Customer Reviews

Curse of the Spider King (The Berinfell Prophecies)

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Heed the prophecies all you readers out there. I'm sure by now you've scanned reviews and heard the echoes of the impact this book is making. I am 15 years old and devour all kinds of fantasy, secular and Christian, adult and teen works. To start, this book proved itself worthy to sit on the number one spot of my "Best Modern Fantasy" list. At least until its sequel is released.

COTSK is about 7 teenagers, each from varying backgrounds (a variety enough for any reader to resonate with at least one), who are thrust into strange and confusing circumstances wrought with danger and mystery. COTSK is the story of another world, Allyra, and how the noblest of all races in that world was nearly destroyed. COTSK is the story of how 7 teens are revealed as Elven lords prophesied to save a dying land.

Now don't leave me yet. Curse of the Spider King is NOT your average "two worlds" novel. This isn't the type of story where children wander into another world and are instantly filled with unlikely courage and save the day. Quite the contrary. This is the story where realistic teens with hurting and burdensome hearts are faced with an impossible task (yes, quite impossible) and learn two words--Endurance and Victory.

Be prepared when you read this book for a large cast of characters, characters with distinct personalities and histories, deep characters, and be prepared to fall in love with them. Be prepared to read this book and forget about everything else save it. I have never felt the sensation of "not being able to put a book down" until I read this book. And I have read everything from Eragon to Shannara to Dragons In Our Midst. This book easily tops them all. And better yet, it lays the groundwork for an exciting series to come.

The world of Allyra is a world you do not want to forget, and you do not want to miss out on.

Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper have successfully combined their voices into one and written a beautiful book. Honorable adults, courageous characters, a loving almighty God. Hair raising battle scenes and repulsing spiders. Evil villians and mystery wrought within. And one insanely intriguing story-line, I'm still putting pieces together. And I'm loving it!

You will love this book.

Well, yuck! What can be worse than a room full of spiders? A book full of giant warrior spiders and their Gnar riders. Totally gross and a very good story. I enjoyed this book tremendously. I live in a basement (I call it my Hobbit Hole) and deal with bugs, usually centipedes. I wasn't sure I wanted to read a book with a Spider King in it. But the story captured me. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, but that was only a minor problem. Each of the 7 Elf lord children have distinct personalities, and the adult Elf Sentinels added rather than subtracted from the lengthy roll call. My favorite character is Kiri Lee, who plays wildly beautiful music on her violin and walks on the wind. I'd like to do both. The bad guys are really evil. The good guys are realistically drawn young teens. Their goal is impossible yet worthy of attempting. The whole thing comes together as an exciting read. I only wish the second book was here for me to read.

I was already a fan of Wayne Thomas Batson's previous fantasy trilogy The Door Within, The Rise of the Wyrm Lord, and The Final Storm and his two pirate adventures Isle of Swords and Isle of Fire, and I knew Christopher Hopper's The White Lion Chronicles Rise of the Dibor and The Lion Vrie by reputation so I leaped at the chance to try the product of their collaboration. I'm glad I did because while it is not perfect (what is?), it is very, very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As other reviewers have pointed out, having SEVEN heroes asks an awful lot of the reader; we don't finish meeting them all until Chapter 16! Now to Batson's and Hopper's credit, I DIDN'T need a chart to keep the heroes straight, which I half suspected I would need, in fact the seven leads are quite distinctly drawn: 4 boys, 3 girls; 1 child prodigy, 1 star athlete, 5 middle of the pack; 1 Asian, 1 Black, 4 Whites, 1 kind of Bluish; 1 Briton, 1 Korean raised French, and 5 Americans. However, I cannot say the same about the two dozen or so Sentinels and Dreadnaughts; I don't even know for certain how many of them there are. It doesn't help that so many of them occupy similar roles as librarians, booksellers, and teachers. Add to that six sets of parents, school chums, plus all the characters back on Allyra, and, well, the reader will be referring back to the three pages of Principal Cast Listing, which contains nowhere near the entire cast, quite a lot. Let us hope that with the transfer of action to Allyra and the presumed absence for the duration of all the characters left behind on Earth, Batson and Hopper will not be continuing to introduce a bunch of new characters.

Batson and Hopper wisely cover the Allyran back story exactly once, picking up different bits and pieces from each hero's reading of "The History of Berinfell". They also keep things interesting by staggering the heroes' stories; when switching between main characters, they are all proceeding down their superficially similar experience paths at different rates and doing some things in different orders. The result avoids either confusion or boredom, a nice trick.

You never know exactly how the work of two individually published authors will change in collaboration; events have yet to begin moving with that relentless "Batson pace" so familiar to his readers, but that may be because they spend most of this first book just introducing the cast! In any event I am well and truly hooked and eagerly looking forward to the next book in The Berinfell Prophecies Series Venom and Song.

Over the past few months I've ordered for my fourth grader several "this is the first book in a young adult fastasy series." In every case, he gets a few chapers in and quits. It's not because he doesn't enjoy fantasy or reading (he loves both), but the other series simply haven't engaged him. The Berinfell Prophecies, Curse of the Spider King is the first new series (as opposed to older series, such as those by Lloyd Alexander) to catch and keep his interest. He just finished the book, and is asking when the second book in the series is due to be published. As a mom, that's all I need to hear to know the series is going to be a success.
UPDATE 6/15: My son (now 10) is still asking when the second book will be out... so clearly this was a good book in his opinion. We've already pre-ordered the second in the series!

