Review by M T Thomas -- Roadmap to the End of Days

[M T Thomas]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Roadmap to the End of Days" by Daniel Friedmann.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Roadmap to the End of Days by Daniel Friedmann is an educational novel detailing judeo-christian history as it pertains to the Torah, Bible, and Quaran while using clues found in this subject that suggests what we can expect to come within the next couple thousand years on Earth. One of the largest clues that he describes is how each millennium seems to match a day of biblical creation. By pointing out all the ways each is similar, he draws lines from events in history to things that they correlate with on each respective day of creation. There were a few other points made, but this seemed to be the main focus. By coming to the conclusion that we are currently living in the millennium that corresponds with day 6 of creation, he is able to attempt a prediction of what is to come.

I’ll start of by saying how much I loved the subject. The information was understandable, the predictions were interesting, and I felt like I learned something about religious history while I was at it. The interesting subject and bountiful information are the only reasons I was able to finish this book. I’ll admit, it took me a very long time, longer than it usually takes, for me to finish this book. Therefore, despite the great subject, I’ll have to give this novel 2 out of 4 stars.

Now, let me tell you why I grade this so poorly. It’s clear that this book was written in the style of a textbook, with graphs, charts, and not a storyline in sight. I don’t mind reviewing textbooks, I’ve read over 100 of them myself, so the style itself was not an issue. The issue was the flow of the writing itself. Albeit, the writing improves leaps and bounds from the beginning to the end, but it still needs work. There were no typos that I found, but the paragraphs were “choppy” and sentence phrase styles were repetitive, which makes it hard to catch a readers interest, even when the details are interesting.

The best textbooks I’ve read in the past would use things like case studies or fun facts to break up the waterfall of information dumps that make you feel like your about to get a headache. This book had none of that… breaks, I mean. It was all one big information dump that read like a boring monologue. I would have loved to hear about HOW the author came to realize the things he wrote about. I would have loved to hear about any “EUREKA!” moments that he had. Was he sipping coffee one morning, contemplating the end of the world when he had an epiphany? Were there conversations with other bright minds in the dark of night, under a pub roof that helped him come up with each revelation? Was he staring at a glorious sunset, contemplating the power of God/Allah/Hosana/Yaweh /Jahova when he decided he just must write about it all? Any little personal story like that could have broken up the impenetrable brick wall of facts that makes this book hard to finish and is a little trick that the best textbook authors use.

I know it took me an unusually long time to finish this novel and write this review. The truth is, I felt a bit guilty about having to give such a low rating and was procrastinating. I had a difficult time deciding if I was going to be honest or mercifully generous. I decided to be honest.

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Roadmap to the End of Days
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