The Hand of Atua

By: Charity Bradford

Narrated by: Chris Ansoff

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

How can the destruction of a world be part of God's plan?

Twelve-year-old Eleena is forced to flee during the last evacuation before the Hatana's fleet arrives, leaving her parents behind. She takes comfort when the voice of Atua assures that her parents are in his hands. Her faith is shaken when days later, the fleet razes the planet leaving it uninhabitable for generations.

Eighteen-year-old Amiran is the Hatana's heir, but he's vowed to stop his father's brutal march across the galaxy. Shortly after putting Eleena on the ship captained by his best friend, Amiran is captured by his father's scouts. Sentenced to serve in the mines and the fleet he hates, Amiran holds onto the memory of Eleena's tearful plea for the god Atua to protect him.

Separated by space and years, the refugee and the prince must both come to a new understanding of what it means to be in Atua's hands. Can they find the faith to trust in the voice of Atua and stop the Hatana?

©2019 Charity Bradford (P)2019 Charity Bradford

IN THE HANDS OF ATUA

A STORY THAT IS FUN, ADVENTUROUS AND HEART PULLING. THE NARRATOR DID A GREAT JOB

THIS IS A GREAT STORY. LOVED IT.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS STORY. IT IS WELL WRITTEN AND IS EASY TO FOLLOW.

THIS IS A GOOD VS. EVIL,, SCI-FI, ACTION ADVENURE THRILLER.
HAS MURDER, TORTURE, PLANETARY GENOCIDE.

ACCEPTABLE FOR TEENS AND OLDER LISTENERS.

NARRATOR IS GOOD AND IS EASY TO FOLLOW.

Mix of Star Wars & Faith

Parents- PG13 - really meant for +16 readers *trigger warnings*
Language- PG none that I remember
Violence- PG13- Assault, battles, planetary genocides, refugees and camp life, attempted sexual assaults
Sexual Content- PG13 to R- Sexual assault attempts, violent sexual assaults and then murders of captured refugees (although not graphic enough detail to show the horrors), taunting sexual harassment of other kidnapped women

This was a fun sci-fi adventure with a definitely strong faith based element to the story with some romance braided into it too. It did remind me a bit of Star Wars with a ruthless Government Leader chasing down his son and destroying planets along the way that were not loyal. Instead of a whole saga of books like Star Wars this one is a single novel that wraps up the story in the end. I would say it is geared towards a much older teen to adult reader due to the number of assaults and attempts, while the author did keep it fairly clean the last 1/3 of the book contains quite a bit of it and it could be triggering to some.

The narration was slow but better at 1.5x speed, but the dialogue speed was better at 1.25x. It was just odd that they don't match up better.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

SciFi & Faith

I enjoyed this science fiction story featuring protagonists guided by their beliefs. The world building was good. The characters were complicated as they experience a world of those who conquer and those who are conquered. There were a lot of twists and turns as this story spanned years. There were many moving scenes depicted in this tale, but some of them were visceral. Chris Ansoff's narration was fine, and his voice was pleasant. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.