Title: Water and Fire: The Quest of the Cushite Warrior
Author: Gregory Dupree
Publisher: All In One Books
ISBN: 0578030039
Pages: 174, Paperback
Genre: Christian Fiction
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
A truly inspirational novel, Water and Fire: The Quest of the Cushite Warrior follows the journey of Adjua Babatu throughout his pilgrimage ultimately finding the Gospel of Christ, Son of God.Gregory Dupree cleverly tells the story, set in Biblical times, of a man searching for his purpose not realizing his beliefs as being ideologically aligned with what will eventually become Christianity. By writing in this way, the reader is taken on an adventure, traveling on Camel, living among Shepherds and Jewish settlers, witnessing Roman law. Living a daily existence while witnessing firsthand the “grass roots” formation of the congregations teaching the words of Jesus Christ. This technique brought life to the pages of Biblical history, and clarity to the human struggle in forming our civilization from tribal societies.
Awakening as the sole surviving warrior on a battlefield encompassing thousands of corpses over miles of destruction, Adjua Babatu, an Ethiopian spirited warrior from birth, is overcome by the killing ever so commonplace. He has killed without remorse, and now regurgitates at the thought of his sickening actions. What has changed within him? Why has his “Lion heart” so weakened causing his dreams to torment him so? Feeling divinely saved from death, he vowed never to kill again. Thus he begins a journey during the years following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ throughout the Holy Lands of Jerusalem among the Hebrews, Romans and Greeks to seek an end to his nightmares.
With scholarly detail and historical accuracy, Water and Fire takes the reader on a journey back in time two millenniums enabling one to disembark from modern ways and return to the roots of our beliefs. Gregory Dupree uses many footnotes to help define the vernacular of the language and providing technical understandings throughout his masterpiece, reaching a level of credibility to his writing. The closeness to accuracy sets apart his work from a simply categorically fictional piece.
The cover of Water and Fire has a woven pattern symbolizing the fabric of the era, with a dark image of a Cushite Warrior’s tribal sculpture, with highlighted evil eyes, battle scared features and Ethiopian facial characteristics. I found the book to progress swiftly and totally engrossed my thoughts, causing me to finish it in one sitting. It brought to life Biblical events as seen from an outsider, a traveler, a believer becoming actualized in his faith. I highly recommend this work as it is fascinating to people of all faiths.
