Customer Reviews

The Door Within: The Door Within Trilogy - Book One

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having moved away from his best friend to a different state so that his parents could take care of his grandfather, Aidan Thomas is seriously bored. There are no other kids in the area apparently and the only thing he has to do is explore his new surroundings. In a venture down to his house's basement, Aidan comes across historical documents that seem almost too real to be fantasy. Though both his parents dismiss them as just stories, a fairy tale, Aidan chooses to believe that are indeed true- a belief that allows him to go through The Door Within and into a different world.

Arriving into the land he had read about, Aidan finds himself chosen as the Twelfth Knight, selected by the King himself to defend their land of Alleble against Paragor. Paragor had once been the King's own Sentinel but in his greed for more power and knowledge, he turned on King. Accepting his position to fight against this evil, Aidan is quickly trained, along with the other eleven Knights, by the King's new Sentinel, Captain Valithor, in preparation for their future mission.

The Door Within has strong allegorical parallels with Biblical stories, which is fairly obvious throughout the book. The characters in the book were not quite as developed as I felt they could have been, but they still had a realistic feel to them. Overall, however, this book was an enjoyable read. The Door Within is a great beginning to, what looks to be, a well-written trilogy.

Aidan Thomas had the pressures of high school beat. Aidan knew he would never be that popular kid, but somehow he had managed to become the best friend of that perfect, all-american boy, and Aidan was happy to live in the shadow of his friend in order to be accepted by the popular kids. But all that changes, when his Grampin gets ill and he must move away from his best friend, and worse yet, he could no longer live in the popular shadow of his friend. Living at his Grampin's during the summer without friends was terribly boring, that is, until the scrolls appear. The scrolls lead Aidan to have faith in the truth and reality of the realm that lies beyond The Door Within. With the scrolls help, Aidan enters into another world of knights and kings, where he is forced to find that he is more capable than he would have ever expected.

The Door Within is one of those books you just do not want to end. Although the reader forms a bond with a few of the characters, the real bond for the reader is to the realm beyond The Door Within. Wayne Thomas Batson does a wonderful job of transporting the reader into the realm's land and cultures, enticing the reader to want to stay in the lands longer. The Door Within will be added to the top of my list for teen readers. It can be enjoyed by any teen, but Christian teens will see more into the King than others will.

One extra addition beyond a normal review is that this is one of the best manufactured hardcovers I have seen. Hats off to the publisher, Tommy Nelson, for doing a superb job in the production of this book. Everything from the dustjacket to the papers used for binding the hardcover and within the book are excellent.

CSFFC Ratings:
Teen Friendly: A (Written for children/teen readers)
Christian Message: A (Although allegorical, it is strong and wonderfully done)
Crude or Profane Language: A (none)
Drug or Alcohol: A (none)
Sexual Content: A (none)
Writing: A

Leathel Grody
Author of "The Foundations of Hope Trilogy"
Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Central Reviewer

This is the story of Aidan, a rather emotional 15-year-old boy who finds some old scrolls in his grandfather's basement that lead him to The Realm, a fantastical land of knights, unicorns, and dragons. I spent much of the book with a nagging sense of deja vu. About halfway through I realized that this story was more or less The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe sans talking animals. It was all there: the Other Land discovered by a child but disbelieved by all their elders except for the old man who owned the house; the semi-medieval setting; and the heavy Christian allegory, without which the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense (if you don't recognize King Eliam as Jesus right away, you'll spend much of the book wondering how he can be responsible for so many things he's not present for). And despite its thickness, it also is unquestionably a children's book. The characters are simple, the action is straightforward, and there are even potential vocabulary words in italics (portcullis, gauntlet, etc.). However, I'm looking at it through adult eyes. I'm sure this would be a very enjoyable book for a child, and it is in fact quite reminiscent of some of my favorite books from my youth. The description is very detailed without dragging, most of the characters are charmingly written, and the story is fun. I'm curious to see how the rest of the trilogy plays out.

Thirteen year old Aidan Thomas is one unhappy kid. His family had to move away from Maryland, leaving his best friend, Robby, behind. Aidan doesn't make friends easily,and the other kids considered him a weirdo. He was the school oddball until Robby came along. Robby was everything Aidan wanted to be, smart, brave, fun. Now he's gone and Aidan is alone again. Then Aidan begins having strange dreams featuring a dark knight who seems to be trying to force him to make a terrifying choice. Aidan tries to tell his parents about the dreams, but they aren't interested. Only Grampin, Aidan's grandpa, believes the dreams are real. Then Aidan finds three ancient scrolls which tell the story of another world,The Realm. Soon King Eliam, the monarch of Alleble, calls Aidan to the Realm, where he has a dangerous task to fulfill. The Door Within is book one of The Door Within Trilogy, and while these books are written for young adults, they are a delight for anyone who enjoys a good story. The Realm is a magical world where good battles evil, dragons fly, and swords must be earned. A land where a dark prince is ever at war with the great King Eliam. The Door Within is a delightful story, not just for teens, but for all ages. I strongly recommend it.

"Adventures are
funny things.
They may creep out of holes,
Appear down a seldom
Trodden path,
Fall out of a tree, or even
Arrive in an envelope,
But they always start
the same way.
Adventure always
begins with
the unexpected...

And so begins the journey through The Door Within.

Aidan Thomas is not a happy boy. He is forced to move with his parents across the country to take care of his grandfather who is confined to a wheelchair. Small, round and shy he is not one to make friends easily. It is summertime and as far as he can tell there are no other kids in the neighborhood anyways. One day, completely bored, he decides to explore his least favorite space, the basement. There he finds the three scrolls that tell the story of the land of Alleble and its fight against the evil Paragor. He excitedly tells his parents of his discovery but they dismiss his story as pure imagination. His support comes from an unexpected source, his grandfather who tells him the key to the land of Alleble is to believe. And deep inside himself, Aidan finds the power that unlocks the door between worlds.

