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Journeys to Fayrah #1
The Portal
With Denise's gift to Nathan of a strange red stone, an adventure to another dimension begins, culminating in Nathan's perilous entrapment, due to his own selfishness, and with parallels to Christian beliefs overall.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
9 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Bill Myers
333 books395 followersBill Myers was born into a Christian home, and although as a child he became bored with Christianity, he decided at the University of Washington quote, to "make God my boss." Ironically, at the University his worst subject was writing. He claims to have prayed, and said that he would be able to do anything for God, except write. Even so, he has become a prominent Christian writer, and has a large amount of successful books and films to his credit.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 2, 2012
Combining elements of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis' Narnia series and Space trilogy, Norman Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland, and Madeleine L'Engle's perennial favorite A Wrinkle in Time, The Portal is a delightful, if short, first installment in the allegorical Journeys to Fayrah quadrilogy. Some of this book may be a bit much for elementary schoolers, but teens and adults will probably enjoy it. Just be sure you have the sequel on hand; the ending of "The Portal" will most likely make you want to read the next installment as soon as possible.
January 27, 2020
I read this in a day, powering through it. And I was pretty disappointed. It was recommended to me by a friend. I was hoping (though honestly not expecting) some quality Christian storytelling. But the storytelling wasn't very strong, and the "Christian" part I felt was pretty dubious.
Still, the story had a lot of imagination and there were some colorful and interesting individual scenes.
The story is about two young people, Denise and Nathan, who find a little red stone which calls forth goofy aliens from another planet, who then ask them to go for a ride through the dimensions for some reason. Neither Nathan nor Denise are Christians (or the "rebreathed"), and they are warned that as they travel through dimensions they have to go through the center, which is basically Heaven, where the Imager (God) dwells. The only way to do that successfully is to think happy thoughts. If you are angry or sad, God kicks you out. So being angry or sad is apparently sinful, and as long as you are happy it's all good. (At least Nathan didn't start thinking about how happy he is, I don't know, visiting porn sites or manipulating his grandfather.)
The characters arrive in a sinless world where everyone gives stuff to each other all the time. There are also rivers of scripture, and if the youths look into the river, they can see a reflection of their true selves as Imager sees them. Nathan is reflected as a warrior with armor. Denise is reflected as a bride. Both as adults. But neither of them are rebreathed, so why would the Imager see them this way? Why Nathan as a soldier, and Denise as a bride? If this is supposed to be a reflection of Christians as the bride of Christ, that means all Christians, not just the girls. I guess the author didn't want to put Nathan in a dress? I don't know, it just seemed messed up to me.
There is a demon lady and a rolling blue ball that want to trick and capture Nathan and Denise. The demon lady wants Denise, the blue ball wants Nathan. Except the demon lady never once tries to capture Denise, and they both go after Nathan. The demon lady can make illusions, and I guess that is kind of interesting. She has an army of bugs, but she can make the army of bugs appear as if they are people, or whatever she wants to make them. The bugs can apparently just swoop in and eat everyone alive, but for some reason she never does that. Apparently pouring some scripture water on the ground destroys her entire kingdom? I wasn't sure, but she never returns again in this volume--not even when our heroes run back for the portal that seems to be on the other side of her territory--so I don't know what happened.
Nathan is kept inside a force-field that makes him extra selfish and also makes him fight in slow-motion against other selfish animals. There is an army of blue balls (that sounds wrong), and if our heroes get angry at them, the blue balls grow huge (because getting angry at their unjust treatment is "hatred" and sinful, I guess). So the story makes out anger to be this astonishingly powerful and evil force that can make the bad guys grow exponentially in mere moments. Then when our heroes use the aforementioned red stone to reach out to Nathan with a laser beam, Denise realizes she can use her words of encouragement to power up the laser, but it barely makes the laser get any farther.
Basically, getting angry is super evil and powerful. Calling people names can practically kill a person (demonstrated in an earlier scene). The power of good can barely make the laser stretch out another few feet.
