Black

Fantasy. Suspense. Thriller. Young Adult Fiction. HTML: Enter an adrenaline-laced epic where dreams and reality collide. Black is an incredible story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, pursuit and death, and a terrorist's threat unlike anything the human race has ever known. A virulent evil has been unleashed upon the people of the earth, an unstoppable force bent on the destruction of all that is good. Only Thomas Hunter can stop it, and he has been killed. Twice..

Subjects

Suspense fiction

fantasy fiction

User reviews

LibraryThing member Gerbie

I didn't realize that this was a Christian book before I started reading. But it becomes so unnecessarily obvious that most of the time that Tom spends in "Elyon's world" had me rolling my eyes. Dekker drags the story along throughout the middle. The villagers obsession with the "Great Romance" is

just silly. In the end, I feel like I just didn't "buy" it. None of the feelings of any of the characters felt genuine, maybe because we never really get to know who they are. I finished this book, but I don't plan on finishing the series.

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LibraryThing member Aerow

A very interesting fantasy book where a man (Thomas Hunter) shifts between two worlds by dreaming. When falls asleep in our world, he wakes up in the other world, and vice versa. There are a lot of tie-ins with Christianity. But to someone who hasn't been exposed to Christianity much, it probably

won't be noticed at all. Word of warning, the book leaves you hanging BAD. So, better have the next book close by when you finish this one.

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LibraryThing member ammie

I am pleasantly surprised to find a wonderful balance between science and faith in this Christian sci-fi novel. My only complaints were the somewhat cliche (and racist?) use of a Muslim terrorist antagonist and a very sensual depiction of heaven and God's love for mankind. But I'm not bothered that

Dekker's imagined world doesn't perfectly match my ideas of God. Things I very much enjoyed were the fast pace, the multiple goings-on, the suspense, and the wonderfully unexpected retelling of the Adam and Eve story. After all, writing a story where your audience already knows the ending (or perhaps the beginning) is no small feat indeed!

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LibraryThing member EnglishGeek13

After getting over my initial irritation with the first few chapters, I found this book to be absolutely amazing. The dual time lines were annoying at first, but they soon stabilized and I was able to follow more easily. Dekker's take on the Fall is incredible, and even more so is his description

of the world before that fall. I really believe that he is right on in this, and it made me long for a world with no concept of deception or selfishness, a world where the Divine Romance is expressed the way it has always supposed to, a world where we feel the love of our divine Creator daily. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

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LibraryThing member aziemer

To say I loved this book is a huge understatement. I devoured the whole series! The suspense and intrigue flow flawlessly throughout the entire book and continue in each book of the series (Red, White, and Green). the story begins with Thomas falling asleep in our world and waking in another.

Thomas begins to switch between worlds. In his dream world, Thomas must fight against the growing darkness that wants to devour him. In our world, Thomas use the knowledge he gained from his other world to stop the release of a deadly virus. The lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur and Thomas must decide which world is true. Dekker's style of writing is amazing and unlike any other author I've read. In addition to this series, I loved how Dekker intertwined the Paradise series and the Lost Books of History series, as well as minor relations in Skin and House, with this Circle series. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick-paced, keep-you-up-all-night-reading, suspenseful book.

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LibraryThing member brightspark

This is the first book in the 'Circle Trilogy'. I think of it as a cross between Narnia, Philip Pullmans Dark Materials trilogy, and the TV hit series '24'.
Everytime the main character goes to sleep in 'our world' he wakes up in a different world, and vice-versa.
The story in the 'other' world, is,

over the 3 books, the Christian story of the 'fall through to redemption'.
I enjoyed this book, but kept reading because I wanted to know what happened rather than because I couldn't put it down.

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LibraryThing member jcsoblonde

Wow...what a book! I was kind of wary of it at first...I don't usually go in for modern-day...but this did not disappoint, and went high above my expectations!

LibraryThing member fingerpost

The first book in "The Circle" trilogy... clearly a trilogy in the "Lord of the Rings" sense: that each book does not conclude... it is really one very long novel, in three distinct parts. Thomas Hunter (Thomas as in Doubting Thomas, Hunter as in one who seeks) lives a reckless and somewhat

meaningless life, but after being shot by a thug, finds that each night he dreams of another world. A fantasy world where good and evil are both pure. A world as real as his own. When he falls asleep in that world, he wakes up in his original life. Both are equally real. Dekker's story in our world, of a madman getting hold of a virus which can kill everyone on earth, is the better half of the story. His development of the alternate world is a little weaker, but still quite intersting. I am eager to move on to the next book, "Red", and see what happens next.

