Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams.

They are wrong. In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong.

When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle’s sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality. Who is a simple blind girl to have such strange and fantastic dreams?

She’s the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals–in both worlds–before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness.

So begins a two-volume saga of high stakes and a mind-bending quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward.

Ready? Set?

Dream.

In how many ways can someone’s whole life be a lie? Sixteen-year-old Rachelle Matthews is about to find out. Blind since childhood and confined to a remote survivalist community, she’s haunted by nightmares of a shadowy villain infiltrating her home. Then one day he shows up in the waking world to plunge her into a fantastical parallel reality where she’s a prophesied Mystic with the power to change history. But to stop Shadow Man from blinding both worlds, she must unlearn everything society has taught her. In The 49th Mystic, Ted Dekker overhauls Other Earth with an adventure that’s part The Village, part Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Fans of Dekker’s Circle Series will enjoy the new episode’s bewilderingly breathless twists and turns, though perhaps not some questionable themes (see below).

Best for: Young adults and adults willing to wade through polemical mysticism to access mind-bending thrills.

Discern: Soft-gnostic themes and even heterodox preaching, not just shown subtly in the story but blatantly told in an introductory author’s note and concluding detailed Scripture interpretation; plus frequent attacks on portrayals of organized religion, and a Holy Spirit–like figure prefers feminine pronouns; as well as bloody violence, terror and torture, non-graphic nudity, and brief sensuality.