Product Details:

• Title: Deliverance
• Author: H.B. Moore
• Series: Moses Chronicles Book #2
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc. (March 1, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1680479350
• FTC, FYI: I received a review e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
• Reviewed by Sheila

Book Details: 
Experience the life of Moses as never before, following his journey from fugitive of Egypt to prophet of God. In this exhilarating follow-up to H.B. Moore’s biblical drama The Moses Chronicles: Bondage, the account of Moses’s flight from Egypt continues. Moses’s life as he knew it is over. He has chosen to stand for his beliefs at the cost of being cast out of his royal home and family. He is free of the wickedness of Egypt, but peace is not to be found, for Moses is as much an aimless wanderer as those in the nomadic tribe he encounters in the wilderness.

Exhausted by long weeks of travel, he nevertheless jumps to action when he observes a group of young women accosted by a band of Badrayan men at a communal well. These lovely daughters of Jethro are grateful for his help, and their Midianite tribe welcomes Moses with open arms. As he learns the ways of the Midianites, his kinship with Jethro grows—as does his admiration of one of Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah. But when Moses suddenly receives a burning call to free the very people he has long oppressed, will he have the courage to return to the land from which he has been exiled?

My Review:
I’ve always been fascinated by the prophet Moses ever since the first time I saw the movie The Ten Commandments as a small child. I’ve read about this man in the Bible and studied about his life. It wasn’t until I read book one in The Moses Chronicles that I felt I truly knew who this man was. Author H.B. Moore has a way of bringing historical characters to life that make you feel like you are reading a biography. I loved reading Book #1 Bondage about the beginning of Moses’s life and him growing up in Egypt along side Ramses. 

This second book starts as Moses has left Egypt after killing an Egyptian taskmaster.You are immediately swept away to the wilderness where Moses meets Zipporah and her sisters at a watering well. He saves them from some Badrayen men trying to steal their sheep.The details are so vivid you can almost feel the heat and the strong winds stirring the sand in the desert. One thing I’ve always loved about this author is how great she is with descriptive writing. Whether it’s the palace of a Pharaoh or in the Midianite tents in the desert, every scene is written with a unique power and appeal that evokes sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes as if you were there. 

Along with Moses’s journey as he finds his place in the world, away from the luxuries of Egypt, there is also a wonderful love story. We as readers get to experience the growing attraction and love between Moses and the beautiful Midianite woman Zipporah. I loved both of these characters equally. They were meant to be together as you easily see how well they complement each other and would do anything for the other, even give their own lives.

The last chapter of the book was a very emotional one for me as Moses is back in Egypt with his Hebrew family. The reunion of the son with his birth family was very moving. I got chills though when Moses was presented before the Elders of Israel and they realize that a long awaited prophet has finally come to free them. This second book was excellent and read very quickly, and leads up to the final book in the trilogy called Exodus. If it’s as great as the first two, then I can’t wait to read the concluding book about the life of the courageous prophet Moses. 

-Deliverance gets 5 stars from me!!!

***Warnings: Some violence as the nomadic tribes fight each other, but nothing graphic. No swearing or sexual content. ***

Excerpt from Deliverance:

                  Moses’s bruises had long since faded from deep purple to mottled blue, and finally to a pale yellow like the sand that stretched beneath his feet. Yet the scars still remained, running along his forearms and chest, red against the ever-deepening color of his skin.

            But Moses didn’t need scars or bruises to remind him of his final days in the land of Egypt. They were etched deeply into his heart. Scars of killing the Egyptian taskmaster. Scars of sneaking back into the palace that had been his home for as long as he could remember. Scars of listening to the woman he’d called “Mother” his entire life tell him he wasn’t her child.

            Scars of learning that he’d been born a Hebrew slave, then wrapped and hidden away in a woven basket, and pushed into the River Nile . . . to meet his fate.

            His life had been left in the river god’s hands, or was it the god Amun? Or perhaps the Hebrew god had orchestrated Moses’s life so that he did not meet the fate of all other male infants born in the Hebrew settlements and ordered dead by Pharaoh.

            Moses exhaled and pushed forward across the desolate terrain. Nearly a moon had passed since he’d crossed into the wilderness, leaving behind everything he knew, and leaving behind questions that he could never answer. He kept his focus on the rocky outcrop of the hill ahead of him as the merciless sun baked his skin. Hoping to find shade beneath an overhang, or better yet, a cool, dry cave, Moses ignored the fierce thirst battling in his throat and the labored breaths expelling from his chest.

            His scalp itched and burned from the fierce sun and the new growth of hair. His head had been shaved his entire life, so he wasn’t used to hair on his head. He tried to sleep through the days and travel only at night, but he’d soon changed that tactic. Too many snakes and scorpions were out in the dark, and the moon wasn’t always a reliable guide.

            When Moses reached the rocky outcrop, he nearly collapsed underneath a ledge that jutted out from above. The shade wasn’t much cooler than the hot sand surrounding him, but at least the deadly rays of the sun were blocked.

            He opened his goatskin satchel and pulled out the few remaining dates. He chewed slowly, letting the sweet, grainy taste fill his senses, not knowing when he might find another date grove in this desolation. Or another well holding water, for that matter.

            Closing his eyes, Moses leaned his head against the rough stone and inhaled. Hot, dusty air surrounded him, and he thought of the fertile land surrounding the River Nile, where he’d spent his entire life. A life of privilege, of wealth, of esteem. A life that was now gone.

            Moses hadn’t realized he’d dozed until a rock skittered next to his feet. His eyes flew open and he looked up, afraid that the ledge above him was crumbling. Instead, a pair of bare feet, calloused and hardened with years of desert walking, dangled over the rock. Moses pulled his legs up and scooted back, not wanting to be seen; then the feet lowered, and suddenly a man with a coarsely woven tunic dropped to the ground. His hair was a long mass of matted curls, and his eyes were like piercing black daggers.

            “Who are you?” the man demanded in a language that resembled Egyptian but was more guttural. The man’s hand gripped a staff, his knuckles white with tension.

            Moses raised his hands to show that he didn’t hold a dagger or any other weapon. “I am just a stranger passing through. I’m here in peace.” He spoke slowly, keeping his hands raised.

            The man’s eyes narrowed, and Moses could practically feel him taking in the whole of Moses’s appearance. He’d been in the desert for three weeks, yet his dirty kilt was still finer than this nomad’s. And there was no comparing the fine leather of his sandals with the nomad’s bare feet.

            The man’s eyes were on Moses’s satchel, and his breath stalled as he realized what the man was about to do. Although the small gold statues his mother had sent with him were at the bottom of the satchel with his elegant robe on top to hide them, that wouldn’t be nearly enough protection to deter a determined nomad.

            “Stand up,” the man commanded in his harsh language.

Meet Author: H.B. Moore: 

H.B. Moore is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than a dozen historical novels set in ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica. She attended the Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican International School in Jerusalem, and received her bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University. She writes historical thrillers under the pen name H.B. Moore, and romance and women’s fiction under the name Heather B. Moore. It can be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom. 

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