The Door Within: Well-done Christian allegory

The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson

The Door Within grabbed my attention immediately. While I read fantasy novels continuously, I don’t always indulge in the young adult action-adventure flavor of fantasy.

Aidan Thomas faces his rite-of-passage on two fronts. His parents relocate to care for Aidan’s grandfather, depriving Aidan of his friends and familiar environs. He discovers and reads some scrolls that transport him to The Realm, where he trains rigorously to become an elite warrior of King Eliam and join the fight for the hearts and minds of the people of Mithgarde. An accomplished warrior and Glimpse (similar to a Knight in our world) named Gwenne befriends Aidan. The King’s Captain, Valithor, only survivor of the treachery and betrayal by Paragor, sets high standards for the warrior trainees, tempered with kindness.

Wayne Thomas Baston avoids any blatant literal reference to God or Jesus or Judas or other standard Christian characters, but the parallels are unmistakable. The mission of King Eliam and the Glimpses mirrors the Christian call to be in the world (those who need to be reconciled to God) but not of it (that which is hostile to God), like resisting temptations that can lead to suffering and sacrifice. While the action, adventure and drama as experienced through Aiden helped keep the story moving, I occasionally wondered while reading if you remove the Christian-like elements how well the story would stand on its own. Narnia this is not, but definitely a better-than-average attempt to weld young adult fantasy with a bit of theological mettle.

The Door Within is a well-done Christian allegory, comparable to The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.

FanLit thanks Jon Moss for contributing this guest review. Jon lives in the Heart of America (Kansas) with her husband and two Rottweilers who occasionally pull her around the neighborhood on her evening walks. Her kids migrated south for more than the winter, to attend (and graduate from) colleges in the northern part of Texas. Jon’s current passionate distraction is amateur astronomy. Find her at her blog Misty Midwest Mossiness.

The Door Within — (2005-2014) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Aidan Thomas is miserable. And it’s much more than the strange nightmares he’s been having. Just when life seemed to be coming together for Aidan, his parents suddenly move the family across the country to take care of his wheelchair-bound grandfather. When strange events begin to occur, Aidan is drawn into his grandfather’s basement where he discovers three ancient scrolls and an invitation to another world. No longer confined to the realm of his own imagination, Aidan embarks on an adventure where he joins them in the struggle between good and evil. With the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance, Aidan faces Paragory, the eternal enemy. Will Aidan be willing to risk everything and trust the unseen hand of the one true King? The answer comes from The Door Within.