Book Zero: The Beginning and the End
Jacketed HardcoverBy Ted Dekker

AS FORETOLD BY ANCIENT PROPHETS, an apocalypse destroyed Earth during the twenty-first century. But two thousand years later Elyon set upon the earth a new Adam. This time, however, He gave humanity an advantage. What was once unseen became seen. It was good and it was called...Green.

But the evil Teeleh bided his time in a Black Forest.

Then, when least expected, a twenty-four year old named Thomas Hunter fell asleep in our world and woke up in that future Black Forest. A gateway was opened for Teeleh to ravage the land. Devastated by the ruin, Thomas Hunter and his Circle swore to fight the dark scourge until their dying breath.

But now The Circle has lost hope. Samuel, Thomas Hunter's cherished son, has turned his back on his father. He gathers the dark forces to wage a final war. Thomas is crushed and desperately seeks a way back to our reality to find the one elusive hope that could save them all.

Enter an apocalyptic story like none you have read. A story with links to our own history so shocking that you will forget you are in another world at all. Welcome to GREEN. Book Zero.

FOUR NOVELS. TWO WORLDS. ONE STORY.

I was intrigued by the idea of being able to read and review Green.  I have only read one other Ted Dekker novel, "In the Blink Of An Eye", and I finished that one very quickly.

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this fantasy novel (and fantasy is a genre I'm largely a fan of), but this one had me a bit unsettled.
Green is supposed to serve as either the start to your adventure in The Circle series or the conclusion of your journey through the novels.

For myself (having not read any of the others and reading this first), I found certain characters and plot lines which were key to the base story not developed enough.  I felt somewhat lost in much of the book, because I sensed that I only partly knew what was going on.  Of course knowing that it is a series and much of that would (or should) be explained in the other three novels, doesn't make it any less frustrating while you're actually reading.

I understand the interest in fantasy books written from a Christian perspective, but personally I found a lot of the book quite dark, and at times disturbing.

The preface of the book, touches on previous books written where good and evil duke it out in a mythical sense, like Aslan's and Frodo's tales.  Green slides very much to the side of the Hobbit's book in its telling, quite unlike the more mild nature of the land within the Wardrobe's story.

All that being said, if you are a fantasy buff, interested in the battle of good, evil and human nature, can read about people partaking in blood drinking and other less than glorifying rituals all without making your stomach queasy, you may want to read Green, Book 0 in The Circle Series.

Myself, I'm not itching to read Black at the moment (the next book), there are plenty of other books on my list I'll pick up first.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of Green by Thomas Nelson in order to read and formulate my own opinion for this review.