Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper - REVIEWED

ABOUT THE BOOK: (from the publisher)

Fantasy. Mystery. Action. Humor. Parents, teachers, and librarians will no longer have to push kids to read—The Berinfell Prophesies will engage intermediate readers and leave them clamoring for more.

The Seven succeeding Elven Lords of Allyra were dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. At least that’s what everyone thought until tremors from a distant world known as Earth, revealed strange signs that Elven blood lived among its peoples. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, sentinels are sent to see if the signs are true. But theirs is not a lone errand. The ruling warlord of Allyra, the Spider King, has sent his own scouts to hunt down the Seven and finish the job they failed to complete many ages ago.

Now 13-year-olds on the brink of the Age of Reckoning when their Elven gifts will be manifest, discover the unthinkable truth that their adoptive families are not their only kin. With mysterious Sentinels revealing breathtaking secrets of the past, and dark strangers haunting their every move, will the young Elf Lords find the way back to the home of their birth? Worlds and races collide as the forces of good and evil battle. Will anyone escape the Curse of the Spider King?

MY REVIEW:

“Endurance and Victory!” (p. 3)

Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper have teamed up to create a fantasy tale that will capture the imagination of readers of all ages. Curse of the Spider King features a classic good versus evil tale, and weaves between this present world and that of the Elvan world Allyra. The Elven Lords’ children have been taken, and time is running out to defeat the Spider King and his evil minions. However, this task is made quite difficult because no matter who you are, it is possible that you are not who you seem!

The writing style of Wayne Thomas Batson is only complimented by his partner, Christopher Hopper, and the reader is immediately drawn into the Elven world of Allyra. Both the present world and the Elves’ domain contain spiritual references that will be easily recognized, and these points in the story only serve to add an urgency to the task of the Elven Sentinels tasked to find and guard the seven Elven Lords. The age of reckoning has come to each of the children, and they are beginning to display the gifts unique to their race. These gifts are desperately needed if the race of Elves is to survive!

Curse of the Spider King is the first in a series entitled The Berinfell Prophecies, and will make an excellent addition to any young adult reading collection. The story does include some fight scenes, but no gross violence or bad language. This novel reads very much like a cross between Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. I highly recommend Curse of the Spider King and eagerly await its sequel!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Wayne Thomas Batson is the author of five best-selling novels: Isle of Swords, Isle of Fire, and The Door Within Trilogy. A middle school reading teacher in Maryland for eighteen years, Way n e tailors his stories to meet the needs of the young people he cares so deeply about. Wayne writes
adventures set in imaginative locals because he believes that on a deep level, we all dream of doing something that matters and that we all long for another world.

Christopher Hopper, whose other books include Rise of The Dibor and The Lion Vrie, has often been called a modern day renaissance man, Not only an author, Christopher is a recording artist with nine CDs to his name, a youth pastor, president of a Christian discipleship school, and a motivational speaker for schools across the US and Europe. Christopher has dedicated his life to positively affecting the culture of his generation and longs to see young people inspired to live meaningful and productive lives.