Thursday, April 17, 2008

Infidel

Assuming you have read Chosen, you know from the end that Johnis's mother is possibly alive. From the beginning of this book, I knew that his mother was going to be a focal point. But the question I had was this: Is it his purpose to save his mother, or is it a trap? (I won't answer that because it would give it away.) The Roush warn him against going to save her, but what son or daughter wouldn't want to save a loving parent? I know I certainly would.

In trying to find a way to save his mother, he tells Silvie, Darsal, and Billos about the visions from touching the books with his blood. Then the four of them cut their fingers and touch the book. From then on, Billos seems completely enthralled with the power of the books. My mind was screaming "DANGER!" from the moment Billos found out about the books' power.

Honestly, when this book ended, I stared at th last page, and said: "OH MY GOSH! Dekker did it again! He's leaving me hanging until the next book." Now I just have to wait for Renegade and Chaos.

A neat fact about the book: We finally meet another Roush! Actually, quite a few.

One question I have: I thought their eyes were green. How are hers blue then???

This book is considered juvenile fiction, but I definitely recommend it to anyone that loves a good series. I only have one warning when it comes to reading books by Ted Dekker . . . once you start reading them, it's impossible to stop.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

To read or not to read . . . good grief!

I have a mentally painful dilemma with which to deal. Having just finished my twenty-first Dekker book, I have to wonder if the mental challenges I face after each book really make his books worth reading. Let me present the argument in my mind.

The book I just finished is Infidel, the second of The Lost Books. Since I finished, my mind has been in a craze to find out what happens next. Thankfully, I only have to wait till May . . . since I only found Infidel this weekend after four months of searching for it. Let me first make it known that none of this is a question of Dekker's writing ability--even those that don't always like Dekker (hard to believe those kind of people exist) would say his writing ability is phenomenal. The way he tells the story draws you in as if you're watching it unfold before your very eyes, the characters completely unaware of your presense. Speaking of characters, he does a great job there too, well developed and believable.

The themes of his writings are certainly ones that we all need to think about. All of his books seem have one consistant theme, the battle between good and evil. Evil comes in many forms, and he shows that well in his stories: the Horde, Black, Braun, or the core of our very selves.

There is only one thing that I don't know what to do with. It's the fact that the ending usually has me wanting to do a mixture of two things: To thank Ted for the fantastic writing that had me turning pages all the way to the end, or to hit Ted over the head with his own books for leaving me hanging and filled with questions!

I mean, good grief! Could you leave me in more suspense? He just disappears! So now my mind rages in wonder . . . Where did he go? To what other books does this book connect? Is she really the one that I read about in the sample in the back of Adam??

So to read or not to read?

Well, if I do read, I'll just repeat this crazy cycle again. If I don't read, I will be left wondering!

I say READ!