Step Aside, Passion Of The Christ!, March 30, 2010
By A. A. A. (Illinois, U.S.A.) – See all my reviews
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This review is from: PILATE: A Brutal Bible Tale (Kindle Edition)
“This is a highly imaginative and entertaining story, and it would most certainly make a fascinating, earth shattering film!!! I think that if Pilate: A Brutal Bible Tale was made into a movie (or movies, preferably), we would see Mel Gibson crying, humbled, and worshiping at the feet of the almighty Reverend Steven Rage! Any film makers out there would easily stand to make a fortune working with Reverend Rage and putting his visions on film! This brilliant and inventive book is about good, evil, redemption, punishment, salvation, and the second coming of Christ (with disciples, Herod, and of course Pilate) set in modern times. Reverend Steven Rage’s gripping portrayal of good and evil forces the reader to see both sides with accurate and equal clarity. Unlike most stories based on Christianity, Pilate: A Brutal Bible Tale urges the reader to witness the evils and horrors in our world uncensored. The good Reverend Rage does not down play the evils of today, and he re-enforces the fact that there is no good without evil (and vice-versa) in this thrilling tale. Reading this book is maximum enjoyment from the very first page right on through to the last, and it will definitely make you hungry for more of Reverend Rage’s written gold! Pilate: A Brutal Bible Tale is so enthralling from beginning to end, that it’s difficult for me to say what I liked best about it, because there is not one single thing that I disliked about it! I think that what really grabbed me was Reverend Rage’s description of the Christ and the environment that She was born and raised in. Kudos to Reverend Rage for placing Her exactly where She would be needed the most! Another thing that tickled my fancy about the Christ in this story was that She did not condemn marijuana as a dangerous drug. She agreed with her disciple who said that marijuana is truly a gift from heaven. She, instead, focuses all of Her efforts into curing and saving the poor souls who are killing themselves with their awful and sinful plata addictions. (Plata is yet another creative Reverend Steven Rage invention based upon his actual medical knowledge of how the real dangerous drugs out there today will kill people.) Speaking of Reverend Rage’s medical knowledge, I recommend that the readers of my review who are unfamiliar with this author, his writing style, and especially his real life background should search “Reverend Steven Rage” or “Steven Rage” here on amazon.com or even google him. Read his reviews, read his interviews, read his own product descriptions, and again, definitely take the time to learn about his real life background. I, for one, am absolutely amazed that this is Reverend Rage’s first book because it’s just that good! It’s utterly amazing that he put this book out pretty much all on his own AFTER working long, hard hours at his job to pay the bills and support his family. Also, it’s amazing that there’s no major errors in this whole book! Everything is he writes is medically accurate, by the way. There are very few minor errors like missing and’s and the’s in this book. (Which did not slow me down or confuse me, incidentally.) I ask any review readers who are put off by a few absent words (Which, again, in my opinion are not vital to the story and not at all difficult to maneuver around.), to imagine how hard it must surely be to publish a book all by yourself while holding down a demanding job to provide for your family. Please respect this genius, hard working author’s DIY (do it yourself) status at the time this book was published. Reverend Rage did not have the literary support that authors like Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, and many other best selling authors have, though I believe it’s only a matter of time before he has the backing to equal those writers. In fact, I’ve read books by some of the afore mentioned best selling authors that had plenty of errors in their books, and I’ve noticed that no one said “boo” about the grammatical errors in their book reviews for these best sellers. I am confident that people will soon stand up and take note of Reverend Rage’s innovations, and he will gain the reverence that he deserves! This book, as it stands, is more than worth the humble price that the good Reverend Rage is asking! I hope that you will do your homework on Reverend Steven Rage, and that you will read his all of his books. I know that if you do these things, you will find that he is more than worthy of our support and your research time!”
Violent, Confrontational, and Fascinating, July 11, 2010
By Ray Dittmeier (Louisville, KY) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: BELLY: A Brutal Bible Tale (Kindle Edition)
“Brutal Bible Tales” is a fascinating book. It’s violent, confrontational, and might even be uncomfortable in places, depending on your sensibilities. Rage takes a selection prominent Biblical figures and and puts them in a contemporary world full of drug dealers, gangsters, pimps, prostitutes, perverts, and even vampires. But this is not just a facile, updated retelling of old stories, nor is it shock value simply for the sake of shock.
Rage uses the Biblical material as a starting point to tell his own stories. This book is well-thought-out, told in a distinctive and confident style that keeps the reader turning pages. If you want to complain that some of the sex and violence is gratuitous, I won’t–I can’t–argue the point. I’m not sure I’d want to say that “gratuitousness is the point” is ever a valid defense, but then again, I would insist that in a book like this it’s better to go too far than not to go far enough.
The book gives us a new context for looking at this source material (if I may call it such), like a cynical Sunday school teacher telling the kids, “This is what these stories are really about.” And maybe it is, if you can approach the book with no expectations and just let it be what it is–tales of greed, ambition, betrayal, cruelty–and ultimately, salvation. As I said earlier, this is not shock value simply for the sake of shock. But if it shocks you, maybe you needed to be shocked.