Battledoors: The Golden Slate

Battledoors: The Golden Slate is by Toronto-based writer Brian Wilkinson. This action-packed quest-sci-fiction mash-up is aimed at younger adolescents who have a deep interest in gaming-like problem solving.

The novel begins with a strange, otherworldly prologue that establishes the novel’s frightening tone and introduces some of the key characters and concepts soon to be encountered in the main storyline. Here, readers learn about doors and choices, and dread.

Chapter one opens in modern day Toronto where grade 11 student Owen Thomas and his father are bravely trying to make life matter again in the wake of Owen’s mother’s death. Despite Owen’s desire to “blend in to the point of being invisible” at his new school, his intellectual abilities are established right away in English class when he offers a quick, insightful analysis of Romeo and Juliet. “Action and reaction. Cause and effect. Choice and consequence,” says Owen presciently to himself.

Unfortunately, Owen, has caught the attention of James, a sociopathic bully, and his mute sidekick, Lucas. Owen’s quick wit and a bit of luck allow him to escape physical harm for the moment. But James is enraged, and his violent fixation on Owen becomes one of the novel’s central conflicts.

Owen has also caught the attention of Emily and her best friend Bea. They come to Owen’s aid one day on the way to school when he is being beat up by James and Lucas. The three manage to escape the two thugs by hiding in a mysterious old bookstore, and this is where the story really begins.

The old Bookkeeper sees something special in Owen and the two girls. He gives Owen a strange book he calls the Battledoor. “If all of the other books in this store have magic in the words that live on in the imagination, this one captures you and makes the story as real as life itself,” the Bookkeeper tells Owen. “It holds your attention until the story is done and will profoundly impact the way you view your existence and the world around you. In short, it will change your life.” The events that follow prove this to be a serious understatement.

Emily and Bea are also given gifts – hornbooks. “Knowledge never goes out of style, young lady,” says the Bookkeeper to Bea. “Remember that and you will do just fine.” And to Emily: “I sense that you are wise beyond your years and will take the right paths, as long as you’re able to make an informed decision.”

With James and Lucas in hot pursuit, the teens pass through a weird door that suddenly appears in the back of the book store and enter into a strange virtual world which, at least initially, seems like a back alley in Toronto. Soon they realize that the walls are closing in on them, that vines and branches are reaching out for them, and that the laundry pile coming towards them is actually a living breathing being.

This is but the first of many bizarre settings, populated by equally bizarre and terrifying characters and creatures, that Wilkinson describes in great detail. While Owen and the other four come to grips with the fact that they’ve entered an alternate universe, they also must contend with James’ distracting and never-ending hatred and violence towards Owen, not to mention the ominous and omnipresent threat of an unknown and vicious enemy.

Meanwhile, Owen must learn how to master the Battledoor which seems to hold the key to understanding this new world. The Battledoor provides choices of battles (for example, Strange Brew or Straight Through) and paths (The Front Door or The Alley) for the teens. It is a combination of a video game/ipad and the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Like a video game, new and greater challenges are presented at every turn. But unlike “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, Owen and his group learn that there is no turning back and that each battle must be completed before they can move on to a new path.

These different terrifying settings and events form the bulk of the story, but Wilkinson has also created interesting characters and relationships that the reader soon comes to care about. Owen, who is known as the Protagonist by the characters in the alternative world, completely occupies the classic role of reluctant hero. He is intelligent, ethical, brave and self-effacing. His crush on Emily is charming without being sappy. While Emily herself – smart, beautiful and kind – might be too good to be true, this is, after all, a sci-fi adventure story. Over the course of the story, James and Lucas are fleshed out and become more three-dimensional, but James’ hatred for Owen never dissipates, making him an extreme departure from the classic version of a supportive sidekick.

Bea is the most problematic character of the group. Wilkinson seems to use her as relief from the relentless tension by making her a target of fat jokes and abuse that is never adequately addressed. She is set up to be the clown when attacked by “fairy-flashing” and is not provided an opportunity to regain her dignity.

But the dominant elements of this novel are the pacing and the tone. From the moment the five teens walk through the back door of the bookshop into this weird world, they are on high alert. They are frequently being chased, their lives are often at risk, and they are always terrified. The violence is palpable. After narrowly escaping the clutches of the malevolent Antagonist, the five teens finally meet “DJ”, the Dust Jacket. He challenges Owen with a series of riddles and the group learns that their quest is to be continued in the next book. “…you have to find the right door to take”, the Storyteller tells them. “One exists, but it can’t just be opened. You must undertake incredibly dangerous quests to get the parts you need to make it work. Get the parts, open the door.”

While some readers will be delighted that there is more to come, many others will be frustrated by this non-ending of Battledoors: The Golden Slate. Either way, readers who made it this far will have enjoyed an intense, creative and action-paced adventure story that salutes classic childhood tales like “The Chronicles of Narnia” and Alice in Wonderland along the way.