Ted Dekker both starts and finishes what he set into motion with Black. In a world where the spiritual is physical Thomas Hunter must keep the Circle from breaking apart as the world careens towards the final showdown between good and evil, between Elyon and Teelah.
I was extremely excited to begin reading Green because I loved Black, Red, & White. I don’t know if it was because I held unrealistic expectations or if the book wasn’t as good as the previous books but I was disappointed when I finished Green. My disappointment was mainly due to the way Dekker closed the loop, I felt he could have done it in
a way that was more satisfying. I will say that Dekker’s grasp of the Biblical narrative is amazing, what really threw me though was his shifting back and forth between Biblical allegory and more direct Biblical example. Throughout the series he has had definite Biblical allegory, but in Green he throws in some scenes where they really aren’t allegory, I basically knew how the scene was going to end even as it started. He even names one character Ba’al which immediately paints the character in a certain light for most readers. It was also disappointing that with the current vampire infatuation in our culture that Dekker decided to go there.
Note: In the material that I have read for Green the book is grouped with Black, Red, & White and left at that. There are parts in Green that refer to the Lost Books Series (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, & Elyon) as well as the Paradise Novels (Saint, Sinner, & Showdown). As I was reading Green, I wished that I hadn’t stopped reading the Lost Books at Chaos because there is are parts within Green that I am assuming a reader who has read the Lost Books and Paradise novels would understand the backstory a little better.
I’m willing to give Dekker the benefit of the doubt though and give Green a 3 out of 5 rating.
Related Reading:
- Black, Red, & White
- Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, & Elyon
- Saint, Sinner, & Showdown
Note: due to a quirk in WordPress I am unable to hyperlink all of the books referenced in this post…I sincerely apologize.