In an offshoot of his Circle series, Ted Dekker gives us the six-volume Lost Books series. This set of adventures takes place in the nearly 15 years between his Circle series books Black and Red. This is a time when the evil Horde, worshippers of Teeleh, led by Qurong, and the remnant of the forest people, worshippers of Elyon, led by Thomas Hunter, face off in an ever-spiraling conflict.
In the first book of the Lost Books series, Chosen, Thomas Hunter is in need of additional troops to ensure adequate protection of the forests where his people live, and where they have access to the cleansing waters of Elyon to protect them from the scabbing disease of the Horde. Thomas makes the decision to lower the age of enlistment in the forest guard from 18 to 16 in an effort to add 1000 new recruits. As part of selecting four officers from this list of recruits, a set of athletic games is staged in the middle forest. Ultimately, three recruits are named as officer candidates, Darsal, Silvie, and Billos (who will play a very important role later in the conclusion of the Circle series). However, unexpectedly, Thomas selects the fourth officer candidate from the crowd. This boy, Johnis, was a curious selection as he had failed to even be selected for the 1000 new recruits. A more obvious officer candidate would have been the skilled young warrior named Jackov. In time we learn why Thomas made his choice. Johnis is actually a chosen one of Elyon who was prophesied to serve an important role to protect the forest people.
The four chosen candidates must pass one final test defined by Thomas. They must endure a brief survival mission. However, along the way they are marked for attack by the Horde as they have somehow learned that Johnis bears the mark of Elyon. When Johnis evades the Horde soldiers for a time, he learns that his role is to collect the seven lost books of history. These books have immense power associated with them, such that if they were to fall into the hands of the Horde, then Teeleh could utterly destroy humanity. The quest that Johnis, Darsal, Silvie, and Billos accept is to find these books at any cost, including their own lives. The task will certainly not be easy, especially given the treachery afoot from the traitor now serving the Horde leaders. Now onto the second book in the series Infidel.
