Take a photo of a barcode or cover
suzannemseidel's review against another edition
3.0
After gobbling up Green, Black, and Red, I struggled to stay interested in this one.
lifeisstory's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
White begins seamlessly where Red, left off—with the Raison Strain beginning to wreak its havoc with no known cure in sight in one world, while in another world the Circle copes with a radical new teaching and its effects on their life. Indeed, as an aside, it seems to have been a conscious decision by Dekker and his publisher, Thomas Nelson, to have not stopped on any too-dramatic precipice. Black could have stopped with the Shataiki overrunning the forest. The end of Red could have been the death of Justin. The story continues on just enough that it feels like the beginning of each novel is partially into the next chapter of the story. While it does make for a bit more of an awkward transition, it’s a good decision. This trilogy was meant to be read as one story. The books all released a few months apart from each other. This is the final (or…you know…not so final) part of the story.
While Black chronicles the birth of evil and Red its redemption from it, White is the story of the great pursuit—God’s romance of his people. A symbol of the Christian era, or how it’s supposed to look, White challenges Christian stereotypes and assumptions, pushes us into a deeper and more substantial faith, all while racing through an entertaining can’t-put-it-down Story. Of the three storylines in Other Earth, White is the weakest. While the allegory of the first two novels were strikingly clear, allegorizing the church age is something altogether more complex. Dekker chooses to do this by narrowing the storyline from a grand, worldwide allegory to one that’s intensely personal.
At the crux of the story in Other Earth is Thomas Hunter’s unlikely romance with a forbidden love. Forbidden because she is Chelise, daughter of Qurong the leader of the Horde, and because she herself has not drowned in the waters of Elyon. It seems scandalous that Thomas should fall in love with the Horde, but wasn’t that really what Elyon had done with them? White personalizes the Great Romance that serves as the grand backdrop for the whole Trilogy by playing it out in the lives of Thomas and Chelise. This is a story that Dekker’s done before in When Heaven Weeps and while the backdrop of Other Earth provides a fresh take, the allegory feels more forced. This could have been a great way to broaden the world as The Circle moves from their “Jerusalem” into the uttermost parts of Other Earth. Instead the story narrows into a rehashed romance plot when the readers (meaning myself) still haven’t gotten over the death of Rachelle.
In Real Earth, things have reached a breaking point. The world is going to die because of an airborne virus. People are panicking. Everyone is taking this seriously. There are protests in front of the White House. It’s maybe the largest fiction in the book, because in 2022 we all know that a good part of the population wouldn’t take the virus seriously. But anyway…The series so far has set up that certain things can transfer between the worlds and that blood—specifically, Thomas’s blood—connects the worlds. Thomas’s blood, then, becomes the needed antivirus for the Raison Strain. This time, the redemptive imagery comes in Real Earth. Thomas Hunter, having been washed in the blood of Justin in Red now follows Justin in death to save others.
There’s a particular scene that made me choke up—and I’ve read these books a dozen times and listened to them a half-dozen. The President offers Thomas a way to live, but it will cost maybe a billion lives. The President assures him that they can at least save North America and Hunter cuts him off. “No. He gave me life for this…History pivots on this sacrifice.” For two books Real Earth had been overshadowed by Other Earth. In White, Real Earth is the superior story. Following Justin, he lays down his life.
The storyline in Other Earth is a lot more open-ended. Thomas is still alive there and unable to dream. Justin returns but not returns returns like we’re still following redemptive history and this is the End Times. More like the trilogy ends on Pentecost. Justin reveals himself, along with a host of white lions and Roush and they celebrate the marriage of Thomas and Chelise. I get why Dekker ended it the way that he did, but I wonder if a Green-style apocalypse would have rounded out the narrative even better. I don’t know what that would have looked like, as 2009’s Green draws from a whole host of as-yet-unwritten-in-2004 Dekker lore, but it would have been a better literary conclusion in terms of parallelism—Real Earth is saved temporarily while Other Earth is destroyed (or saved?) ultimately.
Dekker has moved on in his writing to many other things, but this…I think these novels will always stand high and above anything else he writes. Not because his other novels aren’t quality, but because nothing can compare with how this Trilogy has impacted me and millions of others. Without this series, I wonder if Ted would have had the career he did. Genesis was the first book Ted ever wrote and it spent many years in a drawer before it was reworked into Black. Most authors’ first attempts at a story are better left in the box, but this one proved to be revolutionary.
tattybooks's review against another edition
4.0
3,5⭐
Hasta ahora este fue el mejor libro de la saga
Después de Rojo, Blanco continúa con la aventura de Thomas Hunter para tratar de encontrar una cura para la variedad Raison y defendiendo su creencia en la otra realidad
Ok, de verdad no puedo resumir estos libros sin hacer spoilers
Después de leer tres libros se notan las claras referencias religiosas que existen en esta historia. En este nuevo mundo el mal y el bien están muy definidos al punto en que el mal se puede ver en la piel, y la única manera de librarse de él es bañandose en el agua de Elyon. Es una idea bastante interesante pero siento que aún no llega a estructurarse bien del todo para ser el tercer libro.
