The story starts with the protagonist Thomas Hunter walking down an alleyway, returning home from work. A bullet whizzes past his ear and embeds itself in the brick wall. Then another. He turns and sees his assailant and runs, hides. He makes a break for it but a bullet clips his head, and he falls to the ground. Everything goes black.
He wakes up in a different world. In this new reality all evil is contained in the black forest, where Teeleh and his horde of black bats live, waiting for someone to drink of their land's water. Drinking the water would let the cursed bats pass the river and reek their havoc on the perfect world, where all mankind lives in happiness. There is no death. There is no pain. There is only happiness in this colored forest. Thomas even finds himself in love with a girl, Rachel, and is caught up in what they call The Great Romance.
There's only one problem. When he goes to sleep in one reality, he wakes up back in the other. And both realities are on the verge of collapse, our own threatened by a madman and his virus that could destroy earth's population in a matter of weeks, and in the other, the curiosity and temptation of knowledge, of Teeleh, of his water. But Thomas Hunter can't decide. Which reality is real? Which is fake? When he wakes up in one world, the other feels like a dream. Few believe him, but he needs to save both worlds, for they're intertwined. It's up to him.
And that's the basic idea of Black. It is one heck of a thrill ride, with interesting contrast between the fast-paced action of our reality, and the lighter, happier one of the colored forest, where he participates in the Great Romance for his love, Rachel. Throughout the story both realities are so believable, and you wonder which one truly is real. I kept trying to predict what Ted Dekker had in store, but his twists were unseen but made sense. I couldn't put this book down, with its original and unforgettable characters and interesting writing style. Ted Dekker's style is one of the most original I've ever seen. He tends to have numerous sentences that are merely fragments. And they work. It's an interesting experience, and I suggest reading his books, even if they're not the christian ones (although I think they all have something to do with Christianity), just to learn how different his style is.
That's my review, and I hope I've persuaded some of you to read it. Even if you're not Christian, I think you'll enjoy it all the same. I just think every fantasy lover should give it a chance, religious or not.
Here's links to the other Books in the Circle Series. There will also be one more coming soon called Green, but for now there's only Black, Red, and White (All of which have graphic novel interpretations. Cool, huh?). There's also another ten Books that take place in this universe Ted Dekker has created, but I've only read Black so far. I'm working on Red and already bought White.
Black: The Birth of Evil
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Black/Ted-Dekker/e/9781595544339/?itm=2
Red: The Heroic Rescue
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Red/Ted-Dekker/e/9781595544346/?itm=1
White: The Great Pursuit
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/White/Ted-Dekker/e/9781595544353/?itm=1
Green: The Beginning and the End
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Green/ ... 885/?itm=1