Book Review: The Moses Chronicles

H.B. Moore is a master at blending well-known Biblical characters with a strong fictional storyline and The Moses Chronicles really showcases her talent.

The book follows Miriam and her brother Moses and combines the familiar stories of these two people with a storyline that gives different insight into their lives and how it could have been. The details the author provided and the research she did really brings that whole time period to life and made me curious enough to do a bit more study on my own.  I especially loved the idea of Miriam watching over Moses, even from afar, because every big sister would feel those same sorts of emotions if she had to watch her little brother grow up away from the family.  We also see a glimpse of Moses' adoptive mother, Bithiah, and I enjoyed that as well.  It just made these people so much more real.

The author lays a solid foundation for the characters and really lets the reader get to know them before we're plunged into events that force them (and us) to see things from a different perspective.  I had a lot of empathy for Miriam as she tries to navigate her quite restrictive world while still being true to herself.

Moses was also really well-done and the events happening to him in the kingdom (an arranged marriage, his relationship with Ramses, trying to defend the kingdom) not to mention his pull toward the Hebrew people had me turning pages to see what would happen next.  This is obviously the first book in the series and while it did wrap things up, I will be anxiously waiting for the next one to come out.

Here's the back copy:

Moses has always felt like an outsider in his powerful Egyptian family, even though his close relationship with Ramses, the prince of Egypt, and their cousin Pentu keeps him entwined in the dealings of royalty. But when their youthful antics get them in trouble, the Pharaoh decides it’s time for all three of them to grow up and own their respective responsibilities. Now betrothed to a woman he cares nothing for, Moses wonders where his life is headed.

Miriam, a Hebrew slave, lives with a secret she cannot share with anyone. And though it has been eighteen years since she saved her baby brother, she is constantly getting in trouble for spying on him. In a desperate attempt to control Miriam, her older brother, Aaron, and her father look to find her a husband, something Miriam has never been interested in—until Caleb, a young, handsome man, confesses his feelings for her and asks her father for her hand in marriage.

When Libya advances on Egypt, Moses and Miriam are suddenly thrown together as the Egyptian royals and soldiers flee. Hebrew slaves are forced to defend the kingdom, and Miriam and Caleb are enlisted under Moses’s direction. Moses quickly sees there is more to this downtrodden people than what he’s been taught. When he witnesses the atrocities enacted against the slaves, he realizes he must leave—he must find out who he really is.

A gripping account of the events that lead to Moses’s flight into the wilderness, The Moses Chronicles: Bondage will take you back to a rich period of history replete with scandal, strife, love, and hope as God prepares a prophet to lead His chosen people.

You can get your Kindle copy here for $16.14