Star of Persia by Jill Eileen Smith
Stephanie's rating: 4 out of 5 bookmarks

Jill Eileen Smith does a wonderful job fictionalizing the life of Esther of the Bible. As she said herself, Esther's story has been told and retold many times. Still, she did a great job in her chosen realm of Biblical fiction when she chose to tackle the much-loved story of Queen Esther.

The Bible really doesn't give us more than the bare bones about Esther's remarkable rise from a young orphan girl living with her much older cousin, to the position of Queen of much of the then-known world. God was obviously at work behind the scenes, setting the stage for the rescue of His Chosen People even in the land of their previous captivity.

Ms. Smith carefully brings us into the life and times of the Israelites of those days. The food, the clothing, the customs - all work together to set the mood for the life of the young Esther. Then, when she is whisked away to a new and unknown world, we are introduced with her to the new life of opulence and the grandeur of the palace.

By carefully crafting personalities and peoples, Ms. Smith is able to fill in the gaps of the Biblical account, while still staying true to the parts that we do know. It is obvious that much thought and research went into each piece of this masterfully woven novel.

I really enjoyed reading this account of Esther's life. However, my one disappointment was that the book ended much weaker than it started, or even than the main body of the story continued. I felt a little let down at the end, like the story petered out, and didn't really reach a climax.

Also, because of the intimate nature of the story of Esther, I couldn't recommend this book to anyone unmarried, and certainly not to a male reader. Though Ms. Smith did her best to be discreet and not add explicit or inappropriate exchanges, there is no way to tell the story of Esther without at least some telling of relationship between a man and a woman. Kudos to her for doing a great job at keeping it as clean as possible; her scenes are not at all smutty.

In all, I enjoyed reading this book, but because of the weak ending, I can't give it a full 5 bookmarks. This book earns a solid 4 out of 5 bookmarks.





Stephanie Garrett is a busy homeschooling mom of three who somehow always finds time to read. She has been a voracious reader since childhood and even won a bicycle in elementary school for having read the most books! She enjoys learning and growing and never turns down an opportunity to try something new. Her first love is the Lord and service to Him, second is family, and third...is reading. She believes that anyone who learns to read with comprehension can go anywhere and do anything! She also enjoys music, theatre, sewing, and mathematics.



Disclosure: The publisher provided us with a free copy of this book for promotional purposes. A favorable review was not required. This post contains affiliate links.