Revelations by Terry James

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Revelations by Terry James
Series: Book 1 of the Revelations series
Publisher: CKN Christian Publishing on May 8, 2018

REVIEW BY STACI TROILO

Revelations by Terry James is listed as Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy. I’m inclined to put it toward the “supernatural” categories, maybe later in the series apocalyptic, but I think there is merit to include it where it is. If you aren’t a sci-fi/fantasy fan, don’t be turned off by the category. 

In this first-in-series book, protagonist Tyce Greyson is a journalist whose life is forever changed after a visit to Patmos, specifically the cave where Saint John the Revelator received his visions. In that same trip, he also has a peculiar encounter with a rabbi at Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These two occurrences, which should have no relationship to each other, turn out to be inexorably linked, a fact he becomes aware of after returning to the US. At home, he begins a new job as a news anchor, and his first broadcast becomes famous. While looking into the camera, he receives—and reveals—the first of many prophetic visions. This phenomenon sets off an escalating cascade of events taking him around the world and introducing him to clandestine organizations, nefarious cabals, religious leaders, global government agents, supernatural entities, and—most disturbingly—the antichrist. 

Tyce is the prevailing POV character, and we come to know him as a pragmatic man who has modest ambitions and a passionate thirst for the truth. He truly wants to do what’s right and actually shies away from his new-found celebrity status. Secondary characters include people he works with and government agents from different countries. Most of these people have agendas—some selfish, some nationalistic, and a few altruistic. One character I’d like to have seen more of (and possibly will in books two and three) is Rabbi Elias Coahn. His arc throughout book one is fascinating, and I crave more. But the truly mysterious character is the “European,” the leader of Europan (the European consortium that has stepped up to be the governing body of a new world order). When he and Tyce shake hands, Tyce recognizes him for the danger he is. There’s a good chance the reverse is also true. Now the game can really begin, and I look forward to reading about their future interactions. 

This book takes place in the beginning of the end of the age and lays the groundwork for the Tribulation. 

“I’ve always thought of that scripture as being for the Tribulation era, but that is open to interpretation. This prophecy about young men seeing visions and old men having dreams might be for the time we are in now. The time before the Rapture.”

Terry James, Revelations
POV: The Writer

The speaker of the pull quote is the “Writer”—not a true character in this tale, but more of a meta appearance. The vehicle for this story is that a blind writer is meeting with Tyce, who recounts this fantastic tale, one that is more real to him than his own life, though it was all experienced while he was in a coma. Was this a lengthy prophetic vision? A poison-induced fantasy? A pharmacologically inspired hallucination? Perhaps we’ll learn the answer to that question in the sequels.

I should note that Terry James is a blind author. He writes using the Jobs Accessible Word System (JAWS), a voice synthesis tool. I noticed many grammatical issues, but now I suspect they aren’t author-induced so much as system-generated, and I applaud the author for finding a way to tell his story. Perhaps an audio version would eliminate many of the issues, as “hearing” the story would be less distracting than “seeing” it written out. Also, given the first book of the series has a different kind of cover than the second and third books (and the bundled series), I think there’s a chance the rest of the series has gone through more rigorous editing.

I typically find an overabundance of errors hard to ignore, but the story was so compelling, I did ignore them. The premise reminded me of the Left Behind series, one I really enjoyed, and I was not disappointed with the content. I also found it interesting to learn the author is a frequent lecturer on the end of days topic and has worked with Left Behind co-author Tim LaHaye. He has the knowledge, experience, and connections in this field to write a believable, informative tale, and that’s exactly what he did. I can’t wait to dive into book two. 

Four enthusiastic fish. (One was subtracted due to the grammatical issues.)

_{I read Revelations through Kindle Unlimited.}