Black: The Birth of Evil

It occurred to me as I finished reading that this is the 15th anniversary of the Circle Trilogy. (It if more than a trilogy now, but that expansion came about later.) I read it in 2004 when it came out and reading it again I wondered if it would hold up after these years.

I should begin by announcing that I am a Ted Dekker fan upfront. I love the ideas behind the story that come to light in the story telling. I had to wrestle with the main character, Thomas, over what seemed to me obviously bad or not thought through choices. Near the end of the book, it dawned on me that Thomas is flawed, like I am. I might have made different choices at different times, but the fact is that I wouldn't get it right, either. That's one of the main points, in my mind. None of us are good enough, smart enough, strong enough to rescue the world. There are many other ideas in this book and trilogy, but they are better when you find them yourself.

My favorite part comes when Thomas meets Elyon in the book. It reminds me so much of my own personal experience.

Dekker's writing is very much story driven. At times I felt the story was stretched out a bit, but I never was bored with it. Overall, the ideas are worth coming back to and I will read this again. Maybe even before another 15 years go by.

Hmmm.. This book makes for a tough review because I really did not know where to put it. Its certainly different. Its definitely amateur. But it also has heart. Put these together and you have the ingredients to some success. And Dekker puts them together well. The missing part is the explanation and the reasoning between the two worlds. Will have to read the complete series before making a final judgment on it!

It was really hard for me to get into in the first half of the book. I don't know if it was just because I had a lot of crazy things going on or if it was just slow to start. Once I hit around page 300 though it started to get really good really fast. The immersion and intensity of the second half of the book was overwhelming at times. I don't want to give anything away but the way that Ted Dekker described the feeling and emotion of what was going on really brings to light thoughts I had about the Garden of Eden and such in the Bible. Comparing visually what C. S. Lewis describes in “The Magicians Nephew,” “Black” is completely different but what comes after is described in perfect sadness and the beauty of God is awe-inspiring. Very good.