All of Christ's apostles have been killed. Rome is in chaos.
Hadassah, a young jewish/christian girl with no family remaining, is taken to be a slave for a wealthy aristocratic family. She is to be the hand maiden of the daughter of the household, Julia.But as she starts to serve, she finds Julia to be a selfish brat who cares only for her own wants. Then there is Marcus, the son of the household, who's only pleasure in life is money and women. With a father seriously ill, and a mother not knowing which way to turn, this family seems to be falling apart. Hadassah loves each member of the family dearly, (some a little more than others(; ) and tries to serve them, and teach them of the Savior. With little success. As Hadassah clings to her faith and serves dutifully, she is also introduced to the product of what Rome has become.

Okay so first of all, the reason why I am having such a hard time deciding on this one is because it is definitely an adult book. There is death, and sexuality, and violence. However it is historical fiction, so how much of that is needed to be said in order to be factual?! I don't know..  The author did do a decent job at not going into detail during sex scenes, however the sex scenes did happen alot. (It would just kinda be like "After they slept together... yata yata") The violence was decently graphic, and there were some deaths. Yet there were no cuss words. A Voice in the Wind is  historical fiction, and I enjoyed learning about ancient Rome. But it was religious, and I try not to bring too much religion into reviews, so anyone can enjoy them.

As you can see, I am in quite a predicament. There are many bad things in this book, that I wouldn't recommend to others. However there was also wonderful underlying messages. Messages of always being grateful no matter your circumstance; never ever losing faith in what you know is right; and the knowledge that there are things more important than money, and simple pleasures. There is so much good and so much bad. Gah it has been very hard to decide, but here is my final conclusion:

Rate: PG13/R
   Violence, Sex, and adult content.
GOOD OR GOODBYE?
    I would give this book a little bit of a you decide. If you are a teen, I WOULD NOT recommend. However I think if you are an adult/mature (older) teen, and you think you can handle it, I think it would be okay! It is very well written, and entertaining. I just don't think its suitable for young teens. 

NITTY GRITTY:
There is sexuality. Same gender attraction is brought up, passionate kisses, prostitutes, some nudity, etc... However, I know the author did try to tone it down a little bit, instead of detailing each part.....
The violence is during the gladiator fights. This was a common pastime for romans. Getting prisoners to train to fight each other to the death. So there was death and violence.
I really would not recommend to young teens.