THE FIRST SOULS TRILOGY, WINNER OF BEST BOOK SERIES, THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS -- Sister Annalisa Basanjo heals the lame and the blind. She foretells events. She may even bring the dead back to life. Annalisa rises against a background of murder, betrayal, and assassination to become the pope and the world plunges into war, the Church teeters on ruin, and terrorism runs rampant as she introduces her new way. Is Annalisa a savior or the long-predicted false prophet who will cause the downfall of the Church and lead the world order to ruin? Four special people are destined to answer this question, for the female pope indeed carries a secret within her that will transform the world-one way or the other. WRITERS DIGEST BOOK AWARDS EntryTitle : POPEANNALISA Author: Peter Canova JudgeNumber: 23 EntryCategory: Inspirational Booksare evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning "needs improvement" and 5meaning "outstanding". This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference,it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking. Structure and Organization: 5 Grammar: 5 ProductionQuality and Cover Design: 5 Plot(if applicable): 5 CharacterDevelopment (if applicable): 5 JudgesCommentary: All I can say is WOW!What a great read! As someone who is a devoted fan of best-sellingauthors like Dan Brown, James Rollins, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, andSteve Berry, this book has a similar flavor of rich characters, intrigue, secretorganizations, ulterior motives and power struggles within a context ofreligion and faith. Using fascinating historicalfact and real early religious source documents, the author weaves aspellbinding tale of the quest for faith and unity by a body of believers beginningwith Christ in the first century, throughout history and into the foreseeablefuture against a backdrop of worldwide religious discord, dissension in theCatholic church, expansion of the Muslim faith and the unfortunate reality ofterrorism. And he creates this exciting, fast-paced storyusing a storyline that does not read as implausible. The author does anexcellent job of character development and, being a visual person, I greatlyappreciated useful tools he provides for the reader--the Map of Key Events,Dramatis Personae, Glossary of Ecclesiastical Terms (essential for those of uswho are not Catholic) which were hugely helpful to keep track of whichcharacters were with each organization since there are a lot of characters tofollow. The Table of Contents provided an overview of the organization ofthe book. The book had an excellent flow and pace. Hedid an exceptional and balanced portrayal of the Catholic church, the Vatican,Catholic doctrine and all the related people and history and relationships--heneither exalted nor crucified them. Even though the storyline, of necessity, hadto bounce back and forth between places and people, he did it seamlessly--itwas not confusing or clunky at all. I thought some of the violence in theearly part of the book was extreme and graphic, and normally I would takeissue with violence that seems gratuitous or excessive; however, as the storydeveloped, and given the very real and horrific nature of terrorists, brigandsand mercenaries and how, news coverage aside, we are comfortably insulatedagainst the horrors of it, I understand why it was written as it was. I was so impressed with hisability to create complex and difficult situations but then to actually createwisdom (in Annalisa) to address it. I always like an element of symbolism (bothactual and metaphorical) and he used both well and neither excessively.This book was such a clear stand-out, both in the superior quality of the bookitself but even more in the intricacy, richness and complexity of thecharacters and storyline. A winner for sure--would highly recommend.Can't wait to read the second installment.