The Returning by Rachelle Dekker

Time has passed once you read this third and final entry in Rachelle Dekker's debut trilogy. Twenty years in fact. And this passage of time allows Dekker to explore new things so the books don't feel like they're simply rehashing the same themes.

A girl named Elise is being held captive in a community of humans who have been injected with a serum causing a robotic state of "peace". Those who oppose this way of life call themselves Seers and they have a plan to infiltrate the community and rescue those who have been injected as well as find Elise.

But it won't be easy.

You can tell this is a work done by a Dekker. As Rachelle is Ted Dekker's daughter (you've got to be tired of hearing stuff like that right? She's her own voice and author) there are similar themes to this trilogy and Dekker's Books of Mortals trilogy.

So many similarities, in fact, that at times it felt like Ted was giving his daughter pointers. You have the emotion-less state, the serum that causes this, the group who meets in the wilderness and has their celebratory gatherings. I mean this book in particular felt just like a young adult version of that other trilogy.

That isn't to say this book wasn't fun to read. The characters were enjoyable. I took a long time to catch up with them in each book because things had changed so much due to the time that has passed.

The themes are pretty blatant but I didn't feel like it was too heavy-handed.

I enjoyed this book and this trilogy and look forward to what Rachelle has for us next.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Tyndale House Publishing.