So vivid I could taste the grit of volcanic ash in my teeth: My review of "Rare Earth" by @davisbunn

ABOUT THE BOOK

Marc Royce stares out of the helicopter, a sense of foreboding rising with the volcanic cloud.  Below, the Rift Valley slashes across Africa like a scar. Decades of conflicts, droughts, and natural disasters have left their mark.

Dispatched to audit a relief organization, Royce is thrust into the squalor and chaos of Kenyan refugee camps. But his true mission focuses on the area's reserves of once-obscure minerals now indispensable to high-tech industries. These strategic elements--called rare earths--have inflamed tensions on the world's stage and stoked tribal rivalries. As Royce prepares to report back to Washington, he seizes on a bold and risky venture for restoring justice to this troubled land.

But this time, Royce may have gone too far.

MY REVIEW

Bunn has a special gift to combine pulse-accelerating action with beautifully crafted prose, and Rare Earth finds the author at his finest. It is an enticing read, one with descriptions so vivid that I could taste the grit of volcanic ash in my teeth. Marc Royce continues to be a fantastic character, a man of integrity who puts feet to his faith, a hero that our generation can embrace. His combat scenes are simply awesome, and they seemed so real they played like a movie across my mind! Marc's ability to instantly assess a situation and connect with the hearts of any culture make for first-rate drama, leaving me wishing that he was not just a man on the pages of a book, but a man at work in the world today fighting against the forces of evil. I absolutely loved how this book brings together vastly different cultures, from Marc and his allies arriving from the shores of America, to people hungering for justice on the plains of Africa, to the marginalized Christian Jews laboring in the kibbutz in Israel. The picture of them working together to achieve a common purpose, one in spirit and unity, is a beautiful foreshadowing of what heaven will hold for us. 


Bunn has again woven faith into a compelling tale, and I know that I will be reading this book again in the future. Although I myself have read Lion of Babylon, the first book to feature Marc Royce, I am confident that a reader could easily pick up Rare Earth and enjoy the story without having read the first (though if you haven't read Lion of Babylon, I encourage you to pick up a copy!). 


I highly recommend Rare Earth and encourage you to make this one of your "must read" books of the summer - you won't be disappointed! I award it 5 out of 5 stars.


Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Davis Bunn is an award-winning novelist whose audience spans reading genres from high drama and action thrillers to heartwarming relationship stories, in both contemporary and historical settings. He and his wife, Isabella, make their home in Florida for some of each year, and spend the rest near Oxford, England, where they each teach and write. Visit Davis' Web site at www.davisbunn.com







Rare Earth

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