Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides (Left Behind No. 4)

For some strange reason, this fourth book in the "Left Behind" series didn't irk me as much as the first three. I don't know if it was because the ... (show more)

For some strange reason, this fourth book in the "Left Behind" series didn't irk me as much as the first three. I don't know if it was because the writing is slightly improved (but only just barely, if it is), or if I am getting used to the bad writing and don't notice it as much. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the complete disregard for any sense of logic or continuity in the stories. The story begins with a recap of where the last book left off - right after the great earthquake (or "Wrath of the Lamb") has occurred with Buck racing to the church to see if he can find any survivors. He discovers that the church has been levelled, but that the underground shelter is still intact and that Tsion is alive, but trapped in the shelter. Buck tells Tsion that he will get him out because he needs Tsion to help him look for his wife, Chloe. Then he runs off, leaving Tsion still trapped to look for his wife himself so she can help him free Tsion. And that sets the tone for the rest of the book. What follows is, basically, just a series of search and rescue missions. Buck goes to look for Chloe, Buck returns to rescue Tsion, Buck and Tsion go to search for Chloe, Buck and Ken (the independent pilot from previous books) go to search for Chloe, Buck and Ken rescue Chloe, Buck and Ken go to search for Hattie, Buck and Ken rescue Hattie, Rayford goes to search for Annie (which includes an underwater mission in the Tigris river to search the contents of a downed plane). It begins to seem like you are reading a series of movie or TV episode scripts, complete with humorous banter, slapstick, and (literally) flaming car escapes. I can't decide if they were doing this because they were looking to try and sell this as a film at some point, or if the authors' only references for how to write came from watching TV and films, as opposed to actually reading. Perhaps the worst part of the whole book is when the authors take time out from the action to insert bits of their personal moral philosophies, as if this is what every "true" Christian is supposed to believe. There are references to how abortion is equal to murder. There is a diatribe against the imooral, lascivious, evil offerings on TV. An abortion clinic is shown to be truly evil, not just because it performs abortions, but also because it engages in human cloning experiments and stem-cell research. These little asides not only do nothing to add to the story, they are also an insult to Christians who do not hold these views. One thing I did finally realize from this book, however, was that this series is not about the "End Times". They are merely a series of books where the setting is the "End Times" and are about the people trying to survive them. How else to explain the fact that some of the great judgements are almost completely ignored. They manage to cram three of them into the last 20 pages of the book, with little to no explanation of how the remaining population of Earth is affected by them. I could go on and on about just how bad and unimaginative this book is (a solar powered cellular communications network with the original name of "Cellular-Solar", a giant "comet" composed of sulfur instead of ice that is the size of a mountain, or an entire mountain range depending on which page you're on, a missile defense system that is designed to shoot down the "comet" that isn't used because it might be dangerous, etc.), but it would take a whole book to list all of the flaws in this book and enough trees have been needlessly killed already. As bad as the whole thing was, though, there were a couple of shining moments of hope that the authors may be improving. One was when Buck was on the phone with Hattie and there was a growing sense of unease that Chloe might have died. A nice little moment of real suspense for a change. The other was when Rayford and Mac were watching a video of the rescue of Hattie and noticed the mark on Ken's forehead showing that he was now among the "saved". A nice touch of restraint by the authors in not coming out and blatantly saying that they saw the mark, but letting the reader figure it out for themselves. (show less)