When I first picked up Rooms I was intrigued, partly because I love the feel of a new book in my hands and all the possibilities that invites and partly because of the questions the cover invokes. A large coastal home nestled among trees; cloudy skies and choppy water frame the picture. Mysterious. I tried to ignore the fact that many of the blurbs compared Rooms to The Shack, and dove into the story head first.
In a nutshell, Rooms is about Micah Taylor, a successful Seattle software designer, and the choice he has to make between worldly success and knowing God. Micah receives a letter from his long deceased great uncle that catapults him into a world of supernatural encounters, small decisions leading with major consequences and shifting realities. With each step Micah takes closer to God he loses a piece of his success leading him to face the question what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Rooms is a well-written, solid Christian suspense novel. The gist of the story is very compelling and Rubart creates some very strong moments of suspense and emotion. I did feel that at times the pace of the story suffered because of the amount of description and detail he wrote in. For example I found it very difficult to relax into the plot at the beginning because of all the brand names Rubart used to describe the lifestyle of Micah, and later I skimmed over descriptions of the sea, forests and weather to get to the meat of the scene.
Despite some scenes of forced emotional intensity and a rather awkward final page or so, overall I think this is a good read. Rubart successfully pulls the reader along Micah’s journey while challenging them to search their own hearts and ask what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul.
**This is a book review I wrote for the website http://www.manitobachristianonline.com/ If you are interested in reading more of my book reviews click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the page. A new review will be posted every couple of weeks.
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