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Titles in Order of Publication:
THE BOOK OF THE KING
The Wormling, Book I
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 9781414301556
Ages 9-12
280 pages
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• Read an Excerpt
Owen Reeder has only had to face down pretend foes in imaginary dreams through his daily travels gleaned from the countless books in his father’s used bookstore. Though Owen isn’t anyone who particularly stands out, he does have a gift. Once he reads a page or looks around a room, Owen has committed everything his eyes have seen to memory. But even this wondrous gift doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to the motherless boy whose father is distant and often unkind.
But after someone changes his story in the school newspaper and he becomes the target of the school’s bullies, Owen experiences a miraculous rescue. Keeping his distance from the bullies doesn’t work, and simultaneously life in the bookstore grows increasingly mysterious and eerie as Owen’s nightmares of a dragon spitting fire turn alarmingly real. Overhearing his father talk about secret plans, Owen realizes that his very life isn’t what he always thought it was, and he begins some digging around to discover what his father has hidden behind the bookshelves. Owen gathers his strength and almost immediately stumbles upon another world where creatures are fiercesome and dangerous…and seemingly out to kill him. But why?
Owen’s only friend is Connie, the daughter of his father’s cleaning lady, whom Owen has never trusted. Though typically a loner, he suddenly discovers that a book given to him by an elderly stranger will open up a new world. But does he have the courage to walk through to the other side? In some ways, the book brings new life to Owen’s once hopeless heart; it invites him and lures him to read its contents and obey. In the process, Connie and Owen begin an adventure that takes them beyond the seen world and into an alternate invisible one. Both are on a quest, and neither knows where it will end.
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry have developed a fast-paced fantasy series that weaves biblical principles here and there throughout the text in the form of instructions by the author of the Book of the King. This book is excellent fun and contains timely advice on handling all of life’s growing pains with character and integrity.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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THE SWORD OF THE WORMLING
The Wormling, Book II
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 9781414301563
Ages 9-12
336 pages
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In Book II of The Wormling series, Owen Reeder, the once timid and frightened teen who never once lived out an adventure of any kind except through his book-laden imagination, is now thrust into another world through the power of a book. After taking on the quest to find the King’s Son, Owen is transported via a Mucker (a miniscule-sized worm that grows hearty and strong enough to tear through solid walls) from the Highlands to the Lowlands.
Here in the Lowlands, the Valley of Shoam, Owen is quickly introduced to battle and death when Bardig, one of the Lowlanders who has been waiting for the return of the king, dies protecting Owen. Quickly after Bardig’s death, his son Connor arrives to battle Owen as revenge for his father’s death. But before they can fight, the Dragon sends mountainous waves of water cascading into the Valley as punishment for killing the Dragon’s assassin, Dreadwart. Owen’s guide and guard, Watcher, alerts the townspeople to the coming danger, but many of them refuse to listen and perish as the Dragon’s wrath of water destroys their small town.
In the midst of this torrential downpour, Owen and Watcher are swept away and begin their search for the only other person who can initiate Owen (the Wormling) for his quest. Into the desert they go, where they fight the lizards of the Badlands en route to the Island of Mirantha, where Mordecai, the outcast, will assist and train Owen to fulfill his quest. Together, Owen and Watcher develop both inner and outer strength. They battle the Dragon’s prison guards and set the prisoners free. Owen grows more and more skillful with the weaponry found in the Book of the King and by way of the sword, and he uses both.
After the duo becomes battle-weary, they realize their destiny is taking them directly into the Dragon’s stronghold, the castle from where the King’s Son was kidnapped. But getting inside is a greater challenge than they guessed, and yet friends who at first appear to be enemies rescue Owen and Watcher, offering encouragement and aid when they least expect it. Even when Owen loses the Book to the Dragon, his heart tells him that the enemy will not prevail if he continues to obey and believe the words written in the Book.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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THE CHANGELING
The Wormling, Book III
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 9781414301570
Ages 9-12
336 pages
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Book III of The Wormling series opens with an otherworldly scene where the Dragon sits reading the Book of the King that he stole from Owen, its guardian and keeper. Though the Dragon reads the words, he cannot comprehend their deeper meaning since its intended audience is someone with a heart bound by compassion. Enraged with all its prophecies about The Son, the Dragon decides to wreak further havoc on Owen and Watcher. He sends the Changeling, a Gollum-like creature that can alter its form at will, taking on the image and shape of even mere memories of its victims.
Unfortunately, Watcher and Owen succumb to the Changeling’s disguises; both are captured and briefly rendered incapacitated. But the King has sent a guardian of the light to watch over Owen as well, and though he is not allowed to continually intervene, he is given permission to warn Owen of specific dangers. This guardian, Nicodemus, wants nothing more than to rescue Owen and defeat the King’s enemies. But just as Owen is called to obey the King without always understanding why, so is Nicodemus called to do the same.
