Kindle Book Review: "The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow" by Joyce Magnin

"The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow" by Joyce Magnin
3 Faerie Points

Joyce Magnin's Bright's Pond series, which "The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow" is the first book of this particular series, interweaves faith, death, and love all within the pages of its cover. This particular book is told from the viewpoint of Griselda Sparrow, Agnes's sister. The majority of the story deals with the fact that Agnes is seen as a miracle worker whose prayers often go answered by God. This story takes you on a journey through what it means to have actual faith.

My main gripe with this book is the sheer shock that happens during on particular part of this book. There was no real indication that this was going to happen in the book, but sometimes this is how life is. I don't feel that Magnin wrote any redeemable characters in the series for the most part, each of them are flawed. Here the flawed nature of the characters feels a bit undercooked because in many spots it feels like someone should be saying something to these characters that simply is not being said for some reason. "Why didn't someone ever truly speak up until near the end of the book?" is what the reader is left wondering. It doesn't leave a refreshing taste in the mouth.

This book had a lot of potential to be the first christian fiction book that I have actually enjoyed, but because of many of the holes contained within the story I simply didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped based on almost the first 3/4ths of the book. The tail end of the book just came out of almost no where for me and because of this this book lacks a lot of what should have been there. The lesson of faith and trusting who we are. It is also about letting go of our past and moving on from sin, but these elements are overshadowed by the sheer hatred that some of these characters spew at the ending of this book.

Even though there were parts I didn't like in this particular book I do intend to read the next book in the series called "Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise". It sounds like it will be interesting in a way that this book was unable to live up to.