Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour - Day 3

The Final Storm Review:
Aidan's quest to help Robby reunites him with his best friend, but things are not as they once were. Robby must make a choice to grip the power that has been promised to him or leave it all behind to follow King Eliam. In The Realm, Antoinette has been captured by Robby's glimpse and she watches helplessly as Paragor's army masses a force to a size never seen before. With Paragor's army strengthened, the Seven Sleepers and Wyrm Lord released, the survival of the Kingdom of Alleble looks to be lost. Alleble's hopes lie with the ancient legend of The Three Witnesses foretold to have the power to bring victory over Paragor.

Wayne Thomas Batson's The Final Storm brings a solid conclusion to The Door Within Trilogy. The first in the series was my favorite, but The Final Storm holds a close second. I was truly caught off guard by the ending. It definitely did not end as I had expected. The conviction of Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby to carry out there tasks to the end was pretty powerful. A superb trilogy for all ages and highly recommended.

Once again, I commend the publisher, Tommy Nelson, for the quality of workmanship in these beautifully designed books.

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
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Okay, a couple more character screenshots from the Foundations of Hope Online game.

This is a Lava Troll that only the Paladins(Warriors of God) will have to face. All other classes in the game will deal with the war between humans and Saurians(lizard creatures).

Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour - Day 2

A funny story comes from The Door Within Trilogy in my family. My daughter needed to do more reading and so I gave her a choice between my book and The Door Within. Well, The Door Within was my daughter's first novel size book she has read :-) She now is currently reading Rise of the Wyrm Lord.


Rise of the Wyrm Lord Review:
Back from The Realm, the vision of his best friend, Robby, following the enemy continues to trouble Aidan greatly. In the mysterious way that life works, Aidan meets a new girl, Antoinette, at his new high school who also believes in the Realm. In the days to come, it becomes clear that Antoinette will be called to the Realm as Aidan once was. Aidan requests Antoinette if she was to come across Robby's glimpse to try and help him see the wrong path he beginning to take.

Entering The Realm, Antoinette finds The Realm in the greatest danger it has ever faced. Paragor has unleashed the oldest and most dangerous enemies of the past and Antoinette is forced to choose to follow her duties as a Twelth Knight or follow Aidain's request to help Robby's glimpse, Kearn.

In Book Two of The Door Within Trilogy, The Rise of the Wyrm Lord, Wayne Thomas Batson does a wonderful job once again of bringing his world to life. I continue to enjoy the magical world that Mr. Batson weaves. Although I missed Aidan's presence in book two, Antoinette makes a strong and needed debut for book three, The Final Storm.

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

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Here is what Faith of the Unforgotten and Into the Darkness look like in the FaithWorks Spring 2007 Catalog.

CSFF Blog Tour - Wayne Thomas Batson

Life is busy, but I wouldn't miss this blog tour for the world. I will make a post everyday of my reviews of the three books of The Door Within Trilogy. I will also post personal blog updates since the blog tours are the only time I really get time to get out here.

Quick Important Personal Updates(Others after blog tour post)
Faith of the Unforgotten(Paperback) and Into the Darkness(Paperback) are now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. A Faith of the Unforgotten review will be in February 2007 issue of VOYA. Also the Christian MMORPG based on the series, Foundations of Hope Online, is still coming along very well. Screenshots and information will be below the Blog Tour notes. I will also be doing an inteview for Jeff Gerke's new Christian Speculative Fiction website, Where The Map Ends. Make sure to check out his website for that in the next couple months.

Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour
Since reading book one of The Door Within Trilogy I have been a fan of Wayne Thomas Batson. It has also been a pleasure to get to know Wayne through e-mails. He was also willing to give a personal endorsement which will be used on the backcover of the paperback of Faith of the Unforgotten.


























My Review of Book One: The Door Within
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.

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
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Make sure to check out Mr. Batson's interview with Kevin Lucia:
http://kevinlucia.net/bookreviews/2007/01/post_2.html

Also go check out these other CSFF Blog Tour participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Tessa Edwards
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A few teaser Game Screenshots of one of the rideable dragons. Mounted combat is being implemented so players will be able to fight while riding the dragons from the ground or the sky. Not many MMORPGs have this feature yet. Foundations of Hope Online will be the first Christian Fantasy MMORPG, so it will be very interesting how it is taken by the gamer communities. More game information can always be found at the series/game website: Foundations of Hope