Persian Betrayal (Empires of Armageddon, #2)

by Terry Brennan

[phyllish]

Deep faith and suspense

My rating is 3.5 stars

The second book of the Empires of Armageddon series, Persian Betrayal continues Brain Mullaney’s adventures in protecting the US Embassy and the ambassador in Israel. Just as in Ishmael Covenant, it is filled with explosions, intrigue, and treachery. If you have not yet read Ishmael Covenant, be warned that there might be spoilers for that story in my review. (And the synopsis of this book.)

I really enjoyed seeing Brian’s humanity. Despite his strength and abilities to handle most situations well, he struggled with fears and questioned his purpose. He grappled with finding balance between his duty and his family and he wrestled with trusting God through his trials.

One of the events that particularly got my attention was the cleanup of the explosion at the Hurva Synagogue. Brian and his team had to limit their activities to helping just the US citizens. How hard would it be to have to ignore hurting people because they are outside your jurisdiction! I had never considered anything like that before.

The faith message is quite strong. I liked seeing Brian and Palmyra both process the events they had been experiencing in the past few days in light of Scripture and come to the realization that angels are active in our current fight and to really come to understand the concept of spiritual warfare and the fight of good versus evil.

There were places that the story dragged. Many of the relationships from Ishmael Covenant were reiterated and it felt like some of the recap from that story could have been integrated into the story more. Many of the political details already explained in the first book were explained again here as were the details behind the prophecy. There are several pages of authors notes at the end that explain many of these same things – I would have preferred them to remain in the author’s notes and to leave me to search out the details I need to know.

Overall, it is a story worth reading and I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion Ottoman Dominion after its November 2020 release.

Read my full review at Among the Reads


I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.