Black :

Rating:
Summary: Go read C.S. Lewis's Perelandra . . .
Review: There are two kinds of authors in my mind:

(1) those whose sandals I am unfit to unlace, and

(2) those who do such a bad job of it that they make me think I could actually write for a living. Unfortunately, Ted Dekker with Black falls into the latter category.

I saw the second volume of this trilogy, Red, laying around my work, and I picked it up to see an endorsement from Frank Peretti, the best author working in Christian fiction today in my opinion. So I was thrilled when I found it in the library the other day. I was expecting something really slick, well-written, that had a great moral theme.

Well, at least the theme part was on target.

I did really enjoy a lot of the book's themes. I thought the Great Romance, for example, was a good way to describe our relationship with God. However, great themes and good morals won't gloss over really sloppy writing.

I thought a lot of the dialogue was stilted and unrealistic. It didn't matter which world, which race, or what gender the different characters were, they all sounded and acted virtually the same way. They were all pretty rude and NONE of them were dynamic characters. They were as stale as thrice doused cardboard.

I especially found Thomas Hunter to be a really weak main character. At the beginning of the book, he's a pretty unsavory character, involved with the Mob and smuggling contraband animal skins. As the book progresses, he kidnaps a person, lies to anyone and everyone, and does anything to meet his goal. Even after his "conversion experience," for a lack of a better term, he is a rude, conniving character. Not exactly a hero I could really cheer for. Every tyime he did something, I couldn't help but shake my head.

I thought the description in the book was really pretty poor. A great deal of the "real world" plot happens in Southeast Asia, and aside from mentioning that there are jungles and rice paddies, not much information is given. In the "other world," there's a huge forest of vibrant, glowing trees. All of the people have green eyes, and that's just about all you need to know about them.

A lot of the "other world" plot is a rehashing of the first few chapters of Genesis, and C.S. Lewis did a much better job with his seminal Christian science fiction classic, Perelandra.

The list of things wrong with could keep on going. Unfortunately, Dekker is pretty typical of the "Christian" fiction scene, Which is a real shame.

Hopefully something much better will come along soon.


Rating:
Summary: Great start to a trilogy.
Review: This first installment of a trilogy by Ted Dekker is a well-paced story that leaves the reader turning pages and wanting to move on to book number two. A mixture of fantasy and action adventure. Great reading! Another great new mystery for Christian readers, but with younger heroes, is "The Curse of Durgan's Reef", by Bruce Conn.

Rating:
Summary: If I knew then what I know now ...
Review: Unfortunately, I ordered BLACK before some of the later (January 2005) reviews were written. Had I known then what I know now, I might not have ordered it. Don't get me wrong. The story line is fascinating and definitely holds your attention as you try to guess which 'dream' is the 'real' world (that's why I'm giving it 4 stars).

What I didn't know ahead of time is that the book (in fact, from what I've read in the reviews, the entire trilogy) has a Christian theme. Throughout the text are subtle references to biblical events and themes (the colored forest, the evil Teeleh, the Great Romance, Tanis the 'first-born,' etc). Since this is no longer my faith of choice, for me, these analogies took away from the suspense and intrigue of an otherwise great book.

Those of you who favor Christianity will most likely savor the author's treatment of the basic tenets of your faith while enjoying a captivating ride through two realities.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!
Review: As a consumate reader of fiction I can honestly say that this trilogy penned by Mr. Dekker is perhaps the most absorbing and well executed tales I have ever read. So much so that I am posting this review, my first on Amazon.

Usually I find inspirational fiction less than inspiring, Left Behind being a good example. It's about time popularity and excellance met as they have here. I've seen and heard about Dekker before, but these are the first books of his I've read. I am very impressed. The characters are extreemly rich as we follow them through three completely unique adventures. I haven't shed a tear in a good ten years while reading a novel. That changed on seveal occasions in this trilogy. The plot twists were frequent and unexpected, even to this well read lover of thrillers. But most importantly, Dekker handles moral questions with brilliance. These are books for the heart as well as the mind, and they moved me deeply.

