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Review: The Door Within
Welcome to a world of action, adventure, honor… and thinly veiled Christian allegory.
I’ll admit, for the first few chapters I couldn’t get past the hokey allusions… “Oh, okay, so the king (whose title is always capitalized ‘King,’ in case there was any doubt who he’s supposed to be) is named Eliam. El-I-Am. So, like, his name means ‘I am God’? Wow, thanks for so deftly slipping that in there.” (See EDIT below.)
But man, am I a sucker for a story. Once I dropped the whole “cocky editor” schtick, I actually started enjoying the story. Really enjoying it. Like, “staying up way past my bedtime to read just one more chapter” really enjoying it. As Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales once said, “I laughed, I cried… it moved me, Bob.” I was surprised how much I’d gotten into this book.
My recommendation? 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 (which like The Door Within had lots thinly-veiled Christian theology), 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.
EDIT: As I’ve thought about it a bit more (and received an e-mail from the author), perhaps I was too harsh with Mr. Batson. This is, after all, a children’s book. Some of the things I saw as cheesy were simply Wayne’s attempt to help his younger readers grasp the allegory. Still, one must be very careful not to underestimate the reader’s intelligence. I fear that may have happened here.
Also, Mr. Batson’s cleared some things up in his e-mail. “Eliam” was apparently neither his first choice for the King’s name, nor was it intended to be a play on words. Alleble and Paragory were, however, as was Ascriot.
My hope is that the reader isn’t spoonfed the allegory in Rise of the Wyrm Lord. That sort of thing is more enjoyable if you have to work for it.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Tagged: Chesapeake Community Church · Fantasy · Reviews
*Ouch!! I sure hope you didn’t tell him who you are related to!
(To those of you who don’t know, the Author is a good friend of my In-Laws) :0P
You certainly didn’t do me any favors, Brudder…
Hey, I’ll stand by this review, regardless of (or perhaps especially because of) my three degrees of separation from the author.
The “Christian media” is not helped by fluffy praise. If something doesn’t measure up to professional standards, we need to say so.
If this were something homemade and self-published, I would have been softer. This is published by a big name in Christian publishing, though, and needs to be treated as such.
I’m sure a “three out of five” review won’t hurt relations within the family and Carroll Community Church. If it did, I’d wonder about the maturity of those involved!
>>>>The “Christian media” is not helped by fluffy praise. If something doesn’t measure up to professional standards, we need to say so.< <<<
I agree. Takes some guts, though.
I wonder why you’d go easier on homemade books, though. POD books are usually even more expensive than those put out by traditional pub houses. I think readers should be warned to save their money if the books are not very good.
Anyway, I’m starting to do book reviews on my site http://paraklesis.com/childrens_publishing_news/ and I’m dreading doing the ones I don’t like much. Ugh. But I’m with you, we have to be honest.
“I wonder why you’d go easier on homemade books, though. POD books are usually even more expensive than those put out by traditional pub houses.”
Hmm… Well, for one thing, you don’t have to fight as much PR with a small-press/independant book. I figure the big-leaguers can take the heat.
hmmm sorry about that. I hate when I do that.
oops I was apologizing for posting twice. Didn’t see your post in there.
Haha… that’s fine, don’t worry about it. =D
I doubt if Wayne feels like he can take the heat. I have my problems with his book, myself. But I doubt if he likes to hear that any more than a self published author likes it. And at least his book looks great. Which is more than can be said for most self-pubbed books. And he stuck it out and sold the thing. He got through committee. He’s published in hard back. Maybe that does take some of the sting out. My review will be but one person’s opinion. And others disagree with me. Tommy Nelson invested big bucks into his book and that means they liked the story.
Still I don’t think I’ll be easier on self-pubbed authors. If they are great I will want to encourage them. If they stink they need to go back and learn and quit flooding the market with junk.
sally
I doubt if Wayne feels like he can take the heat. [...] I doubt if he likes to hear that any more than a self published author likes it.
Well, that really isn’t what I was talking about. I was replying to my brother, Jordan, and my point was that I wouldn’t have blogged about the book if it was self-published and only two dozen people in the author’s church were ever going to read it.
And at least his book looks great.
Whatever happened to “don’t judge a book by its cover”?
Ah, I see. I agree. If it’s only making the rounds in the local church let the author enjoy it. For sure.
Hey, I always judge books by their covers. When I saw The Door Within, I loved the binding and the dust jacket and then when I saw the font and the blue dusty pages I fell in love. Plunked down my seventeen dollars without even reading a sentence of the book. I was so excited to see Christian publishers willing to invest in children’s literature. Still am excited about that.
