Choosen Review

Book 1 of the Lost Books: Choosen

Welcome back. The Horde has been missing you.


For all those who failed to read the Circle series none of this blog makes any sense. Fine, ok, not a big deal, just read Black, proceed to Red, then to White, then to really get the greater feel of the Lost books, read Showdown, Saint, Skin, and you should be caught up. On second thought, you have a lot to catch up on!

As for Chosen, we welcome you back to the Lost World of Ted Dekker. Originally found by one by the name of Thomas Hunter, or as he is known in the forests, Thomas of Hunter, the world has now developed in to one of survival and war.
At the outskirts of the book we find that the Forest Guards numbers are dwindling against the mighty horde. In order to try to combat this, Thomas decides to lower the recruiting age to 16 and in result four unlikely heroes will arise to be the Choosen.
Initially, this book seemed to be just another one of Ted Dekkers quick writes(much like a quick read, only from a writers perspective), but only until the character of Johnis is developed and is called out by the Roush. At this point, the books take a direction that the first color titled books of the Circle series started to do, but deterred from as the books develop. In seeing the Roush, Johnis and his fellow Choosen are dropped into the hell itself looking right into Satan's face. Satan tells them to try to leave. HA, good luck. I mean seriously, only in the Choosen's case it is into the middle of a Black Forest previously unbeknownst to any human(Horder or Forest Dweller) and Satan is Teelah. Yea, I would say this is cool.

As for being scholarly though, I am a little uncertain why these books are in the youth fiction category. The Choosen will be faced with challenges from facing demons all the way to being tortured. If your teen is going to read it, I would advice you read it first. It is a quick read (only about 250 pages) and a fun read. The characters are beleivable and the plot interesting, and ultimately will get you acquainted with one of the best Christian Fiction writers I am aware of.

Above and beyond anything else, this book has taken the brilliance of the Showdown series and drawn it back to the Circle series. The brilliance found in doing this is without description, for the implimintation of what Dekker does is astounding. But, in order to truly appreciate the connections, one must have at least read Skin. As this particular series develops though, you will have to read Showdown and Saint if not the orginal Circle series to truly appreciate what Dekker is doing.