"Kingdom and Country" (Angie Ward, ed.)

TITLE: Kingdom and Country: Following Jesus in the Land that You Love (Kingdom Conversations)
AUTHOR: Angie Ward
PUBLISHER: Colorado Springs, CO: Tyndale House Publishers, 2022, (208 pages).
 

Is there a difference between patriotism and nationalism? What about our allegiance to God and country? Are they the same? Thanks to social media, people are starting to be vocal about the state of politics, in the country. For Christians, it is about practicing their faith in an increasingly secular world. Some might even say that our world is increasingly becoming anti-Christian. Recognizing the deep splits and contentious divisions in the country, several authors, teachers, pastors, and theologians have come together to share about what it means to follow Jesus in the country. Kicking off the discussion is Rod Wilson who laments at how politics had affected a typical small group discussion. Just like how Donald Trump had become a contentious President, mere mention of his name in any group setting could spark a wave of arguments. Wilson challenges us to begin with the example of Jesus and then learn how to cultivate quality conversations with humble curiosity while managing our heart-felt convictions. Karen Wilk shows us a vision of the kingdom of God and how we ought not promote human agendas in its name but to join in God's will as He leads. That means when prompted inside, we need to manifest the kingdom of God outwardly, especially those outside of our comfort zones. Ryan Tafilowski takes us back to the early centuries and Old Testament times to remind us how our predecessors had fared under the threat of persecution and hardship. Christians need to live with integrity even when it means being bullied or tortured by the powers that be. Derek Vreeland shares how the people of God in the Old Testament lived under different authorities. From theocracy to living under autocratic governments, he cautions us against taking the law into our own hands and throwing away any trust in God. Instead, the main role for God's people is more subversive rather than combative. Sean Palmer looks at the meaning of allegiance and the difference between allegiance to God and to country. The best way forward is for Christians to hold the state accountable to God rather in the virtues of grace and love to one another. Michelle Ami Reyes looks at the narrative of what it means to be American and what it means to be Christian. She debunks the false narrative of seeing America as a "Christian nation" when it is clearly not. She then provides a new multilayered guide to understanding a new narrative. Tina Boesch reflects on the status of what it means to be a stranger in a foreign land. It takes first-hand experience of what it means to be treated like a foreigner before one appreciates the privileges of citizenship. Between dominion and disengagement from society, the overriding attitude to the land we are living is to practice discipleship within the local community we live in. Alejandro Mandes urges us to look beyond all kinds of multicultural differences to become citizen-disciples. Juliet Liu notes how many Christian leaders got carried away with politics, nationalism, and Trump, and urges pastors to preach the gospel instead. Mandy Smith implores believers to humble themselves and pray. She calls us all to pledge ourselves in a new creed that proclaims God above all human allegiances. 

"Intensional" (D.A. Horton)

TITLE: Intensional: Kingdom Ethnicity in a Divided World
AUTHOR: D.A. Horton
PUBLISHER: Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 2019, (224 pages).

Different groups describe justice differently. For some, it is about retaliation. For others, it is about making sure the culprits are brought to justice and punished accordingly. Then, there are those who would use perceptions of injustice to do other forms of injustice. In a divided world, it is not just definitions or perceptions that are divided. People are deeply divided over matters of religion, political stance, language, looks, and especially ethnicities. If there is one thing that is badly needed, it is reconciliation. It is about building bridges instead of walls. It is about learning how to live and to accept one another's differences with grace and humility. This is what the kingdom of God looks like when it comes into the world. The biblical story is divided into four seasons: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration. As Horton works through the process of conciliation, he guides us with a theological principles of how the Church should practice and embody Galatians 3:26-28, the part about all people baptized into Christ, regardless of human distinctions. He warns the Church, especially the American Church about the "sin of partiality." If we take sides among our human race, then we are sinning against God. Looking at James 2, we learn about the dangers of using poverty and social ranks to judge people. We need to apply the golden rule. We need a "Color Blind Christianity," one that affirms a person's ethnicity. Affirmation is neither idolizing nor ignoring. Accepting one another's ethnic differences means we don't make it superior nor inferior.

