Chasing the Lion

Sword of Redemption, Book 1

De: Nancy Kimball

Narrado por: Joseph Narducci

From the blood-soaked sand of the Roman arena, a divine destiny will rise.

For as long as Jonathan Tarquinius can remember, everyone has wanted something from him. His half-brother wants him dead. His master's wife wants his innocence. The gladiator dealers want him to fight - and die - for their greed. Rome's most famous prostitute wants his love. And the gentle slave girl who tends the wounds on his body and the hidden ones on his soul, longs for him to return to his faith.

What Jonathan wants is simple. Freedom. But God wants something from Jonathan too - something more than anyone would ever imagine. The young warrior's journey will push him to the limits of human endurance and teach him that true freedom is found within.

The greatest battle Jonathan must ever fight will not come in the arena, but deep within himself as he is forced to choose between vengeance and mercy - with the fate of an empire and the life of the woman he loves hanging in the balance.

©2014 Nancy J. Diekmann (P)2014 Nancy J. Diekmann

Wow!

Chasing The Lion by Nancy Kimball is about a man named Jonathan in 1st century Rome. Johnathan began life in poverty, then met his father a roman senator and began a wonderful life. But when his vindictive & violent brother turns jealous he is sold into slavery and eventually becomes a gladiator. This book is sort of a mix of the story of Joseph from the Bible and the movie Gladiator. This is one of the best stories I have read in a long time! And to top it off the narrator is excellent! I cannot wait for the next installment in this series!

Excellent excellent!! 5 stars all around

I loved this book! I highly recommend it to all who love Roman history & love God ❤️

Great story , distracting narration

Really loved the journey of suffering that led to great joy and forgiveness. Didn't care for the reader so much. He has a William Shatner style of pausing, in strange, places. Distracting at times. But didn't keep me from listening to it twice. LOL

i loved it

i wish there was a second part. it was an awesome tear filled and exhilarating book

very good

this was a solid book. although the amount of sexual descriptions was a little rough.

Spiritual Struggles & colorful characters

I could hardly put it down. Well woven and intriguing. A story I was anxious to shar we.

Great story

However many times Johnathan is hurt to the brink of death God heals him and the author ends the story beautifully.

A fighting faith story

If you enjoy Roman history and finding faith stories, you will enjoy this one. A sweeping saga following the story of Joseph loosely, we see Jonathan’s journey from believer through trials that destroy his faith to love that redeems it. Excellent portrayal of life as a gladiator in Domitian’s Rome with a wealth of history and premiere storytelling. The narrator is top-notch. I highly recommend this audiobook.

A great story with a spectacular reader

This book isn't quite what I normally look for in an audiobook (I generally do intense SciFi/ Fantasy), but ended up being one I loved. I quickly found myself drawn into the story, and it was enjoyable and satisfying, without being overly predictable. I hesitate to say more about the plot - the author's description says enough, and trying to say more would quickly stray into spoilers.

For me, there are two things that make this a great book:
1. Its great story with a quality balance in writing.
2. Its amazing voice acting.

For the former, there are a lot of difficult balances which need to be found for this topic:
- Realistic in the brutality of gladiatorial combat, without being gratuitously violent.
- Honest about interpersonal and romantic engagements, without unnecessary explicit sexual content.
- A coherent plot with allusion that rewards the listener for paying attention, without being overly predictable.
- Detail sufficient to bring the listener into the atmosphere of the events, without it causing the plot to drag.

As a listener to books across the spectrum, I have found too often that religious literature sacrifices realism to avoid violence and sexuality, but this author finds a perfectly appropriate balance. To the other extreme, many secular writers overemphasize these. The ability to give realism without excess is a rare and noteworthy exception for religious fiction. Furthermore, many use such strong allusion to religious themes that the entire story arc can be guessed by page 3, yet this author allows for strong religious themes, without allowing them to make the book too predictable.

About the voice acting, I actually found this the strongest point. As an avid audible listener I have listened to countless voice actors. I find Ramon de Ocampo to have the best ability to voice a cast of diverse characters. This narrator, Joseph Narducci, is the only narrator I have heard who can compare with Ocampo in quality of narration. If you love a book read from a single voice, this may not be for you, but if you enjoy the specific voices in helping bring a book to life there are very few who can do it better.

Overall, I found this to be a good story presented with phenomenal narration, and thus I highly recommend it (without reservation) as a great audible listen.

Epic gladiator story

Where does Chasing the Lion rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's one of my favorites.

What did you like best about this story?

There was a point when the story took a twist and headed off in a direction of its own. The point where Jonathan has to choose to become a gladiator. The premise was fresh and new to me and I really enjoyed reading to see how it would turn out.

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scene with Clovis. He was my favorite character. :)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It would be easier to ask which scenes didn't move me. It's hard to keep your self emotionally distant from Jonathan.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed listening to the story more than I enjoyed reading it for myself. The narrator paces you so that you have to live through every beautiful word. And the voice of Jonathan is outstanding.