Lone Star Book Blog Tour: The Third Dawn by Thomas J. Nichols (review & giveaway)

Accompanied by His lifelong friend, Nur, the young Jesus ventures throughout the towns and villages of Israel, Palestine, and across the sea to the port city of Ephesus. With Nur always at His side, Jesus experiences the joys and hardships of humanity—Jews and gentiles, rich and poor, believers and nonbelievers, freemen and slaves.

Nichols’s gifted storytelling brings forth this unique perspective on the life of the Messiah, providing a rare insight into His personal joys and suffering. The reader will experience the emotions of His power and authority when, on a mountaintop above Capernaum, He pronounces the future, and a spectacular miracle occurs in the city below.

The Third Dawn was initially published in 2011 but is now updated with new dialogue and more detailed settings.

“A newfound life awaited each of them—a life of love and sorrow, peace and pain, and a plethora of great expectations and surprises.”

The Third Dawn by Thomas J. Nichols is a creative and thoroughly engaging fictional expansion of the life of Jesus, from cradle to cross. While the Christian Bible provides plenty of information on Jesus’ nativity, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection, imagining the day-to-day activities and relationships among the holy family and others is exciting.

Thomas J. Nichols has taken the recorded history of Jesus and created an episodic fiction with the known events from the Bible and plenty of extra scenes, thoughts, and dialogue from the author’s imagination. No matter the reader’s individual beliefs or biblical knowledge, The Third Dawn is entertaining, thought provoking, and easy to follow.

Nur is a new character in this story and plays an important role in the lives of his adoptive parents, Mary and Joseph, and in the life of Jesus. Nur is an enigma and an interesting study on the human condition and spirituality. While he is a typical young boy/man, he has a touch of mystery about him, in terms of his sudden appearance and his immediate and striking connection with the infant Messiah. The story starts before the birth of Jesus and then follows Him on His fateful path toward His Passion and then on to the apostles’ mission and Mary’s assumption. An overall focus throughout the entire book is on the brotherly/spiritual relationship between Jesus and Nur and on Nur’s unwavering duty to Mary, the Mother of God.

The pacing of The Third Dawn is quite fast because it is not weighed down with overt repetitiveness. The author uses both concise and lyrical prose to keep the story flowing and focused on specific points, rather than trying to fit in every aspect of the Gospel in great detail.

The Third Dawn is a predictable yet exciting journey that will resonate with all readers because it does not rely only on a pulpit and parable narrative but includes the author’s anecdotal layer to the well-documented chronicles. If you are looking for a dynamic fictional account of the life of Jesus, The Third Dawn by Thomas J. Nichols will not disappoint.