Ted Dekker – The Lost Books
Jul 6, 2009 Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted by
wiegmake
The Lost Books (Graphic Novels)
Author Ted Dekker
Thomas Nelson
Just to the Left of Strange
The New York Times Best-selling Author Ted Dekker has been quite busy redesigning his brand lately. The author of several series of fantasy books, he has recently transformed a few of his stories into a more graphical release with The Lost Books graphic novel series.
While I was only able to read Volume’s three and four of the graphic novels, I was wholly impressed. The quality of the artwork was excellent and the ability to truncate the original novels down to a readable story was also impressive. I was easily able to follow the character development and the story line even though it was my first exposure to the series.
The advantages of the graphic novel as I see it are the graphics, the length, and the visual story. The graphics in this instance would mean how well something is drawn and to what detail it is drawn in. The Lost Books include some cool drawings, but maybe not as complex as other mainstream graphic novels. The length of the graphic novels makes them easy to read in a short time. I would bet that an avid fan could burn through these in a matter of hours. You’re into the story immediately and I found it hard to put down the book when I had to. I was also very eager to pick up the story to the point of reading it in parking lots when there was just 10 minutes to spare before I had to be somewhere. The length however has a downside as well, that being the cost of the graphic novel. In this case the sticker price is $15.99 putting it at over $60.00 for all four books. It’s a price point that may keep new fans at bay in such tough times. Lastly, there is the visual story, which in this case is incredible. Having not read any of the novels previously, the story was easy to catch on to and the pictures did a great job of filling in the void of text that had to be excluded from the conversion to a graphic novel.
All together I found The Lost Books to be engaging and as a matter of Christian living they imparted a bit of wisdom as well. The use of fantasy and alternate realities is not new, but Dekker uses it in a way that is does not come across as phony or copied. Most notably, Dekker uses this genre to present a Christian message – staying just to the left of strange.
- Ken W.
For more information check out http://www.teddekker.com/.
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