NKJV GREATEST STORIES of the BIBLE, Thomas Nelson Publishing

How does one really write an objective opinion on the ‘Greatest Stories of the Bible’ anyway? There isn’t any new material to cover, and if you’re even remotely familiar with the Bible, you already know how the stories are going to begin and end. So with that in mind, when I agreed to review NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible for Thomas Nelson Publishing,  I did so with the expectation of reviewing the product as a whole, as opposed to the stories themselves.

The book itself is nice enough.  It has an aged look, complete with worn edges on the cover.  However, it’s just an illusion, as the cover is smooth and crisp (like a brand new book).  The gold accents are a nice touch, as is the embossing. The spine of the book has an image of a well-loved, often-read book, but it’s just that – an image.  Were it not for the bright gold, crisp writing on the spine (the title of the book), the old, worn look might have actually worked.

The page binding has an aged look as well, with ‘rough’ edges to the pages.  In reality, the edges are crisp and the pages are just held together in different ways to give off the appearance of an old book.  There is also a ribbon bookmark to complete the look.

The ‘New King James Version’ is easier to understand (as opposed to the original KJV) and that may draw more of an audience for this book.  To be clear, this is not a Bible.  Rather, this is a collection of the ‘greatest’ stories from the Bible.  The first story starts with…The Beginning!  And the book wraps it up with The Final Victory (Revelation 22).  So the stories are given to you in the same order as the Bible – as expected.

All-in-all, the book is beautiful.  But it isn’t exactly the heirloom bible it’s marketed to be either.  This is not a book I would spend money on in a store because I have Bibles with the stories already in them, and see this book as a bit redundant.  However, I’m not sure I’m the person this publisher is marketing to either (a Christian who already owns several different versions of the Bible).  If I had to purchase a gift for someone I didn’t know well, I might reach for this book – but only if it were on sale.