"Insurgence" (Frank Viola)

TITLE: Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom
AUTHOR: Frank Viola
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2018, (448 pages).

The gospel of the kingdom is inherently radical. The early Church is radical in their love and faith. Unfortunately, the modern church have largely lost the necessary conviction and passion of old. What is needed is a renewal of conviction and a revelation of the Kingdom of God. How do we do that? Create an insurgence to reclaim the  gospel of the Kingdom of God. For the grand narrative of the whole Bible is about declaring the Kingdom of God having come and will be coming soon.  In order to do that, we need to clear the decks. We have to distinguish between worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. We need to proclaim the Kingdom of God over all else. We need a vision of the beauty of the Kingdom so that we can proclaim with passion our freedom in Christ and glory of God. Author Frank Viola writes in six parts to do just that. The six parts are titled as follows:

1. Three Different Gospels
2. Unveiling the King's Beauty
3. The Gospel of the Kingdom
4. Entering and Enjoying the Kingdom
5. Our Glorious Liberty
6. Advancing the Kingdom

"Ministry Mantras" (J.R. Briggs and Bob Hyatt)

TITLE: Ministry Mantras: Language for Cultivating Kingdom Culture
AUTHOR: J.R. Briggs and Bob Hyatt
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2016, (269 pages).

A mantra is a short word, phrase, or a chant. It can be a proverb or a wise saying. Inspired by Guy Kawasaki's words "Don't write a mission statement, write a mantra," authors Briggs and Hyatt have taken up the challenge to do just that for the Church ministry and Christian ministries in general. Writing a mantra forces one to choose only the most appropriate and significant words to project a thought or a meaning. It brings clarity to the hearers by first bringing clarity to the writers. According to the authors, mantras need four elements.

1. It is wise and truthful
2. The message is clear
3. It is compelling
4. It is memorable

A ministry mantra is basically describing the organizational mission or vision in a brief statement. It is important because its simplicity promotes clarity; clarity encourages creativity; and creativity inspires ease of communications. Briggs and Hyatt call it "the proverbial seeds of kingdom values planted in local communities of faith." They structure this book in 80 short chapters, with each chapter titled with a mantra. They supply mantras in two parts: for leaders and for the community. For leaders, there are sections pertaining to leadership; vision; motivation; ministry; pastoral care; leadership development; opportunities; success; and Self-Development. For the community, they write on matters to promote community; formation; tips on responding to conflicts; learning to do outreach and stewardship. Many of the mantras have given rise to creative thinking and opportunities to think out of the box. Some of my favourites are:

• "Leadership is Purposefully Choosing Whom You will disappoint"
• "Structure must always submit to Spirit"
• "Don't Try to make Church relevant to the crowds; Make the Gospel Relatable to the Context"
• "If they know you love them, you can say anything to them"
• "Ministry is Meeting People where they are and Journeying with them to where God wants them to Be "
• "Ministry happens in the interruptions"
• "The essence of discipleship i snot knowledge, but imitation"
• "Quit looking for leaders and start building them"
• "It's kingdom, not competition"
• "We will let you down: If we're close enough to help, we're close enough to hurt"
• "Community is made, not found"
• "Rotate your crops"
• "Church is free, but it ain't cheap"

Mantras are languages spoken or written in a clear and brief manner. It cuts away the spaghetti of mass information to yield an important point. While we can always say that context is important, being able to communicate something is better than people disengaging completely. In an attention-deficit world, many are jumping on the bandwagon of short quips and easy quotes. They prefer abbreviations and straight to the point messages. They have no time to bother with long essays. Reading has also taken a beating, with more people choosing electronic media over print. This is why I believe books like this will reach a segment of readers in a way that traditional books could not. It is a great resource for leaders to learn how to do ministry without letting unrealistic expectations overwhelm them. The mantras does three things.

