Customer Reviews

Green (The Circle Series)

5 star:		(107)
4 star:		(85)
3 star:		(49)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I first became a fan of Dekker's after I read "Three". Since then, I have read most of everything that he has written. My favorite, by far, are the original circle trilogy novels. As a pastor, I have recommended them to many new converts, as I believe they express the heart of God; not to mention, they are extremely well written.

However, regarding this new novel, I came away disappointed. First, I have not read the "Lost" series. Dekker refers to these books significantly and in fact, some of the characters of these books play a significant role in Green. So, many times I felt lost not completely understanding prior character development.

Second, I have read "Showdown", "Saint", and "Sinner", and did not care for them at all. If you have not read these books, you will be lost, since they play a highly significant role in the novel.

Third, Dekker has developed a fascination with vampires in this book, which I believe takes away from the original story. It appears to me that Dekker is trying to "cash-in" on popular culture's current fascination with these types of stories.

Fourth, the main character of "Thomas" disappears in the book --meaning Thomas finds himself in a "predicament" and Dekker does not mention him for several chapters. This happens as well, with "Monique" and "Kara". Dekker reintroduces them in this book, but they play a very minor role as opposed to the earlier trilogy.

On a positive note, overall this is a well-written book, and the plot moves along well. I would have liked a better resolution, but I understand why he did what he did, so that the "circle" story would continue.

If you liked the original trilogy you will like this book, but if your are like me, the original books are much better. To give Dekker the benefit of the doubt, maybe I expected too much from this book due to the greatness previous three.

Ted Dekker's latest fantasy thriller, Green, is referred to as "The Beginning and the End." It's been over 5 years since fans first answered the call to "Dive Deep" into an alternate reality where the spiritual has been made clear and evil is as plain as the scabs on your skin.

Fans of Dekker's work are surely familiar with the question "How does this tie in to the rest of his books?" Over the past 5 years, more novels than not have been intertwined into this bigger story called the "Books of History Chronicles". The Circle Series, Lost Books, and Paradise Novels tell the story of humanity through the lens of extraordinary books that have the power to create history. In essence, "The Word is made Flesh". With The Books of History Chronicles now including upwards of 15 novels, the larger story has surpassed epic status. Thousands of Ted's avid readers have been swept into his writing through one of these books. This makes Green his most anticipated novel to date.

Green finds the Circle in a desperate place, 10 years since their Savior has last been seen. Many within Elyon's band of rebels have begun to doubt their core beliefs and practices. How do you love and follow a God that seems distant? Is He truly in control when your world seems in chaos? Dekker poses these age old questions in a fresh light by examining them through the eyes of the Circle.

Amidst such deep theological questions, there is still fun to be had. A fast-placed plot full of betrayal, reality-hopping, battles, and hand-to-hand combat serve as the backdrop for the bigger themes of the story. Dekker knows how to balance thought-provoking concepts with non-stop action. After over 2 dozen novels, Ted has it down to an art, and it shows in this latest adventure.

Green reads as a fitting end, or perhaps a beginning, to Ted's signature series. This is must-read fiction for all fans of Dekker. The Circle has proven to be one of the most moving, yet relevant, allegories of all time, and Green lives up to the series in which it belongs. Green reads as both the finale, yet also the prequel to the 2004 masterpieces, Black, Red, and White.

Expertly tying in loose story threads from the Paradise Novels and Lost Books, Dekker weaves a truly satisfying conclusion to the series that has spawned a thousand conversations and ignited countless fans to fall deep in love with their Creator.

It has been ten years since the events of White. A lot has changed. The Circle no longer fights the Horde, but flees from them. They have faithfully followed Elyon's command to love regardless of personal cost. However, numerous deaths and hearts weary from flight have led The Circle to begin to fracture. Divisions from within concerning doctrine, has caused many to waver in their faith in Elyon. How long can they continue to endure the constant pressure from inside and outside The Circle?

When they believe things are at their worst, it's just the beginning. An evil like they have never imagined is working its way from the past into the future. With seduction and deception, it takes even the heart of Thomas' rebellious son, Samuel. Can Thomas save his son? Will Elyon rescue The Circle?

I always wondered why Black had a green cover. Never made sense to me until I learned there would be another book added to The Circle series. So while I was a bit skeptical of adding to an already wonderful, complete story, I took some comfort in knowing this was most likely planned before the success of the original three. However, I doubted that the magic of The Circle books could be recaptured again.

