Book Review: Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien

“The time has come to dialogue on every side, to build bridges. Too long have we walked backward into the future, obsessed with our past, trapped within it. The human race is now approaching a quantum leap forward. We must turn and face the future. This and this alone will ensure the saving of the planet!”

Michael O’Brien, Father Elijah

Review:

I am fascinated by prophecy discussions. This book has come up often when looking up books on the subject. Although it’s a novel, I found that quite a bit correlates with today’s ideologies despite being written in the 90s. My only regret is that I didn’t start from the beginning of the series. It can be read as a standalone, however, I felt that I was missing a lot of character context despite how well explained the history was. 

Carmelite priest, Fr. Elijah, is given an assignment by the pope to infiltrate the inner circle of a man who is suspected to be the Antichrist, a signal that they are in the end times. By doing so, the Church hopes to delay the tribulation in an effort to call the human race back to God. 

The execution of this book was fantastic. I regret not pausing it when I realized that I wanted to start from the beginning and take my time with the series as there is so much to analyze and digest. I just couldn’t put it down! I started this by listening to the audiobook, but then switched to a digital copy when I realized how many timestamps I was saving. 

When I do get to a thorough reread, I will likely update my review or do a series review. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• The plot surrounding Catholic prophecies.
• Fantastic world-building and well-thought-out characters.
• Gripping writing.

What I didn’t like:

• It could be graphic at times, one instance in particular depicting animal cruelty.

Afterthoughts:

I’m happy to have dipped my toes into this series because I’m so excited to go back and start at the beginning!

Where to buy the book: