From time to time on this blog, I want to highlight some of the books published in the last decade that I've enjoyed and try to explain why I think they're better than good.
Great Read: Black by Ted Dekker
It was a daring premise that could have fallen flat on its face. I'm not talking about a guy who goes back and forth between worlds when he falls asleep; that's a sound idea in my mind. I'm talking about talking bats. The fluffy, fuzzy type.
BLACK: THE BIRTH OF EVIL: A book about cute little animals.
How did Dekker make this work? Why did it work so well that he not only wrote two more books in this universe, but later went on to write over ten books linked to this story?
Black was different. It was fantasy, but there were no elves or dwarves in sight. We saw the story through a modern day guy who was a bit of a smart aleck. He thought the fuzzy white bats were crazy, and so did we, and so it was okay. I think what made this book work so well for me wasn't the concept (which was awesome), wasn't the unique fantasy elements (which were fantastic), wasn't the political intrigue (which was intense)--no, in the end, it was Thomas Hunter.
I liked the guy. He wasn't a super hero, but neither was he a wimp. He didn't spend pages and pages gawking at this amazing new world he found himself in. He believed it. He loved it. He wanted to live it because it was real to him.
Black remains my favorite book by Ted Dekker, and holds a solid spot in my top ten favorite novels. If you haven't read it, don't let the fuzzy white bats scare you. There's plenty of not-so-fuzzy black bats to even things out.
So let's hear it: What is one of your favorite novels from the last decade?
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