Red Headed Book Lady: The End of the Magi by Patrick Carr

The End of the Magi
By Patrick W. Carr
Christian Historical Fiction
Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook & ebook, 384 Pages
November 5th 2019 by Bethany House Publishers

Centuries before the magi arrived in Bethlehem,
a prophecy sets a young magus on his path . . .

Following his vision of the coming Messiah, the prophet Daniel calls forth a select group of men who will count down the calendar until the arrival of Israel's promised king. Centuries later, as the day draws near, Myrad, a young magi acolyte, flees for his life when his adoptive father and others are slain by a ruthless Parthian queen.

Equipped with very little, in haste Myrad escapes the city and, searching for a way to hide from the soldiers scouring the trade routes, tries to join the caravan of the merchant Walagash. The merchant senses that Myrad is keeping secrets, but when the young man proves himself a valuable asset, an epic journey filled with peril, near captures, and dangerous battles begins.

With every day that passes, the calendar creeps closer to the coming Messiah. And over everything shines the dream of a star that Myrad can't forget, and the promise that the world will never be the same.

Praise for the Book

"Carr retells the story of the Magi in this bustling biblical adventure . . . . Myrad's divine vision of the star and his arduous trek battling his own physical problems to pay homage to the Messiah capture the majesty of biblical narratives and will appeal to Christians well versed in scripture."--Publishers Weekly

"Patrick Carr brings us a captivating tale in The End of the Magi. Based on the Holy Bible, he weaves a fictional tale of the adventures of a group of magi from the east looking for the Messiah. Myrad is a strong main character even though he doesn't see himself as strong. He has great character traits and these help him find triumph over tragedy. . . . The End of the Magi is a great holiday read and gives us much to think about in our journey to know God better."--Fresh Fiction

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I've often wondered about the three Wisemen who journeyed from afar to see Jesus their king. Have you?This book will have you journeying with them.

However; this book starts out with Daniels prophecy from Babylon first. All of this reverts back to the calendar predicting the Messiah's birth which comes 30 years later from which Daniel wrote from a vision given to him by God.

It's certainly a very powerful book with lots of exciting scenes. The most powerful scene comes at the end and may leave you in tears so please have a box of tissues around.

I've read a book by this author before and his writing style draws you into his books immediately. I like how he does extensive research and then turns it into a story and it's believable. He takes you into the magical world of the Magi. It's from this read that I really enjoyed a true tale from the Bible.

I could vividly "see" some of the scenes in the book especially in the beginning at Musa's court and feel the characters' feelings coming through the book is how well this author writes.

"Everything in the New Testament reverts back to Daniel" Yehudah said to Myrad. I sort of liked Yehudah because he answered Myrad's questions as best as he could and was honest about it. " Every time we read of a prophet interpreting prophecy, the words are read literally with events taking place exactly as it was spoken."

Herod was an evil man. I"m so glad that the Magi didn't go back to him. If they had of, history certainly could have been so much different.

I feel that Herod kind of reminds me of King Henry the 8th. If everything didn't go his way, he would throw a temper tantrum and start killing everyone. Even Hitler who had all the Jews murdered in World War 2 which is such a shame.

I wished I lived thousands of years ago. How wonderful it would've been to see that star shinning brightly on our Lord Jesus. I'm so glad that we have these reenactments of Jesus' birth. This is also where our Faith comes in. Even though we missed that event, we don't really have to see Him in order to believe. The Bible is the Word.

The other thing that hasn't really changed over the years is politics. I couldn't fathom on how dangerous those times would've been. Seems like every time someone turned around they found themselves in danger.

Myrad is my favorite character along with a few others. Why you ask? time.

I love Myrad because he is like the rest of us flawed, full of doubts and well he was just a hot mess all the way around. In other words, human. I felt connected to him because he was adopted just like I am and I'm sure there are others out there as well.

I can also relate to him as he was born with a club foot just like my son was. But my son's wasn't as severe as Myrad's was.

I consider Myrad a very lucky man to be put in a life event like this one and an exciting one at that. He is truly a blessed man even though sometimes I felt that he couldn't really see it at the time.

Along with his skills we see that he can make trades fairly with the other caravans and marketplaces or wherever they are at the time.

Walagash is another man whom I truly admired. It was his trust and faith that I admired.

I can't stress enough that this story is wonderful!! I highly recommend reading this book at Christmas or any other time of the year.

Especially since we really don't know when Jesus was born because he was born in Bethlehem in the middle of the desert.

Either way, I felt that I got to know our Lord and our three Wisemen a little better thanks to the magical pen of Patrick Carr.

The cover of the book is absolutely gorgeous!! I like how the figure is shadowed to make you guess who the person on the from of the book is about. I was pleased that story in the book matches what the picture and the title says on the front of the book.

My thanks to Prism for a copy of this book. I enjoyed it and I finished in a couple of days because I wanted time to savor and think about it.

NO compensations were received and all opinions are my own.

About the Author

Patrick W. Carr is the author of the acclaimed fantasy series The Staff and the Sword. A Cast of Stones won the 2014 Carol Award for Speculative Fiction and the 2014 Clive Staples Award. A Cast of Stones and The Hero's Lot were both finalists for 2014 Christy Awards. He teaches high school math and makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, with his incredible wife, Mary, and their four sons.