The Seventh Door

Hey! It's here--the third book in the Children of the Bard series by Bryan Davis!

You may buy an autographed copy directly from Mr. Davis here - http://www.daviscrossing.com/SeventhDoor.htm

You may purchase autographed copies of the three Children of the Bard books in a three-pack for $30 - http://www.daviscrossing.com/BardCombo.htm

The Seventh Door is available from Amazon here - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0899578829







I'm not really sure how to describe this book, especially if you haven't read the ones before. It's good, of course--his books always are. Here's a review I wrote just after finishing it:

 
Once again Bryan Davis has led his readers on a wild ride. There are amazing ups and downs, crazy turns, and breathtaking chapter endings with heartstopping cliffhangers. You feel like you are really there with the characters, and shout encouragement from the sidelines. You hold your breath when they make their decisions and try to tell them to make the right one. And then, as always happens in one of Mr. Davis’ books, the characters slowly slide ahead, making decisions you would find difficult, making sacrifices and bleeding for those they love, and you find that they have pulled ahead of you and are now calling encouragement from the pages that comprise their lives. They lead by example, as Mr Davis’ characters always have.

Growing up with these books, I always look forward to them, wondering how he’ll make this one great. They always have such themes of godly character and such wonderful stories. This one was the same, but it had built on the foundations of the previous books. This one felt older and more mature, even while Matt and Darcy are still stretching their legs and gaining faith. It felt so right, along with all the previous books. It was a continuation, and its own story, and such a good stepping stone.

So many times during the book, I had to gasp and keep myself from turning ahead to see how it would turn out. This book tugged at my heart and it still hasn’t let go, which is a good thing. The Seventh Door has started working on me, and Mr. Davis has already taught me so many things about my walk with God. I can’t wait to read the next book and continue this journey with all these characters who I know and love so well.

Basically, READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Bryan Davis

Bryan Davis is wonderful at taking an idea and running with it. A dream about a boy who could breathe fire became a book that introduced us into a world full of dragons and dragon slayers, demons, sorceresses, giants, and portals to different dimensions. Oh, and it all takes place in contemporary times. I've yet to see such a seamless blend of sword and dragon with middle school and modern day. Of course, a large chunk of the books are about things that happened long ago--King Arthur's day and pre-Flood times, for one. Yet they're so believable and so well-written, that when a Sunday School teacher asks the kids, "Who was on the Ark?" my reaction is "8 people, two dragons, one wraith, and if you're technical one baby giant." This series is Dragons in our Midst, followed by the sequel Oracles of Fire, then the sequel to that which is still being written, Children of the Bard.

And that's just one series. He has two other series that are so woven together and detailed, not to mention full of sub plots and plot twists and other things that just make your head spin in a delightful attempt to make sense of the puzzle and figure out what's going to happen in the next book. These are Dragons of Starlight, which is the young adult series, and Tales of Starlight, which is the adult series (but mostly because the main characters in that one are the adult characters, and it's a tad darker as a result. But if you compare it to even 'teen' fiction out there, I'd say it's a far better read.)

He didn't just 'try' sci-fi, either. He dove into it and wriggled around and created entire worlds and wove them together in a fascinating and complex trilogy of portals and time and ethics and morals. This trilogy is Echoes From the Edge.

Call it believable characterization or deliberate subterfuge on the part of the author, but he's made several characters with such complex and intertwined goals and morals that one of the greatest delights of reading his books is divining the characters' motivations.

All together, these series are a wonderful addition to your bookshelf, ones you'll want to read again and again. (So far I've re-read them about four times each.) These characters grow on you--and you cry with them when they hurt and you laugh with them when they rejoice.

Bryan Davis has had a huge influence on my life, not only because of a desire to be able to write like him--*cough as if cough*--but because of the true elements he's woven into his books. They are Christian, and good examples, even if they are fictional characters. =D

Shakespeare's Heroes, Tragic and Comedic

I have recently, for reasons relatively embarrassing and which will therefore be left unsaid, dove into the works of Shakespeare. I have read King Lear, Macbeth, and Cymbeline, and Othello, watched Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and re-watched Much Ado About Nothing (movie with Emma Thompson), and watched the Hollow Crown (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V) trilogy. Haven't gotten to Richard III yet but I will.

And I have found a peculiar, recurring thread that I just noticed after finishing Cymbeline. No, it started niggling in my head while reading Macbeth, which opens with glowing praise of Macbeth. Says King Duncan-- "O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!"
And you know, even if you don't know anything about Macbeth, that during the course of the play Macbeth's character will regress from valiant and worthy to base and violent. Just the simple fact that his goodness is pointed out makes you suspicious. I remembered Othello, which starts out similarly (oh how wonderful Othello is I'm actually glad my daughter married you). I remembered Much Ado About Nothing, which has most of the cast calling Hero's faithfulness into question. Then I read Cymbeline, and most of the action starts with Posthumus praising his wife's virtue. This, of course, is quickly challenged.

