"Remnants: Season of Glory" by Lisa T. Bergren

About this book:

  “In the third and final volume of the Remnants series—Seasons of Glory—the power of the Remnants and their people are growing, threatening Pacifica’s careful plans for domination. Among the Trading Union, village after village, outpost after outpost, and city after city are drawn to people of the Way, and agree to stand against those who hunt them. But Pacifica intends to ferret out and annihilate the Remnants—as well as everyone who hasn’t sworn allegiance to the empire—setting the stage for an epic showdown that will change the course of a world on the brink … forever.”


Series: Book #3 in the “The Remnants” series. (Review of Book #1 Here! Review of Book #2 Here!) 

Spiritual Content- Very much the Light vs the Dark storyline; All about the Call, high gifts & the Way; Many, many, many Prayers; Talking to, Calling on & Focusing on the Maker; Seeing the spiritual realm; Lots of Witnessing & Preaching; Walking the Maker’s love in people; Many, many, many Talks about the Maker, his plans, guidance & presence, his love & hope, along with listening, trusting & relaying on him and being called; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to the Maker (easy to assume that the Maker is supposed to be God); The Maker (God) is called a few Hebrew names (Shammah, Nissi, Raah, Tisdkenu & Rapha); A few Scriptures are quoted & mentioned; *Spoiler* Azarel is an angel. *End of Spoiler*; Raniero is an angel & many, many mentions about that fact; Many, many mentions of the Maker; Many, many mentions of prayers & praying; Many Mentions of followers of the Way; Many mentions of thanking & praising the Maker; Mentions of feeling holy (through the Maker); Mentions of the Sacred Words (assumed to be the Bible); Mentions of visions from the Maker & angels; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of martyrs; A few mentions of sins;

*Note: “Gods” is said like a curse (like as in “[Heck], man, how did you get so lucky?”); Talking about the Maker is taboo in some places; The Darkness tries to lure Dri in; Sethos is a dark angel; Mentions of darkness, dark ones, evil places, sorcery, spells & curses; Mentions of spiritual enemies & demons; Mentions of the afterlife (we can assume Heaven, but it’s never straight out said); A few mentions of fortune-tellers; A few places (and a dress) are called cursed; A mention of meditating (Keallach does it).

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, an ‘idiot’, a form of ‘stupid’, and two ‘shut up’s; Curses are said not written; Lots & Lots of Fighting, Killing, Hitting/Punching, Battle, Blood, Arrows, Swords, Daggers & where they are aimed/put (all ranging from semi-detailed to detailed); Pain (semi-detailed); Enemies & Trackers (and to kill one you have to cut out their heart or decapitate them); Beheadings & Heads roll (semi-detailed); Hate (including wanting someone dead) & Jealousy; Having to get tattoos & a bit of pain from those; Many, many, many mentions of deaths, fighting, killing, choking, pain, blood & bodies (semi-detailed); Many mentions of hitting, bruises, scars, blood, injuries & wounds (mostly semi-detailed); Many mentions of almost being killed, threats, murders & torture (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of war; Mentions of prisons/dungeons; Mentions of hanging, being executed & excruciating deaths; Mentions of beatings; Mentions of child labor & whips (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of lies; A few mentions of tasting blood; A few mentions of being chained & almost being hanged; A few mentions of the Cancer, illnesses & sickness; A few mentions of drinking, & wine; A few mentions of kidnappings; A few mentions of hunting; A few mentions of being slapped & almost being slapped; A couple mentions of cracked bones & the sound they make (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of burning the dead (barely-above-not-detailed);A couple mentions of vomiting; A couple mentions of poison; A couple mentions of drug dealers; A mention of shooting & eating a goat (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a butchered lamb.

Sexual Content- neck kisses & nuzzles, jaw kisses, two nose kisses, three head kisses, two not-detailed kisses, four barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two semi-detailed kisses, and two and a half detailed kisses (including one rolling on the floor); Wanting to kiss; Remembering kisses; Many mentions of kisses & kissing; Blushes, Warmth, Heat, Touches, Shivers & Embraces (semi-detailed); Hand Holding; Noticing & Smelling (semi-detailed); A few men gaze, leer & lustfully stare women, including at Dri (and mentions of their looks (& a couple touches) towards them); Keallach says he loves Andriana & wants to make her his; In Zanzibar, men outnumber women three to one; A mention of females being killed; A mention of woman flesh; A mention of being unmolested & a man figuring Dri’s neck of her tunic; A couple mentions of Zanzibar’s trading in women; A few mentions of Zanzibar women walking behind their men (hands on his hip); A few mentions of women being sold to pimps & becoming prostitutes; A few mentions of Zanzibar’s lord collecting women for his harem (he calls it his “treasured harem”); *Spoiler* Less than halfway, Zanzibar changes for the good and everything changes. No more harems, women being owned, etc. *End of Spoiler*; A mention of bedding a man; A mention of (Dri) wanting to share a bed with a man (Ronan); A (teasing) mention of pushing together two beds for an engaged couple (they don’t end up pushing the beds together though); A mention of a married couple being married in every sense of the word (ie. They consummated their marriage); An asking if Ronan had bedded Dri (no, she is still a virgin); A mention of someone being stunned that another man was able to keep himself from bedding his bride; A mention of a man making his wife his; A mention of enjoying the pleasures of being married; A mention of a man & his many wives (Book#1); A mention of infertility; A mention of a fling; A mention of a courtesan (a prostitute); A couple mentions of other courtesans sitting on a men’s’ lap & kissing them (a men going to bed alone); A couple mentions of making sure men don’t see women bathing/naked at a pool; A couple mentions of a bathing area young lovers go to bathe together; Mentions of waiting for the intimacy of those truly married, wanting to become one flesh & consummating marriages; Mentions of being pure & chaste; Mentions of prostitutes; Mentions of flirting & jealousy; Mentions of touches & touching; Mentions of intimacy & desires (along with sinful desires); Mentions of taking vows/pledges of binding to be married & women being claimed; Many Mentions of a group wanting Dri to be someone’s betrothal; Mentions of being in love & feelings; Love, being/falling in love, & the emotions; 

