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The Returning by Rachelle Dekker



I read the first two. In fact, the first was one of my favorite books the year it was released. I loved the social commentary in The Choosing. The Returning was a conclusion of the story of a people that had abandoned themselves to man's law and were found and rescued by God.
This final installment in the Seer series focuses on the child, Elise, that Rambo and Carrington had stolen away from them in the middle of the night at the end of the previous book. Elise has become a young lady that was raised by the archer in seclusion in the Authority city and told many lies about herself and her past.
She, however, is rescued by a group of Seer that have been called to the city to bring change. They have encounters with people all over town, awakening them from the Genesis project that has kept them docile and obedient to the leader of the city.
Dekker does an excellent job again of exploring our fight with faith. She delves into the darkness that can overtake us and how the light can still find its way in.

Overall, it's a great series, though I do believe that The Choosing is still my favorite of the three.

How about some Q&A from 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 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.

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 Kristen Schumacher | kristenschumacher@tyndale.com | 630.784.5126 different would the world look then? When we believe and have faith in who the Father calls us, then the world looks pretty different.


To find out more about Rachelle and to keep up to date on what she's currently writing, follow her on Goodreads.


A copy of this book was provided to me by Tyndale House Publishing for the purpose of review. I'm never required to give a positive review, but I'm always happy when I can.
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