Submitted by Anonymous (Feb 25, 2010)

The Door Within is a wonderful book written by Christian author, Wayne Thomas Batson. It definitely has a strong Christian perspective on it, with many references to things of the Bible and a Christian allegory like Chronicles of Narnia. The setting is nice, in that it takes place in the USA and also another world, parallel to this world, called The Realm. The Realm seems like the perfect place to live. Lush green fields, sparkling rivers, and small towns. However, evil lies in the most beautiful place. There is Paragory, where Paragor, the figure representing the devil, resides. There is also the Stilling, where anything that is not moving dies. But there is still good in all of this evil. Alleble is where everyone follows King Eliam, the figure representing God. That is the holy city, although Paragor tries to take it time and time again. The theme of this book, and this whole series, is redemption. You can always be redeemed with God, just like in The Realm, you can always be redeemed with King Eliam. It is a great theme for Christians and non-Christians because it shows that anyone can recieve Christ, not just those who are good. Even some of Paragor's men turn to King Eliam. The plot of The Door Within is very in-depth and interesting. It is about a boy named Aidan, who moved to Colorado in the middle of summer vacation. He is, needless to say, not happy about this. Even though it’s because of his Grampin that they moved. Then he finds these scrolls in the basement that tell the story about King Eliam and Paragal (Paragor before he turned evil) and how Paragal betrayed Eliam. He then travels into The Realm because he believed in the Realm, and has a whole lot of amazing experiences there. He trains under the mighty Captain Valithor, shoots arrows with Nock and Bolt, and travels to Mithegard to lead the undecided to King Eliam. He even gets in a couple of battles! When he returns, he can't wait for his next adventure in The Realm. The characterization in this book is done wonderfully. The main characters are Aidan and Gwenne, and the “major” minor characters are Captain Valithor, Paragor, and King Eliam. Aidan is 14 years old and is not happy with his life right now. He thinks he can't get it any worse, when he is transported into The Realm. There he has many great adventures that he will remember for many years to come. Gwenne is the lady swordsman in The Realm, and travels with Aidan and the others to Mithegard. She also has many adventures, and usually is found by Aidna's side. Overall, I thought this was a very good book that all ages will enjoy from elementary school to adult. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good Christian book to read.

The door within is and amazing book.I REALLY hope yhey come out with a movie.i am just 10 years old and i love it I gave the book to my freind mason at school we couldent put the book down i really like how it has lots of twists and turns I LOVE IT is the best book(hopfully movie)i have ever read(hopefully have ever saw)

Best book in the world bt the second is the best out of the three!! im on the next 2 books....isle of sword and isle of fire!!! hope u enjoy them!!! luv ya

The Door Within was seemingly written with two large goals in mind: the first would be to absolutely enthrall young readers with action, adventure, and the ever-deepening courage of someone their own age. Many young people have thought “wouldn’t it have been cool to be a knight” or to turn from everything you’ve ever known to an adventure that few believed was real; this books tells that story. The second goal was to challenge the reader to truly examine what they believe in by drawing age-appropriate parallels between the main character and the reader. This goal was readily accomplished, as well, as the main character, Aidan, is real enough and each of us could identify with the various aspects of his personality. While reading the book, I found it very difficult not to compare it with The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia. As this book falls into the same genre as those two, I was pleased to say that while this relationship was easy to see, it stands alone and cannot be confused with either. As I was related to one of my student’s parents, “it is a great book that is kind of a hybrid between the two; it takes the elements of each that make them great and creates a new work that you must force yourself to put down.” I had one parent tell me that she and her daughter were reading the book before bedtime. When the child left the room, she confessed to reading ahead after her daughter was in bed. She had even gone to the bookstore and purchased the Rise of the Wyrm Lord and The Final Storm and was not going to feel bad about reading ahead, even if she had to do it in secret. Regarding the spiritual nature of the book, I can say that there is definitely a good message about using the gifts that one has been given for the benefit of mankind. Throughout the book, there are countless occurrences of self-sacrifice and other spiritually-sound happenings. When I turned the final page, I was saddened that it was over, but excited about what was to come. That sense, too, is aligned with a person’s spiritual journey through real life. The book is incredibly well-written by an author who is not afraid to write outside the box. Age recommendations: Children reading the book alone: 11 years Children reading with a parent: 9 years Faith affirming/spiritual message (1-10): 9 – The book seems to be written with the intention of challenging the reader to examine his beliefs. Overall Rating (1-10 scale): 9 – Lots of action, lots of intense self-examination by the protagonist makes for a read that is difficult to set aside. Would you find this in my personal library? ABSOLUTELY! It has a permanent place in my bookshelf. Would you find this in my classroom library? Yes. It is a good piece of literature that might help a struggling young person through life’s ever-present difficulties.

if anyone has connections they should deffinatly turn this trilogy into a movie!!! they would get people pouring through the door to see it