Rise of the Mystics by Ted Dekker

This book will sit with you long after you finish it. You absolutely have to read The 49th Mystic before reading Rise of the Mystics however Rise is a much better book.

While The 49th Mystic felt like a re-telling of many of Dekker's previous novels, Rise of the Mystics felt more like a returning to the worlds. Instead of recreating scenarios or scenes, you read about the world that felt familiar - the Circle, the Horde, the Roush and Shataiki.

I really really enjoyed reading this story. I only had two moments of complaints: first was when the story would be put on hold so a character could preach Ted's new outlook on faith. It felt like the story was put down so the author could insert passages from his Forgotten Way material throughout. I wasn't a big fan of that. I am more of a fan in the way Ted used to include his thoughts/outlook within the plot-line of the story and not simply have a character monologue.

The second moment was the ending. It felt like Ted has embraced Universalism in that everyone will be saved in the end. And everyone who disagrees are poor unfortunate blind souls. (Which may be true I suppose)

With those two things out of the way, we can turn to everything else that was pure joy-reading. The tension between the two worlds and the unexpected twists were fantastic! When lives were lost I really felt it deep in my bones. This was a good mesh of Dekker's writing style from The Circle Series and his writing style in the AD series.

Rachelle's journey was an enjoyable one to follow. I thought I even caught a hint of a possible future sequel with the Horde girl...hmmm...

Oh one more part that was confusing: I thought Ba'al was Billos/Bill/Billy? Now it's Paulus?

It would be great if we could have a detailed timeline for this entire saga of The Books of History.

Thank you, Ted, for pouring yourself into these books.