REVIEW: Take This Cup by Bodie and Brock Thoene

Title: Take This Cup
Series: The Jerusalem Chronicles #2
Author: Bodie and Brock Thoene
Published Date: March 25, 2014
Publisher: Zondervan
Format: ebook
Pages: 388
ISBN: 9780310335993
Copy provided by: NetGalley and BookLook Bloggers Program
Genre: religious fiction
Add to: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 3  1/2 stars

Synopsis: Nehemiah, the young son of a Jewish woman, a weaver from Jerusalem, is born and raised among the Jews who didn't return to Jerusalem from the Exile. Educated by Rabbi Kagba, one of the magi present at Jesus' birth thirty years earlier, Nehemiah grows up with the expectation of a soon-coming Messiah. Could the Yeshua of Nazareth, who is walking the earth, reportedly doing miracles, be that Messiah?
When young Nehemiah must travel the long caravan road to Jerusalem, he is charged with an unusual mission---to carry a mysterious object back to the holy city of Jerusalem . . . an object whose reappearance heralds the Messiah's arrival.Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem just as the final events of Jesus' earthly ministry are coming to a climax: the Feast of Dedication, the Triumphal Entry, the last cleansing of the Temple, and culminating at the Last Supper in the Upper Room. Only Nehemiah understands the true sacrifice that is to come as he makes the cup worthy of his Savior.

My Review: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The way the authors write is incredible. This is the first time I've come across any of their books, and I am highly impressed with them. It's not surprising they are some of the widest-read authors in religious fiction. I have also noticed that most, if not all, of the books that Zondervan publishes that I have read have really been great books.
The storyline itself is wonderful, enough tension to the story that it made me want to keep reading. Not to mention that I wanted very badly to see how Jesus the person was portrayed. I have seen reviews dismissing the fact that the main character is making a thousand mile long trek basically by himself (with caravans and such) without parental guidance or supervision. I completely agree with this sentiment. I look at my own eight year old and know there is no way on earth she would come close to walking ten miles, much  less 100, or God forbid, a thousand. Nehi is such a young boy to have such an adult point of view and voice in the story that it does feel like I'm reading about a 12 or 13 year old. I believe if the authors would have made him a few years older it would have been a much more believable book.