Monday, April 11, 2011

Book Review: The Final Summit

As a participant in Booksneeze, I have had the chance to review The Final Summit by Andy Andrews. This book follows the events of The Traveler's Gift, which I have not read. 

From the publisher:
David Ponder is back. This time the fate of mankind is in his hands.
This is mankind’s last chance. Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent humanity hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose. There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship, and it consists of only two words.
With time running out, it is up to David Ponder and a cast of history’s best and brightest minds to uncover this solution before it is too late. The catch? They are allowed only five tries to discover the answer.
Readers first encountered David Ponder in The Traveler's Gift. Now, in The Final Summit, Andrews combines a riveting narrative with astounding history in order to show us the one thing we must do when we don’t know what to do.
My take:   I enjoyed this book.  As I mentioned above, I have not read the previous title.  From reading the description of that book on Amazon, my impression, however, is that Andrews pretty well summed up that first story in the opening chapters of this book, as David Ponder is remembering his life.  My impression is that there were certain aspects of The Final Summit that would have been more fun as a reader if I truly knew the backstory, but it was not necessary to appreciate the story being told here.

This is a bit of a combination Christian self-help book and Christian novel, a combination I wasn't sure could be pulled off.  It worked, though.  I enjoyed the story, and the conversation about what humanity can do to save itself, individually and collectively, did make me think.

The basic plot is that David Ponder is sitting at a conference table with all kinds of famous and important people from history, attempting to answer that question.  Before giving each answer, the characters discuss the reasons for the answers, which I'll probably get more out of on a second (or third, or tenth) reading.  Each new historical character adds a new perspective, and they are written in such a way so as to feel realistic.

I will be reading this book again.


Disclaimer:  As Booksneeze Blogger, I did receive this book for free from Thomas Nelson.  No other compensation was received.  For more about my take on reviews, visit my blog post here.


1 comment:

Blossom Barden (NorthLaurel) said...

I'm not quite done with this one and am glad you didn't give away the ending! ;)
So far I am enjoying it as well.