Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Book #72

Take Two, by Karen Kingsbury. Unabridged audio.

I enjoyed Take One. It stood out among christian novels for taking on the topic of film-making in a way that treated the art of film in a serious way, and as the profession of film-making as a legitimate vocation. And the romance and relationship subplots were mercifully in the background.

In some of these areas, there was a slight step back from the prior novel. The romances were more in the forefront, and I found the more overwrought scenes hard to get through -- but as I point out whenever I review a christian novel, I am not the target demographic. These books are read overwhelmingly by women, so some of my concerns fall into general stereotypes of male/female preferences.

Some of the facts about film-making didn't seem altogether accurate -- there are plenty of examples of two studios producing similar movies and would be easily shrugged off, but in this novel that fact was a major plot point. The novel did not end well, either. It just stopped, albeit at an emotional high point. But none of the plot points are finished up -- they are all left hanging for book three, or perhaps book four.

There were a few bright spots. There was not the obligatory conversion scene, but there was a re-dedication. But this counts as progress in the world of christian fiction. And although some of the characterization was clunky, some characters continue to be well-drawn.

As I mentioned in the review for Take One, the presence of multiple performers makes the listening experience quite enjoyable.

I will certainly pick up books 3 & 4 in the series, but I may take a longer break before resuming the series than I did between books 1 & 2.

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