Creo que Ted Dekker evolucionó bastante en su modo de crear personajes y conexiones entre los mismos, en este libro el romance es mucho más convincente que el que se presenta en el primero.
No puedo decir mucho ya que es el tercero de la saga, pero en este se nos presenta un buen "final", pues el siguiente libro es el 0 en la saga, por lo tanto se entiende que es una historia sin principio ni final.
Aún no se llega a comprender del todo de porque Thomas puede hacer estos viajes en sueños, pero si como funcionan estos a partir de la sangre, puesto que la historia se basa en la religión es comprensible que no se lleguen a dar todas las respuestas que quiero
Siento que es una saga muy buena, pero no es para todos, principalmente por los temas religiosos que toca como la fé, el sacrificio, la dicotomía entre el bien y el mal, la defensa de una única religión, etc.
Aún me falta el último libro y espero que tenga un buen desenlace, no puedo decir que es de mis sagas favoritas, pero es una que tiene mucha filosofía detrás, y eso logra engancharme lo suficiente para terminarla.
Hasta ahora este fue el mejor libro de la saga
Después de Rojo, Blanco continúa con la aventura de Thomas Hunter para tratar de encontrar una cura para la variedad Raison y defendiendo su creencia en la otra realidad
Ok, de verdad no puedo resumir estos libros sin hacer spoilers
Después de leer tres libros se notan las claras referencias religiosas que existen en esta historia. En este nuevo mundo el mal y el bien están muy definidos al punto en que el mal se puede ver en la piel, y la única manera de librarse de él es bañandose en el agua de Elyon. Es una idea bastante interesante pero siento que aún no llega a estructurarse bien del todo para ser el tercer libro.
Creo que Ted Dekker evolucionó bastante en su modo de crear personajes y conexiones entre los mismos, en este libro el romance es mucho más convincente que el que se presenta en el primero.
No puedo decir mucho ya que es el tercero de la saga, pero en este se nos presenta un buen "final", pues el siguiente libro es el 0 en la saga, por lo tanto se entiende que es una historia sin principio ni final.
Aún no se llega a comprender del todo de porque Thomas puede hacer estos viajes en sueños, pero si como funcionan estos a partir de la sangre, puesto que la historia se basa en la religión es comprensible que no se lleguen a dar todas las respuestas que quiero
Siento que es una saga muy buena, pero no es para todos, principalmente por los temas religiosos que toca como la fé, el sacrificio, la dicotomía entre el bien y el mal, la defensa de una única religión, etc.
Aún me falta el último libro y espero que tenga un buen desenlace, no puedo decir que es de mis sagas favoritas, pero es una que tiene mucha filosofía detrás, y eso logra engancharme lo suficiente para terminarla.
alain92's review against another edition
3.0
El Circulo se cierra o aun queda mas? Esta es la conclusion de esta saga si como yo empezaste a leer por Verde si no es asi entonces tu viaje continua en Verde. En general me gusto el libro lo que sucede que muhcas cosas podian haberse ahorrado y una vez se le hace la promocion al VERDE de que puede ser inicio y fin de la serie pues muchos pequeños detalles ya nos ponen un poco de Spoiler en la saga.
swhuber's review against another edition
4.0
I am not the sort of person who reads stories, let alone Christian novels. I like to pretend I'm better than books such as White, but after reading the entire trilogy, I can say that Dekker's writing style both surprised and pleased me.
I'm not sure if White was better written than Black and Red or if I simply got used to Dekker's once annoying prose and fragmented style. Either way, it seemed as though White was less fragmented than the previous books and the prose seemed to be more about the love story than the Christian message that is so prominently featured in the plot of these books.
The dialogue has improved as the series progressed and the ending was necessary though cliched. Dekker appears to do a better job of characterization than in his previous books and ties up nearly all the loose sends in both realities. Though it is not my standard style of book, I enjoyed it immensely.
I'm not sure if White was better written than Black and Red or if I simply got used to Dekker's once annoying prose and fragmented style. Either way, it seemed as though White was less fragmented than the previous books and the prose seemed to be more about the love story than the Christian message that is so prominently featured in the plot of these books.
The dialogue has improved as the series progressed and the ending was necessary though cliched. Dekker appears to do a better job of characterization than in his previous books and ties up nearly all the loose sends in both realities. Though it is not my standard style of book, I enjoyed it immensely.
sadieinnis's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.25
spookiieej's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
The beginning felt very slow, but the end was amazing!
matthewreece's review against another edition
4.0
The tension and action continue, moving the story to what seems to be a cadence point. Looking forward to completing the circle with the final volume.
lilylaflair's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes