Black: Book One, The Birth of Evil

I'm a sucker for a sequel to a good story, that's probably why I picked this one. The Book One subtitle infers that if I like this one, I can try the next.
Totally misleading. This title just stops, with a contrived cliff-hanger. Not a complete Book, One or otherwise.
On the plus side, the story is engaging and actually very original, which only contributes to the frustration at the end.
I have to admit, I'm intrigued, not only to find out what happens next, but to find out how this can be only one-third of the story, it seems so close to completion...
Some other reviews have mentioned the veiled Christian dogma, but unless it is coming in later volumes, so far so good. Or should I say, Good and Evil?

Uncertain.

Still trying to get through the story.

Doubtful. The narrator read clearly enough, but did not pause at all between sentences with various characters talking. Conversations sound like one big run--on-sentance that is difficult to tell who is talking. This is so frustrating, that I find it hard to believe the book was produced this way at all.

This is perhaps the 30th or so audio book I have listened to from Audible, and I never imagined this style of reading was out there. I will have to listen to the previews for every book now just to make sure I don't get another poor reader like this again.

I understood that this was the first book in a trilogy from get-go, so I got all three. I'm about 1/4 of the way through the last one and it's amazing. I can't wait to listen to Dekker's "Slumber of Christianity", because this trilogy pretty much seems to be about just that.

The first book gets off to a strange start, and the narrator doesn't help much. By the time we get to the second book, the voice of the main character has changed from somewhat-boyish to a deep growling, and I didn't care for that too much.

Basically the trilogy is about two worlds, one in which faith is understood as a series of metaphors and one in which those same metaphors are physical realities. The metaphor-faith world I see as our world as it is now; the physical-faith world is what I think Dekker proposes our faith SHOULD be. Hence, the reason why I want to listen to "Slumber" ...

This series is less about the plot, but the message. I got beyond the poor narration and some of the character shallowness to the fact that most of us experience faith in a very vague way, but that there is another way - a way of hope and expectation. I want to hear more about this ...

With BLACK, this trilogy got off to an interesting, if not entirely-original, dual dimension/reality premise. But the sloppy writing (frequently-repeated descriptive words in the same sentence, too-easy obstacle resolutions for paper-thin characters, and derivative Biblical "parallels" which feel more like laziness than homage) combined with amateurish, clunky narration (which sounds to me like a minister moonlighting as an audio book reader) made this "epic" trilogy feel more like an over-hyped, thinly-veneered sermon on the mount that anything approaching engrossing fiction. And WHITE is, by far, the worst offender of the three books in this regard.

I felt compelled to offer this opinion because many reviews of the Dekker books have been so over-the-top glowing that I now believe that the author's primary readership must be among the ranks of hard-core "believers". About half-way through book two, RED, this occurred to me and after a web search, I could find not a single review of a Ted Dekker book that did not originate from a "Christian" site. And - surprise, surprise ? not one reviewer had a single criticism.

Don't get me wrong, there were some very imaginative elements to the story - and I have nothing against "Christian Fiction" or any other genre of writing. I'd just prefer to have a bit more truth in advertising. This is a Christian story for Christian readers who are so glad to have anything to read that even pretends to be suspenseful or exciting that they are happy to overlook the author and narrator's shortcomings, and will praise this trilogy to high-heaven . . . no pun intended ;)

I have read "Black" and the sequel "Red". Wonderful, inspiring books. I am now getting the audio version of "Black" and look forward to "Red" & "White". These books are hard to put down, Ted Dekker is a very talented, unique story teller. I would highly recommend his work. This is a great analogy of good versus evil.

This was my first Ted Dekker audio book,It has made me want to listen to more. The story is compelling and engaging. The narrator is excellent. Highly recommended

Black is the first installment in the Circle Trilogy, and introduces Thomas Hunter, a character that shows up or influences many other Dekker novels. If you saw my review for RED, I got the books out of sequence. Still, they remind me of the Thomas Covenant Chronicles by Steven Donaldson. A mixture of Fantasy and reality, leaving you to decide which is which. A gret read whether you are religious or not.

I quite honestly loved this book. It is like nothing I have ever read. It keeps you engrossed from the beginning to the end. Fantasy, science fiction, and Christian all at the same time.

IT'S A TRILOGY!!! Maybe it's just me, but I didn't get the message from reading the description. And didn't realize it until there was 5 min. left in the book. I did enjoy the book, and it was easy to follow the switch between the 2 worlds. The narrator is great. The book is a head trip that keeps you wondering.

I work many hours under very stress filled conditions. This book allowed me the time to think about life in a new and respectful manner. Each day I would go to and from work thinking about Mr. Hunter and the current world events. A well-written book in one the reader is able to identify and enjoy. The plot continues in Red and I have been enjoying this type of trilogy. Well written and well read. Thanks for a great story.