Unless I missed it, we didn't yet have a thread for this series...

The Door Within, the first book in the series, left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the plotting is not the best, with characters who abruptly change their mind for no apparent reason, scenes that are overly rushed through, and a climax that wasn’t very exciting. On the other hand, the book has a fascinating premise, quite a few memorable scenes, and numerous brilliant fantasy ideas. While I was left disappointed with the book as a whole due its flaws, the potential of the author made me willing to give the second book in the series a chance.

The plotting turned out to be a bit better in The Rise of the Wyrm Lord, and I don’t recall ever noticing a serious issue like those in the first book. The story switches to a different main character, which was a bit jarring at first, but worked fine once I got used to it, though I would have liked more depth in the characters. As with the first book, there are a lot of brilliant fantasy ideas, and these, combined with the improved writing, were enough to convince me to finish reading the series.

Just as the plotting got better in the second book, it also got better in The Final Storm. The main character from the first book was brought back, along with the main character from the second book, and a new important character, though the way that the story frequently switched to the point of view of side characters sometimes slowed the story’s momentum. If you like the first two books, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like the third book, which managed to gloss over most of the weaknesses in the story, and wrap up everything fairly well.

Despite its flaws, I enjoyed The Door Within trilogy. The Christian symbolism was generally more unique that in the average Christian fantasy series. My favorite thing about the trilogy was the high quantity of brilliant fantasy ideas that are scattered throughout the three books. A maze made from a living giant serpent creature’s coils was one of the most memorable ideas, and the series was filled with such originality, which I think makes it worth reading for fantasy fans.

(If you want to see a content overview, look at the bottom of the review on my blog: http://jonathangarner.blogspot.com/2013 ... gy_24.html)

Have you read The Door Within trilogy? If so, what did you think of it?

I enjoyed the Door Within Trilogy. Despite its original parts, it never quite grew out of the 'copycat of Lewis' part for me, concerning the basis of the story, even though there were a lot of ways that it outgrew that story. I haven't read the Door Within Trilogy for 5 years or so, but I remember enjoying it. Batson gets better as the years go on, concerning writing, so I like his later works a lot more than the Door Within Trilogy.

With how much growth he showed from one book to another in The Door Within trilogy, I wondered if that was the case. I'd like to read some of his other books.

I checked out some of his books, but haven't read any of them..I have heard his stuff is good though

Will you let us know what you think after you've read them?

I sure will!!....

Currently I think I will be reading the Queens Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner or The Name of wind by Patrick Rothfluss

I love TDWT. I thought the characters were done well for the setting Mr. Batson wrote, and the series definitely got better in book 2 and 3.

I have read and enjoyed The Door Within trilogy - it was one of the first books I read, I think. At least, when I first read it it was in the early stages of my reading life.

I thought it was good. I liked it overall. Solid fantasy story, though I found the Christian element was a bit lacking.

I'll have to re-read it again, I guess, before I say any more.

The Door Within series was the one that got me into fantasy when I was ten, almost seven years ago now. My sister was the one who first liked them, and I was very curious why she liked the book so much. She was jumping up and down with excitement when the second book came in the mail (she had pre-ordered it) and she wouldn't let me touch it. Finally she let me read the first book and it felt like I was reading something very special, because it was also one of my first bigger books. And I loved the book. I was very excited at the end, and almost felt like crying for some reason because it was so good. Then I read the second book, though I got stuck halfway into it and only got back into reading it a few months later. Then I finished it and /had/ to read the third one. The third one. OH MY. I was soo shocked at the climax of it. Nothing like that had ever. EVER. Happened in the other books I had read.
And then the END. Let's just say my first experience with the books has stuck with me for a long time, and I've been waiting for the movies ever since. Still no movie. This trilogy prepared me to read Bryan Davis' Dragons in our Midst series. And Inkheart. And then Auralia's Colors.
It's the one that showed me how effective stories could be.

Though rereading it now... it wasn't that well written. Maybe that's why it was so easy for me to read. But the story itself was really good.

For me personally, I thought TDWT was written very well, especally when you consider a lot of the garbage out there today. Yes, there were perhaps a few corny scenes, but there weren't many and I liked how God had a more active presence in the story.

Yes, me too. I liked a lot how King Eliam's story was done, and how Robby met him and didn't know it was him till later. I think the trilogy made me want to get closer to God in a way.

Same here. Some series, they actually just connect you with God, and this felt like one of those. Anything like that always has my full support.