Listen to this article Ted Dekker has a way with words or better yet, Ted Dekker's words have
a way.
A way of grabbing your mind and taking it on a whiplash inducing
roller coaster. A way of keeping you up late at night pondering life's
biggest questions and hoping that shadow at your window didn't just
move.
Dekker's latest heart-pounding fantasy, Green, completes
(and begins) the Circle series. The color-coded series (Black, Red,
White, Green) follows Thomas Hunter through two realities and countless
adventures battling evil, seen and unseen.
The mythology of the Circle
has weaved through 15 different novels with everything culminating (and
beginning) in Green.
Thomas and the rest of the Circle are faced
with doubt and questions about Elyon's plan and even his existence.
It's been years since he last appeared to save them from the Horde and
themselves. There life is spent on the run with too many having fallen
by the sword. They were told to love the Horde and seek to reach them
with Elyon's hope, but many are tired of running and loving, including
Thomas' son Samuel.
Thomas is forced to find a way back into our
world, his "histories," to save those he love and demonstrate that
Elyon has not forgotten. But every decision has consequences and
Thomas' quest is mirrored by a young man from our world, Billy, whose
life is linked to Thomas, but whose goals are the mirror opposite.
Green
is an ambitious writing exercise by Dekker, whose no stranger to the
task, but the concept behind Green was perhaps the most difficult. How
do you satisfactorily conclude a beloved and ground-breaking fantasy
series, while at the same time attempt to write the novel in a way that
could serve as a beginning point for new readers to the series. Is even
possible for the work dubbed "Book Zero" to actually serve as the final
piece of a circle that continues the last story and bleeds into the
first one?
Honestly, I was initially slightly disappointed with
the ending. I had come to expect so much from Dekker that I almost
wanted him to create an entirely different way for Green to end as a
lead-in to Black. But the more I thought about it, the more I found
brilliance in the simplicity. The Circle series is truly circular. It
is a never-ending circle of love and hate, death and live, second
chances and missed opportunities.
The story of Green captured me
from the start, pushing me to experience live as Thomas, to experience
his loss, to ponder his questions, to embrace his joy. But true to
Dekker form, the story takes the reader to the dark side of humanity.
With Billy, you see humanity at our worst, fallen, exchanging the truth
for a lie and loving it.
Not since Lewis and Narnia, has a
writer been able to tell the story of failure and redemption in such a
captivating and appealing manner. Dekker doesn't preach. He doesn't
have to. His stories, like the parables of Christ, carry deeper
meanings, carry the truth past the defenses of the skeptical but
visible to those who have eyes to see.
For more information about Green, the Circle series or any of Ted Dekker's book, go to http://teddekker.com/readgreen and use the code 6596.