There are parts of Green that are reminiscent of the original three books. It takes us to the depths of Elyon's waters and allows us to once again bask in the knowledge of the God we serve. It opens our hearts to raw truths and lifts our spirits in anticipation of a time yet to come. Green at moments was powerful and gripping, intense and passionate. At other moments, it was boring. Not a word often used to describe a Dekker book. However, there were parts that I literally had to push through to get to the next section that moved the story along.

Green got bogged down in the filling in of details. It brings several series together, but there were parts that lagged. Scenes with Billy and Janae didn't see to progress well and felt circular at times. Not a lot of real plot. It was good to have Billy back, but much of what I loved about his character was lacking. This time around, he seemed a bit flat and one dimensional.

Janae didn't work for me. While I understand she was necessary to the plot, I couldn't get into her character. It lacked any real depth and the part about her father was silly. In Green, she pretty much bogged down most scenes she was in and outside the opening chapters a rather useless character.

It was nice to finally have some answers to questions that have been floating around for years. Three series were mostly tied up in Green--The Circle Books, Paradise Novels, and The Book of Histories series. There are still some open ends and threads that could be developed, but for the most part, these stories seem to be ended.

I do disagree with Dekker's notes at the beginning of Green. Personally I would never want to read Green before Black, Red, and White. I love suspense way to much to want to start reading a series knowing how it ended. The same would be true for Showdown, Sinner, Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, and Chaos. For me, all these books would be spoiled if I read Green first. Part of the beauty of Dekker's writing is in the twists and turns. If one already knows the answer, then his writing is greatly diminished. So while he says start anywhere, if you enjoy suspense, mystery, impulsive plot twist, and waiting for answers, don't start with Green. Half the fun will be lost.

Continuing to follow Biblical events, Green is apocalyptic. Dekker did a great job of portraying end times without diving into theology. It's interesting the approach he took and he handled the apocalyptic events well.

So it looks like the series is ended--maybe. Dekker wrapped up with some awesome scenes. We get to revisit characters that by now feel like family and dive once again into Elyon's water. We're reminded of God's love for us, of our call to love the lost, of passion, the past, the present, and the future. We get to once again glimpse God as the child, the father, the warrior. Dekker has created a series that is truly remarkable. These books bring God out. They remind the church of who we serve and why we persevere. Beyond the mysteries, of the worms, the books, the superpowers, stands God and His enduring love and endless pursuit of even one lost son. While Green was the weakest of the four, it still had scenes that could lift us to the mountain--to our Creator.

I think it's fairly safe to say that few books in the Christian Fiction genre have had the level of anticipation associated with it that Ted Dekker's latest book, Green, has enjoyed. As Dekker completes the "Circle" series with this prequel that's mostly a conclusion, Thomas Nelson has ratcheted up the marketing, complete with a nice website and fantastic animated trailer. Fans who have taken the full ride Dekker provided with the series have been given bits of the world he created in the "Lost Books" series. Many, though, have clamored for a last piece of the story, waiting over 4 years for Dekker take them on one final ride into the world of Thomas Hunter.

With Green, Dekker manages to recapture the magic from the original trilogy (Black, Red, and White), and provide fans with a satisfying ending/beginning to the series. If you haven't seen the promotional materials, Green is intended to serve both a prequel to Black and a sequel to White. They are billing this as the preferred starting point for new readers, and while Dekker does a great job of "completing a circle" with the series, I would have to disagree that it's the best place to start, and I mean that for positive reasons.

Without giving away any plot points, let's just say that readers who have taken the time to read Black, Red, White, the Lost Books, as well as Showdown and Sinner, in particular, are rewarded for their efforts in Green. While I have no doubt one could read Green without any prior knowledge and understand the plot, the level of depth would not be near what is attained from having the background knowledge obtained from those other books. I hate to think that many will miss out on the way Dekker has woven this gigantic, sweeping story together throughout all of the books and culminated in Green.

Either way, the action in Green is portrayed with Dekker's signature layering of truth upon narrative. Nothing is ever exactly what it seems to be, and he manages to not only combine the two different realities within the story, but also combines those two realities with ours. Dekker says more about the gospel in his stories without ever actually talking about the gospel than most Christians ever do. Dekker has said, "Redemptive History is a heart-wrenching tale full of twists and fantastic romance. If put in the people's language, the story is irresistible." His ability to present truth within a fictional, allegorical plot is top-notch, but you are so enthralled by the story, the truths come out naturally, never forced. His thinly-veiled commentary on some aspects of the church in Green, for example, was powerful and needed.

