Esther: Royal Beauty by Angela Hunt Series: Dangerous Beauty #1
Publisher: Bethany House (2014)
eARC (325 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Also by this author: Delilah
Also in this series: Delilah
Reading Challenges: Read 2014
Synopsis
An ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews in ancient Persia, so an inexperienced beautiful young queen must take a stand for her people.
When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews--young and old, powerful and helpless. Purposely violating an ancient Persian law, she risks her life in order to save her people...and bind her husband's heart.
Esther marks bestselling author Angela Hunt's return to biblical fiction. In each novel she explores an example of a Hebrew Old Testament tob woman: a woman whose physical beauty influences those around her--and can change the course of history.
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When I first saw this book on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it. It is about Esther! I absolutely love the movie One Night With the King and the biblical book of Esther. Esther (or rather, Hadassah) is one of the biblical persons who really fascinates me. And the cover is just beautiful.
Varying Perspectives
I love how the book doesn’t keep with just one perspective. Throughout the books different characters get their turn to tell the story in first person. I really like that, a lot. Throughout the book, you get to hear from Hadassah and Harbonah, a servant and eunuch in the palace. The thing that most often irritates me about first person is that you only get to hear from one perspective. In Esther, this was not the case. You are able to hear from two perspectives that are, at times, extremely different. I really appreciated that.
Historical and Biblical Accuracy
This book is accurate both biblically and historically to the time of Esther. I really like it when books that are historical fiction bother to actually get the historical facts correct. This book did. There were also some biblical quotes throughout the book. I know that I recognized one from Deuteronomy and at least two from Psalms. I really appreciated that.
As an interesting side note, one of the quotes from Psalms was part of the Psalter for Evening Prayer last night.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this book. At first I wasn’t too sure since, as I already mentioned, I was afraid it wouldn’t be historically and biblically accurate. But it was. And I really liked it. I stayed up a bit later than I usually would last night because I wanted to finish it so bad. This is a book that I am going to want to buy a physical copy of once it is released.
Thank you so much, Bethany House! I really enjoyed the book.
I received this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
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