There are a few other points in the story that really rubbed me the wrong way, but I should turn to the characters. Denise and Nathan are alright. These are the heroes of a kids' book, so they aren't especially deep. They are also pretty stupid, going with weird creatures willingly into another dimension at the beginning. Nathan is so stupid that he follows an evil blue ball into hell basically without even telling Denise or the others, and continues to go with the ball even after the demon lady that the blue ball is chums with nearly kills him.
The aliens are also really annoying. One of them speaks in rhymes all the time, which is passed off as a gag, but it's kind of annoying. The other one speaks in excruciating Yoda-talk, which drove me bananas.
There is also a dragonfly that sacrifices itself to become a full citizen of the perfect fairy world. Apparently everyone has to do something equivalent to dying for someone else in order to become a good person in fairy world. But all these characters are supposed to be sinless, or so it seems. And when the dragonfly decides to sacrifice itself, the other characters try to stop him, and the entire fairy world mourns when the dragonfly dies. But then just a scene later the dragonfly is back, and everyone is happy, and they knew all along that not only was he coming back, he HAD to kill himself to become a good member of society. I think the author is trying to draw on the principle of how followers of Christ have to give up their lives to follow Him. And I think it could have been done in a powerful and beautiful way. But I didn't think this story pulled it off.
I appreciate that the author was trying to write an imaginative and exciting fantasy world here, but it just didn't work for me. The theological concepts feel very poorly implemented and contradictory and even wrong-headed, and the storytelling left much to be desired. I would probably have enjoyed this story a lot more when I was younger, though, but given how confusing the message of the book is (getting angry and sad is sinful?!?!?), I am kind of glad I didn't read this as a kid.
I am probably being too harsh with this story, but these concepts matter. I wish the story was a lot better.
Still, the story had a lot of imagination and there were some colorful and interesting individual scenes.
The story is about two young people, Denise and Nathan, who find a little red stone which calls forth goofy aliens from another planet, who then ask them to go for a ride through the dimensions for some reason. Neither Nathan nor Denise are Christians (or the "rebreathed"), and they are warned that as they travel through dimensions they have to go through the center, which is basically Heaven, where the Imager (God) dwells. The only way to do that successfully is to think happy thoughts. If you are angry or sad, God kicks you out. So being angry or sad is apparently sinful, and as long as you are happy it's all good. (At least Nathan didn't start thinking about how happy he is, I don't know, visiting porn sites or manipulating his grandfather.)
The characters arrive in a sinless world where everyone gives stuff to each other all the time. There are also rivers of scripture, and if the youths look into the river, they can see a reflection of their true selves as Imager sees them. Nathan is reflected as a warrior with armor. Denise is reflected as a bride. Both as adults. But neither of them are rebreathed, so why would the Imager see them this way? Why Nathan as a soldier, and Denise as a bride? If this is supposed to be a reflection of Christians as the bride of Christ, that means all Christians, not just the girls. I guess the author didn't want to put Nathan in a dress? I don't know, it just seemed messed up to me.
There is a demon lady and a rolling blue ball that want to trick and capture Nathan and Denise. The demon lady wants Denise, the blue ball wants Nathan. Except the demon lady never once tries to capture Denise, and they both go after Nathan. The demon lady can make illusions, and I guess that is kind of interesting. She has an army of bugs, but she can make the army of bugs appear as if they are people, or whatever she wants to make them. The bugs can apparently just swoop in and eat everyone alive, but for some reason she never does that. Apparently pouring some scripture water on the ground destroys her entire kingdom? I wasn't sure, but she never returns again in this volume--not even when our heroes run back for the portal that seems to be on the other side of her territory--so I don't know what happened.
