The story pretty much goes downhill from there. Way to show kids that you can be lazy slobs and then if The King believes in you you suddenly become a kick-butt hero.I guess it is a fantasy. Within a week Aiden (who is described as overweight, out of shape and lazy earlier in the book) is able to best some of the grown-up knights with his sword skill. Then he ends up joining with the King’s Knights and starts his training as a knight because The King knows Aiden is destined for great things. When Aiden gets to Alleble he is immediately in trouble only to be saved by cute fuzzy creatures and a dragon I was down with that, it’s a fun start to the story. I don’t know how Aiden’s parents managed to raise such a selfish brat, but my 10 year old son is a lot more understanding and helpful than Aiden ever is. Yes, kids complain but in general if raised properly kids are also smart, helpful, and caring.they are not one dimensional people. His parents move to help take care of his ailing Grandpa and all he can do is whine and complain. Aiden is an incredibly whiny and selfish middle aged child. Okay preachiness aside let’s talk Aiden’s character for a second.
There is a lot of preachiness about faith in the one true power throughout the book which always bothers me because it allows characters to fall back on The King and his power rather than allow them to empower themselves. He also values kindness over violence and if you (for example) lay down your sword in front of an enemy instead of attack them everything will go your way because the one true King is all knowing and sees you and helps you.
The one true King will provide for his followers in times of need even though he has no clear form. The difference is that in the magical world of Alleble Aiden becomes a Knight to the one true King (do you smell religion here?). Yawn….read that plot a million times before. Then suddenly finds himself back home but is a better person for his adventures. The plot was this.unhappy boy finds a way into a fantasy world where he becomes a great knight and saves the day. There’s some creative ideas in here but in general it’s a pretty basic and overdone story for the fantasy genre. When I started the book I thought it was okay. It’s too violent for small children and too simply written for middle grade readers. It’s like it was written for small children but then deals with the subject of war, evil, and faith. In general I don’t have issue with that but this book was incredibly poorly written and written at a very basic reading level (short sentences and simple words). For those who aren’t aware (as I was not) Batson is a Christian author who publishes books with strong Christian themes to them. I got this book quite a while ago when I was looking for some good middle grade fantasy adventure to read and saw the very high reviews for this trilogy.
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