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Michal by Jill Eileen Smith
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Too bad I can’t give this book less than one star.
First off, I am thankful that I received this book as part of a free ebook promotion. I would have been sorely disappointed if I paid even a penny for it.
Being no historian, I can’t really comment on the historical accuracy of this book, the only apparent redeeming quality. So, I will review this just as a book.
This is the first of a historical religious fiction novel series about the wives of King David. I’m sure nearly everyone is familiar with this historical figure.
The young David character as seen in the beginning is very consistent with his character later on with Bathsheba, who does not appear in this novel. He has several short internal monologues about how dare this woman (usually speaking of Michal’s older sister) have some sort of power over him. This guy is apparently an equivalent of a modern teenager, hormones running rampant. Good foreshadowing, however, as many will remember that the older King David decided he had the right, as King, to as many sex partners as he wanted so he has sex with Bathsheba and murders her husband, a loyal soldier.
But this book is not about that faithless side of David, It’s about his young life and rist to power in the perspective of Michal.
Michal apparently leads a sheltered life. Yes, she’s a princess, but she can’t get over David. This will lead to her downfall, of course. She is the second daughter of the current King. In this day, the older daughters must always marry before the younger daughters. So, at first, her world crashes down as her father promises her sister to David. After David’s initial rejection and Michal lying to her father who was going crazy (well, this book suggests he is possessed with demons. Modern day medicine might suggest he had Alzheimer’s or Dementia or maybe just Schizophrenic), Michal finally marries David. Yes, her sister is married off to some guy much older than her (not uncommon), but hey, Michal’s lie got her what she wanted.
I stopped reading shortly after Michal and David’s marriage. The boredom that had persisted since page one finally got me to stop giving this book a chance. Needless to say, I doubt I will be picking up any other book in the series, or even any more of this author’s books.
Michal as a character is cursed. Aside from her brother Jonathan’s son whom David adopts as her own, her entire family’s line is wiped out. Michal never reproduced, either being sterile or via methods of existing contraception. After all, David ousted the prior royal family. He would not want any challegers in the future. He probably would have slaughtered the adopted son (forking him over to his family’s enemies in the least) except he had made a promise to Jonathan.
Michal reminds me of the poor, barren Irulan from Dune.
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