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LibraryThing member ShortyBond

Good book! Dekker definitely leaves you turning the pages and wanting more. I'm anxious to read the rest of the trilogy.

LibraryThing member drneutron

Dekker's "Black" opens a trilogy intended to be classic thriller, scifi other-world story, and an allegory for the Christian story of the fall through redemption. As a thriller it's decent enough. As a scifi other-world story and allegory, it's pretty well done. Certainly, Black was good enough to

keep me reading, and by the end, I was hard pressed to put it down without finishing. I'm hoping the rest of the trilogy keeps going as well!

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LibraryThing member hpluver07

i couldn't put this book down! It was an extremely good read, especially if you enjoy adventure.

LibraryThing member mattp340

Freaky and good. Great way to overlap the two stories!

LibraryThing member vanedow

“I liked the concept of this book. Tom goes to sleep in one world and lives in another while he sleeps. The fantasy world is imaginitive and interesting. However, I just couldn't get into the characters, except for Rachelle, who I absolutely hated. And I think she's a character that you're

supposed to like.

The allegorical components of this story were a little heavily applied for my taste, but otherwise, it's a pretty good book.

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LibraryThing member kagan

I did not like this book. It was really hard to get into no matter how hard i tried. The plot is ridiculous, the charachters very stale, no development for them whatsoever. I might try some of his thrillers, but as for this trilogy, wont be reading them.

LibraryThing member crazybatcow

The concept is actually rather fascinating. I just wish the writer was better.

There are 2 "realities" in the story - the modern day "realistic" one is actually well-done and quite interesting. The fantasy world is a bit too... err... poetically Christian? In the "realistic" world, Thomas Hunter is

being shot at, but then when he sleeps and pops into the "fantasy" world, there is page after page after page of "The Great Romance".

This is the part that bothered me the most. Of course, it is Christian fiction so there is lots of God and feel-good-ness abounding throughout the story, but.... the whole "Great Romance" part of the story feels like the author was trying to pretend he was writing as a (bad) female romance novelist - "oh woo her Thomas!" "Oh, fight imaginary monsters to protect her Thomas!"

GAG!!! This foray into a bad imitation of chick lit romance ruined what was otherwise a very decent and interesting story. I won't read the rest in the series - it's just not good enough to waste time on.

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LibraryThing member bluenichols

Awesome book. The image that he paints of Heaven just blows your mind.

LibraryThing member Hollipop

As long as you can get through this book, the series is great. With Dekker's skill in writing, I don't know why he made this one slog through the plot so many times. All around, series is great with many spiritual insights that will stick with you for a very long time. I can't tell you how many

times I've thought about it since I read the books a couple years ago.

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LibraryThing member jolerie

Ted Dekker's forray into the arena of Fantasy themed fiction can be considered a successful initial attempt. The story moves along at great rate and true to Dekker's style, the reader is left with questions that sets up great for the subsequent books in this trilogy.
Christian themes, and symbology

is both evident and blatant. In the crudest sense, it's about trying to find the "Jesus" in the narrative and figuring out how he or she will save humanity, although the story goes far more indepth than your above mentioned plot line.

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LibraryThing member lisifer

I painfully read this book, hoping something would happen to resolve the problem in the book, however, I read in vain. If I could stop myself from finishing books I read, I would have stopped myself in this one. It was extremely boring and I will not read the next two books in the series.

LibraryThing member chsbellboy

I did not enjoy this book by Dekker near as much as I did his paradise series. I found this series much more difficult to get into than some series, and as a result, did not read the other books in this series.

LibraryThing member JackieLease

Awesome! Great idea for a book! Pulled me in & I was along for the ride thru the whole series!!

LibraryThing member gdill

It's always hit or miss with Ted Dekker novels. And, this one was definitely a miss. Seems like he was trying too hard for allegory. It was just lame. Fantasy mixed with real life. Talking bats and attacking flies. Couldn't get into it.

LibraryThing member schwager

Such poor writing that I couldn't even finish this book. The symbolism was as nuanced as a semi truck running over a squirrel. It would have been less painful if the author had just beat me over the head with a very heavy Bible. Predictable and silly. If I could rate it as a zero, I would.

LibraryThing member SusanMayWriter

A good idea but very poor execution. Where was the editor. Needs a lot of editing to polish it up.

LibraryThing member charlie68

Better than Green, but not much. The writing at times is quite terrible, and sometimes unintentionally funny. Thanks Mr. Dekker and to quote the last line of the book, Goodbye Mr. Dekker.

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