Curse of the Spider King is the first book in The Berinfell Prophecies, a planned fantasy series by authors Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper. In this initial volume, we are introduced to seven young teenagers on Earth who are about to discover their true heritage - that they're the lost descendants of powerful Elvin Lords. Of course, the kids find this out just as the agents of the evil Spider King - who are responsible for their parents' deaths and their exile - are about to close in on them. Aiding the children are undercover Elvin protectors, who are tasked with watching them as they first manifest their Elvin powers and shepherding them back to their true home world of Allyra.

I don't usually check out fantasy series aimed at young readers, but after being pleasantly surprised (and later, totally enthralled) by the Harry Potter books, I decided to give Curse of the Spider King a shot. First and foremost, I can totally see how this would appeal to younger readers. The young main characters coming of age, the notion of escaping to another world where they really belong, and just the sheer adventure of it all seem perfect for younger readers. Unfortunately, older readers will probably be quicker to notice how much the story borrows from other established series. The conflict between the Elves and the Drefids and Gwar is straight from Lord of the Rings, The, the orphan inheriting great power while fleeing dark adversaries has been a fantasy staple since at least David Eddings' The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambitseries, and the divinely-ordained quest of a group of children from Earth who travel to another world is straight from the The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set (adult). Obviously Tolkien and Lewis have influenced many a modern fantasy author, but Curse of the Spider King feels at times a bit too cobbled together from those works.

Like the Narnia series, The Berinfell Prophecies is a fantasy series with a decidedly Christian undertone. The religious content is obvious, but not so prevalent that it would keep kids who don't share the authors' faith from enjoying the story. You get the feeling that it will be emphasized more in future volumes though.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Curse of the Spider King to younger audiences, particularly those who enjoyed the Narnia and Harry Potter series, but adult readers looking for a good fantasy series will probably find it unsatisfying. It's a grand adventure, to be sure, but probably not sophisticated enough for fantasy veterans.

This is an awesome book! Once you start reading, you can't put it down! The story of
seven Elven Lords sent to our world is gripping and entertaining!

In a world called Allyra, seven children of Elven Lords disappeared during the Siege of Berinfell. Hidden among humans on Earth, the children have grown up knowing nothing of their heritage. But the Spider King wants them dead. So, Elven warriors must race to find the seven children, protect them, and lead them back to Allyra to claim their rightful place in their home world.

The seven Elven children are each faced with the unbelievable fact that they are not human, let alone adopted. To top it off, as each turns 13, they discover that they have an amazing and unique gift. Reminiscent of "The Neverending Story," each young teen is given a special book. A book that tells the history of Berinfell and literally comes alive for the reader, when the words are touched.

With amazing characters and spectacular world-building, this book seemed to come alive to me as well. I got caught up in each of the young teen's stories, their struggles and heartaches. This is a coming-of-age story and fantasy, with plenty of action, suspense, magic, mystery, and mild Christian themes. Marketed for young adults, but this first installment is fairly suitable for preteens and middle readers as well.

From beginning to end, the suspense and danger kept me on the edge of my seat. We are left with a mild cliffhanger, but thankfully the next in the series is scheduled to release in June. Curse of the Spider King was one of the most vivid and exciting young adult novels that I have read this year.

In The Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, seven children go about their lives. With the exception of two siblings, these children do not know one another. But they all have two things in common. 1. An adult who has given them a very special book and, 2. A creepy man who watches them wherever they go. Tommy, the first to read his book, experiences a 3D history of Berinfell, a foreign world in the midst of a war between Gwar and Elves.

Stranger things start to happen to the seven children: they begin to experience supernatural abilities and dark creatures try to kill them. Their only hope for survival is to leave earth and face an unknown future in a distant world. For if they stay on earth, they risk their own lives and those of their families.

The premise of this novel is clever and fun. The characters were well-written, unique, and each one drew me into their story so that I hated to leave them. I loved the special book that comes to life to tell its story. There was also good mounting tension as the story built toward the action-packed ending, which I liked a great deal.

Because there are so many point of view characters, it took me a little while to get into the story. I kept trying to figure out who my main character was, but there are seven main characters. Each character was done well and drew me into his or her story, but it was difficult to keep them straight even when they finally got together (which was really fun, but the way). Plus, their names were similar. Three J names, three names that end in "y", and two K names. Kiri Lee was a great name, though, and I never confused her with anyone. But I couldn't keep the boys' names straight.

The Curse of the Spider King is very well-written. The authors totally pulled off having so many main characters. If it weren't for the similar names and the resulting confusion as to who was who, it would have been totally gripping, despite the ensemble cast. I'm really excited about this new series. I highly recommend it for readers of all ages who love a good contemporary fantasy. Looking forward to book two!

This is a perfect book if you love Elves! (and who doesn't)

After the spider king minions destroy the elven kingdom Berinfell. He had hoped that was the end of the elves but something happened that he had not planed...
With the Allyran Elves almost non-existent they have one hope.
And that hope is on earth hidden in a billion people. This is a fun and exciting book for anyone who like fantasy. 5 stars!

My son is 12 and when I asked him how he liked the book, he said it was was really good, but a little confusing at times, during the flashbacks. He says it's about a group of 13-year-olds who came from another world, but didn't know it. They end up learning they are elves and are chased by an army from their old world. They also develop powers, for example, one could read minds.

Some of his favorite things from the book were that the bad guys ride on the backs of spiders. He also liked a car chase, and thought there should be more. He loved all the different creatures that popped up in the book. A lot of times he would say he couldn't stop reading because it was just starting to get good.

In his opinion he says teenagers would really like the book if they like mystical creatures from different worlds. It has a lot of action and draws you in.