Political upheaval. An unpopular war. Tsar Nicholas and his loved ones in exile. And another phase in the Fedorcenko family saga in Passage Into Light by author Judith Pella.

I toyed with the idea of "saving" this last book in The Russians historical ChristFic series, to prolong the experience. But I decided to just dive on in sooner and see how all of this would wrap up.

On one hand, I'm glad the series ends here. A multigenerational saga can sometimes become stale or predictable if it draws out too long, and in this series, at least a couple of aspects of the plot unfolding in the younger generation are situations that already happened to the older generation.

On the other hand, I can't help wishing the main characters had added time to realize more satisfying outcomes. They spend much of this book working on a major mission that will utterly fail (that isn't a spoiler—it's history), and the somewhat abrupt ending the novel crashes to is hopeful but still rather uncertain and heartbreaking.

Gee.

All in all, though, the series was quite a ride. I do plan on returning to Russia at least once more with this historical fiction author, at the start of another series. ( )

After reading all 7 books in this series I assumed I would be ready to "move on" from this story to something else. BUT. . . I can honestly say I would love to read more of this family and their struggles to survive in the turbulent times of Russia during the beginning stages of WWI and the revolutionary takeover by the Bolsheviks and Lenin. I am not a big history "buff" but the author does a great job of making history come alive as you read these stories.

In this last book, which picks up at the same scene book 6 left off at, you will be in Russia in 1917 where violence and "political upheaval" are everywhere. The tsar Nicholas and his family become prisoners and there is a "deadly game of chess" going on to see who can save or destroy the family first. In all of this turmoil you will read of Anna Fedorcenko and her family and how they face the consequences of some of their choices in life. Andrei and Yuri, the brothers, will both be helped through the journals of their beloved father who was killed on "Bloody Sunday". I took away from these stories the importance of a Godly heritage and how much of an impact that can have on future generations as they look back and remember all they were taught and remember the life of their grandparents and parents.

The thread that held this family together was their faith. To quote from the book, "A person's faith and their reasons for faith are not always simple to define. God feels far away at times, sometimes He feels very close. But I'm sure it's me that does the changing, not He. And that's just it. We are changing so much and, not surprisingly, our faith changes with us - but the object of that faith never changes and that is why I cannot give it up even when God feels far away. He is still God, you see, and the fact of His mercy and love and redemption are always constant." (This was good advice Andrei was given by Talia). It was this faith that will hold this family up during painful partings, death and imprisonments. Does it all turn out good in the end? Not for some. But was it worth reading, absolutely!! I strongly encourage anyone picking up book seven to go back to the beginning and read these books in the order they were written. It will be well worth your time! ( )