A Perfect Dystopian Conclusion | The Returning by Rachelle Dekker

ABOUT THE BOOK

They say the Awakening is coming.
That she’s the key.
But can she find her identity in the light
Before she perishes in the dark?

Twenty years have passed since Carrington and Remko Brant’s baby, Elise, was kidnapped and they were forced to leave her captive in the Authority City. Though they fled with the Seers far from Authority reach, they’ve never given up hope of rescuing their daughter from the man who betrayed them. Now Authority President, he’s ushered the city into a new era of “peace”―one where the Scientist Roth Reynard’s Genesis Serum has eradicated all memory of emotion or rebellion.

But the mysterious Aaron and his Seers are once again on the move, threatening the illusion the Authority has worked so hard to build. As the Seers send seven chosen warriors to rescue Elise and bring restoration to the Authority City, the lines are drawn for a final battle between light and darkness. The key to ultimate victory may rest within the strangely powerful girl who has felt forgotten but was never abandoned―a truth she’ll need to wage war against the powerful forces of evil.

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MY REVIEW

The Returning provides the much-anticipated conclusion to Rachelle Dekker’s debut trilogy, and fans of the series will not be disappointed with this action-packed novel.

Jumping ahead twenty years from The Calling, this third Seer novel centers on Elise, the daughter of Carrington and Remko, a captive in Authority City, and the key to changing everything. (No worries—familiar characters, among the many new ones, still make appearances in The Returning.) As her story unfolds, Dekker fills it with drama, suspense, and powerful themes of identity, forgiveness, and light versus darkness, and through it all, Elise proves to be a worthy heroine.

The perfect conclusion to a thrilling series, The Returning is so hard to put down. I had to keep reading and reading, and I absolutely loved it. Now, I can easily recommend The Returning to Dekker’s fans, as well as the entire Seer series for fans of dystopian yet inspirational stories—it’s worth the read in its entirety (but in the proper order).

★★★★★

Thanks to Tyndale BlogNetwork, I received a complimentary copy of The Returning and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR

The oldest daughter of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker, Rachelle Dekker was inspired early on to discover truth through the avenue of storytelling. She graduated with a degree in communications and spent several years in marketing and corporate recruiting before making the transition to write full-time. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Daniel, and their diva cat, Blair.

1. Set the scene for The Returning. What has happened since The Calling ended?

Well, it’s been nearly 20 years, and the world has changed. I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read the first two, so I’ll just say the world is very different and much more dangerous than it once was. But something is brewing under the surface. Change is coming, and people know it.

2. What themes are explored in this book?

Identity is something I am always exploring, so that’s no different in The Returning. But in this novel I took a really hard look at forgiveness and how that relates to our journey of discovering who we really are.

3. How do you hope this book will resonate with your readers? 

I hope, as with both of the other books, that the reader sees themselves in the characters and that the story causes them to look inward. To ask hard questions like, Who am I? What am I capable of? Do I see myself the way the Father does? Can I? I hope it challenges their idea of identity and then gives them hope to see themselves and others more clearly. Because that’s how these stories have impacted me, and we are all really just the same.