First, it challenges our set thinking. Just because things have been done a certain way in the past does not mean it must be so for the present and future. Indeed, churches that are struggling tend to look back at the good-old-days, forgetting that the past can never be repeated in new contexts. By shaking up the status quo, leaders are forced to be creative and innovative in their ministry approaches. This does not mean throwing the past away. It means being open to change. This openness enables us to humbly seek God for what is best for the Church or ministry. Second. it helps us think out of the box. The ideas like "disagreeing without disengaging" forces us to learn how to disagree without running away from the disagreement altogether. For every conflict, there is a chance to learn more about the other parties and ourselves. Learning to work together is a core need in the Church. If churches fail to work together, what kind of a testimony will that present to outsiders? Third, the book may comprise of brief chapters but what it lacks in depth it more than compensates in the breadth of coverage of issues in ministry. 

JR Briggs is founder of Kairos Partnership and calls himself the Pastor/Cultural Cultivator of Renew Community. He has previously written a book entitled "Fail." Bob Hyatt is author, coach, and spiritual director. He is pastor and elder at the Everygreen Community as well as a staff member with Ecclesia Network.

Rating: 5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Inter-Varsity Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

"Faithful Presence" (David E. Fitch)

TITLE: Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission
AUTHOR: David E. Fitch
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2016, (256 pages).

How do we manifest Christ's love in a world of brokenness and pain? Is there something Christians can do to counter the social injustice and poverty disparities? Can the Church do more than mere handouts? If there is a genuine desire to be part of the solution, how then do believers go about doing it? According to author David E. Fitch, the answer is in the title of this new book entitled, "Faithful Presence." He defines it as follows:

"Faithful presence names the reality that God is present in the world and that he uses a people faithful to his presence to make himself concrete and real amid the world’s struggles and pain. When the church is this faithful presence, God’s kingdom becomes visible and the world is invited to join with God. Faithful presence is not only essential for our lives as Christians, it’s how God has chosen to change the world. In this book I aim to describe what this faithful presence looks like."

"Kingdom Conspiracy" (Scot McKnight)

TITLE: Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church
AUTHOR: Scot McKnight
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016, (304 pages).

In this book, McKnight continues to offer up counter intuitive ideas about basic Christian beliefs and practices. Like what he had done for gospel and evangelism, he is doing the same for Kingdom and the mission. In his earlier book, "King Jesus Gospel," he critiques with vigour the faulty evangelistic models that reduce the gospel to a series of spiritual laws, salvation culture, or merely saying the sinners' prayer. Likewise, in this book, McKnight offers up a critique of some common usage of the word "kingdom." After studying the various approaches by "skinny jeans kingdom people," he summarizes their understanding of kingdom as, "Kingdom means good deeds done by good people (Christian or not) in the public sector for the common good." In other words, kingdom work means social justice, world peace, good works with a tinge of Biblical principle. That is not all. McKnight takes to task the "Pleated Folks" perspective that is incorporated into two statements:

1. Kingdom as present and future
2. Kingdom as rule and realm

"Kingdom Ethics" (David P. Gushee and Glen H. Stassen) 2nd Edition

TITLE: Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context
AUTHOR: David P. Gushee and Glen H. Stassen
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2016, (550 pages).

What does it mean to follow Jesus in our contemporary world? Is the Old Testament law still relevant for today? Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount asserts that the Word of God is not only relevant for the world today, it is a way in which we live out God's kingdom as a people of God. The original purpose of the authors is to emphasize Christian living based on the Rock of the Christian faith, Jesus. When the book was published back in 2003, the authors were amazed at how little resources there were on recovering the way of discipleship according to Jesus. They believe that the way to understand Christian ethics is to ground ourselves on kingdom reign of God. Since the passing of Glen Stassen in April 2014, this book has been updated by a few previous students of Stassen, together with the other co-author. There is more gender-inclusive language and more global perspectives. Every chapter has a set of discussion questions. More background knowledge are supplied to help beginner readers. The glossary of key terms at the end of the book has been greatly expanded. The book remains focused on the ethic of Jesus; thoroughly biblical; fuller understanding of the Hebrew contexts; and more inclusive of wider range of readers. One key idea in the writing of this book is to set out how the kingdom perspective contrasts with the powers and seductions of the world. Instead of the former seven sections, this book is divided into two parts. The first part looks at the methodology that follows more closely the Sermon on the Mount. It anchors the starting point of ethics on kingdom coming in Jesus. In proclaiming the reign of the kingdom of God, the authors list the seven marks of God's reign: deliverance/salvation, justice, peace, healing, restoration/rebuilding of community, joy, and the experience of God’s presence. All of these need to be adhered to because these are the things that are important to Jesus. We learn about how the beatitudes echo Isaiah 61. We learn about the sources of moral authority, including a brief overview moral authority from a few renowned Christian traditions. There is also a philosophical take as well in the four levels of moral norms, from basic convictions to particular judgments. The authors also contrast the situation ethics and legalism, carefully highlighting the merits of each and where they fall short. I appreciate the visual diagrams that Aaron Hedges, former student of Stassen, includes in some chapters. Readers will be impressed with the depth of coverage of the various ethical methodologies.  Central to the thesis of "Kingdom Ethics" is the list of The "Key Method Elements (KMEs) for Christian Ethics." These KMEs are introduced in Part One will be applied widely in Part Two. They are as follows:

