Review/Giveaway: Immanuel's Veins

A WINNING READINGS GIVEAWAY!

Title: Immanuel's Veins
Author: Ted Dekker
Genre: Christian suspense

How to enter: Leave a comment on THIS post right here! If you're a subscriber or a follower, leave a second comment for a second entry.

Entry deadline: October 10, 2010

Restrictions: Open internationally!

That's right, enter right here for this giveaway.  This is my review copy, so it has been gently read.  The jacket cover also has some water damage...

And WE HAVE A BONUS on this one!  The winner will also get a very cool Spread the Love tshirt from Thomas Nelson...

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This week, the


Christian Fiction Blog Alliance


is introducing


Immanuel's VeinsThomas Nelson (September 7, 2010)


byTed Dekker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty novels. He is best known for stories which could be broadly described as suspense thrillers with major twists and unforgettable characters, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans.

Early in his career he wrote a number of spiritual thrillers and his novels were lumped in with ‘Christian Fiction’ a surprisingly large category. His later novels are a mix of mainstream novels such as Adam, Thr3e, Skin, Obsessed and BoneMan’s Daughters, and fantasy thrillers that metaphorically explore faith. Best known among these is his Circle Series: Green, Black, Red, White and The Paradise Books: Showdown, Saint, and Sinner.

Dekker was born to missionaries who lived among the headhunter tribes of Indonesia. Because his parents’ work often included extended periods of time away from their children, Dekker describes his early life in a culture to which he was a stranger as both fascinating and lonely. It is this unique upbringing that forced him to rely on his own imagination to create a world in which he belonged.

After leaving Indonesia, Dekker graduated from a multi-cultural high school and took up permanent residence in the United States to study philosophy and religion. Upon earning his Bachelor’s Degree, he entered the corporate world and proceeded to climb the proverbial ladder. But his personal drive left him restless and, after many successful years, he traded corporate life for wide range of entrepreneurial pursuits that included buying and selling businesses, healthcare services, and marketing.

In the early nineties while visiting a friend who had just written a book, Dekker decided to pursue a long held desire to be a novelist. Over the course of two years he wrote two full length novels before starting from scratch and rewriting both. Now fully enamored by the the process and the stories, he realized that storytelling was in his blood and a new obsession to explore truth through story gripped him anew.

He sold his business, moved his family to the mountains of Western Colorado and began writing full-time on his third novel. Two years and three novels later his first novel, Heaven’s Wager, was published.

Now, Dekker’s novels had sold over 3.4 million copies worldwide. Two of his novels, Thr3e and House, have been made into movies with more in production. Dekker resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Lee Ann and two of their daughters.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This story is for everyone--but not everyone is for this story.

It is a dangerous tale of times past. A torrid love story full of deep seduction. A story of terrible longing and bold sacrifice.

Then as now, evil begins its courtship cloaked in light. And the heart embraces what it should flee. Forgetting it once had a truer lover.

With a kiss, evil will ravage body, soul, and mind. Yet there remains hope, because the heart knows no bounds.

Love will prove greater than lust. Sacrifice will overcome seduction. And blood will flow.

Because the battle for the heart is always violently opposed. For those desperate to drink deep from this fountain of life, enter.

But remember, not everyone is for this story.

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Immanuel's Veins, go HERE.

Watch the book trailer:



What I Liked:  This is the first Ted Dekker book I've read, so I wasn't sure what to expect, though I was really hoping to like it.  As it is, I have really mixed feelings and am still not sure where I stand.

Was it well-written and original?  Yes, I'd say so.  Did it make me think?  Yes.  Did it inspire me with the depravity of evil matched against God's greatness?  Yes.

Was it grotesque?  Yes.  It wasn't quite a page-turner; I kept having to grab a breath of fresh air before diving back in.

It made me ponder the fact that us 21st-century Westernized Christians don't have to deal with blood and gore on a regular basis, and we've to an extent whitewashed the very physical sacrifice Christ made on our behalf.  And we've been desensitized to the very graphic allegory of drinking Christ's blood and eating His body - we recite scripture on the topic without batting an eyelash.

God is love.  Love is willing to die on behalf of its subject.  And we are indeed saved through blood drawn from Immanuel's veins.  That blood changes us; transforms us; conquers all evil.  That is the theme that fills the book.

What is sacrificial love?  In most cases today, it's cleaner than what you see in this book, but I'd venture to say it's harder.  Less visual, more internal.  Less concrete, more open to shades of gray.  Laying down your life on behalf of someone - by putting aside your own interests and priorities to take on theirs, goes against our every nature. 

It's easy to say I'd give my life for my daughter, jump in front of the speeding truck to push her out of the way, etc.  But how often I fail on the day-to-day stuff.  One more blog post I want to read, one more chapter I want to finish, one more item of laundry I want to fold, one more task I want to check off, when she is literally dancing in front of me, begging for attention.

What I Didn't Like:  I already discussed my mixed feelings above, but one thing that did definitely bother me was the theological interpretation of the Nephilim.  I would have been fine with just classifying the story as fantasy, but I fundamentally disagree with the theological possibility presented in this book.  It's somewhat a cross between vampirism and a not-so-rare belief that Nephilim are offspring of fallen angels and humans.

Posted by Jane from Mozi Esmé