Before I get into this review I want to remind my readers that The Windows of Heaven is a 5-novel epic retelling of the Biblical account of Noah and the Flood. The epic’s premise is that much of the Sumero-Akkadian mythology and language is revisionist history by a polytheistic people. Author K. G. Powderly Jr. seeks to creatively rediscover a possible pre-Flood world by unraveling the corruptions committed by later post-Flood peoples.
Book 1: Dawn Apocalypse Rising was an awesome book, full of intrigue and adventure, dinosaurs and lost technology. It ended with a vision that God would send a cataclysmic judgment in 125 years. Seventy years have passed since that time and the world has grown steadily worse. The Paladin’s Odyssey follows the adventures and intrigues of two people fated to be together: U’Sumi, son of A’Nu-Ahki [the latter being the Biblical Noah], a young man fighting his own calling even as he prepares to fend off an invasion from distant Aztlan; and Pyra T’Qinna, a young priestess of Aztlan, who discovers horrible secrets in the laboratories beneath her temple.
While there is a good bit of action and intrigue, this book is essentially about finding faith and having that faith challenged in the face of immense suffering and sin. The characters in this book face everything from the horrors of war, to family betrayal, from the machinations of sinful men to the genetic abominations created by fallen angels by manipulating the creation codes of men. Because it deals so frankly with sin, including sexual sins and child sacrifice, this book is not recommended for younger readers. On the other hand, Powderly does a masterful job of illustrating the scope of suffering men are capable of inflicting upon themselves and others in a world that rejects its Creator’s will. He also discusses why God would create men if He knew they would sin and why God was justified in sending a worldwide Flood to judge the world. It was absolutely breath-taking and, while Powderly admits his vision of the pre-Flood world might be fanciful, one cannot come away from his book without thinking things must have been very much like the world he describes!
Powderly also attempts to account for the origins of false religious deities and mythological figures like Pandora, Poseidon, Calliope, Mnemosyne, Atlas and others. In the world he imagines, these corruptions of the truth are based on real individuals who were later deified and re-interpreted by later generations. No other pre-Flood adventure has so thoroughly attempted to account for such things and it made for a fun read – especially if you know your mythology!
The book ends with an all-out assault on the Biblical Garden of Eden that was absolutely captivating. I highly recommend The Paladin’s Odyssey!
You can buy this book on Amazon or find out more about the series at BrokenParadise.com.
-Rev Tony Breeden
From the Bookwyrm’s Lair
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
The Bookwyrm's Lair 