The Rise of the Wyrm Lord

Wow. This book is great. Enough battles and peril to satisfy the adventure-lover, enough secrets to satisfy the mystery-lover, and enough coolness to satisfy the... well, cool-lover!

All around great. Granted, some might see it as "just another fantasy book", but it most certainly has characteristics that distinguish it from others in its genre.

For instance, there is an unlikely connection between Earth and The Realm... but I won't spoil that for you. :-D Also, there is a good dose of Biblical allegory, enough to inspire and appeal to Christian readers, yet not so much that the books would be termed "preachy" by most non-Christians. It would still be a marvelous book even without these themes.

This is also a welcome addition to the book show more world because, by almost all standards, it is clean. I have tried many other fantasy tales and been sorely disappointed by inappropriate words and references.

This book is emotional, as well. Beloved characters die, yet even in those times, there is hope...

I will mention that its main downside would be, in my opinion, the fact that there were a grammar issues that I found distracting. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the plot and characters so much that I still am giving this book all five stars.

Super-powered dragons, knights, damsels in distress, spies, sword duels, and wolvins. Find all this and more... if you dare to learn of the Rise of the Wyrm Lord.

WARNING: As a fellow victim, I feel obligated to inform you: should you reach the end of this book, you will find yourself completely incapable of NOT reading the next one. You might as well order the Final Storm right now.

-whisper show less

After returning from his adventures in the Realm never to return (somehow, I doubt that) Aiden Thomas is just settling back into life on Earth when he meets Antionette Reed: a feisty red-headed goth swords-maiden who is soon pulled through the Door Within as King Eliam's next choice for heroism in the Realm.

Wayne Thomas Batson takes his trilogy to the next level with the introduction of several incredible new characters and much improved writing quality, as well as jacking up the suspense with (to name a few) the hideous Seven Sleepers (apperently not so sleepy anymore), the horribly creepy Wyrm Lord and an underground labyrinth of giant man-eating spiders.

Does fantasy get any more awesome than this? I doubt it. Unless, of course, Mr. show more Batson works some serious overtime on book three. show less

Though the second book of a trilogy, it feels much more like a sequel, using the old formula or having another character revisit the experiences of the hero of the original. Here, this other character is Aidan's friend and possible love interest Antoinette. Back in the real world, Aidan attempts to save his friend Robby while Antoinette searches for Robby's Glimpse twin, a servant of the evil Paragor, to convert him as well.In The Realm, there are three categories of people: those who follow King Eliam (good), those who follow Prince Paragor (bad), and the "undecided" people, which also includes good people who simply do not believe in the existence of The Realm at all. There is no explicit mention of hell, so it is unclear why it is so show more important for people to believe. What happens if you die while still in the undecided camp? Perhaps that will be addressed in the third and final installment. I hope so, because without that vital bit of information, the characters' motivation is pretty arbitrary.Anyway. This story is a lot more of the same stuff as The Door Within, so if you liked that one, you'll like this one too. It was a bit more rushed and a lot more violent, and leaves you with a cliffhanger, almost as if the second and third books originally were meant as one big sequel that was too long for a single volume. I'll be curious to see how it wraps up all its loose ends. show less

The author is pulling out every stop in the fantasy catalog now. Dragons, big old trees, lost secrets, they all make an appearance in this one. I didn't read far enough to see if there was a magic ring, but I sure wouldn't have been surprised. I think the idea was that the heroine was going to do the Anakin Skywalker light-side-or-dark-side thing, but I never really saw anything that made me think she was the dark-side type. Steven Donaldson's Thomas Covenant is a hero that is much more delicately balanced on that knife-edge; I read those books as a teenager but they may be a little mature for some.

The larger plot of saving best friend Robby from the dark side was more intriguing, and I'll mildly regret never finding out how that show more turned out. But not that much. You would think Christianity would offer a field for fantasy that is rife with opportunities, but once you get past Narnia there's not that much out there that I've found. Maybe Christians just aren't that good at portraying evil realistically :) show less

The Rise of the Wyrm Lord is a very good story with enjoyable new characters and delightful new settings in addition to several that were already introduced in the first book of this trilogy. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the addition of more fantastical creatures, and not all of them are quite as friendly as those in The Door Within.

The characters in this book face challenges that make you think about things in you encounter your own life. Because of this I think that anyone can take something away from reading this book.

I have no doubt that anyone who enjoyed The Door Within will also enjoy The Rise of the Wyrm Lord and recommend it to any fantasy-lover.

This is one of my all time favorite books! The story picks up were 'The Door Within' left off.

On the first day of school Aidan's life looks poor. He is back on earth and no one believes him when he tells them about Alleble. Robby isn't returning his e-mails and his Grampin is dead. Can his life get any worse?

Then he meets a girl named Antoinette. Who is this blue eyed microscope?

I LOVE this book and the main reason is because of the characters. Wayne T. Batson is gifted in creating GREAT characters that you have to love.

GREAT book! I would recommend this and all his books in a moment.

I couldn't bring myself to give this one five stars. It seemed that the plot gave out in parts. Mr. B's writing didn't seem to grab me as much in this book. Still a good read.