1. Thinking in Concrete Kingdom Terms
2. Reading Jesus from the Underside of History
3. Character as a Lens for Ethics
4. Sources of Authority for Christian Ethics
5. Four Levels and Three Modes of Moral Norms
6. Making the Sermon on the Mount Central
7. Transforming Initiatives
8. Love as a Cardinal Ethical Norm
9. Justice as a Cardinal Ethical Norm
10. Sacredness as a Cardinal Ethical Norm
11. Four-Box Diagram of Dimensions of Moral Agency (Analytical)
12. Four-Box Diagram (Prescriptive)

"Slow Kingdom Coming" (Kent Annan)

TITLE: Slow Kingdom Coming: Practices for Doing Justice, Loving Mercy and Walking Humbly in the World
AUTHOR: Kent Annan
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016, (149 pages).

Just like the action movies, our busy lifestyles and activities that we do make us look like people constantly on the move. If we are not putting anything in motion, we may even be accused of idling. For believers who want to let their faith make a difference in their lives, the pressure is on to do something quick, lest we be accused of hypocrisy. If we open our ears and eyes to see what is before us and what is beyond us through the news and media, we will know that the injustice in the world far outstrips the amount of justice we see. Maybe, the bad news receive greater publicity than the good. There is so much to do that we do not know where or how to start. There are racial discrimination all over the world with the rich and poor often separated by privileges both explicit and implicit for certain people groups. There is human trafficking that despicably enslaves women, children, and vulnerable people. There is violence; violation of human rights; lack of basic resources; and immoral practices throughout the world. Besides that, there are needs closer to home, like the lonely people in our neighbourhood, people experiencing unjust treatment; and the ever growing rich and poor divide. How can we see God's kingdom come when the world seems to be heading toward greater brokenness? Where is the healing and the shalom of God? When we pray "Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done," where are the results? The key thesis of this book is that the most effective way to ensure the long-term development of developing societies is when we spend time and resources defending, promoting, and cultivating their freedom and their rights.

"Kingdom First" (Jeffrey Allan Christopherson)

TITLE: Kingdom First: Starting Churches that Shape Movements
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Allan Christopherson
PUBLISHER: Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2015, (280 pages).

What is the meaning of the kingdom of God? What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? How do we live as kingdom people? For author and pastor Jeffrey Allan Christopherson, it begins with four paradigm shifts. First, the Church is to be the means to the kingdom, not the ends of the kingdom. In other words, the kingdom does not exist for the Church. The Church exists to usher in the Kingdom to come. Second, the principle is more important than the model used for Church planting. Once the principle is set, the model will follow suit. Third, Church plants must learn to fund themselves rather than to be dependent on being funded. This is what the author calls the need to launch more "intentionally bivocational church planting teams." Fourth, planting churches comes from evangelism and not for evangelism. The rationale is that only churches that were planted from evangelism will know what that means. With these four assumptions in place, the author launches with the descriptions of his eight steps to practicing "Kingdom First" method of Church planting.