Owen and Watcher break free from the Changeling and even take him as prisoner before he manages to escape. Then they become entangled with the embittered Connor, son of Bardig, who plans to assault White Mountain where his wife is held captive. Owen tries to talk sense into Connor but to no avail, and after surviving more onslaughts ordered by the Dragon, Owen and his faithful friends end up sneaking into the mountain and setting free the captives, finally gaining Connor’s reluctant allegiance. Continuing their quest for the King’s Son takes Owen and Watcher from one exhausting and faith-stretching adventure to another.
They must locate the Scribe who knows about the missing pages in the Book, find these hidden pages, battle unseen and seen creatures, and rescue even more innocents. Through it all, Owen and Watcher continue to grow closer as compatriots and encourage each other to stay on task. Only in the final chapter is another key to the mystery of locating the Son revealed. And as Owen attempts to understand its ramifications, he is stunned and temporarily speechless.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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THE MINIONS OF TIME:
The Wormling, Book IV
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 9781414301587
Ages 9-12
336 pages
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In THE MINIONS OF TIME, Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry continue the exciting saga of Owen Reeder, once the lonely son of a used bookseller, who discovers that the son of the king for whom his quest has taken him through many dangers is, in actuality, himself. As he tries to comprehend the repercussions of this newfound knowledge and suppress his inner fears about such a prophecy and its responsibilities, Owen finds that others share his skepticism. Not only must he overcome his own apprehensions, he needs to convince his friends and foes that, despite his humble background, he is of royal descent.
It is in this emotionally charged setting that Owen begins to work out his destiny, as he and the king and queen of the west are flying inside a cage over the islands of Mirantha. Suddenly a daring rescue plot takes root in Owen’s mind, and he signals former friends far below, but they don’t recognize him. Instead, Erol and his clan start firing off arrows to bring down the beast that is bearing Owen and the other hostages. What looks like certain death Owen transforms into a miracle rescue as he listens to his former instructor Mordecai’s training and saves the group from the deadly Kerrol. But in doing so, Owen is swallowed alive. Once again he relies on lessons learned in the Lowlands and reappears alive, and the real arduous journey begins.
Owen must find his mother, sister and bride, along with searching for his faithful friends, Watcher and Humphrey, who are still in hiding at the Castle. Though Watcher has Mucker and The Book of the King, Owen knows that the Dragon himself now has possession of the sword and the missing chapter.
From one quickly moving scene to the next, Owen is challenged on every front to lead with courage, defend his honor and work to bring loyalty amongst the Lowlanders. And the Dragon’s deceitful minions, which include the deadly flying buzzing beasts that bring on old age if stung, are just one foe that Owen, Watcher and those faithful to the true King must battle. As if fighting in the Lowlands isn’t enough trial and trouble, Owen finds himself in the Highlands near the book’s conclusion, where he reunites with Mr. Page, friend Connie and schoolmate Clara. These reunions bring hope and fresh revelations for Owen to ponder.
Readers will appreciate the fast-paced action, as well as the characters’ clear passion for achieving their goals and their drive to overcome evil in pursuit of good, as they lean on The Book of the King as the backdrop for every choice they make.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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THE AUTHOR’S BLOOD:
The Wormling, Book V
Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 9781414301594
Ages 9-12
368 pages
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In THE AUTHOR’S BLOOD, Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry complete the Wormling series by bringing together a bevy of characters from the Highlands and the Lowlands. As the two worlds become intertwined, secrets and hints are revealed, and readers will be surprised (happily) at how specific characters from one world are reflective of a counterpart person in the other.
This rapid-paced saga begins with the Queen’s sentencing at the Castle of the Pines, where the Dragon and his council now reside. As the Dragon’s entourage continues making preparations for the coliseum (where the ultimate battle will unfold), the Dragon instructs the Queen to bow her knee to him and live. Once the Queen refuses, the Dragon orders her to be taken to Perolys Gulch with other diseased outcasts. As this scene plays out in the Lowlands, Owen, who was taken captive after re-entering the Highlands, is facing a quite different challenge as the minions continue to hunt their prey and he calls out to Nicodemis for help.
Owen needs time to understand what the Book of the King says, and he finds some aid and clues from his old teacher, Mrs. Rothem. But before they have the chance to discover all they need to know, the Dragon’s revellors attack them and Owen again is on the run. He searches for Clara and Connie, who steal away in hiding as Connie continues to age under the sting of the minion. Encouraged by the prophecy, Owen returns to the Lowlands only to learn that his closest friends have died in battle. As he grieves, words from the Book of the King continue to offer comfort and consolation.
Once the battle is contained entirely in the Lowlands, Owen summons his forces, and inch by inch he gets closer to fulfilling his destiny as the son of the King who will destroy the Dragon. Along the way, each and every character chooses whether to engage in the battle for good or retreat in defeat. Readers will be intrigued that even some of the Dragon’s agents begin doubting their leader and start seeing with new eyes. By the final chapter, Owen has achieved his goal and every portion of the prophecy has been fulfilled…to some imaginative and surprising ends.
THE AUTHOR’S BLOOD proves to be a satisfactory ending to this whirlwind fantasy journey.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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