Customer Reviews

Renegade (The Lost Books, Book 3) (The Books of History Chronicles)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay... I've been anticipating the final two books in the Lost Books series ever since I read the first page of Chosen, and now my mind has absorbed each and every word of sheer awesomeness.

Renegade is more than a trip, trip, trip. It's a trip and fall, making your mind spin around every bend and curve definitely more than once.

Think of Showdown, The Circle Trilogy, and Skin compressed into one book, all your favorite locations, characters, and villains brought back to life in a whole new and unique way. Dekker promises to never let the tension break, and you'll be more than glad that you read this once you're done. I'm already tempted to reread it and I just finished it yesterday.

Sometime after the year 4000 AD, history appears to be repeating itself as Teeleh, enemy of Elyon, overruns the once lush green forests. Those who are faithful to Teeleh, the desert Horde, have multiplied in number, and those loyal to Elyon, the Forest Dwellers, must recruit a new army as theirs dwindles. Thomas of Hunter, the Forest Dweller commander, carefully selects 1,000 worthy young men and women to replenish his diminishing troops.

Heading up this unseasoned army are teenagers Johnis, Silvie, Billos and Darsal, who, unknown to Thomas, have been similarly handpicked by the white Roush (bat-like guardians of all that is good) for a larger mission than Thomas can imagine. The four are instructed to find the seven Books of History, which hold such supernatural power as to destroy all of mankind. With three in their possession, the foursome must search out their lands and that of the Horde to retrieve the other four...or so they think.

When Billos experiences a rush of power unlike anything he's ever known after touching the Book with his bleeding hand, he then schemes and steals the three books and escapes to the desert. Once alone, Billos repeats the process; a vortex opens to another reality and he steps into it. What he discovers is an alternate world where a mysterious stranger, Marsuvees Black, offers him unlimited power in exchange for the books. At his fingertips Billos receives what seems to be endless power to command weaponry to appear at will, and he ruthlessly uses it to kill off innocents in Paradise. Succumbing to the temptation despite inner misgivings, he turns traitor to Elyon and agrees to Black's plan.

Meanwhile, Billos's comrades discover him missing, search for him and the books, and must face Thomas with the truth. Thomas orders them to find Billos and stay out of trouble. Instead, more complications arise when Darsal sets off on her own to find Billos. Thinking herself alone, she is startled to see Karas, the former Horde girl, following her. Together they enter into enemy territory, and Darsal makes a deal with Alucard, the Shataiki, under command of Teeleh, to use his Book in order to rescue Billos. It works...sort of.

Johnis and Silvie, now in more trouble with Thomas for losing Darsal as well, search for her. Despite the danger and their separation, all four continue to play into destiny's hands as they brave their enemies and end up using the books to escape certain death. With one world and another colliding, each of the leaders discovers how Elyon is present with them throughout, using each decision, each circumstance, for a bigger purpose. Even so, not everyone in the group will survive.

This third installment in The Lost Books series is Ted Dekker's best by far. Fans will be eager for the final chapters where the battle for the seven Books of History will find their culmination. Fast-paced and multileveled, Dekker's prose shines in RENEGADE.

--- Reviewed by Michele Howe

Below is an excerpt of my full review of The Lost Books Series:

I read all six books in just over a week's time as it continued to suck me in just as The Circle Series had. There were times that it was a challenge to put the book down. I even lost sleep reading this books late into the night. Much like The Circle Series, these book built off the previous one and the story become more engrossing as it progressed further. The connections between Green and this series are finally made clear. Where Ba'al (Billos) came from, how he knew so much about the Books of History, what he was talking about when he described going into another world, what became of the book Thomas Hunter brought with him in White, and how Billy could have gotten his hands on one of the Books of History that gave him telepathic powers. I am sure that there were other connections as well, but I do not recall all of them. In the end, only one chosen youth did not finish the quest while the other three were able to gather all seven books in the past (our not so distant future of 2033). Very enjoyable and satisfactory.

If you enjoyed the Circle Series, this series is a great addition to a fantasy world that delivered a great story. Unless you really feel inclined, I strongly suggest skipping books five and six. The quality is sub-par and you can almost see where Ted Dekker's influence stops and Kaci Hill's begins. The series, as a whole, suffers because of Lunatic and Elyon. Separate, however, the first four books are superb. The last two books They were close to awful and should be purged from Ted Dekker fantasy lore.

By now, we know all about the characters, and their personal struggles. Darsal loves Billos, and will follow him anywhere - and she does, in this part of the story. Billos travels through the books to a virtual reality, so to speak, in Paradise, CO. More characters come into play and the story has more twists and turns. I find it hard to review these books without giving too much away, and I don't want to ruin it for others.

Wow, Dekker really got back into form with Renegade. It might be that incorporating Black, one of Dekker's best characters and the equivalent of Stephen King's "Randall Flagg" character or that he included various elements of Showdown and Skin into this tale that gave it the boost it needed.......or I suppose it could even just be that Ted really hit his stride here.... but, whatever the reason, this book really sings. While the first two books told interesting and even gripping tales, the YA slant present in the series thus far, had heretofore kept things a bit too simplistic and 1 dimensional and what we're left with an outstanding Dekker novel that definitely should be read by those who have delved into the Circle and/or Paradise series.

