Book Review: The Door Within
By: Ryan Brouwer
The book is called The Door Within. It is the first book of “The Door Within” Trilogy. The whole trilogy is a fictional series but is relatively based on the Bible as you will see in a little bit. This series is like The Chronicles of Narnia series because it’s story line is some what like the Bible and some characters you could find characteristics that are similar to those of some people in the Bible. This series is written by Wayne Thomas Batson.
Batson is a writer who also teaches Reading and English in Folly Quarter Middle School. He has a graduate degree in counseling and is a Maryland native. He is married and has four children. Batson also has written a book called Isle of Swords and it’s sequel Isle of Fire. He is currently working on a series and is co-authoring with Christopher Hopper for at least three books.
This story is a fiction story because it takes place is a mystical world which used to be the same world as Earth. In other words, the “new world” and our world were the same until they separated by something called “The Great Schism.” Their world’s inhabitants are called “Glimpses.” Glimpses are like normal people except that their skin is shimmery and their eyes glint either red, blue, or green depending on who they serve, but are also like our eyes at the same time. If the eyes glint blue they are serving the good side, if the eyes are green they are undecided, if the eyes glint red the Glimpse serves the evil side. The Glimpses remember the Great Schism but in the book we on earth don’t remember it at all. The humans have a Glimpse twin that looks identical to them but the only difference is their ages so a human on earth could be three years old and the Glimpse is fifty years old but if the Glimpse dies the human dies as well so they were sort of connected in that way. Humans can go to the Realm, which is the other world, but only if King Eliam, the leader of the good, “calls” them there. The human and Glimpse twins can never be in the same world so if a human goes to the Realm, their Glimpse comes to earth. King Eliam is the Realms version of our God and the main character, Aidan, is like Jesus because he came down to Realm from Earth and saved the Realm just as Jesus came to Earth and saved Earth.
King Eliam used to be a king of Alleble but was killed by his “right hand man,” Paragal. After Paragal killed the king his name was changed to Paragor, which means “has a dark heart”, and he became the leader of the evil side. Paragor is the Realms version of Satan. Paragor uses deception as his main attack just as Satan does. Satan was also God’s “right hand angel” just as Paragal was high up in the court of King Eliam.
King Eliam allowed Paragal to kill him just as Jesus allowed himself to be killed. After the King died he went up to his eternal kingdom in the sky which is like our heaven. This is where all believers of King Eliam go when they die, even those from earth. This is like how we, as Christians, will go to heaven.
This book is about how Aidan gets called to the Realm. While in between the worlds there was a path in between two deep valleys. On either sides there are visions of good sights calling him but if he would run off the narrow path, he will be dumped somewhere in The Realm and have to find his way to the Kingdom of Alleble by himself, but if he would stay on the path he will end up in Alleble right away. Unfortunately though, Aidan did run off the path and had a hard time getting to where he wanted to go but he eventually got there. When he gets to Alleble, he goes through training to become a knight. After the Ceremony of Knighthood, he and a bunch of other knights get a mission. This mission was to go a different country and get them to believe in King Eliam before Paragory deceives them into believing Paragor. This book is about all their struggles up to the point of them getting to the country and then the struggles to get them to believe in the right King. They finally get them to believe in King Eliam.
This is the end of the book but only the beginning of the story. To get the rest of the story, and also the parts I missed in this review, read the first, second, and third book in the trilogy.
I enjoyed this book because of scenes that are like real life and described in the Bible. One of these scenes I described already. It is when Aidan is going between the worlds and is on the narrow path. In real life the path is life and all the visions Aidan saw where the lies of the world and Satan. You always want to run to the lies because you are promised wealth and so much more, such as popularity, success, and a good reputation. The way Aidan was going to the end of the path to get to Alleble is like us trying to get to heaven and God. In the Bible this is described as the narrow, hard road is the way of God and the wide, easy path is the way of the world and we are to choice which path to follow. Another scene is when Aidan meets the biggest Mortiwrath, a poisonous reptile, in the Realm. He is scared but is comforted by King Eliam. This is like when we face something frightening and bigger than us. God will comfort us and help us get through it. These situations are like when a relative dies. God helps you get through it and on with your life, even though it is tough.
You will really enjoy this series if you like books that are a fantasy with battles. You will also like this book if you like to read parallelisms. If you have ever read Revelations and then read the last book of this series called The Final Storm you will see a bunch of relations between the two. I read The Final Storm and then heard Revelations in detail and I was amazed how much details Batson put into all of the books especially the last book. The books basically go from the beginning of time or creation, straight to when Jesus came to earth, and then to the end times so it covers a lot of time but is very good about it and Batson is able to tie them together very well.
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for a good book that will get you hooked.
