It's always tough to tell a story when the audience knows how it ultimately turned out, but this book manages to not only retell the tale of the Donner party but give it a very human side. The story is written in the form of a journal from the main character to her sister. This journal gives the reader a look into not only the day to day life of the Donner party once they became trapped, but also recounts the path they took to arrive in their predicament.

It's a tough read largely due to the emotional nature of the story. While it reads fairly fast for the most part, most readers will probably want to take a few breaks to lighten their moods. This book is clearly a work of passion, and the reader reaps the benefit.

Highly recommended if you are interested in either the event or just a provocative look at the human psyche under duress.

This book was an absolute blast to read. It reads similar to a modernized Hardy Boys book, complete with hidden rooms and secret plots. Overall I would have no problem recommending this for a male reader who is comfortable reading at a young adult level. The writing isn't outstanding, but the pace is quick enough that there isn't much time to worry about it. There are some graphic scenes, but nothing I would personally worry about. On the other hand educators would certainly need to evaluate their own school environment before using this book.

This book is apparently intended to be worked into a WWI curriculum, but is perfectly readable on it's own, and might just lead to some extra research on the war.

I'm sure future books in the series will find their way onto our family's bookshelves.

This sort of subject tends to interest me, but this book is simply not at the level of a reasonable discourse on religion. There seems to be a problem with what audience is being written for. The book wants to start off as a thriller, but instead turns into a somewhat involved (and dry) tract on gnosticism. This eliminates the people looking for a religious thriller. At the same time the level of discussion isn't really at the level of someone who would actively seek out a book on gnosticism. This book either needs more plot, or to beef up it's research and be straight non-fiction. As it is, I have a hard time recommending this book to anyone.

This isn't generally the type of book I would read, but I managed to win a review copy and was pleasantly surprised. The story draws you in from the first chapter with a fairly intriguing plot and well developed characters. The writing is very solid, with some great passages scattered throughout. My only complaint was that the book is a bit heavy in the foreshadowing department. The light bulb went off about 100 pages from the end, making the last third of the book seem like an exercise in tying up loose ends.

Overall I'd recommend it for a fairly light, yet well written, book with a nice tight plot.