Lunatic and Elyon

So I recently finished two more Dekker books. Big surprise there right? But these books are special. There was a cowriter in these books. And Kaci Hill did a great job. I was told that the first few chapters of Lunatic would seem a bit off. I disagree. I think they fit in nicely. Some of the writing in the first two chapters didn't seem to be Ted, but since I don't know who wrote what, it's hard to say if I'm right or wrong on that.

Lunatic and Elyon were great. They take place after White, from the Circle Trilogy.

When Lunatic starts, we are thrown back into the forests with our characters, and follow them as they realize the horde are now living in the forests. Where have Thomas and the others gone? We follow them as they fight the horde, become the horde, and love the horde. We are introduced to a new "species" and discover her powers, and find out what the other half of their world holds.

Darsal became my favorite character in these two books. And another character became my favorite one to hate.

My only questions:
Is there more to come?
Will all nine books about the Circle tie together in Green?
How will it all end . . . or will it end just to begin again?

And only one man can answer those questions, the author of them all, Ted Dekker.

Bookstore Excitement

So I went on a trip last weekend. While there, my friend and I went to a bookstore. It was glorious. All books were five dollars (except Bibles and reference books). The only thing that wasn't fun was that I had a budget to stick to. I've done quite a bit of traveling lately, and with more traveling planned, I had to be careful with what I spent.

ANYWAY . . .

While I was walking through this store, trying not to drool on the precious books, I was over in the teen section when I saw a man checking out Robert Liparulo's Watcher in the Woods. I stood there watching him read the back, getting excited because the moment he stopped reading, I planned on pointing out other books to him.

Now note to all, I am pretty shy in person so for me to start talking to a total stranger, it has to be about something I love. And books are pretty high on my list of loves.

So I could tell he stopped reading, and said "I've read that book. It's great. And they have the first one right here." *holds up House of Dark Shadows* He said that he read a book by Liparulo already and really liked it, so I mentioned that I saw Germ out on another table and he should check it out.

He picked up a Frank Peretti's Nightmare Academy and said he was a big fan of Peretti's. That just got me even more excited. I told him that if he liked Peretti and Liparulo, he would like Ted Dekker and Eric Wilson as well. I pointed out some Dekker books that were at that table, told him where to find some others, then we parted.

A few minutes later, my friend and I were in the super long line waiting to check out. I was watching people when I saw the same guy get in line a few people behind me. He had three books in his hands: Germ by Liparulo, and Thr3e and Adam by Dekker.

I was so excited. It didn't matter to me that I only walked out of there with two books. I have all of Dekker's, Peretti's, and Liparulo's (except Deadlock but they didn't have it). And only one of the two books I bought was fiction. Shred of Truth by Eric Wilson. I know I need the book before that one, but hey, for five bucks I say I got a good deal. And I'm working on getting his books, since the only one I had before this weekend was Field of Blood.

BoneMan's Daughters

I have just finished the book, BoneMan’s Daughters, by Ted Dekker. And as I sit here thinking about it, I am beginning to cry. The book is about the love between a father and his daughter. And that subject alone is enough to bring me to tears. But let me move away from myself and tell you about this book.

In the post from Feb 23, I told you about Ryan, a military intelligence officer that puts his job above all else, even his family. This man goes through a torturing experience and after fleeing for his life, he decides that he must go home and reconcile with his estranged wife and daughter. His wife, Celine, has fallen into the arms of another man, and his 16 year old daughter, Bethany, has rejected him just as she felt rejected by him. All the while, the man that was convicted for the BoneMan killings is released.

All chaos breaks loose when Bethany is abducted from her bedroom. Ryan gets a call from the BoneMan and goes on a hunt for him, playing BoneMan’s game in hopes of saving his daughter and finally becoming the father he should have been. And Bethany tries to keep her life by being the perfect daughter BoneMan has been searching for.

This book brought many different emotional reactions from me. I was told beforehand that I would probably cry, and after reading the blog about why Mr. Dekker wrote this book, I expected such. I didn’t expect to feel his despair, the anger, the grief, the horror I felt as I read. Just let me explain. It made me scream, made me cry, made me cringe, and made me smile.

This book isn’t graphic in a blood and guts manner, but it did disturb me more than any book I have read. Maybe it’s because the topic of this book makes it more personal for me. Maybe it’s because I have never known someone to possess such a love as to go to those lengths to save the one he holds dear. Or if I have known such love, they haven’t had to show it in such an extreme sense. Maybe it’s because this book opens my eyes to evil that most Americans shelter themselves from. OR maybe it’s a mix of it all.

This book brought more raw emotions from me than any other book of fiction I have read. As I said, the father/daughter relationship is something that, depending on the circumstances/conversation around it, can easily draw out an emotional response in me. This book did just that.

And it has become one of my personal favorites from Mr. Dekker.

And if you read this:
Ted Dekker, you’ve moved me, touched my heart, and just through this story, you have shown me the deep love of a father that I have never personally known. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Writing

So I've been trying to write 2000 words a day this month. I've succeeded a few days, and come close most other days. Then there was the last minute trip to Alabama, and when I got back, working on the church production all this last week. I'm about 9000 words behind right now though. Thankfully this week is looking free for time.

What am I writing about? Well, it's fiction. It's about a girl, and a guy, and another guy . . . oh and another girl. Some people die. Some people live. Something happens. Someone goes somewhere. And something is brought to light.

Sound good? haha.

The Watchers

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I was not disappointed. The front cover says it’s a novel of suspense. That certainly describes Mark Andrew Olsen's The Watchers. This novel takes you from America to Africa to Israel and back again. And in this adventure, is a twenty year old named Abby Sherman.

The adventure begins with a dream. Abby dreams she is the prophetess Anna, and experiences when Anna held the baby Jesus. In order to find answers about this dream, Abby posts about it on a myspace of sorts, and soon receives thousands of responses from women that have also had or know someone who had this dream. Through the number of responses, Abby is propelled into the role of an internet celebrity. But even with so many responses, Abby is only filled with more questions. How could so many women that have no idea about each other have the same dream? What’s more, how can they all then develop this strange gift of seeing spiritual beings?

She decides to do whatever it takes to find the answers. But trying to find these answers has brought unwanted attention of people that want to stop her. Knowledge is power, and they don’t want her finding the power that lies waiting to be discovered.