"Citizen" (Rob Peabody)

TITLE: Citizen: Your role in the alternative kingdom
AUTHOR: Rob Peabody
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Monarch Books, 2014, (192 pages).

What does it mean to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God? Is it simply a label to denote our citizenship status? Is there something more to simply being called "citizens?" For pastor Rob Peabody, director of the Awaken movement in Northeast London, it means a fundamental change from awakening to passionate living. It means not simply possessing a citizenship certificate but to be seized with an urgency of God's call and a fervency to live in accordance to the hope we have in Jesus. Anyone who reads this book will be re-awakened to the beauty and power of Christ, and what it means to live in Jesus. For Peabody, the Damascus moment was in Jerusalem in a hotel balcony on March 2008. Gripped with a "holy discontent," dismayed at a "Golden Ticket Theology," and awakened to the reality of Kingdom citizenship, Peabody lets loose his convictions in a 192 pages book filled with stories, historical flashbacks, biblical injunctions, and personal testimonies of what the gospel means when we begin living in an alternative kingdom. From mere citizenship, we begin to appreciate how the Early Church and believers were persecuted and forced to live as colonies. Being awakened means not becoming stuck in a colony but to continue to grow toward Christlike communities that help one another discover the beauty of God and one another. Such communities are not restricted to Christian circles divided by race, ethnicity, or cultural distinctivenesses. It means learning to let Jesus the King be all our our attention that whatever differences we may have would seem so small compared to the unifying power of the Cross of Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of God.

"Imagining the Kingdom" (James K. A. Smith)

TITLE: Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Cultural Liturgies)
AUTHOR: James K. A. Smith
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013, (224 pages).

Worship is something many Christians do week after week. Each weekend, churches all over the world will be filled by people desiring to worship. What is worship? Is it just about music and song? Is it simply going through liturgy and rituals, based on tradition? Or is there something more? Perhaps, if one has cultivated a desire for the kingdom, how then is one going to do about that? How do we desire after the kingdom? In other words, how then do we worship? This book helps us do that through the auspices of imagination and "How worship works."

This is the second of three volumes of works called the "cultural liturgies." Following the format and style of "Desiring the Kingdom," James Smith has decided to shift away from his initial plan of a scholarly monologue, toward something more accessible by the general reader. Nevertheless, he is aware that this volume may still be too "too scholastic for practitioners and too colloquial for scholars." He provides fodder for both kinds of readers. For the scholar, he is more at ease with providing philosophical references, scholastic thought, as well as inviting them to notice what is written and not to be distracted by what is not written. For the practitioner, or the rest of us, he maintains that the book is primarily for us, that we be patient with the academic foundations while getting ready to pounce from that toward action. In other words, the academics form a necessary foundation for any works.

The thrust of the book is about what worship is, how it works, and what it means for us as practitioners. Two words crystallize the essence of the book: Incarnation and Perception. Through the art of imagination, both can be practiced. Through action, imagination of the kingdom in worship will lead to a powerful working out of the kingdom in good works. Smith poses a good question right from the start. "What is the end of worship?" He convincingly shows us that the end of worship is truly the end of worship, and the start of being sent out into the world, after being empowered by the Word through the Spirit. Just like theory needs to lead to action, the end of worship is to be sent out into the world with a mission. Worship is not an exercise in self-sustenance of spiritual activities. Worship is a powerful response to the vision of the kingdom, encountered during worship. The story of "reading Wendell Berry in Costco" is an extremely effective way of describing the limitations of worldview, and makes us hunger for something more kingdom-view. Smith even urges readers to move from "mindful" to "mindless" so one one can allow imagination to take over any predetermination of activities during worship. It is not abandoning our intellect in worship, but to situate them appropriately. This is an important corrective to a world that has often over-emphasized the importance of "thinking." This is primarily because we worship not out of what we can do. We worship out of the basis of our created being, that God has made us to be. We are liturgical creatures and we who want to worship need to do so liturgically. Thinking and wide use of intellect hem us in on the informing domain. Imagining moves us into the "forming" and the "transforming" domain. The book then shows us how to do just that. The three key things to note are:

1. Recognizing the "nonconscious" drivers in us that aid imagination
2. Accounting for how our physical bodies are wired as we orientate ourselves to the world around us
3. Appreciating the centrality of storytelling our "bodies of meaning."

