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A review by aallen820
Green: The Beginning and the End by Ted Dekker
2.0
After finishing Black, Red, and White, I wanted to see how the story was completed in Green. As a stand alone or part of a different series it could even have been decent but as a part of the 4 book series, there were some things that didn't work well for me. Green takes place almost exclusively in allegory world with just brief passages in the current + a few decades world. I liked the tethering to the modern world that the first 3 books did and didn't get much of that in Green.
While Thomas is still a central character, there is a significant amount of the story allocated to the antagonists and evil in Ba'al, Billy, and Janae. The occult also got a significant amount of book space with graphic details. There was gratuitous blood throughout and a good bit of sensuality that wasn't present in the first 3 books. If it were a movie it would be a hard R rating vs. PG to PG13 for the first 3.
It was disorienting for the primary force of evil to be Marsuuv even though Teelah was referenced and made a very brief appearance. Ba'al's possession by Marsuv was a marked break from the other 3 books where the Shataiki were mainly physical torment0rs rather than having spiritual embodiment capabilities. I know there are other Books of History books and probably Billy and Marsuv are better explained there but since Green is presented as being a beginning/end book, it should have been able to stand with the original trilogy without needing to read a bunch of other books to understand the new characters in the final book in a 4 book circle series.
I also thought Janae being a vampire didn't fit with the overall story. It felt forced. I read Dekker's answers to commonly asked questions about the Shataiki always being meant to be vampires but they were bats not humans turned into vampires in the other books. It created a whole origin story that seemed to reach beyond the construct of the original 3 books. I thought this was such a departure from the other books that it didn't fit the world of the story. It seemed more like Dekker saw the popularity of vampire stories and movies in the mid to late 2000s and decided to add this after the fact since Green wasn't published until five years after the original trilogy in 2009.
Green was also a bit non-chronological from an allegory perspective by including both the old testament story similar to Elijah and the prophets of Baal mixed with Abraham sacrificing Isaac as well as something like Armageddon from Revelation. Black, Red, and White were more chronological in mirroring pre-fall, old testament sin/rules for atonement/new testament redemption of the bride.
Theologically, it also seemed problematic if it was trying to continue in the vain of Christian allegory with albinos able to lose their redemption, evil being a choice after be vanquished in the final triumph of Elyon, and getting a do over on life like a perpetual Ground Hog day till you decide you like the ending.
While I enjoyed parts of the book and it was interesting to expand the story, for me, the series would have been better left finishing with White. Reading Green as the first book in the series would feel weird to go from it into Black, Red, and White. It just wouldn't work for me and I'm doubtful that I'd continue the series if reading Green first. Reader beware.
While Thomas is still a central character, there is a significant amount of the story allocated to the antagonists and evil in Ba'al, Billy, and Janae. The occult also got a significant amount of book space with graphic details. There was gratuitous blood throughout and a good bit of sensuality that wasn't present in the first 3 books. If it were a movie it would be a hard R rating vs. PG to PG13 for the first 3.
It was disorienting for the primary force of evil to be Marsuuv even though Teelah was referenced and made a very brief appearance. Ba'al's possession by Marsuv was a marked break from the other 3 books where the Shataiki were mainly physical torment0rs rather than having spiritual embodiment capabilities. I know there are other Books of History books and probably Billy and Marsuv are better explained there but since Green is presented as being a beginning/end book, it should have been able to stand with the original trilogy without needing to read a bunch of other books to understand the new characters in the final book in a 4 book circle series.
I also thought Janae being a vampire didn't fit with the overall story. It felt forced. I read Dekker's answers to commonly asked questions about the Shataiki always being meant to be vampires but they were bats not humans turned into vampires in the other books. It created a whole origin story that seemed to reach beyond the construct of the original 3 books. I thought this was such a departure from the other books that it didn't fit the world of the story. It seemed more like Dekker saw the popularity of vampire stories and movies in the mid to late 2000s and decided to add this after the fact since Green wasn't published until five years after the original trilogy in 2009.
Green was also a bit non-chronological from an allegory perspective by including both the old testament story similar to Elijah and the prophets of Baal mixed with Abraham sacrificing Isaac as well as something like Armageddon from Revelation. Black, Red, and White were more chronological in mirroring pre-fall, old testament sin/rules for atonement/new testament redemption of the bride.
Theologically, it also seemed problematic if it was trying to continue in the vain of Christian allegory with albinos able to lose their redemption, evil being a choice after be vanquished in the final triumph of Elyon, and getting a do over on life like a perpetual Ground Hog day till you decide you like the ending.
While I enjoyed parts of the book and it was interesting to expand the story, for me, the series would have been better left finishing with White. Reading Green as the first book in the series would feel weird to go from it into Black, Red, and White. It just wouldn't work for me and I'm doubtful that I'd continue the series if reading Green first. Reader beware.