Estimated Reading Time: 7min
Okay, I claim a lot that Ted Dekker is my favourite author, but I have actually only read a handful of his books. so, I decided to change that. Here is my experience as I went through some of Ted’s other books.
The Circle
Oh my word. i am updating this post as i have just finished reading ‘black’ which is the official first book (i suppose, although that’s debatable) of the circle series. this began as a trilogy, but there was a further book that was released afterwards and an entire series of worlds that stemmed from this as well.
Dang, my brain is basically broken. what the heck even is reality anyway? would the fall have still happened even if humanity was given another brand new start. what would that mean if the humans were living like that for generations and someone from our world interacted with it. just some of the questions we explored.
while i did really enjoy it, i was left pretty shattered afterwards. i also think it was super intense – more so than pretty much any of his other books i’ve ready. some of the evil was evil. some of the good was good and it was all just such a crazy ride. i have to take a break before i read any more but it was still such an amazing story and look at various ideas of good v evil and how humanity fits into that. also, can i just say – the foreshadowing with a virus that swipes through the whole world…. how did so many books consider this for such a long time and we just never really paid attention?
Kiss
For me, this book was slow to start, but once we got past the first third or so, that was when I started to get more interested. There was politics, family drama, amnesia, a lot more going on as well. I think the barebones of the story were interesting, however for me it was a bit too slow, and I was not invested in either the plot nor the characters.
It was still pretty well written, there was some really interesting elements, and the last third was the best part
Blink
A really interesting concept of being able to see into the future but only a short time, and mostly concerning yourself and the circumstances around you. I found that really interesting, and the way that it was explored was great. Enough explanation for me to suspend my disbelief, but not so much that I got pulled away from the story. I liked the idea of being able to look at the future, free will, how things are changed when people make decisions, and how God fits into that. I thought the dynamic between a Muslim and a Jew/Christian/westernised viewpoint of agnostic tied in. There wasn’t too much of that, but enough that it was an interesting discussion. I understand that Dekker changed the book after 911, I have the physical copy of the old version and I listened to the audiobook of the new version. I wanted to tandem read, but ended up mostly just listening to the audiobook. I know somethings were changed, and maybe at some point I’ll go and look at it in more detail. I would be interested to see what he changed in light of those circumstances. I enjoyed the story okay, the running for your life, running away from oppression, it was very dynamic. I would’ve preferred maybe a different environment to explore the concept of the prophetic/future seeing concept. Just personally.
Skin
Umm… yep.
The story drew me in, it did feel like it was in multiple parts though. First half or so of the story was very clear, it made sense, I understood the stakes, and then all of a sudden we changed. it went from something I understood to something quite different. I’m not mad at it, I actually I enjoyed both parts, however the tonal and plot shift was a little disjointed for me.
I didn’t connect to many characters though they were interesting in their own ways. The ending came out of nowhere for me. The resolution was not something I even a little bit thought would happen. Not a single place in my brain expected how this story unfolded. I thought that part was clever but also that it didn’t have a ton of foundation to it. As a reader there was really only one or so moments that you could look back on and see a small amount of foreshadowing. Otherwise I was so in the dark about it that it was impossible to guess (at least for me). All my theories were wrong. All my assumptions were wrong. Again, not mad at it because I thought it was clever (or at least interesting), just confused.
Trigger warnings: moderate suicide
Graphic death/murder
Occult
The 49th Mystic
I’m really of two minds with this story. On one hand, I see the deep theological concepts at work. On the other side though, I see a lot of what appears to be New Age understanding. I don’t know how to marry the two together. I always thought that the circle world looked a little too deeply into the demonic side, and this story Not only did that, but also really leaned into what appears to be more of “ spiritual” understandings. I’m not saying that there wasn’t Christian themes in the story, but a lot of what was explored felt less biblical/gospel related like the Circle series was originally, and a lot more spiritual. I think delving too far into the spiritual spaces can be very distracting, and can also be quite dangerous. Just as CS Lewis explored when he wrote the Screwtape letters, the same could be said for something like this. It depends, I suppose, on your perspective. I always feel a bit squirmy in some of the exploration of the darker side of these books. This was no exception, and I think that without the guiding gospel message that the original books had, it had a more disappointing feel.
The story itself, I found to be quite interesting. I liked that Rachelle was trying to work through the idea of being blind both physically and spiritually. There were some very interesting themes that were explored and I liked the concept of the city of Eden. I was tossing up with the rating whether it would be higher or not, but I think that I was left with the feeling of unease more so than contemplation as is often the case with Dekker books. Having said that, there were moments that I was challenged in my own understanding, and my own situation. We can all be blind sometimes to things in our lives, but I think we need to weigh up a story like this with the Scriptures.
Three
Mild spoiler-ish (I try to keep big things out though)
I read this when I was a teenager and now as an adult and while I remember liking it (primarily for the twist) I found myself really getting a lot of additional things I didn’t get when I first read it. It was quite a deep look into the nature of good and evil, and how humans deal with that. I really enjoyed that aspect of it. It was a clever twist and turned through someone’s mind, through abuse and how that looks, and how we come to terms with the good and the bad in ourselves and in the world. I liked the plot, and I thought it moved pretty well. Characters were good, and there were a lot of clues throughout if you know what to look for. I loved that I knew what to look for this time, and it didn’t ruin the ending for me. I actually enjoyed this more, knowing the twist and how it was going to work out.
I thought the conclusion was good, however the aftermath I thought was not taken very seriously. The point of the book was looking at the deeper issue of good versus evil, but I also thought that we could’ve potentially wrapped up how things looked in the aftermath with a little bit more realism.
This time around, I actually also listen to the audiobook. The same narrator as the circle series, and he has a very interesting way to read the bad guy voices. Convincing is all I will say.
There are still so many more books that I haven’t read yet, but I’ve made a good dent! I’m excited to see what else is in store.
See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace
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