Suddenly Aidean is thrust into a fantastic world of castles, dragons and kings. He is chosen to be the twelfth knight to join those chosen to help safe Alleble from the wickedness of Paragor. With the help of his fellow knights, including the beautiful Gwenne, and creatures such as flying dragons and the monstrous but appealing Falon, he finds his own courage, skill and valor. This is a rocking adventure story with all the style elements that keep the reader eagerly reading to the next chapter, then the next and the next. The Door Within will keep many youth, and their parents, up way passed their bedtimes.

Wayne Thomas Batson is a middle school teacher. He set out to write an engaging, high interest novel that would appeal to his students. As the author says, "one of the coolest things about The Door Within is that it was written with the constant feedback of the middle school students I taught from 1993-2003. As a middle school Language Arts teacher in Anne Arundel County, MD, I sponsored a Short Story writing contest for my students. Well, long story short, they said, "Mr. B, you make us do all the work! Why don't you write a story!" So, not one to turn down a challenge {Esp. in front of the kids!}, I wrote one. That 17 page story became The Door Within!" This challenge from the students has led to a wonderful fantasy that, lucky for us, is the first in a trilogy.

Well, for once I'll give all the credit for my reading this book to another person. My cousin practically forced me to read this, and am I ever grateful.

My experience with Christian fiction as a whole has not been wonderful, as a lot of it is over-preachy, over-simplified, and has what I call Perfect Character Syndrome, which is self-explanatory and you'd think it wouldn't be nearly as common as it sadly is.

Well, The Door Within is certainly not perfect. There are some technical flaws to it, namely the fact that in normal description (not in dialogue, I don't mind it at all in dialogue) the author uses constant, sometimes multiple, exclamation points. It's a common mistake, to try and add drama by adding EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! But it doesn't work. Often, the subtle and underappreciated period is, oddly, a good deal more dramatic.

Character's names are good, rarely bordering on the unpronounceable. Some might think it too heavyhanded to name the henchman of the Satan-character Lucifer with the first and last letters switched, but few will notice it, and if they do, they'll probably not roll their eyes. They'll probably feel very clever for finding it, (as I feel) -- until of course I get a million comments saying readers spotted that one first off...

But there truly were not a lot of flaws, except maybe the slight inconsistency of Aidan's speech, going from Middle English to modern speech without missing a beat. But these are minor. The story was wonderful, the characters were wonderful and (am I going crazy?) I even liked the romance hinted at between Gwenne and Aidan. (That would be a weird marriage, though, admittedly.) I am so sick of reading Christian fiction where normal teenage feelings of attraction are left out or even shunned like they are something evil or wrong. Whether or not this hint of romance grows into anything is an unimportant matter, I'm just glad that Mr. Batson included it.

The highest point of the novel was the characters, or rather, one character: Grampin/Captain Valithor. He was so perfect; I just wanted to start clapping. Constant shouting, `thou's' and calling the main character very, very weird names DO make for an excellent character. Who'd have known?

Good job, Mr. Batson. I'm just grateful my cousin left me the second book too, out of the goodness of her heart, so now I can start on that.

It's not perfect, but for the first time ever, five stars because it surprised me so much.


Rating: Very Good

Not only is this a great story, but check out the cover, man--the entire series is simply gorgeous. I've got the hardback and these are some of the best looking books I've ever seen. The story itself is fascinating and action packed. You might say, Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, but you'd be wrong--this one is great without having to take from either of those wonderful stories. Original and full of Allegory that will add even more depth for the Christian, this wonderful tale takes you to a parallel world of honor and courage where you are never alone, but you also never know what may be around the next corner, waiting."--James Somers, author: The Chronicles of Soone trilogy & Perditions Gate: Escape from New Eden.

I wrote up a review at my blog (in quotes by my name), but I'll give it here with some tweaks.

For the first few chapters I couldn't get past the downright *hokey* allusions... it's as if the author is so concerned that his readers "get it," he makes the allegorical connections too obvious. Thus, I felt cheated as a reader. I like to work more for that sort of thing.

But once I dropped the whole "cocky editor" schtick, I actually started enjoying the story. As Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales once said, "I laughed, I cried... it moved me, Bob."

If you can handle the Left Behind novels without too much eye-rolling, you will probably see this as our generation's Chronicles of Narnia, but all others: approach this book like you would a popcorn flick. In other words, don't expect much more than a fun ride, and you'll love it.

So... I'd give three (out of five) stars. Cheesiness aside, it was alright.

The Door Within was a good book because Wayne Thomas Batson has fantasy mixed in with the Christian world view. His book draws in my attention when it starts out tense and I just want to read more. It was sad when Adian's Grampin's glimse dies and so Gampin has to die too. I was on edge when Falon was about to eat Adian. It was funny when Falon ate some of Paragor's army. I really enjoyed the book and am recommending it to all of my friends. (review written by 10 year old son)

This was an excellent book! In the style of The Lord of the Rings, but unique enough to keep the reader interested, I highly recomend The Door Within to any and all fantasy lovers. There is little left to desire, as Batson delves into themes meant to occupy even the most ponderous mind. Morals and symbolism are apparent in every chapter, but not so much as to discourage the reader - action drips from every page. Everything about this book is perfectly balanced - action with romance, drama with comedy, and fantasy with realism. I give The Door Within five stars, and I can't wait to dive into Book 2!