             *Note: A mention of ‘butting in’ to a conversation; A mention of a tight-fitting dress Dri is forced to wear that has a small cut out, giving a peek at her cleavage; A mention of a mother’s bosom; A mention of blood trickling down a girl’s throat into her cleavage; A couple mentions of bare chested men (no details); A couple mentions of a woman’s curvy figure & ample breasts; A couple mentions of underwear & bra bands.

-Andriana “Dri”, age 18/19(?)
                                         1^st person P.O.V. switches between Dri, Ronan & Keallach

                                              Dystopia
                                                        400 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating- 

I’m slightly numb. There’s a lot of great parts in “Remnants: Season of Glory”—like all the Spiritual Content, but there’s also a lot of gore, blood & killing. Lots. In addition, there were many more mentions of intimate married stuff (thankfully it never goes beyond not-detailed, just some slight hints.) which brings more caution to this series. I enjoy Lisa T. Bergren’s YA books, she’s a good author that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but it looks like it’s a trend with her series that more mentions of married stuff comes as the series continues. (I’m looking at you River of Time series!) Did I enjoy this series? Yes, in some ways. But I can’t begin to tell y’all about the amounts of blood and killing there are in these novels. Fans of popular secular series, probably won’t mind as much, but I found it to bit more than a bit much for a Christian series.

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Blink) for this honest review.

"Waterfall" by Lisa T. Bergren

**Note to younger readers: This book nor this series is recommend for girls under the age of 14. This review has Sexual hints and mentions from this book. So in other words, don’t read this review, due to it not being clean.**

About this book:

  “Gabriella has never spent a summer in Italy like this one.
Remaining means giving up all she’s known and loved … and leaving means forfeiting what she’s come to know—and love itself.

  Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Bentarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives with their parents, famed Etruscan scholars, among the romantic hills. In Book One of the River of Time series, Gabi and Lia are stuck among the rubble of medieval castles in rural Tuscany on yet another hot, boring, and dusty archeological site … until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

  And thus she comes to be rescued by the knight-prince Marcello Falassi, who takes her back to his father’s castle—a castle Gabi has seen in ruins in another life. Suddenly Gabi’s summer in Italy is much, much more interesting. But what do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?”


Series: Book #1 (of five) in the “River of Time” series. {I have read this book twice, but have never reviewed it on here.}

Spiritual Content- The story of Daniel gets mentioned; Many Prayers; Talks about B.C., being blessed, the Lord’s intention & God; Thoughts about heaven & going to it; Many “Go with God”s, a couple “Saints in heaven”, “God be with you”, and a “God help me” are all said; Gabi says that her family went to church on Christmas and on Easter, but that her parents “treated it as more of a nod to culture and tradition than any personal profession of faith” but her grandmother “had been big into the religion thing.”;

*Note: Thoughts about Hades, Hell, and a place being “hotter than Hades”.

                

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘dang’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘flippin’’, a ‘freakin’’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘witch’, two forms of ‘heck’, two ‘oh my gosh’s, six ‘idiot’s, seven ‘stupid’s; Sarcasm; Gabi calls items cursed eleven times; Lots and lots of battle scenes with lots of blood (nearly all are detailed); Staking, shooting, stabbing, burring, killing and torture are all major parts of this story and up to very-detailed in describing the actions; Slitting throats are mentioned (not-detailed); Dead & dying people; Poison & Morphine; Killing an animal is mentioned (not-detailed); Lots of drinking wine; Acting drunk.

Sexual Content- an almost kiss, many not-detailed kisses, many barley-above-not-detailed kisses, two semi-detailed kisses and a detailed kiss; Gabi wants Marcello to kiss her; Flirtatious smiles; a ‘randy’, a ‘trampy’, a ‘wench’, five forms of ‘hot’; Gabi gets called a ‘bird’ but shrugs it off as a 14^th century version of ‘chick’; Men scan women’s bodies (it happens four times to Gabi); A mention of giving a men fodder for his dreams about a girl; two hints about a woman “eager to lift her skirts” (said about Gabi “So that’s what they thought…? That I was into sleeping around or something? Oh brother.” ); A man says he has “plenty of women” to warm his bed; A talk about finding a husband and being of an age to start a family; When Gabi wears her hair down there’s a mention of “hair being as a maid’s on her wedding day”; A man pins Gabi down and starts untying his trousers (nothing happens); A jerk says that he’ll maybe put a girl “up in the corner of the courtyard. Give the men something fine to play with and admire.”; Love falling in love, & the emotions;

              *Notes: a mention of being ‘all that’; Gabi says she has a “curvaceous figure”; a mention of peeing her pants.  

-Gabriella Betarrini, age 17

                                       1^st person P.O.V. of Gabi

                                              Time Travel to the 14th century (Medieval)
                                                        369 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Like I said in the Series part, this is my second time reading this book. (And to tell you the truth, this newer review has been waiting to be typed up over a year…ooops!) Lisa T. Bergren is a great author, she can keep to on the edge of your seat while reading this book; but the problem is that as this series goes on it gets very, very sexual in marital acts. I can't in good conscience recommend the series because of the Sexual Content in the first book all the way to the fifth and final one. Needless to say, I’m very iffy on her books. :/

See y’all on Monday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.