Overall, Green succeeds at meeting its huge expectations and finishes out the Circle series in a very satisfying manner. The animated trailer on the book's website compares the series to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" for its attempt to "peel back the layers of truth" using metaphor. While only time can possibly tell whether Dekker's stories will reach the sustained level of interest those two have, Dekker's Circle series has definitely succeeded at creating a world that enthralls readers and allows them to experience timeless truths within a captivating story.

I dove in to Green, and I'm still drowning in its waters. I wept all the way through the original trilogy, Black, Red, and White, but this one left me with far more questions than I began with. There are now something like 11 other books connected to The Circle Series, and Ted's ability to weave a tapestry of this magnitude really does blow me away. But in this one, it seems as if Ted tried a little too hard to tie all of his different threads together. In the midst, he seems to have lost the simplistic focus that was so wonderful in the original trilogy. Too many threads creates lots of loose ends that don't seem to come together.

I'll be digesting this one for a while, I think, and I look forward to coming away with a deeper revelation of the Holy Spirit through it; I was certainly deeply impacted spiritually through Black, Red, and White. But Green left me longing for something more. The ending was sudden, unexpected, and frustrating as all get-out. But maybe that was Ted's point - to get people longing, thinking, hoping, taking action and taking hold of the story that God has for each of us rather than watching from the sidelines.

I hesitate to be critical, but I almost feel as if Ted has spent far too much time in the dark, and maybe not enough time staring at the face of Jesus. He's often admitted to being obsessive with his stories. Like missionaries who make ministry their goal, I wonder if Ted's obsession with his books has grown stronger than his obsession with Jesus. Ministry is never the goal. The goal is the face of Jesus. With Ted, I almost can't justify the sliver of truth ringing in his books because I have to wade through so much blackness first.

But I love Ted's books so much, I keep reading despite the heaviness they bring me. I can't wait to read a book by Ted that is overwhelmingly bright with the light.

GREEN was good, but BLACK, RED, and WHITE stand alone just fine without it.

Let me start by saying that Ted Dekker is my absolute favorite author. His books have literally changed the way that I view life. "Black", "Red", and "White" are my favorite books of all-time. My husband and I have an entire shelf in our living room filled with Dekker books.

However, neither of us were impressed with "Green". We'd pre-ordered the entire hard-cover box set, and couldn't wait to read "Green". We'd read all of the other Books of History Chronicles (the Circle trilogy, the Paradise novels, the Lost Books, and the stand-alone books) and we just knew that "Green" would be amazing.

That wasn't the case. I've never been so disappointed by a Ted Dekker book. We felt like Dekker was trying to tie all of the Books of History Chronicles together quickly, and it just made it all a jumbled mess. He started bringing other elements into the story that were just weird, and it lost the special-ness of Thomas' story. The very end of the book (where you find out how Thomas gets into the other world) is neat, but over-all, neither of us enjoyed the book.

Also, we do NOT think it should come before "Black"! So much of the excitement with "Black", "Red" and "White" is not knowing all of the answers. If a reader was to pick up "Green" first, they would already know all of the secrets, and there wouldn't be anything to look forward to in the other books. We're recommending that people skip "Green" altogether, but if they really want to read it, we tell them that it should come at the end.

"Green" had so much potential--the beginning and the end--but we were sorely disappointed.

BIG SPOILERS!!! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET!

Like many, I've been waiting for Green to come out for a while. So many areas I was looking forward to seeing wrapped up. I wanted to see what was to come with Johnis and his gang after entering the blue forest. I wanted to see how exactly Thomas appeared in the black forest. I had very high hopes for this book. Instead, I was let down.

I think the whole ending was very forced. I was able to wrap my mind around Billy becoming two people, and wrap my mind around one of them becoming our Anti-Christ. But why did Elyon tell Thomas he could save his son if he went back in time. Elyon of all people knows Thomas can't change time. As we've learned, the past, present, and future are all dependant on one another. And wouldn't Marsuuv know that as well, yet he sent Billy back in time to kill Thomas. Very forced to make the "Full Circle" feeling come alive. I wish the whole thing could have been a simple "End of world" sequel. If I read this one first, I wouldn't understand hardly anything. All the surprises I received in the books would be ruined if I started reading Green first. I also didn't feel there was any extensive character development, which a first-time reader would greatly need. And of all the hype, I wish I could have read Qurong's reaction after drowning. Instead, all it stated was that he drowned. Then it hinted that Billy would become Marsuvees Black and lead his younger self to the Books of History, but Teelah supposedly killed Billy in front of Thomas in the book Black.

