Music writer and producer Matt Bronleewe’s debut novel Illuminated (Thomas Nelson Books, Tennessee, 2007) is a thriller that ventures to unfold an arcane interpretation of the various illuminations that embellish copies of the famous and rare bibles known as Gutenberg Bibles. The book tells the story of August Adams, an archaeobibliogist, and his family who must put their knowledge to work at interpreting some ancient illuminations in order to save their lives from two mutually hostile ancient organizations.
Bronlewee’s book is fast-paced, much like a fast-tempo suspense movie, and appeals to the long, though less-familiar, curiosity about the Gutenberg Bibles. Individual chapters are not very long and the story bears all the elements of a typical thriller: mystery, action, adventure, and some humor. A great merit of the book is the author’s attention to particular details and historical research. Also included are a few figures-the illuminations-to accompany specific textual illustrations in some chapters.
With its merits, Illuminated has its weaknesses that render it less than a modern classic. The novel’s story progresses more like a screenplay than a fully developed work of fiction; heading onwards as a succession of short scenes often with exaggeration in the character attributes and a number of improbabilities for facilitating the story’s plot. The ending of the novel fails the progression of the story and the reader is likely to feel the ending being rushed.
What Illuminated brings up is a new issue in the series of speculative fiction about the history of religion and its credibility: the need of reinterpretation of symbolic embellishments on illuminated works like the Gutenberg Bibles.
The above review was contributed by: Ernest Dempsey whose pen name of Karim Khan. A founding member of the World Audience Inc. (New York), Dempsey is the author of three books: The Biting Age, Islands of Illusion, and The Blue Fairy and Other Stories. He writes articles, professional book reviews, essays, and poetry. He is also an interviewer. Currently Dempsey is working on his fourth book.
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