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jleaabell's review against another edition
2.0
read my review at http://calledformotherhood.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-review-white.html
banazir's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ariaslibrary's review against another edition
2.0
“Two ceremonies characterized the Circle more than any other: the union and the passing. The union was a wedding ceremony. The passing was a funeral. Both were celebrations.”
“White” is the third book in the Circle series of Ted Dekker’s greater Books of History Chronicles world and I have never been so disappointed in my life. I’m going to keep this short.
1) I hated the romance in this book so much
2) We spent a lot of time in the “future world” and not even enough in the past/present
3) It got repetitive. Why do they keep disregarding Thomas’ dreams!!! I’m looking at you William!
4) I really hated the romance in this book
5) That ending was so rushed, I barely understood what was happening.
6) So did Thomas change history or not. I know the story continues in Showdown but you can’t leave such an open ending.
7) Have I mentioned that I hated the romance in this book? Because it needs to be said and repeated.
myuill's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
The third book of this series read much slower for me. I wasn't as engaged in the story. The most suspenseful part for me was definitely the new romance. I liked how things concluded but still have questions about the series. I'm excited to read Green and am hoping it wraps things up nicely.
dlemos0313's review against another edition
3.0
The book is really good all the way up until the end, where it gets really cheesy.
nathan_porrata's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Back when I was a teenager, this trilogy of books was one of my favorites. It was one of the very first book series I read, and it helped make me into the lifelong reader I've become. It has an excellent premise and some great ideas, and since I've not read it since I was young, I wanted to revisit the world and see if it held up.
It didn't.
Dekker is a thriller writer. He writes short, fast paced books that are short on character and long on action. That's great for most of his books. But this trilogy is only half thriller. The only half is an allegorical fantasy series much like Narnia, but written for adults, not children. When I was a teen, the only fantasy I'd ever read was Lord of the Rings. Now that I'm an adult, I've read a ton more fantasy, and I'm in a better position to say that Dekkers fantasy writing sucks. He wants to build this fictional world and write it like a thriller, but a thriller doesn't need to world build. Thrillers are set in the real world, so the author need not spend time describing the world. But when your setting is an alien world with little in common with our own, yeah, it's important to spend the necessary time to flesh it out into something real. Dekker doesn't ever take the time to do that, and so it's shallow.
The allegory is extremely forced and heavy handed. But especially in the third entry. The romance between Hunter and Chalese is cringe inducing and never feels real. The world is never properly described. The characters actions are contrived. The villain's are cartoonish. Meanwhile the real world plot line, that's actually halfway decent, is ignored for huge portions of the book to focus on the silly otherworld romance.
I wrote after Red that Dekker really needed to make these books longer, and I stand by that. But he should have made RED longer, and cut out all the nonsense from White entirely.
It didn't.
Dekker is a thriller writer. He writes short, fast paced books that are short on character and long on action. That's great for most of his books. But this trilogy is only half thriller. The only half is an allegorical fantasy series much like Narnia, but written for adults, not children. When I was a teen, the only fantasy I'd ever read was Lord of the Rings. Now that I'm an adult, I've read a ton more fantasy, and I'm in a better position to say that Dekkers fantasy writing sucks. He wants to build this fictional world and write it like a thriller, but a thriller doesn't need to world build. Thrillers are set in the real world, so the author need not spend time describing the world. But when your setting is an alien world with little in common with our own, yeah, it's important to spend the necessary time to flesh it out into something real. Dekker doesn't ever take the time to do that, and so it's shallow.
The allegory is extremely forced and heavy handed. But especially in the third entry. The romance between Hunter and Chalese is cringe inducing and never feels real. The world is never properly described. The characters actions are contrived. The villain's are cartoonish. Meanwhile the real world plot line, that's actually halfway decent, is ignored for huge portions of the book to focus on the silly otherworld romance.
I wrote after Red that Dekker really needed to make these books longer, and I stand by that. But he should have made RED longer, and cut out all the nonsense from White entirely.
mo7189's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0