The Blood Book – Ted Dekker

The Blood Book by Ted Dekker, Kevin Kaiser, Josh Olds
Also by this author: The Promise, The Drummer Boy, Sinner, Green, The Dream Traveler's Quest, Into the Book of Light, The Curse of Shadownman, The Garden and the Serpent, The Final Judgment, Millie Maven and the Bronze Medallion
Published by Outlaw Studios on June 2011
Genres: Fiction, Christian, Suspense, Fantasy
Goodreads

The small, unassuming package lay quite insignificantly wrapped in brown paper in the middle of the room. How did it get here? What was it exactly? The paper seemed stained in places my something with a darker, richer texture. I smelled the air, cautiously. Blood. It was Blood. I bent down, carefully unwrapping the parchment and picking up the journal inside. The Blood Book: Tales, Confessions, and Rumors of the Worlds – Ba’al, High Priest and Lover of Marsuuv. I chuckled deeply as I began to scan the pages. This was it. This was the secret History of the worlds.

Ever since The Circle Trilogy hit the shelves in 2004, readers have not been able to get enough of Ted Dekker’s fantasy world of Other Earth—a world akin to Lewis’s Narnia or Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. But unlike Lewis and Tolkien, Dekker’s worlds intermesh in a far more intimate way. What began as a trilogy that told man’s redemptive history in an epic fashion soon evolved into a grand universe of stories known as the Books of History Chronicles.

But there was always more Story than could be told. What was Other Earth actually like? What were the beliefs and anatomy of a Shataiki or a Roush? How did Thomas Hunter adapt to life in Other Earth? The questions were almost endless. Like mortar, The Blood Book fills the gaps and fleshes out the history of Other Earth, a sort of field guide to the epic saga—a tale only for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Dekker set up The Blood Book as a special project, a limited release, a rare collector’s item to the truly aDekkTed fans. It’s a fascinating read of daring and gore, of autopsies, battles, and the philosophical musings of a creature from hell.

Mustul, warrior of the Horde, is commissioned by the high priest Ba’al to complete a threefold mission: capture a Shataiki, a Roush, and obtain the journals of Thomas Hunter. Mustul’s journey is bloody and harrowing and only by his cunning wit does he survive and complete his tasks. The account of Grushon, the Alchemist, comes next. Detailing the dissections and details of Roush, Shataiki, and albino, it gives the reader special insight into these great creatures of Other Earth.

The second half of The Blood Book contains the writings Ba’al, Thomas Hunter, and the Shataiki Queen Marsuuv. More philosophical in nature, these writings dive into the nature of religion in Other Earth and even talk about the religion of today. The twisting writings of Marsuuv haunt me even as the joyous writings of Thomas Hunter enthrall me. It all causes me to contemplate about what religion and Christianity in this day really is and what it’s supposed to be. All in all, The Blood Book is a classic collector’s item; a magnificent addition to an epic universe of Stories.

Of course, I might be a bit biased. Ted has been talking about The Blood Book for a long time but when it came to finally putting pen in hand to write it, he enlisted the help of a few members of the Circle. Namely, Kevin Kaiser (Ted’s right hand man and brand manager) and myself (I don’t really know how I fit in here…). Suffice it to say, it was the thrill and journey of a lifetime to have a hand in creating part of a Story universe I’ve loved for so long. I only hope you lucky enough to read the Story are as thrilled by its results as I was with its creation.