*GIVEAWAY* Interview with Rachelle Dekker

By Kelly Bridgewater

Welcome!

Last Monday, on January 16, 2017, I have my review posted with my thoughts of Rachelle Dekker's final installment of her A Seer Novel series The Returning. Feel free to read my thoughts and then come back to this interview with Rachelle.

From Amazon

Author's Bio:

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 writes full time from her home in Nashville, where she lives with her husband, Daniel, and their diva cat Blair.






Let's get this interview started!

   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 have Carrington and Remko developed as characters throughout this series?

Well, we meet them as young adults, just out of their teen years, and we find them middle-aged in book three. So we’ve journeyed quite a bit of life with them. They have grown and changed, as people do, and even in this last novel they struggle with remembering their true identities. I believe life is always stretching us and showing us different ways to love, so their growth reflects that.

    4.The Returning focuses on Carrington and Remko’s daughter Elise. Tell us more about Elise’s character and her growth throughout the book.

Elise starts the book in a pretty dark place. She grew up without parents, believing she

was abandoned,only to discover there’s an entire world that has been kept from her. Her journey can be divided into two parts,in my opinion: first, learning who she really is; and second, learning how to live that out. It’s the same journey we all take, and I believe that makes her pretty relatable.

From Amazon

      5.You talk about the power of belief in the book. What is the purpose of faith,and what makes faith so powerful in people’s lives?

Belief and faith are everything. We form our own realities. We make judgments based on the past and what we think the future will bring; then we shape our idea of what we are capable of around those beliefs. Imagine if we truly believed we were infinite sons and daughters of the creator. How different would the world look then? When we believe and have faith in who the Father calls us, then the world looks pretty different.

    6. Aaron is a somewhat mysterious character throughout the series. What is he supposed to represent and what kind of spiritual leader is he?

I like to leave this one open, which I know isn’t really the answer you want. I want the reader to decide who he is to them. For me he’s a guiding light, an angel maybe, a representation of the spirit who communicates with us and leads us. He can be many things—mostly, though, he’s a great way to hear truth.

      7. The theme of identity is explored in all three Seer books. How does forgiveness relate to identity?

For me, forgiveness is more about the one who feels wronged than the one who committed the wrong. What if, for a moment, you believed that nothing could harm you? That you, as a believer, are seated at the Father’s table and standing with him? Can anything harm the Father? If you believe no, then can anything harm you—the true you, the true spirited self? So then, forgiveness becomes more about letting go of false belief and stepping into the true identity that the Father gave to you. I know it’s radical, but belief like that could change the world, don’t you think?

     8. 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 storycauses 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 is how these stories have impacted me, and we are really just the same.

************************GIVEAWAY********************
I have a final copy of The Returning and an ARC copy of The Calling to one person. Feel out the Rafflecopter below AND leave a blog post comment to be entered. (This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Sorry!!) This contest runs from today until Tuesday, January 24th at midnight. Come back on Wednesday, January 25th when I will announce the winner. Good Luck!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Rachelle Dekker: The Returning

By Kelly Bridgewater

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.

From Amazon

My Review:

I have read both books in the A Seer Novel Series, and while I enjoyed the introduction to the series better than the second installment, the last book was okay. Being a futuristic novel with a world with no emotions, I had to go along with the author while she created this world around me. But even with any fantasy novel, I should be able to relate to the characters and feel comfortable in the setting. With Rachel Dekker's The Returning, I didn't feel that way.

Dekker does have a handle on clear and concise writing. She stayed in the point of view of the character who should be controlling the scenes. I was never taken out of the story because the wrong person was speaking alongside another character. I felt the emotions that Elise, Willis, and the other characters felt when I needed to. As for the setting, there really wasn't much description in this novel. Elise went to prison and sat in a chair in a number of rooms while a partially constructed building and a hospital waiting room played at the edges for a light conversion. Most of the setting was just dialogue while the characters roamed around.

While The Returning starts twenty years after the last novel ends, I finally get to see and observe Elise, Carrington and Remko's daughter. She has this ultimate power entitled the light where she can bring emotions back to the world and allow then to see the light of the Father. There really wasn't one hero in this edition of the series. It could be Willis. It could be Jesse. I wasn't sure who Dekker wanted me to side with. Both of these characters were pretty flat to me. The best part of Jesse was near the end of the novel as he fights internally between the dark and the light.

The Returning is a great metaphor for the light us Christians are supposed to bring to this dark and dying world we live in. Likewise, I enjoyed the story being an entire metaphor for the Christian faith. We are supposed to be the light and bring the truth to the unbelievers by showing them the truth they are desperately seeking.

As for the pace of the plot, I felt it moved slowly. There were a lot of repeat actions. Something would occur to Elise, than Dekker would go back to the same scene and show it again, but this time it would be from Willis or Jesse's perspective. I didn't understand why she did that. There were moments of chasing or running from things, but I still felt like there really wasn't anything hurrying the novel along. I wished for more action.

While this is an original and unpredictable novel for fans of any age, I would recommend this series to fans of Ted Dekker's latest creations or James Rubart's Well Springs series since it does include using spiritual gifts to bring others to Jesus.

In conclusion, I felt like Rachelle Dekker's The Returning was not as well-written as her first edition in the series, but it does feature some good spiritual lessons that could be taken from the story. I wanted more to the plot than repeated scenes over and over again.

I received a complimentary copy of Rachel Dekker's The Returning from Tyndale Publishing and the opinions stated are all my own. 

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

Come back on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 where I will have interview questions with Rachelle and A GIVEAWAY!!!!!