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Book Review

King’s The Door In The Stone is Exceptional Book of Fantasy

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Rob King is an exceptional writer.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up a copy of The Door In The Stone. From the title, I wondered if it was a mystery or perhaps a fantasy.  From being attracted to the brilliantly illustrated front and back cover completed by King’s daughter, Cooper Saturn King, my initial guess was that it’s both.

And, after consuming all 30 chapters and 304 pages, I was right.

What an amazing journey King takes readers on in this make-believe world called Kavenland. The main characters, Vic Blake and his sister Emily, are easy to identify with and intriguing to follow throughout their visit to Laketown City.  Why I’m initially drawn to them is made crystal clear. No guesswork surrounds The Door In The Stone.

King has an uncanny ability to understand and present details to all that is unfolding in Blake and Emily’s going through the Door, from the “real world and into the mysterious and fantasy happenings in Kavenland.

Right from the beginning of the book, I felt as if I was walking side-by-side with Vic as he enters Mr. Zipkoff’s jewelry store and snatches a gold hair comb (described as pure gold). The elaborate scheme that Vic cooks up to reclaim the comb, the kind that holds your hair back, that he had previously sold to Mr. Zipkoff for $400, is pure genius.

The mass hysteria plan that King unfolds, which includes being inside a movie theater and wondering if the ticking heard is a bomb, is one of the best diversions I have read or watched on film.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be on Vic and Emily’s side for the crime perpetrated, but I am.  With both parents dead and left with an old home in disrepair and short on food, Vic reclaimed the comb with the purpose of survival.

Then, once returning home after committing the crime, The Stone In The Door immediately gains speed with the introduction of Adelessa.  Spooky and thrilling times are now in sight.

How King’s first (and two follow-ups to The Door In The Stone are planned) literary project came to be is captivating.

“It was suggested to me over the years to write a book.  I hadn’t settled on what age would be my audience.  Then, it was suggested to me, kids, and it instantly clicked. As a kid, all I read was The Hardy Boys. When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher asked me to do a book report other than sports, so it was The Hardy Boys. My goal (with The Door In The Stone) is to reach kids as The Hardy Boys did with me. Reading Lloyd Alexander, C.S. Lewis, and Ursula Le Guin made me a reader of fantasy books.”

Most, if not all, fantasy book authors aren’t as connected to professional sports as King.  A veteran of delivering sports reports on TV newscasts in Central New York and St. Louis, King relocated to the Greater Pittsburgh area for what has turned out to be a tremendous career switch.

Baseball fans in the “Steel City” have become familiar with King’s work for over two decades anchoring pre and post-game Pirates telecasts.  He is also the audio voice of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers, handling the play-by-play action heard by football fans on 60 radio stations (including in Mexico).

The huge rock located on the outskirts of town, when it opens, Adelessa tells Vic and Emily that their ancestors have been coming through it for a long time.  Once entering the “new world,” characters immediately come front and center. There is Larkin, Noll, and Canis, the dog with whom Emily can communicate, and there is the forest that no one, we are told, ever goes into.  The Hudenpole are said to rule it. They are a savage lot.

“With the creatures, I didn’t want the same old characters: dwarfs and wolves.  I started (The Door In The Stone) with a plot. Larkin was the character I centered on.  The book took 9 years to do,” says King, a Cooperstown, New York native.  “When writing fantasy, you really must love a good detective story, and that’s what I read mostly. My book is for a younger audience than Lord of the Rings; middle graders.”

King understood that the style of writing The Door In The Stone differed from traditional journalism.  He is used to delivering facts. Fantasy is quite the opposite. It’s show and don’t tell.  Writing fantasy, for King, is comparable to handling play-by-play on the radio.  The biggest compliment he can receive is when listeners say they can see what he is talking about.

Right from page 3, as Vic entered the jewelry store, I knew that I had to follow through on this kid’s boldness. I’m glad that I did.  Do yourself a favor, get hooked on Vic and Emily’s journey, what a wonderful escape it will be. 

Click here to view the title on Amazon.com

Rob King, The Door In The Stone, Review

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