Review: An Excellent Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 23, 2011
As the story begins, you have a fifteen year old sophomore in high school by the name of Wes. He's shown to be largely unmotivated and rather small in stature. The only real talent that he has at the start is in music. He's a natural at it too.It would be nothing without conflict though, so the first conflict is brought into play. This conflict is brought into play through an accumulation of people that seem to be against Wes. He loses his first chair position in band, he gets in trouble for sticking up for a classmate, and a bully torments him. Wes goes ballistic on him, breaking the bully's nose and getting suspended from school.Showing his prowess as an author, Eric takes the result of this conflict and uses it to create a new conflict. That conflict is between Ryan, the father of Wes, and Wes. I say the conflict is between them because it feels wrong to say that the conflict was between Ryan and his boss. It was Wes' actions that brought about Ryan nearly losing his job, after all.So after a misunderstanding, Ryan drops Wes off at his(Ryan's) parents' house and returns to work. This is what leads to the good part of the book. You see, Wes eventually goes exploring the woods behind his grandparents' house after he tells them what really happened. And there, he discovers the Gatehouse. What is the Gatehouse, you ask? Well, you'll have to read it yourself if you want to know that.Soon, Wes and Ryan find themselves in another world, though they arrive at different times- a two month difference in times, actually.As the story unfolds from there, things become amazing. Between the switching back and forth between Wes and Ryan, the introduction of fun and likable character, the excellent world building, and the smooth, amazing writing stile, you can't go wrong with this story.I give this a five star review. It's better than many traditionally published fantasy novels.