In the land of Myriad, darkness is gathering. From the Elladorian to the Stonehand, the nine races are under attack from an old foe…but is their true enemy truly the Gorrack nation, or an enemy far older and sinister? While bloody raids and battles abound, the true war is being fought on a smaller, more deadly scale.
Morlan, younger twin brother to the king, keeps many secrets and chaffs under his 
brother’s rule.
His brother, Aravel, is recognized as kind and courageous leader, but the reins of his power are beginning to slip along with his faith.
Alastair Coldhollow waivers between believing in his own redemption and that of his nation and hiding his past in a bottle of bleary alcoholism.
But even as darkness falls, light is candled in a single child.
Every Christian fantasy author is compared to Lewis and Tolkien, but in the case of Mr. Batson’s newest offering, it seems deserved. Mr. Batson wields all the great fantasy tropes with so skilled a pen they blur into a completely new story resonating with echoes of all our old friends and companions. Rather than feeling cheated by ripped off plots and characters, the reader is pulled into a world startlingly familiar and completely unpredictable.
The Sword in the Stars rings with many characters and elements which exist in the real world and even in ourselves. The hero has set out to reclaim his life and atone for his past, only to nearly given up in despair and doubt at his first failure. The Shepherds, protectors of the people and servants of the First One , can judge others hastily and poorly.
Compared to the Door Within Trilogy, The Sword in the Stars is aimed at an older audience. These characters are far more flawed, dealing with their own personal fallings both physical areas such as alcohol abuse and in mental and emotion areas such as questioning their faith and their own value. The violence threshold has also risen and while Mr. Batson goes to great lengths to keep the worst of the atrocities off scene, there are very dark, bloody, and brutal events. However, in spite of these elements, the book retains the same wholesome quality and straightforward narrative as his previous books and makes an exciting and uplifting read.