One Down, One To Go!

One down, one more to go of this two at a time challenge. A couple days ago I finished off Immanuel’s Veins by Ted Dekker and I’m still working on No Impact Man by Colin Beavan (chapter 7 of 9, I focused mainly on Immanuel’s Veins).

So as I am buying this book on Kindle, I see the words “Carpathian Mountains” and I automatically know Ted Dekker as joined in with our modern day culture’s obsession with the living dead. But then I think, “It’s Ted Dekker, Ted Dekker isn’t going to give this new sugared down version of vampires any glory. Ted Dekker HAS to have something better in mind.” And of course, he did. At first I wasn’t even sure if vampires really were going to make an appearance. Then even when they did it took me a bit of convincing to fully trust they were evil, blood-sucking creatures.

In Immanuel’s Veins Ted didn’t use the “Edward Cullen*” type of vampire most teenage girls have fallen head over heels for. Ted took it and created a monster in our minds. These vampires weren’t going to struggle with whether or not they wanted to drink their chosen companion or not, they were just going to do it. Though these vampires and the Cullen’s shared many characteristics, the Cullen’s were just no match in my mind. What really got me was how much Ted intertwined the Bible and his vampires. They weren’t random creatures roaming the world looking for lost souls to feed on; they had history, they were as powerful (even more so) than Toma himself, they had a spiritual background, and well I don’t want to give away too much.

Narrating the story is the main character Toma Nicolescu; a fierce, undefeated warrior and servant of Catherine the Great. He is sent to Moldavia to watch over the Cantemir family; Lucine and Natasha, twins, and their mother Kesia. Along with Toma is sent his best man Alek Cardei, Toma notes that wherever you find Alek you’ll find Toma. You can immediately see the differences between Alek and Toma; Toma the warrior, Alek the lover. Lucine and Natasha are twins with a reputation and their mother encourages them to live their life the way they wish to.

Immanuel’s Veins was not the typical “scary” novel; it was more elegant than that. Which can be expected from Ted Dekker, while you may not be screaming or shaking you are most definitely frightened and intrigued as you work your way through the story. Overall a thumbs up from me, and recommended to any Ted Dekker fan out there!

*Edward Cullen from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer