Mostly excellent, but badly let down by a couple of weaknesses. I got the feeling that Rushkoff was starting to get tired of writing these, so in a couple of places he started to spell out the 'rules' a little too explicitly for my liking, as if he was grasping for a way to bring it to a close. And then the ending itself was horrible! I understand the desire to have modern humans overthrow the gods, but the way he did just didn't add up. If one of the major themes of the series is the constant danger of slavery to greed & materialism, that ending was a triumph of those things presented as a triumph of humans. ( )

Mostly excellent, but badly let down by a couple of weaknesses. I got the feeling that Rushkoff was starting to get tired of writing these, so in a couple of places he started to spell out the 'rules' a little too explicitly for my liking, as if he was grasping for a way to bring it to a close. And then the ending itself was horrible! I understand the desire to have modern humans overthrow the gods, but the way he did just didn't add up. If one of the major themes of the series is the constant danger of slavery to greed & materialism, that ending was a triumph of those things presented as a triumph of humans. ( )

I liked this, but the entire premise is getting kind of old so I doubt I'll continue reading. I did like the ending a lot. ( )

There's a bit of a sucker punch at the end of Testament: Why spend so much time creating stories modeled after those of the Bible when in the end, there's the suggestion of a different path? Much of the content here seems as if it comes from someone with rabbinical training, which makes the conclusion so jarring. I'll keep the three stars -- an average rating -- only because that's what I gave to the rest of the issues. But in terms of "satisfaction," I'd probably rate this with two stars. (I'm also still not a fan of our main character Jake 's long hair, because I keep confusing him for a girl in many of the long-range shots.)

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LT Haiku:

Plot takes all the gods
and splits them into factions:
Which are the good ones? ( )

The concept of not just reenacting but also telling anew the Biblical stories even to the point of juxtaposing character and plots is very intriguing; however, the way the story does it is rushed and sophomoric at best. ( )