The Gideons Jeffrey Matthew Hopkins 9780984567324 Books
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The Gideons is a science fiction novel which explores themes of religion and humanity's place in the universe.
The Gideons Jeffrey Matthew Hopkins 9780984567324 Books
Hopkins writes a fascinating tale that starts with the childhoodtraumas of a boy who lives in a strange religious cult. As the story
progresses, we discover that the cult and the setting around the cult
is much more than we imagined. Throughout the whole story, there are
plenty of twists and turns, surprises and excitement to keep the
reader glued to the pages.
What I find especially interesting about this book is the thought
experiment it presents to the reader. The protagonist starts life in
the relatively simple world of a primitive cult and, because of a
series of unfortunate events, is forced out at a young age into a
series of ever more technological, complex and bewildering worlds that
exist just outside the world before. We observe as the protagonist
copes with each of these worlds and the stark realities they present,
and we wonder at how a person with such a unique view would interpret
reality and humanity's place therein.
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Tags : The Gideons [Jeffrey Matthew Hopkins] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b> The Gideons </i>is a science fiction novel which explores themes of religion and humanity's place in the universe. <br /><span> </span></b>,Jeffrey Matthew Hopkins,The Gideons,Hard Oak Press, LLC,0984567321,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction Action & Adventure,Science Fiction - Action & Adventure,Science fiction
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The Gideons Jeffrey Matthew Hopkins 9780984567324 Books Reviews
Gripping me from the beginning and throughout, the Gideons tells of a future history laded with disturbing mythology and some science fiction. In this book, Author Jeffrey Hopkins created literature with themes about intellectual and emotional maturation, the brutality of war and the indifference of nature. Isaac, the protagonist, comes of age during a difficult period. I found him to be a realistic character.
Like today's young people, Isaac grows up at a time when the nature of conflict and war is changing. A great leadership void pulls Isaac forward from his naïve youth to the critical-thinking young adult he must become. Along the way, in a world made primitive after the collapse of modernization along with the effects of deglobalization and isolation, Isaac learns to face and overcome his fears.
The Gideons depicts the brutality of war close up. War is really merciless, not exactly glorious. This message is authentic, shining through by an author who experienced his share of war firsthand in Iraq and currently in Afghanistan. I'm not surprised to enjoy books written by soldiers currently serving in the active military and at war in foreign lands. This is the generation foretold about 15 years ago in The Fourth Turning - The Fourth Turning. They are the new greatest generation, somewhat neglected growing up and facing the greatest crisis this nation has ever faced. The leadership void awaiting their arrival is beyond anything experienced by the living.
From page 4 on through the conclusion, I found a particular theme constant and aptly told. That is the indifference of nature. Nature continues with no regard for humans. It has no regard for the profound horrors experienced from time to time by people. All attempts to control nature eventually fall short and later result in blowback. Philosophical implications to this theme permeate the story. Genuine maturation such as we see in Isaac is probably impossible without acceptance of nature's indifference.
Finally, this future history tells us about ourselves. We hold many commonly held assumptions as truths because the alternative is painful, at least at first. The most enjoyable way to experience these ideas is through an entertaining story like The Gideons. Kudos to Hopkins!
At the beginning of THE GIDEONS it is difficult to get a foothold on where in time that the book takes place. It is even puzzling as to what planet you're on. Eventually, it becomes clear that you are, in fact, on planet earth. The timeline is sometime in the far future.
The story centers around a young man by the name of Isaac. He and his community are deeply religious and they follow a book known as The Gideons. Or, at least they THINK that's what it's called? Literacy is rare, and knowledge of the holy book is considered sacred. To be sure, there are themes in the book which parallel The Book of Eli, but I find Hopkins' story to be far more compelling than Denzel Washington's rather bland movie.
Isaac's community has some traits which overlap with those of the Spartans of ancient Greeks. Like the Spartans, the men live their lives in barracks, away from their women. They are trained to be soldiers first before anything else, and their rite-of-passage to manhood often leads to their death. Unlike the Spartans, Isaac's community is matriarchal in nature.
From this framework we set off on a sort of Alice in Wonderland (Isaac in Wonderland?) escapade where nothing is as it seems and absolutely positively nothing in the storyline is predictable. Hopkins certainly has an avid imagination and he calls on it repeatedly to lead us through this bizarre future.
Raised as a religious zealot, Isaac comes face-to-face with science for the 1st time and he finds that he must choose between the two. Of course, the plotline doesn't end up just there. In Isaac's world, even religion itself succumbs to Darwinian evolution, and Christianity is threatened to be usurped by an alien religion. Are you following all of this?
I don't want to give away too much of the plotline as it's too intricate to get into without spoiling the reader's enjoyment of the book. Let me just say that the best way to describe the story would be that it's something like a cross between Blade Runner (The Director's Cut) and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. THE GIDEONS is a strange, perplexing, vulgar and iconoclastic book, but that doesn't mean that it's not worth reading!
Hopkins writes a fascinating tale that starts with the childhood
traumas of a boy who lives in a strange religious cult. As the story
progresses, we discover that the cult and the setting around the cult
is much more than we imagined. Throughout the whole story, there are
plenty of twists and turns, surprises and excitement to keep the
reader glued to the pages.
What I find especially interesting about this book is the thought
experiment it presents to the reader. The protagonist starts life in
the relatively simple world of a primitive cult and, because of a
series of unfortunate events, is forced out at a young age into a
series of ever more technological, complex and bewildering worlds that
exist just outside the world before. We observe as the protagonist
copes with each of these worlds and the stark realities they present,
and we wonder at how a person with such a unique view would interpret
reality and humanity's place therein.
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