{"id":6137,"date":"2009-04-21T18:04:41","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T23:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2009\/04\/21\/in_the_halls_of_the_dragon_king_a_review\/"},"modified":"2009-04-21T18:04:41","modified_gmt":"2009-04-21T23:04:41","slug":"in_the_halls_of_the_dragon_king_a_review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2009\/04\/21\/in_the_halls_of_the_dragon_king_a_review\/","title":{"rendered":"In The Hall Of The Dragon King – A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In<\/a><\/div>\n

I just finished reading “In the Hall Of The Dragon King”<\/strong>, by Stephen Lawhead. My copy was given to me on my birthday by my son, Leighton—THANKS!<\/p>\n

I first heard about these books being re-released in Stephen Lawhead’s online diary<\/a><\/strong>, where he says:<\/p>\n

\n

First copies of the DRAGON KING books were also in the box. They’re being re-released in the US along with Scarlet. Those are the first fiction books I wrote (early ’80s): unemployed, pregnant wife, wolf at door. Now they’re in yet another edition. Who knew?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So this was Lawhead’s FIRST BOOK<\/strong>, and FIRST FANTASY BOOK!<\/strong> Pretty amazing to have it re-released nearly 30 years later.<\/p>\n

So what did I think of the book?<\/p>\n

First the good points:<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It had a very interesting story world.<\/strong> Strange creatures, strange powers, strange deities. A fascinating history.<\/li>\n
  2. It had an excellent beginning.<\/strong> Quentin is the main character, and within a very brief amount of time, he goes from a lowly, secluded Acolyte in a temple to risking his life on a journey to rescue the entire kingdom.<\/li>\n
  3. It had 3 dimensional characters.<\/strong> You really feel you know Quentin and his friends, and you care about them.<\/li>\n
  4. The villain is thoroughly evil<\/strong>, and has more tricks up his sleeve than a shoplifter in a watch shop.<\/li>\n
  5. The Christian content is handled subtly and excellently<\/strong>. Starting Quentin in a “pagan” temple shows his transformation to worshiping the One True God. Yet Lawhead surprised me and avoided any “deus-ex-machina” solution to the ending of the book.<\/li>\n
  6. The problem of magic is handled well<\/strong> by showing Durwin laying aside his magic powers so that it would not destroy him, and instead trusting in God to protect him and destroy their enemy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
    \"In<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\"The<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\"The<\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

    Now the mediocre points:<\/h3>\n

    I don’t call these “bad” because there’s nothing bad about this book.<\/strong> But there are a few things that make it less than stellar. These I can attribute to the fact that, as stated above, this was Lawhead’s first book. Let me say that his style and storytelling has much improved.<\/em><\/p>\n