The Synopsis:

Can one woman evade an alien empire to save her son’s life?

Gilla and Elias have the perfect life—or as perfect as life can be for slaves living deep in the Esarelian Empire. Elias wants freedom for his precious wife and daughter, and the rest of their people, and he is willing to fight to get it. Pregnant with her second child, Gilla only wants a happy, healthy family who share a strong faith in the God of Old Earth and to get through her workload each day.

When the Esarelians decide to teach their rebellious slaves a lesson they will never forget, Gilla’s entire life is turned upside down. She must trust that God has a plan to protect her new-born son, and have the courage to follow it, choosing the strangest of allies in an effort to ensure his survival.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

At what length would you go to save your family?

Based on the story of Moses in Exodus of the Bible, Courage is a science fiction novel that captures the strength of a family even amidst the worst conditions. It is emotional, gripping, creative, and visibly related to the story so many of us heard as children at Church.

All of the main characters are exquisitely developed in how they act and react to their circumstances; their feelings and emotions are breathtaking during the proper moments; and the story flowed very well, without any holes to leave the reader disappointed.

I did find the beginning to get off to a slow start and caught myself skimming many pages of the opening chapters in anticipation of the action that I knew was coming. But looking back at those first chapters, I see that they were building understanding to how this foreign world worked so that once the action started, we could throw all of our energy into rooting for our favorite characters. Thus in the end, I was actually thankful for the world building to be presented at the beginning, rather than throughout the story, because it made the rest of the novel so much more enjoyable.

I do feel the need to mention that I find the action somewhere between “mild” and “graphic” during some scenes. So readers who are not fond of high action may not find this book enjoyable.

The only thing that put a slight damper on the story, was the Esarelian character’s names. A few of the enemy characters had chapters from their point of view and with so many odd and unfamiliar names to try to remember, I found it a little difficult to differentiate whose point of view we were following. But this wasn’t anything major and eventually I got it 🙂

Overall, I am immensely pleased to have found a clean, Christian, science fiction novel that did not “dumb down” the action or create helpless or silly characters. I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

Don’t miss our review of book 1.5: Conviction!

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Rated:

Giveaway Information!

Literature Approved and the author of Courage, Lauren Salisbury, have partnered up to offer you an exclusive giveaway!

Not only will *5 WINNERS* receive a digital copy of Courage, but they will also receive an UNPUBLISHED SHORT that is not available anywhere else! The giveaway will be available to Literature Approved NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS FIRST!

• 5 WINNERS!
• Enter APRIL 27-MAY 11
• WINNERS ANNOUNCED MAY 12
• EACH WINNER RECEIVES DIGITAL COPIES OF COURAGE AND REPRIEVE

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO RECEIVE GIVEAWAY DETAILS FIRST!