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Summary: A New Era for fiction
Review: The first thought on your mind when you read my heading is that I'm overstating the case, as so many reviews tend to do. But this new novel by Ted Dekker honestly does signal a new era in fiction. Never have I read a novel so riviting and so meaningful, which spanned so many ideas and crossed so many genres as Black. And it worked. Right down to the last page it absolutely worked. Thomas Hunter is a struggling novelist who is thrown into a dream world that he mistakes for the real world. Unless of course, his dream world IS the real world and the one he assumed was real is really the dream world. Using this device, Black takes the reader on a roller coaster ride in parallel realities in which Hunter is faced with the potential destruction of both worlds due to his own unwitting choices. The twists and turns work into a beautiful symphony of meaning which climaxes with a cliff hanger. The story is complex and engaging. This is my second Dekker novel, the first being "Three." I don't ordinarily post reviews, but this one demands it. Fantastic book! Very different from Three, but ultimately far more satisfying. Thank God the next installment, RED, is due out May rather than the typical year wait.
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Summary: Dekker takes us to new levels.
Review: I have read all of Mr. Dekkers books and this one took me into a new level of reading. Black taunts us with questins about living in reality or a dream world or both. It leaves the reader feeling unfamiliar in a very familiar place. The possibilities exceed the readers imagination. Mr. Dekker let's your imagination and experiences lead you through this book. Every reader will read a different story and have a different ending. At first I was amused by the "fuzzy bats", however they quickly became life like with personalities and purpose. The fluid relationships were interwoven so delicately you too will wonder which is reality and which is a dream. I hope that all readers will dive into the water and experience the ultimate. I can't help but believe that if Edgar Allen Poe, William Shakespeare or Ernest Hemmingway were alive today they would be avid Dekker fans. I can't wait for his next book.....
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Summary: I don't believe in reincarnation, but...
Review: ...Mr. Dekker really seems like a modern-day C.S. Lewis. Do you remember the Narnia series? Or the sci-fi trilogy? (Out of a Silent Planet, et. al.) With Black, Mr. Dekker has revisited the adventure/allegory genre with resounding success. The characters are convincing, the action is page-turning, and the plot hooks addicting. Add some truly lyrical writing and the ultimate trump card of deeper meanings (which may be lost on the typical Christian reader) and you have a bona fide masterpiece. Do not be put off by the fact that this book is marketed as Christian fiction. It does not suffer the same malady as the recent Left Behind drivel or the rampant "Prairie Fiction" so common to the market (namely, horrific writing). Dekker's work ranks up with the very best and any comparisons to C.S. Lewis or George MacDonald are fully justified. Ultimately, Black is an amazing treatise on the nature of good and evil. It will make you think. Most importantly, it will keep you turning the pages. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Haven't had this pleasure since... The last Ted Dekker Novel
Review: Every time I pick up one of Mr. Dekker's novels, I wonder if it can live up to the last. I have not yet been dissapointed. His books can fill you with angst at the evils of this world while painting a vision of beauty and hope that surpasses all evil and leaves you longing to become part of that vision. There are few authors I have read who can so well portray the narrow gap between heros and villains of humanity, while at the same time drawing a clear line between the two. Having a penchant for Fantasy/ Science fiction novels, I was pleased to discover Mr. Dekker was trying his hand at this genre with BLACK. Would he be able to bring his unique style to this type of story? All I can say is Wow! Start to finish was a pleasure to read. If you have enjoyed the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R Donaldson, you will find a similar sense of mystery about which reality is the real reality. If you've read the swashbuckling style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Men of Mars novels, you will find that heroic pace and imaginative landscape. I have read a few novels since finishing BLACK, and when I turn the last page, instead of contemplating what I've just read, find myself asking, "I wonder if RED is out yet?"
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Summary: Ted Dekker is Really Coming Into His Own
Review: The first Ted Dekker book I read was Three, and if you haven't read that one...YOU MUST!!! Since then, I've read Blink and Heaven's Wager, and although Blink was good, neither book captured the thrill I got from reading Three. With that said, Black kept me riveted in as much as Three did. This is one of the most thrilling and imaginative books I've ever read. Ted Dekker has become my favorite Christian fiction writer, hands down. He tells this story about Thomas Hunter in such a way that you don't know whether his dream is reality or the reality is a dream. You will be cast into two different realities in two different time frames, and you'll be hanging on to see what happens the next time Thomas falls asleep. You have to read this book to find out what I'm talking about. Will Thomas save the day, will the virus wipe out the world, what is going on with the Black Forest, and will he get the girl? Black has a perfect blend of suspense, thrills, and romance that will keep this book in your hands. When you're finished, you'll be clamoring for the second book in the trilogy....and the best part is...we only have to wait until May 2004.
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Summary: AWESOME
Review: READ THIS BOOK - and the other two as they are released: RED and WHITE. Open your Bible (or get one if you don't have one yet - you'll want one for sure!) and read God's story (from Genesis to Revelation) with your new, fresh (and - hopefully - brilliant "green") eyes!
AWESOME!!!
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Summary: Ambitous and enigmatic
Review: Black is the third Dekker book I have read this year. With the exception of the cliff-hanger at the end, which I saw coming about 10 pages before, the book never dissapoints or allows you to know what might happen next. Is it Sci-fi, fantasy, metaphysics and philosophy played out in an imaginative fictional setting? Who knows? But it was a very fun and thought provoking read.
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Summary: A true 5-star novel!
Review: What's not to like about Ted Dekker's BLACK? There's a conflicted romance, a paradise that's threatened, the world as we know it facing devestation, an evil drug company tycoon (how appropriate in today's world of hyper-inflated medicine costs?), and a wannabe novelist who becomes a reluctant hero. The pacing is intense, but deliberate. The descriptions are incredible--and yet I wanted so much to believe them. In the midst of all this action, beauty, and suspense, there are deep issues of right, wrong, good, evil, and the true meaning of reality that weave uninstrusively throughout. This is powerful, wonderful stuff.
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Summary: A Must Read - Awesome Book
Review: I don't know that I can add much to what has already been said except to say, "Thank you Ted." Ted masterfully blends the art of storytelling in a fiction based book with the ability to make it seem real and compelling. Added to this is the fact that the book (and trilogy) really appears to be an analogy of what the world is really like. And how about that Black Bat? That thing is creepy. The evil bats ripping and destroying in the fight against good. This is exciting stuff. The only negative for me is that I can't wait for "Red" to come out. It was supposed to come out in April, then May, now I hear June - Ted you're killin' me!
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Summary: Salivating on the wait
Review: I read this book about 2 months ago I beleive. I found it at Christian Book Stores when I had stopped in to glance around. I saw Frank Peretti's note on the back of the dust cover, and that was about all I needed to see. I love Peretti's books, so I figured if he'd say something decent about this book I may as well check it out. Well, I absolutely loved every minute of it. A few weeks ago I was at Sam's Wholesale Club and saw that they had a ton of copies for $10. I bought another one and gave it to a friend who is reading it now and enjoying it as well. Red should be out very soon and I can't wait to pick it up. I think I'm going to read Black again just to up my anticipation of Red a little more, if that's possible!
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