Nathan is kept inside a force-field that makes him extra selfish and also makes him fight in slow-motion against other selfish animals. There is an army of blue balls (that sounds wrong), and if our heroes get angry at them, the blue balls grow huge (because getting angry at their unjust treatment is "hatred" and sinful, I guess). So the story makes out anger to be this astonishingly powerful and evil force that can make the bad guys grow exponentially in mere moments. Then when our heroes use the aforementioned red stone to reach out to Nathan with a laser beam, Denise realizes she can use her words of encouragement to power up the laser, but it barely makes the laser get any farther.
Basically, getting angry is super evil and powerful. Calling people names can practically kill a person (demonstrated in an earlier scene). The power of good can barely make the laser stretch out another few feet.
There are a few other points in the story that really rubbed me the wrong way, but I should turn to the characters. Denise and Nathan are alright. These are the heroes of a kids' book, so they aren't especially deep. They are also pretty stupid, going with weird creatures willingly into another dimension at the beginning. Nathan is so stupid that he follows an evil blue ball into hell basically without even telling Denise or the others, and continues to go with the ball even after the demon lady that the blue ball is chums with nearly kills him.
The aliens are also really annoying. One of them speaks in rhymes all the time, which is passed off as a gag, but it's kind of annoying. The other one speaks in excruciating Yoda-talk, which drove me bananas.
There is also a dragonfly that sacrifices itself to become a full citizen of the perfect fairy world. Apparently everyone has to do something equivalent to dying for someone else in order to become a good person in fairy world. But all these characters are supposed to be sinless, or so it seems. And when the dragonfly decides to sacrifice itself, the other characters try to stop him, and the entire fairy world mourns when the dragonfly dies. But then just a scene later the dragonfly is back, and everyone is happy, and they knew all along that not only was he coming back, he HAD to kill himself to become a good member of society. I think the author is trying to draw on the principle of how followers of Christ have to give up their lives to follow Him. And I think it could have been done in a powerful and beautiful way. But I didn't think this story pulled it off.
I appreciate that the author was trying to write an imaginative and exciting fantasy world here, but it just didn't work for me. The theological concepts feel very poorly implemented and contradictory and even wrong-headed, and the storytelling left much to be desired. I would probably have enjoyed this story a lot more when I was younger, though, but given how confusing the message of the book is (getting angry and sad is sinful?!?!?), I am kind of glad I didn't read this as a kid.
I am probably being too harsh with this story, but these concepts matter. I wish the story was a lot better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2017
Nathan is a spoiled, selfish brat who seems to be cursed with a limp. Denise doesn’t want to give him a gift, but it was his birthday and she was friends with his older brother. The gift was just a random rock she found in her Uncle’s attic. But when the moonlight hits the stone it’s not dumb or random. And visitors from another dimension that are definitely not human.
A Wrinkly in Time meets Narnia in Bill Myers Imager Chronicles. Loved it! The world building. The imagery. The allegory. Appropriate for middle school and up.
A Wrinkly in Time meets Narnia in Bill Myers Imager Chronicles. Loved it! The world building. The imagery. The allegory. Appropriate for middle school and up.
October 3, 2022
I liked this book as a kid, but reading it again now, I was put off by the writing. The characters could be great, but they are mostly annoying.
March 26, 2024
Loved the Fayrah books when I was a kid.
Especially the part where people gave presents to their friends on their birthday!
Pretty biblical too.
Especially the part where people gave presents to their friends on their birthday!
Pretty biblical too.
July 28, 2012
I read these books in junior high, & may have read them twice I enjoyed them so much.
August 2, 2012
Holy. Smokes.
As a kid, I couldn't have known the layers of metaphor in this series. But I was whisked away by whimsy and fell in love with meaningful fantasy.
As a kid, I couldn't have known the layers of metaphor in this series. But I was whisked away by whimsy and fell in love with meaningful fantasy.
September 12, 2020
Sweet
I kinda expected it from Bill Myers, it is thrilling, contains suspense, and is really nice to have it as a series
I kinda expected it from Bill Myers, it is thrilling, contains suspense, and is really nice to have it as a series
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews