I began reading The Door Within to my sons several nights ago. Understand, they’ve just come off reading Eragon and seeing the movie, greatly disappointed, of course, with the movie. At ages seven and eight, they’ve still not learned that books are far better than movies will ever be! You have to understand, too, that my boys live in a fantasy world of role playing through their PS 2. So I’m more than thrilled that they’ve listened through at least one long novel. And now. . .they’re interested in yet another. We may save this generation yet.
To my eight year old, everything is a dragon.
Aiden looked left, right, up, down. At first he didn’t see anything. But then, up the road that ran in front of his house, there was a shadow. It was wide, spanning the road at times, and it was moving fast. That’s what caught Aidan’s eye. And even through the glass, Aidan heard a pecular swooshing sound. Aiden looked up to the sky. . .
After I read the above portion to my son, he said, “I know, it must be a dragon!” Now, mind you, I haven’t finished the story, so I have no clue if there was a dragon in that scene. But every night when I’ve finished a chapter, my sons want to read more. They want to know what happens next. In this world of 24/7 cartoons, Gameboys, Play Stations, internet–you know what I’m saying–in this world of multi-tasking distractions, only the good books can hold attention.
SFFworld.com published a review of Batson’s book in 2005. Here’s an excerpt of Mr. Bedford’s review and I wholeheartedly agree.
Publishers did an excellent job with the beautiful packaging, as well as the blue-off color pages and print. This really gave the book a special feel, that it was something out of the ordinary. With those two substantial markets to reach, Batson should see a wide audience with this easily-accessible fantasy saga.
You can read the review in its entirety here.
You must visit the official website. It’s a flash site. I LOVE flash and it’s appropriate for fantasy readers. . .all of those visual effects. For a promotional video go here.
To purchase any of the books, click on the following links: The Door Within, Rise of the Wyrm Lord, The Final Storm
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