Rise of the Dibor
by Christopher Hopper
Published by Tsaba House
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Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
"What if Adam and Eve had never sinned? What if mankind knew no wrong? Would we still have an enemy?"
With this premise firmly in hand, Christopher Hopper spins a yarn guaranteed to captivate the armchair adventurer.
Luik, son of Lair, and his band of friends and acquaintances must grow strong, wise, and cunning in order to deal with an ancient evil that threatens destruction and ruin of epic proportions. Along the way friendships are strengthened, alliances are forged, and love blossoms.
Rise of the Dibor, book one in The White Lion Chronicles, was difficult to get into. There is a definite learning curve as one is introduced to the language of Dionia, but the accompanying footnotes smoothed the way.
This first edition was poorly edited, with what appears to have been too much reliance on the spell-checker. But as most of the errors were homophones, the meaning could be deduced by the context.
By the middle of the story, I was thoroughly engrossed. And while the story can be read by adventure lovers of about ten-years-old and up, as an epic adventure, Christopher Hopper takes mature readers to a deeper level, handling such subjects as the origin of evil, spiritual warfare, discipleship, and the inevitable need for a savior, with a clarity that springs from familiarity with his subject.
An added bonus for the computer savvy reader is a dedicated website complete with story background, story trailer (QuickTime is required) and author's biography.
Although initially skeptical (another reviewer compared Rise of the Dibor with both King Arthur and The Lord of the Rings), Christopher Hopper has won me over with a saga that is both more fantastic and more believable than either Middle Earth or Camelot.
Armchair Interviews says: Look forward to this and the next book in this series.