Fishers of Men

Kingdom and the Crown, Vol. 1

By: Gerald N. Lund

Narrated by: Larry A. McKeever

Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

In an ancient land in a time foretold by prophets, a babe was born beneath a shining star. Thirty years later, Jesus of Nazareth began teaching a message of hope, peace, and love. He claimed to be the Son of God, and his words - and his life - would change the world.

Though David ben Joseph is quick to accept Jesus as the Messiah, the rest of his family is more cautious. His wife, Deborah, and his son, Simeon, leaders in the rebellious Zealot movement, look for a Messiah that will crush the Romans with power and the sword, not one preaching a message of love and forgiveness.

Meanwhile, reports of Jesus have reached into the very heart of Jerusalem, and both the powerful Sadducee Mordechai ben Uzziel and the Pharisee Azariah agree that something must be done to stop this man from Nazareth before he gets out of hand.

Fishers of Men is a sweeping epic filled with memorable characters who bring to life an extraordinary time in the history of the world. It is a story about the importance of family, the power of faith, the miracle of forgiveness, and the strength needed to follow your heart.

©2009 Gerald N. Lund (P)2009 Shadow Mountain

Please more books like these.

I am constantly on the search for clean uplifting books to listen to you. It is hard to know before I buy a book if it will be dark or smutty. As a mother of four, the books I listen to must be appropriate for my four young children to listen to as well. This book is uplifting to the soul and appropriate for the listening ears
of small children.

Wish Audible had more of this series!

Loved it & want to hear more in this series! Looks like I'll have to wait for Audible to catch up to order more :(

Insights into the way it was at the time of Christ

A fictional but believable story of some characters portraying what it could have been like hearing about Jesus Christ when he first came. The various Jewish factions and the struggle with the roman empire and the actual historical description gives it realism, mixed with scriptural history and a good deal of drama and internal conflict to make it feel like you are part of it. The most important story ever told, done so well.

Excellent fictional account

I am always pleasantly surprised when an audiobook lives up to the reviews. This book surpassed those reviews. To take verses directly from the Bible and be true enough to those quotes that the author is willing to quote chapter and verse at the end of each chapter in his book was refreshing. The story weaved around Biblical facts was very believable and compelling. I felt the "good" characters were given depth and their growth from their original portrayal was very believable.

That said I did think the Biblical references at the end of each chapter would be better in a book as once I trusted the author to be Biblically accurate I didn't need to hear this at the end of 30 chapters. Initially I was not a fan of the person's voice who read the book.

These minor issues did not hurt the overall quality of the audiobook which is why I am excited to listen to the second audiobook in this series.

Amazing!

I will listen to it over and over. I loved all of the research references.

Riveting

Expanded the stories that I've read from the Bible my whole life. I love to read historical novels and this one was excellently written. Gerald Lund has a way of putting you right there at the scene.

It's a good story

I'm sorry I really hate giving this kind of reviews. The recording is terrible I don't know how I love a bull could have let it be so bad. The reader doesn't have a lot of the Expression there isn't a lot of emotion he's just reading it. I do appreciate that someone read it because it was a fun story. So for that thank you so much!

Narration almost spoils a great story

This is a really good story that takes the events in the Gospels and weaves characters around the life of Jesus. It was well researched and the characterization of the disciples, especially Peter, really brought a lot of insight to my reading of the Gospels. I'm very familiar with the Gospels and thought I had a good understanding on the culture and background of the Jewish people and the time period, but this book really brought a lot to life that I didn't realize I hadn't understood.

There are parts that the book gets bogged down with too much detail, and the dialog can be a bit stiff in places, but the plot is wonderful and the overall story was really, really good.

But, the narrator is not very good. He slows down the story and his pacing is terrible. I actually had to put the speed on 1.25x to be able to listen to it (and that speed was just about right). His voices are actually very good though and I never had a problem discerning who was speaking.

Despite the problems I've mentioned, I will definitely get the next book in this series!

Great Story, OK Narrator

First off, this story is well written. It is fast paced and evocative of the period in which it is set.
I agree with others that the narrator is not good. He reads the story like I, as an untrained reader, would. Don’t let that stop you from ordering this book. The narration is not distracting nor is it unpleasant. Well worth s credit.

Outstanding Historical Fiction

Provides great insights and perspective viz-a-viz the time of the Saviour. Helps bring clarity to the atmosphere that would lead to the Jewish elite killing their Messiah. A solid story delivers memorable characters and enough plot maneuvering to keep you resetting the sleep timer well into the morning hours.

Disappointing:(

I was really looking forward to this the blurb looked promising, however I found the actual listening quite tedious. It was quite monotone and not in the slightest engaging, which is a shame I've listened to other books read by Larry McKeever and loved them, maybe it was a combination of the subject matter and the tones in his voice which was the problem for me personally.
I might try and find a paper copy in the library and see if that makes a difference for me!