In Part One, Smith goes into social theory and the study of human perception, trying to navigate between a search for meaning (kinaesthetics) and an expression of imagination (poetics). Believing that one's imagination drives one's action, stories become a powerful vehicle to do just that. Our actions, our behaviours, our thoughts, are all interconnected through the living out of our stories. That is why worship is like telling a story, in particular God's story in our lives. Smith puts into practice this aspect by inserting interesting stories after each treatise segment. He uses film to engage our imagination. He uses science and statistics to capture the motor intellect. He uses physical postures not just to make things interesting but to keep readers interested. He points out the makeup of our being that we are both erotic and social creatures. "Erotic" in the sense of what piques our physical senses. "Social" in the need for relationships. He makes a keen insight into our conventional way of "putting theory into practice" that it tends to be too "intellectualist." The problem with such "intellectualist" approach is that it reduces ourselves to mere objects. Theory put into practice is to recognize that we are bigger than me. We need to cultivate a "habitus" to help us live as participating members of a community, of communal living, and to be a community both through institutions and elsewhere. Just like "mindless" living, we need to be social creatures without a disposition of "conscious aiming." The more we learn to do it as naturally as possible, the more incarnate will be our acts. Worship is exactly the cultivation of that!

Part Two goes farther on how to move beyond "mindless" or any overly aware states of intellectualism. If we are created in the image of God, we need to ask beyond what we are created for, but Who we are made for. That is the purpose of worship. In "sanctified perception," Smith helps readers to live intentional lives of telling their life stories to live worshipfully. We use narratives and poetry to chart our journey of life. We utilize metaphors and aesthetics to enhance our understanding of bodies of meaning.We learn to perceive life not as segregating the world or breaking life down into different components, but to consolidate the many aspects of life, and to weave them together with our knowledge, our experiences, our thoughts, and our stories. In other words, we are wired to tell stories, and stories are there to aid our telling of our own lives.

I marvel at the wide intersections of anthropology, neurological sciences, literary criticisms, theology, liturgies, and many branches of higher learning, all brought together under the umbrella of human perception and interpretation, expressed through art, through science, and whatever the human faculties are capable of. Written with much care and critical thinking, the book is packed with insights from many different disciplines. At some point, one starts to wonder which discipline is the author from. What is the author doing with the constant oscillation of theory/practice, intellect/action, science/non-science, the mindful and the mindless? This is cleared up toward the end where Smith focuses on the Christian call to mission. Just like man has been redeemed to do good works, like in Ephesians 2:10, where we are created in Christ to do good works, this book reminds us that we have been created in God to worship God in our words, our thoughts, and our deeds. The more we know how we are wired, we will learn how to live as naturally as possible. We will grow to be more worshipful and more aware of what we are created to do and to be. Most of all, we begin the journey of going beyond the "what-to-do" but toward "who-we-live-for." Though this book can be a little hard to read at times, the diligent and persistent one will find it richly rewarding. After all, the more we realize how empty we are, the more we will long for something more fulfilling. The more we realize how much we need God, the more we will long for Someone most High, most Loving, and most Worthy of our worship. Let me close with this great quote from the book:

"By equipping the people of God to reflect on worship, we can change how we enter worship — change the “angle of entry” into the community of practice that is the worshiping congregation. The angle of entry to worship seems to be a determining factor in the formative power of worship." (188)

This book can potentially prompt readers to begin the move from mere worshiping once a week to become worshipers all days of their lives. It's time to start imagining the kingdom in us, about the kingdom for heaven, and for all of us. Did the book achieve its purpose of helping readers imagine the kingdom? Yes. Even though the going at times may be hard, each pause at a concept, a crossroad of understanding, or an intersection of perspectives, presents to both scholar and practitioner a simple choice: Wait upon the Lord. Such a disposition will be a great beginning to imagining the kingdom by letting the Spirit guides us.

Rating: 5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book is provided to me free by Baker Academic and NetGalley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.