The work Dekker does in the first two books to establish the characters, back-stories and plot all pay off very nicely here where Dekker is able to capitalize on events set in motion in the first two books to create some very harrowing and touching moments. Any reservations I had about reading this series to fill in the gaps between Black and Red are now a distant memory and Ted's really written a fantastic tale that even at ~275 pages measures up quite nicely to many of his full blown efforts.

Definitely a must read, though this being part 3 in a serialized story, you definitely have to read the first two books in the series first.

Once Again, a very entertaining read. But I must say, the word "Suphupow" is a very dumb choice when it comes to creating a new word. Young Adult book or not, it is a lame word. I know it stands for Super Human Power, but the sound of it is silly enough to be in a book for five year olds. With Dekker's imagination, he could have come up with a better word than that. I enjoyed the book anyway, and would read it again. The "Dell" virtual reality machine was cool, as well as other aspects of the story. I really got into this book. And I didn't even have to cut my finger and press my blood against it.

Great novel. I enjoyed the read. It was just as the ad said it would be. Packaging was great and deliverly time was great.

This is not one of author's best book. I enjoy reading it but it did not deliver big mind blowing as others from trilogy. It touched you but I like the others much better. I still recommend it as a good vacation book - once you start you can not put it down.

Review by Jill Williamson

Billos, having entered one of the lost books, shows up in a foreign land called Paradise, Colorado. A creepy guy named Marsuvees Black gives him strange new powers and sets him on a quest. Meanwhile, Darsal and Karas set off to rescue Billos. They follow him to Paradise, but when they find him, he's in the middle of a battle and doesn't want to leave.

I'm torn about this one. I found it the weirdest Lost Book yet. I was kind of excited to see some of the parallels with Showdown, since I'd read that book a long time ago. But Billos just bugged me the entire book. I mean, we the reader know Marsuvees Black is a bad guy. So I kept thinking the whole time, "Why can't Billos see this?" Some of the characters just felt a little too flat, I guess. Still, the book was entertaining overall. If you love Dekker's work, I'm sure you'll love Renegade. Plus you'll get a few more answers to the puzzle of Dekker's storyworlds. So I think you'll be entertained.

Renegade picks up on the cliffhanger left in Infidel and freefalls into a tightly-paced YA novel that dives even deeper into the Dekker mythos. Entranced by the power of the Books of History, Billos cuts his hand and enters a new reality--someplace between his world and ours. Darsal takes off after Billos, binding herself to a promise to return the Books to Alucard in exchange for the one book the tall Shataiki still has.

But her rash decision--much like Johnis's in Chosen--has some major consequences. First, she has to deal with Karas, the Horde daughter of the Dark Priest now turned Forest Dweller, who has stowed away on the journey. Then she must manage to fight off the Horde in order to get to her beloved Billos.

But in the Skin between the worlds, Billos is having the time of his life. Greeted by a trench coat and cowboy hat wearing figure who calls himself Marsuvees Black, Billos becomes convinced that the power of the Books should be his to control. Armed with the magical weapon Black calls suhupow, Billos descends on the small town of Paradise, Colorado, to get the Book of History hidden in the town. His quest is interrupted when Darsal and Karas stumble into the Skin world through the Books, bringing with them a behemoth of a Horde called Papa. Soon, the entire group finds themselves in the virtual Paradise, a bit confused and still searching for the Book.

Johnis and Silvie--the two most prominent characters thus far in the series--take a back seat in Renegade, as Dekker shifts gears to place an emphasis on the stories of Billos and Darsal. Renegade also contains several ties to both the The Circle Series and Showdown. Marsuvees Black, the primary antagonist in Showdown, appears in the Skin world and attempts to lure Billos under his control. Dekker also throws out references to two of his standalone novels--Skin and House--noting that the primary antagonists of those novels were creations of Black, written into reality through the Books of History.

As a whole, The Lost Books are the twine the binds Dekker's two general series--The Circle Series and Project Showdown--together into a cohesive whole. They flesh out the history of Other Earth and help explain the power and nature of the Books of History that figure prominently into both series. While it is not absolutely necessary that a reader first read these other novels, I would certainly recommend it--especially Showdown. The full scope of Dekker's mythos can only be appreciated when one reads Renegade in the proper context.

While Renegade contains some of the great thematic imagery first brought up in Infidel, it changes pace to take itself less seriously and includes several hilarious scenes of the young Forest Guard's reaction to modern technology. Dekker never loses his focus, driving the story to climactic showdown with Alucard that results in the power of four Books being experienced. When the dust settles, the effects are worlds-shattering. The worlds have been breached and our reality may never know what hit it. While lacking the thematic depth of Infidel, Renegade does well in explaining the technicalities of the mythos--what the Books of History are and how they may be used--and sets up for an epic conclusion in Chaos.