I am a big fan of Frank Peretti and that is why I was very eager to read the Harbinger series as I first heart about it. As I write this review I have read the first five books in the Harbinger series.
If you have heard about the Harbinger series then you will know that this is a cool project created by Frank Peretti, Bill Myers, Angela Hunt and Alton Gansky. Each book is written by one of these authors and the main personalities in the books are kind of reflecting the writers. Every single books is written in the form of a first person and in the books written by Frank Peretti the I person is the professor, in the books written by Alton Gansky the I person is the cowboy, in the Bill Myers book we see everything through the eyes of the street-hustling tattoo artist Brenda and as Angela Hunt is writing we see the story through the eyes of Andi, the assistant of the professor.
The books in the Harbinger series are very short and they are created to be books that you can read in about 1 hour, while waiting for someone, sitting on the bus or wherever you might be. That gives these books a totally different feeling than most other books written by the same authors, but it has a feeling to it and I enjoyed the fact that you could actually get through a book in such a short time.
As I write this Harbinger series review I have read:
- The Call (Harbingers) (Volume 1) by Bill Myers
- The Haunted (Harbingers) (Volume 2) by Frank Peretti
- The Sentinels (Harbingers) (Volume 3) by Angela Hunt
- The Girl (Harbingers) (Volume 4) by Alton Gansky
- The Revealing (Harbingers) (Volume 5) by Bill Myers
After reading the fifth book I decided to take a break for the Harbingers, not because I disliked it, but because it did not really get a hold of me. Maybe I expected something else as I sat down with the books, but after reading several Frank Peretti books (and since then an Angela Hunt book as well), this is very different. To me the Harbinger series simply became to science fictional. The first book was probably the book I enjoyed the most, then came The Haunted (number two), but after that I felt as if this became to far off and to much science fiction, so hard to relate to it in real life.
All books and stories have morale and they can be used for Christian teachings, but not at all in the same way as other books by the authors that I have read. The books can work out for relaxation and for a quick read, but it annoyed me how they were to far from reality and to fictional for me to be able to make them relate to reality. If you like Christian science fiction then this is probably 100% for you, but maybe this was more about discovering for myself that I am not a big fan of Christian science, meaning that the Harbinger series is brilliant, just not my taste.
Well, there you have it. These were my short thoughts on the Harbinger series. Have you read one or more of the books? How did you enjoy them? Please write a few words to share your thoughts!
3 Responses
Out of interest… do you need to read the Harbinger series in order, or, is each book a stand-alone book that can be read out of any sequential order? I have Book/Volume #2 and wonder if I need to read #1 first
Hello Nik,
there is a continuity in the series, so I would absolutely recommend that you start with the first book and continue from there. They are often referring to things that have happened in earlier books, and you will also see how the relationships between the characters develop along the way… So my answer is, yes – you should read them in the chronological order 🙂
Thanks for your reply. It’s helpful.