Monday, November 25, 2013

The School of Ministry: The Windgate by Braxton Cosby

Publisher: Keith Publications
Pages: 405
Genre: Young Adult/Adult, Supernatural Thriller
Source: I received a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

From Goodreads:

A young man named Ziv struggles to find his place in life after both of his parents are murdered. Orphaned and alone by the age of six, he bounces in and out of foster homes hopeless and afraid, wondering if he will ever find a path to happiness. He resolves to accept a life of depravity, until one day he discovers he possesses the gift of sight: to see creatures from the afterlife, but not angels...demons! Ziv is recruited by The School of Ministry, a secret society that promises to help him find his best friend Stephanie, who has gone missing. But there is one catch: he must agree to join them in their quest to eradicate evil and protect the weak. Ziv learns that he is a "Conduit," which allow him to cross over into the spirit world and transcend time itself. When he is partnered with two other young men who have similar gifts, the unlikely trio is trained in the mastery of weapons and the art of Shouting, during treacherous challenges of the tortuous Quad in preparation for their mission: to secure the Windgate. Ziv becomes entrenched in a quest of identity, love, and will, until comes face to face with pure evil itself--Akabod, the spiritual prodigal son to the School of Ministry and a master of talents.

My Thoughts:
I know of very few people who don't love a story that pits good against evil, has a romantic side to it and then throws some wickedly great challenges in.  Braxton Cosby seems to have the recipe for creating fascinating stories that the reader can't put down.  I started reading this on my commute to and from school. I was not making much progress. My evenings were tied up preventing me from reading.  All it took was one glorious day with no school, no writing and the book was mine.  I finished it in a little under four hours.  I love the world Cosby has built inside "The School of Ministry". For every test and trial that Ziv went through I looked at my own life.  They are life lessons that we can apply to our own life.  Ziv has an issue with holding onto anger. The lessons he learned by looking within himself and the way it affected his walk with God made me to the same thing. I took these lessons he learned and learned from them myself.  I don't think this was necessarily what the author was going for when he wrote the book.  I believe this is just an added bonus. The Christian aspect was a plus for me.  The non-believer as well as the believer will enjoy this story. The action in this book is told in such a way that for a visual person like me I was carried into each battle and training.  I felt my heart pounding whenever Ziv's heart would pound.  As far as the two possible love interests in the story, I haven't made up my mind about them.  Cosby has left so many neatly tied up loose ends that the next book in the series can take many twists and turns.  All of them will be absolutely delightful. The only thing I absolutely hate, is that I will need to wait for the next book in the series to come out. To that I say, "Write faster Braxton Cosby".

About the Author:
Braxton A. Cosby is a dreamer with a vision of continuously evolving and maximizing the untapped potential of the human spirit. Braxton received a lot of his inspiration from watching the accomplishments and exploits of his famous uncle, comedic legend Bill Cosby. Braxton lives in Georgia with his wife and three children. He writes stories aimed at both entertaining and encouraging people to think and act. 




You can find out more about him:
                                         

1 comment:

  1. Thank you Sandra. So glad you liked it. I am starting the next one in December!

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