Monday, 26 October 2009

  • GREEN by Ted Dekker: A Review

    I just finished Green by Ted Dekker.  Seemingly the last of Dekker’s “The Circle” books, it’s been packaged as book Zero of the Black, Red and White series.  In the introduction, Dekker offers the book as a book that “both begins… and ends the series…  The story works seamlessly either way, like a circle or zero.”  Dekker’s Circle mythology has expanded beyond the four to include three “Paradise” novels and six “Lost Books”.  Dekker doesn’t mention if these are required reading or not; when I started Green, I had read the other three “Circle” books and Showdown, the last of the “Paradise” novels.

    Bottom line: Green is the final chapter in The Circle, an ambitious project remaniscent of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series that is definitely worth the read.  And yes, I do mean ‘final chapter’.  In this, I have to disagree with Mr. Dekker on a minor point – I don’t think Green works as book zero.

    For those not in the know, the Circle takes place 2,000 years further into the future than our own time (something that I did not pick up on when reading the first three books – was this Dekker’s plan all along, or an idea that developed later?).  In this world, all of human history from Eden to the Revelation (well, about chapter 17 anyway) is played out again in the space of about 30 years.

    We jump into Green to find the Circle (Dekker’s post-apocalyptic Church) fractured, dividing along doctrinal lines as some begin to question their leader, Thomas Hunter and his commitment to non-violence as the way of Elyon (God).  In fact, this seems to be the main conflict that drives the characters in Green.  Do we resist the Horde (non-Christians) and the Eramites (Jews) with violence the way we used to (back in the days before Justin/in the Old Testament before Jesus) or must we continue to suffer and die and not resist violently?

    Here I do wish Dekker had taken some time to flesh out this picture of the Circle better.  He seems to fall into a false dichotomy between the Circle running for its life and outwitting the slower, less crafty Horde and violent opposition.  Dekker does not present a Third Way of creative non-violence, nor does he devote any time to discussing how the Circle’s non-violent ways have impacted the Horde.  For the Circle, the choice becomes fight or “die while we wait for God to show up”.

    That said, Dekker does a great job of moving characters around in his books.  Their motives are clear if not always entirely compelling.  (And this is my main problem with Green serving as a prequel: If I didn’t already know Thomas, Kara, Monique, Chalise, even Qurong, from the other books, I doubt I would’ve cared about them at all. In fact, I did not connect with the two main antagonists Billy and Janae – I found them the least believable or compelling, and I believe they were introduced in some of the “Paradise” and “Lost Books” novels.)  Each character moves on a journey (usually both physical and spiritual) toward the redemption of some other character (or, in the cases of the antagonists, to corrupt other characters).

    Overall, the story moves well.  The characters are interesting.  And the plot devices are pretty tight.  Dekker closes his circle with only one or two open questions (again, unless I missed the answers by not reading the rest of the Circle tie-ins).

    All-in-all, I would highly recommend Green to anyone who enjoys thrillers and/or fantasy, but only after reading at least the other Black, Red and White first.

    And after the trainwreck that is the Left Behind books, Dekker's take on Revelation was refreshing to say the least. :)

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