A.D. 999

As promised back in my preview of Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm, I plan on reviewing a few of Christie Golden's books before the release.  The first of which I thought I would cover is, what Golden believes, to be her best work: A.D. 999.

After looking at this picture you're probably thinking to yourself, "Hey, I thought you were reviewing Golden's works!"  Well the truth is, Jardrien Bell is one of Golden's pen names used to attract a different audience to her writing.

A.D. 999 is an apocalyptic fantasy in which the prophecy foretold in the book of Revelations has come to fruition.  Satan's plans to dominate the Earth are at hand in the novel and it falls to two unlikely heroes, a crippled monk and a midwife, to save humanity.  These heroes, however, have been blessed by God with abilities that could be enough to save the world from its encroaching doom.

This is an excellent read; weaving the plot with both medieval history and bible prophecies makes for a very authentic world and engages the reader.  Golden does an absolutely wonderful job of making you care for the characters and will leave you wanting more.  The book has gained high critical acclaim over the years and even won the Colorado Author's League Top Hat Award for best genre novel in 1999.

tl;dr: A must read, go check it out.