Then it finally hit me. Whether or not the heroes of Shakespeare remain heroes, or fall and are known as tragic heroes because of their flaws, their goodness or lack thereof is the turning point of everything. Either they win because they are good or they fail because they are not. It seems none of his characters can simply say "Yeah she's pretty good, isn't she" and continue their lives.

None of us can, either. If we see a good person, it's almost though it becomes a challenge-- when will they fall, not will they fall. Because surely, such goodness isn't natural and cannot remain? Maybe it's jealousy on our part, and a kind of shame because we are not as good or virtuous as this other person, but we want to tear them down off their pedestal and show the world that really, they weren't all that.

It made me think of Jesus, actually, and the quote that...oh, somebody said, I can't remember who. "If there ever was someone perfect, the world would kill him because they couldn't stand it." How true it is. We're not good, not at all--

But He provided a way for us to be. Not by anything we can do-- because there's nothing--but by what He's done. It's putting on His clothes, His perfection, His goodness. It's accepting Him, the only Good One.

Fanfiction Recommendations.

Because quality fanfiction is so hard to come by, and I decided to start marking what I've read in the past month by listing some of my favorites. All well-written, all good, and I'll tell you if there's any swearing or whatever. Probably all of these will be taken from fanfiction.net because that's where I hang out and where there happens to be a multitude of the darling things.

In no particular order, she says as suddenly she is seized by the inexplicable urge to organize these by date read. She clears her throat. Starts again.

In the order of date read, assume oneshot unless otherwise informed:

Mistletoe Run, a Mentalist fanfic. Involves Patrick Jane and a large amount of mistletoe. Given that it does involve mistletoe, it also involves kissing. of course. ;) but still fun.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6562981/1/Mistletoe-Run

A Story for Children, a Sherlock fanfic. Started out as this rather fun bedtime story the Uncle and Uncle Sherlock told small Amelia, Rory, John, and Molly, and now it has a plot and danger and all sorts of wonderful things. Also a villain, an antagonist, a downright detestable creature known only as the Moffis, the Gaffat. multi-chapter, ongoing.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7927311/1/A-Story-For-Children

A Mother's Faith, a Thor (2) fanfic. Frigga and Loki bit, about wisdom and kings and such.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9917873/1/A-Mother-s-Faith

The Final Offense, Thor 2 fic, Loki and Odin and resentments and unforgiveness. tad dark and angsty. (spoilers)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9917866/1/The-Final-Offense

Helpless, Thor 2 fic, Loki and Frigga and a perhaps reason for Loki's thorough protection of Jane.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9872940/1/Helpless

The Squire's Squire, a Squire's Tales fic. [so...spoilers, if you haven't read the series. I recommend it if you haven't.] King Arthur wishes he could just not be a king. And wakes up as a squire to a certain squire of a certain nephew of his.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10012365/1/

A Pointless Illusion, Thor 2 fic, Loki and introspection on why he keeps the illusions around. Given the blasted movie there are feels and angst.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9846757/1/A-Pointless-Illusion

Budapest, a crossover fic. Avengers and Phineas and Ferb. Come now, you really want to read the real reason Clint remembered Budapest so differently than Natasha, and the fact that it may or may not have something to do with two boys and a platypus is more than curious.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8680792/1/Budapest

Two Knocks, a Sherlock fic. Lestrade has news for Mrs. Hudson. Angsty tragedy but so, so good. Honestly, the greatest compliment I can give this one is that it almost made me cry. So in character...so good.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8879617/1/

Ritual, an Avengers fic. The team has a ritual in place for when Hawkeye returns to the tower late. Quite possibly the epitome of hurt/comfort.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9246556/1/Ritual

The Most Important Question, a Thor fic. Such question is, of course, what color Loki's eyes are. And if the Trickster happens to be deliberately changing them to annoy his fangirl army...(Not quite sure if this falls into the 'well-written' or 'quality' bit, but the conclusion stuck in my head and gave me feels and therefore I share it.)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10010483/1/The-Most-Important-Question

Gentle, Velvet Lies, a thor 2 fic. Loki and Frigga and denial and lies and the debatable merits of lying when Truth is so, so, so horrible.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9841254/1/Gentle-Velvet-Lies

bedtime stories, an Avengers fic. for Loki's magic to work he has to believe, but the little man says he lacks conviction.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8591249/1/bedtime-stories

The Vanishing Act, a Doctor Who fic. I'll give you the author's summary: The Doctor and his darling wife get into another one of their arguments. Rapidly escalating into a small war. Rapidly escalating into a large war. And it might not end until the universe does.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9999427/1/The-Vanishing-Act

Immortalised, an Avengers fic. Loki tries to kill off the Avengers, with unexpected results.
http://starsurfer108.deviantart.com/art/Immortalised-COMPLETE-424702522

Linguistics, an Avengers fic. A year after the Battle of New York, another inscription appears in New Mexico.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10013210/1/Linguistics

I lied. these are not all the fics I read in January. But I've lost all the other ones I would have added, so these will have to do. Honestly, I don't know if anyone even wants these, but here they are. I can stop feeling guilty about not having posted these. Perhaps I'll inundate you with all the Labyrinth fics I read during February.

Perhaps not.
Either way, here you go.