Tuball: The Lost City

By Gary L. Riedl

Book Overview

Thousands of years ago, Shem escapes his simple farming life to explore strange new lands. In his travels, he struggles with unknown people groups, strange creatures, and falls in love with a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1495446964
• ISBN13: 9781495446962
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An adventure about faith

What if someone were to take the central theme of requited faith and flesh it out into a novel form for today's reader? Enter Gary L. Riedls "Tuball:The Lost City." This is a book about faith, and what it means to have the integrity to stand up for what you believe in, even when it may mean persecution. Set in ancient times when agricultural society was fast out pacing hunter-gatherer tribes, and metallurgy was a new magic, Tuball follows the wanderings of man-child Shem who has his beliefs tested by different cultures with strange gods. The book starts out with a modern day discovery of an old puzzle box and quickly reverts in time to agrarian Shem who longs to leave the farm and follow his wanderlust with his Uncle Zakho, a vagabond trader. Shem has heard tales of Tuball, a great city to the North and his young desires and passion to visit this city overrule everything except his faith in God. Just a few pages into this book and you get swept along with Shem's youthful enthusiasm and energy. From battling sea creatures to snowstorms to an epic J.R.R. Tolkien like attempted siege of the city of Tuball, if you like stories of long treks, you will enjoy every page of this novel. Mr. Riedl has done an incredible amount of research of this time and the setting to make it seem plausible and realistic. The writing is fast paced, good natured and with a sense of humor missing in most Old Testament stories. This would be an excellent book for the whole family to enjoy, as well as youth groups and religious ed. discussion groups. The best part of this book is that its a trilogy, and I for one can not wait for the second volume to come out.

Well done!

A young Iranian graduate student at the University of Tehran, on vacation, finds a curious wooden box floating in the waters of Lake Sevan, in Armenia. The discovery, when taken back to the professor of ancient artifacts, sets off a hunt for dating the strange box. How did it come to be where Jamal found it? And, though very old, it was proven that it had not been in the water long at all. Where did it come from? Now, let us go way back in time. Matter of fact, back thousands of years ago to the days of Noah, descendant of Seth, son of Adam and Eve. We meet Shem, the almost eighteen year old son of Noah, discontent with his farming family, yearning only for adventure. His dearest dream is to go "wandering" with his Uncle Zakho. Zakho had been all over the known world, and Shem wanted to see what his uncle had seen, even to persuade Zakho to go into the dangerous country to the north where Shem had heard dwelt mysterious peoples and strange, dangerous beasts. Noah reluctantly lets his son go off with his brother. After stopping for a few days visit with Lamech, Noah and Zakho's father, Shem manages to wear down his uncle into agreeing to head into the north country. Shem has heard tales about the Great Sea, and the city of Tuball, far to the north. As the two travel with their burdened donkeys, they are assaulted by a fierce dust storm, then snow as they reach the higher elevations. Shem, full of questions, bedevils his uncle to distraction, but they move on into new places, meet new, strange peoples with different gods and beliefs. Shem, being the son of Noah, who speaks with God, knows only of the One True God, and outspokenly challenges these other beliefs. His own faith never wavers, standing firm in his God. A severe mountain snowstorm separates Shem and Zakho. Shem, unaccustomed to the cold and not properly dressed, soon succumbs to the freezing temperatures, but is rescued by a lovely young woman named Kara, and her brother. As he heals, their attraction grows, but Shem is put off because of her gods. And Zakho, fearing his nephew is dead, finally gives up and continues on their intended journey to Tuball. TUBALL: The Lost City is a fascinating book to read. Because of the populated areas told about, I am assuming this was a time before the flood with which God destroyed the world. It was great fun to read what one author has envisioned about those days long ago. The Sethites, those descended from Seth, believed in the one, true God, talked to Him, worshipping only Him. Those of Cain, the slayer of Able, called Cainites, worshipped many gods. This greatly disturbed Shem, and his outspokenness often got him into some tightly dangerous situations. How God protected him throughout, no matter what he faced - even death - is wonderful reading. If you love historical fiction, especially ancient history, you'll enjoy this book.

couldn't put it down!

This book is awesome! I expected it to be somewhat slow and uninteresting like most stories I hear about lost civilizations, but it was just the opposite. It is a very interesting idea for an adventure novel, and I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. It is appropriate for all different age groups, and I will never forget some of the events that Shem got himself into in the story :) they are great! I highly recommend it and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out!