Birth of an Age: The Christ Clone Trilogy [Paperback]

Mix one part science, add in Scriptures, toss in some fantastic as well as some lousy science fiction, bake in an overheated New Age oven, cool quickly with religious and science fiction speculation, and ice with prophesies. Voila! You have this most unusual book.

The first half of this book has some of the most interesting science fiction that I have read in many years.

On the other hand, you may find the characters to be underdeveloped, the emphasis on the horrible aspects of the book of Revelation to be upsetting, the story to be blasphemous from the point of view of your religious beliefs, and the plot too disconnected from likely events to be credible. If I were only grading this novel for originality, I would suggest that it was worth more than five stars. Mr. BeauSeigneur has an amazing mind for integrating bits and pieces from disparate sources into original stories.

The book opens with the final chapter of In His Image for the purposes of continuity. The story in this book revolves around the conflicts between those trying to birth a new age of human spiritual evolution and those who wish to retain the current state of affairs. The conflict plays itself out in scenes of horror beyond anything you have probably encountered. As in In His Image, the book ends in a cliffhanger that will keep you focused on reading the third part of the trilogy. Frankly, I had no idea of what was coming next when I read this book. After you make it this far, you'll be hooked on wanting to read the third book in the trilogy.

The story is exceptionally fast-paced, cutting quickly from one action element in a story line to the next. I found myself sitting up late to finish it, turning pages rapidly in my urgency to find out what will happen next.

As you are aware, I'm sure, having lots of action means giving up other things. In this case, lots of characters and plot complications means that you do not spend much time with any characters but two. Only one of these seems to get decent development. Many are deliberately shrouded in mystery. Since I love character development, that made the plot less interesting for me. If you like action, it will make the plot more interesting for you. In fact, this book would be rated well above five stars by those who adore fast-moving plots.

As I mentioned above, this book is the second in a series called "The Christ Clone Trilogy." From that title you can see that the story will probably parallel the life of Jesus in important ways, but there is far less of that than you might imagine. In fact, if the book had hewn closer to a Christian theme, I suspect that I would have enjoyed it more. On the other hand, by not doing so, this book is clearly more accessible and appealing to people of all faiths and beliefs. So it is very democratic in that way.

There is a serious side to the book in that it realistically portrays the natural dangers to life on earth. Anyone who reads this book will end up thinking quite a lot about what needs to be done to make the world better able to protect itself from the most severe natural risks. That's a remarkably worthwhile lesson to get from an action novel.

What can you do to help with the issues of making this a safer world for every one in it?

Live with love and hope in your heart, and share them with all you meet!

What makes this such an engrossing read (and it is-- thoroughly), is the detail, precision and logic with which BeauSeigneur presents his story. Approximately the first one-third of the book is a detailed account of the cataclysms which befall the Earth and it's inhabitants, and the devastating effects thereof. It begins with the discovery of three asteroids whose trajectory may bring them into contact with the Earth, which threatens the very existence of the planet; but there are also plagues and widespread madness called down upon the people of the Earth, many believe, by two religious fanatics-- one of whom claims to be the Apostle, John.

It soon becomes clear that if life on Earth is to survive, if there is ever to be a New Age at all, it must be through the intervention of someone or something which can prevail against the forces of the devastation currently ravaging the planet. And it just may be that Christopher Goodman, the clone of Jesus Christ, could be the one; it could, perhaps, be the reason for which he was born.

And once BeauSeigneur has laid the groundwork, which he does with exceptional acuity, the novel picks up steam until finally, after about two-thirds of the way through, it becomes impossible to put the book down. The last thirty pages or so are absolutely spellbinding; it is inspired writing through which the images presented spring vividly to life and veritably awaken the senses. And you experience the sights and sounds, colors and scents as if you were actually there, right up to the somewhat shocking, breathtaking finale.

Realizing the full impact of all that happens, of course, is contingent upon having read the first book of the series. "Birth of an Age," however, stands well enough on it's own, especially in light of the astounding ending. But be prepared; once you have finished this one, you won't be able to get to the final installment, "Acts of God," quickly enough. Have it on hand and ready to read, because-- believe me-- you're going to have to know what happens next. And you are not going to want to wait.