Book Review - The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

From the Publisher:

David Ponder is back. This time the fate of mankind is in his hands.
This is mankind’s last chance. Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent humanity hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose. There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship, and it consists of only two words.
With time running out, it is up to David Ponder and a cast of history’s best and brightest minds to uncover this solution before it is too late. The catch? They are allowed only five tries to discover the answer.
Readers first encountered David Ponder in The Traveler's Gift. Now, in The Final Summit, Andrews combines a riveting narrative with astounding history in order to show us the one thing we must do when we don’t know what to do.

Like several other reviewers, I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall, it has a very good message and I enjoyed many parts of it, but it didn't flow very well because the story portion felt contrived.

The story starts by going through a recap of what I assume to be the entire story of The Traveler's Gift which I have not read, but I feel like I have now. It then moves into the story line for this particular book, which includes a visit by the archangel Gabriel, travelling to somewhere heaven-like, and a host of all the "important" historical figures such as Joan of Arc, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, King David, and many more.

As I said earlier, it felt very contrived as a fiction story. There was not enough narrative or character development to provide for a good story. The message of the story is a very good one, and I felt that it would have made for a better non-fiction book detailing the life story of each of the historical figures that he used anyway than a fiction book. The story of each character as presented was interesting, but didn't tell enough of the story to really provide context for the point that each one was supposed to be making. Since I knew most of their stories, I could fill in the blanks, but I would have preferred not to have to do that.

So, I give this book three stars. The author has good things to say, but I didn't like the way he presented it.

~S

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”