I read "Red"...

Someone still has "White", the finale of Dekker's trilogy, but last weekend I read "Red", the 2nd book. I liked it much better than the first book, mostly because Dekker didn't have to spend all the time on character development that he did in "Black".

I love the concept of a place where evil and good are tangibles. They can be seen and smelled and touched. Dekker paints a wonderful picture of a pre-sin world in "Black", then elaborates on how that sin becomes very real in "Red". And true to the color, redemption comes in the 2nd book. The way is made through betrayal for the leprous disease eating through the sons of Elyon to be removed. Forever. The world around them is still leprous, but they become whole through the sacrifice of Justin of the Southern Forest.

It's interesting: Justin is at first nothing more than a bit character, someone from a faraway place who used to be a great warrior. He fought side by side with our hero Thomas the Hunter, and Thomas even offered for him to become his number 2 man in the battles with the evil desert people. But Justin drifted away from war, and began to even talk about peace. He spoke of the need to make peace with the evil desert dwellers, and the forest people--who are revealed to be just as consumed with evil as the desert folk, only hidden in their rules--kill him for it.

The analogies are too much for me to keep recording. But here's one of my favorites: whether in the overt evil of the Desert Horde or the unreasonable facsimile of the Great Romance turned into the rules of the Forest People, grace and peace are required. Rules will never help us understand the Great Romance of Elyon. We have to be cleansed, made whole, and then we will remember! Remember the pursuit of the pursuing God, the chase, the love, the completeness.

Again, great book. Now if the person who has the final book from the Great Northwest Library in San Antonio will return it, I'll read "White" and see it all come together.