Star of Persia by Jill Eileen Smith. A Review

Esther has been a favourite and this book was no exception

In an effort to complete a war his father had planned to win, King Xerxes calls every governor, satrap, and official in his vast kingdom to his palace in Susa to strategize and feast. When they finally leave, he decides on one more week of frivolity, which ends in the banishment of his favorite wife, something he never intended to do. But when he discovers Esther, Xerxes is sure he has a second chance at happiness.

In her wildest dreams, Esther could never have imagined that she would end up as queen of Persia. Yet she knows better than to become complacent. Another of Xerxes’s wives is vying for position, and his closest advisor has a deep and dangerous grudge against Esther’s adoptive father. Caught in the middle of palace politics, Esther will find herself in an impossible position: risk her life or consign her people to annihilation.
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My Thoughts

This story on the life of Esther was definitely not one to be missed and I enjoyed every minute of it.
A first for me by this author, but I was eagerly anticipated the read and I wasn’t disappointed. I love how she took the characters and fleshed them out. Esther and Modercai, though a minority, God used them to save a nation. The fact that though it’s fiction, she stays true to the story is another added bonus.
The characters were real and relatable. I love that she included Vashti into the story as part of the story we got to kind of know more about her and what she was thinking. Xerxes too, although he was really selfish and paranoid and depended more on men and what his armies could do.
It was definitely a fun and exciting read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. All opinions expressed are solely mine

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling and award-winning author of the biblical fiction series The Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land, as well as The Heart of a King and the nonfiction book When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams. Her research into the lives of biblical women has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan. Learn more at http://www.jilleileensmith.com.