Book Review: The Door Within Trilogy

The Door Within Trilogy by Wayne Thomas Batson

Recommended for: 10 and up

Rating: PG (for violence)

Aidan Thomas is miserable. Within two weeks, Aidan’s life is completely uprooted as his parents move the family across the country to care for his ailing grandfather. The quiet but imaginative Aidan is struggling with attending a new school and fitting in with a new group of friends. But when he begins having nightmares and eerie events occur around his neighborhood, Aidan finds himself drawn to his grandfather's basement—where he discovers three ancient scrolls and a mysterious invitation to another world.

No longer confined to the realm of his own imagination, Aidan embarks on an adventure where he discovers a long-fought war between good and evil. With the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance, Aidan faces Paragory, the eternal enemy with unfathomable power. Will Aidan be willing to risk everything and trust the unseen hand of the one true King?

 I read this trilogy, and though I enjoyed it there were some things that needed work. It was through discussing this trilogy that my sister came up with the idea for a review blog.

Writing: 5/5

The writing was pretty good at telling the story and the descriptions were also well done, though it annoyed me that the different parts of armor were put in italics. There was a sentence that didn't make very much sense, but overall the writing was pretty good.

 Setting: 4/5

The worldbuilding was good and each city and region was unique. The characters from each place reflect where they're from. However, the maps in the books were not consistent. In the first book the Blue Mountain Provinces are east of Paragory and in the third book the Blue Mountain Provinces are west of Paragory. I thought the concept of the fantasy world was unique. The two worlds are connected, since they split from one another in the Great Schism. Everyone from this world has an identical counterpart in The Realm, called a Glimpse.

Plot: 3/5

The plot is unique with the Mirror Realm. The plot was exciting but in the first book they are trying to get to a city quickly, and even though they own dragons that they ride, they take unicorns instead. In the second book they use their allies' dragons. It is not until the third book that they start using their own dragons. Another thing was in the first book when they're marching toward enemy territory, they don't leave a watch. I liked the parts in our world and I wish that he had put stuff about the Glimpse twins being on Earth. The ending wasn't cliche at all.

Character Development: 3/5

The characters were unique, but it took the whole first book to get attached to Aidan. In the second book there is a different main character for the majority of the book. Wayne Thomas Batson also tries to focus on too many characters and the character guides don't always put in the minor characters from earlier parts. This made it hard to remember who they are.

Even though there are some problems with the story, it is still worth reading and I am glad to have read it.