Thanks to all who have read and commented on my book The Door Within. I appreciate Travis’ review, though as you can tell from his edit, I didn’t agree with all that he said. LOL
Thanks for editing the review though. That was cool. A coupla things to throw out there.
Please remember, The Door Within is my first book, so I by no means feel like I’ve figured out this writing thing. Very much still an eager learner about the craft.
It is true that the Christian influence is kind of overt (to those who know)in The Door Within, but then again, I really wasn’t trying to veil it or hide it, per se. I kind of wanted The Door Within to be a fictional snapshot of what it means and what it costs to believe.
But I’ve learned thru criticism that readers can feel offended or spoon fed if the hints are too easy. I think DW2: Rise of the Wyrm Lord is all around the better of the two books, and I hope readers will note the improvement.
And Sally said she loved the packaging but had some problems with the book. Please specify the problems. I hope to have a long writing career, so I’d better learn now what people are or are not happy about!
And, ahem…I most definitely can take the heat. In fact, I invite the heat so long as opinion is supported by more than more opinion.
And while I don’t blink at criticism, that doesn’t mean I will agree with it all. :- )
Wayne, I just stumbled on this. It’s Jan. 13th. When did you post it? Would you rather I give you a private email telling you why I didn’t iike the book? Or do you want me to review the book on my site? Maybe I should write privately. heh heh
Emailing is fine. Thanks.
[...] The Door Within, by Wayne Thomas Batson [...]
wayne, the deal is that I don’t have your email address. I’ve looked for it, but have not found it.
If you care about what I think of your book you’ll have to email me and give me your address. If you don’t care what I think of the book, that’s fine with me. I’m really not trying to bug you. Just didn’t want to ignore you.
Now i’ve subscribed to comments on this blog so if you answer here, I should see it.
If you want to email me my addy is sally@paraklesis.com
Thanks. Oh, today is Feb 1 in case anyone cares. =0)
Travis,
Not sure if you get notice if a post is made on this thread still, but just in case:
Have you read the 2nd book in the Door Within Trilogy: The Rise of the Wyrm Lord? I wondered if you still felt the allegory was too blatant or if you felt there was improvement.
Give me a shout!
WTB
Mr. Batson:
Yes and no.
Yes, I get notifications on new comments; no, I haven’t yet read The Rise of the Wyrm Lord. I’m going to try and reserve a copy through the Carroll County library system, though. (Why are all their copies at the Eldersburg branch?) 
Although I agree with parts of the opinions above, I did not believe it all to be “spoon fed” maybe a little, but hey, I can still enjoy a book like that if it has a good plotline. Mr. Batson - I think you are doing a great job, I am an aspiring (though I still need plenty of work)writer, and would appreciate any advice you could offer. And a question - what’s your opinion on roleplaying? I would like to see what you are anyone else here says about it, so I will give you one site that I have done a lot of writing on. Some of them I didn’t work to hard at, but others I really really like. It’s fanfiction… so ya.. I would really appreciate it if you could give me feedback.. I know I need it. haha!! Umm sorry, back to the book. I liked Antoinette, but unlike other girls, I can’t really bond with her at all.. I mean, I do take into account that this was a middle school type book, but Im a freshman in high school and so is she right? I just couldnt really identify with her as a character at times. I REALLY liked the portrayal of Robby. I think he was done VERY well. As for things that can improve, although this has been said already, DIALOGUE!! Its… well… I dont know… Some of it was ok, but Some of it I kinda cringed reading. I really liked the character Nock as well. This may be because As you said, NOck is like the traditional elves, who I have always loved, in JRR Tolkien, and wherever else they are mentioned. But nock is also a lot of fun, and very nice. Im going to read Final Storm REALLY soon and hope to finish it over Christmas break. God Bless!!! OH!! Mr. Batson - As I am not allowed to have email (I used a friends for this) Im wondering if you have a xanga, or if you could make one, because then I could like pick up some tips on things and stuff.. anywhoo.. It would be really cool.
God Bless
Honeybee
well now I feel stupid… haha I said I would give my rp site and forgot. so here it is.
http://www.xanga.com/NarnianTime_Peter
http://www.xanga.com/XO_dancin_in_the_rain_OX
That is my quotes and icons site. I return personal comments there.
Hello, Honeybee
Not really sure how you ended up in this thread, but thanks for reading my Door Within books.
I don’t know a lot about fan fiction, but from what I’ve read about editors and publishers views of it, I wouldn’t spend too much creative energy on fan fiction. Better to be creating your own worlds and characters–then, there will be fans of your orignal ideas.
I’ve given some suggestions and strategies for young writers on my Door Within Amazon pages, as well as some that will appear in interviews on the web. Check them out, and maybe something will ring true for you.
-WtB