I was really hoping that Johnis would have popped his head in somewhere. I was really hoping that there would have been a better explanation of how Thomas got in the Black Forest. Kara connected with Mikil. Monique had Rachelle. When I read that this book was going to explore the early adventures of Thomas Hunter, I was hoping it was going to be partly about a man connected to Thomas Hunter of the Future Green Forest who somehow stumbled into the Black Forest and hit his head, forcing the Thomas Hunter we know to wake up in the Black Forest inside this other man's body. Instead it was mostly a war with vampires involved. And why didn't the Books of History turn invisible when Thomas Hunter went back in time? Didn't we learn in Chaos that unless all seven books are in the past, that whatever books here would be invisible?

ANYWAY...that's my ramble. I'm sorry for all the negativity, but no one else I know has ever read these, and I had to get my frustrations across to people who might understand where I'm coming from. I loved the whole History Chronicles series. Just didn't like the way everything came together.

Green (The Circle, Book 0: The Beginning and the End) is in no way the "beginning" of the story. There is a tacked on set of chapters at the very end that could have just started "Black." Not much at all of Green will make sense if you don't know who Billy, Darcy, or Johnny are. Not much will make sense if you know nothing of the Raison Strain, green and red lakes, Teelah, Roush, and a ton of other characters and ideas that were developed in the first three Circle books. If you haven't read the Showdown series, this book's jumps in time are just confusing. I have read them, and they seemed forced. The characters were mostly flat, and the idea that you can go back in time to save someone who has rejected God seems ridiculous.

That said, the times in the future where Chelise still very much cares for her father and where both she and Thomas agonize over the fate of their son are well done. The book is full of the "deus ex machina" but that is to be expected in a book where "only Elyon can save us" is a major theme. This was not Dekker's best work by a long shot. It was as weird as the first books and pulled together a few ideas, but unless you MUST read it, your time will probably be spent better elsewhere.

With what I had heard about Ted Dekker being amazing, the book "Green" which was my first Dekker book, was kind of a disappointment. The idea of a book being a prequel and a sequel making a circular series really appealed to me. However, "Green" seemed like a whole bunch of confusion that did not go together.

I say it was confusing because Dekker takes us from the future, then to the past that is really the present that is really the past. There are also too many main characters for my liking. Aside from the confusion, he appears fascinated with blood, and adds in a vampire theme that was not appealing at all. The vampire theme is what ultimately ruined the book for me. It would have been a much better novel without it.

While I enjoy fiction that takes me deep, I do not appreciate highly graphic scenes, and this book has several. It churned my stomach at times. However, I would be willing to give this author another shot with another story. "Green" didn't really endear the rest of the circle series to me though. If I read him again it would be a completely different series.

I received "Green" in the mail on September 1st and finished it early the next day. I have read all the other books. I began with Showdown, then Saint, Sinner, the Circle series, the Lost Books and finally Green. They are all very well written books. In my opinion it wouldn't matter how they are read, but this is the order that I recommend, since it's how I enjoyed them. Green was an incredibly good read. I was hoping for some closure in the end, but c'est la vie. (I won't ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't read the book.) Still Green is a compelling read. In my mind as compelling as the Narnia series by the late C.S. Lewis.

While entirely fictional in its concept of a future time, the book series teaches the deeper meanings of life and sin. Ted Dekker teaches these truths quite eloquently, without being preachy. He simply tells the story that although we don't see our sin on the outside like we can with the Scabs, the sin is still there, hidden, within us. Most of us are as oblivious to that sin as the Scabs are of their sin-sick skin disease. They try to cover it up with morst paste, while still believing it's perfectly normal and healthy. Due to the sickenss of their minds, caused by the same critter that is causing the skin disease (you'll learn that in this book), they think they are fine while those who have bathed in Elyon's lakes are the diseased ones. Whether a Christian like me or a non-believer, this series will make you truly think about the "underlying" sickness we all have inherited, and will allow us to see that we are the only ones who can seek a cure for this disease.