I'm also a great fan of Dean Koontz, and I think Dekker comes closer to his style of storytelling than any other author I've read. Thier writing is very different as Dekker tends to go straight for the juggular rather than slow the pace with long descriptions and abundantly clever wording, and I found his technique very rewarding. Reading one of these books is more like watching a movie than plodding through a long novel. Frankly, I've grown tired of some of the crowned kings of fiction's plodding. As much as I love Stephen King's old stuff, his last several have wandered aimlessly and ended nowhere.

Dekker's style is fresh and lean and definately ends very big. I have found a new author who has managed to thrill me to the bone. It's about time. I will read more from Dekker, to be sure.


Rating:
Summary: The Birth of Evil
Review: This is a fascinating story about the power of evil and the consequences of human choice. Centered around a central character whose dreams propel him back and forth between two realities, this is an exciting and suspenseful book with a powerful theological sub-plot. I greatly enjoyed it!

Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi, terrorist thriller, theology overlay, & more
Review: While I generally like the book there are just too many plots to develop in the first half of the book. The book goes too slow for an action typed thriller.

I applaud the author at the attempt of a very difficult theme of going from a science fiction to a thriller and back and forth. Then add a few miscellaneous thugs with a separate plot and story line about money. Then drop a Christian theme on top of it with obvious names associated to the Bible. Just too much taking away from the two main plot lines.

With this in mind, I like the the two main plot lines. In one world evil is very literal and visible and in the other it is hidden(but equally as deadly) I am into the third book now so I have been intrigued enough to keep with it. I just didn't think literal evil would be a talking bat!

Rating:
Summary: Suprisingly Slow
Review: Black is a novel written around a theme. This can be a good thing, if the story is well-constructed around that theme with strong characters and a solid plot. Unfortunately Black has neither.
My first and most serious complaint about Black is that it's predictable. You see the plot twists way before the characters do, and in such a way that instead of building tension, the plot builds impatience for either something to happen (please!) or the book to end.
Second, the characters are two-dimensional. There is very little about any of them that makes them real, even Tom, the lead character, who more often irritated than inspired me. Most of the characters in the "ancient world" (or current world as it would seem to the reader) are little more than stereotypes. You have the sister/mother/nurse character who takes care of Tom, the Shadow lurking behind his grand schemes, the hitman, the politician, etc. While in a themed novel/allegory stereotypical characters are fairly standard, they still must be developed with enough personality to make them interesting. The characters in the colored forest are even less compelling.
Third, while I am a huge Peretti and Dean Koontz fan (authors Mr. Dekker has been compared to, apparently) I don't see the resemblance. Neither "reality" was all that engrossing, the classic battle between good and evil was virtually nonexistent, and I honestly couldn't suspend my disbelief long enough to get into this novel (not usually a problem).
There were also a lot of point-of-view changes between paragraphs that were at times disorienting. The story is from Tom's perspective, but too often the thoughts and views of others intruded. This is being nit-picky, but it's something my mentors have drilled into me for years.
I was looking forward to this read, and I must say I'm sorely disappointed. I won't be finishing the series.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, I Couldn't Give It 5 Stars!
Review: I couldn't do it. Maybe I shouldn't have read the reviews here before reading the book? Don't get me wrong, it was a good book, but not 5 stars good, probably only 3 1/2 stars good.

I'm a fan of "The Matrix" and "LTR Trilogy", so I'm not being picky. I think it was the it was presented that I couldn't get into it. It took me a while to get past the "dream" thing and how silly the "future" world was. Once I got past that and got over how silly it all sounded to me, the book took off in the middle somwhere. At the beginning we were flashing back and forth to the realities so quickly, I got discouraged. But, I pushed through and finished the book just hours ago.

Originally, I wasn't even going to finish it and definately wasn't going to read the second book, but I'm giving it a try. I'm hoping Red, the second one, is better. If it isn't, I'm done with Dekker.