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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
I wanted to love this. I loved the first book in this series, disliked the second book, and feel my anger spiraling at the third one, and I only made it through 150 pages. I wanted to be a Kate Elliott completist but have to now be satisfied that it won't happen. I'm hoping I enjoy her Crown of Stars series more, and if not, I'll always have Spiritwalker, which I love.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kate Elliott is a phenomenal writer who lives in every word and in every moment and invites you to do the same. The world of the Hundred is visceral and immediate and full of dread and hope. You can see how Elliott loves even her villains. She drew me in and with casual brutality, led me to the end, my mouth agape in horror, unable to do anything about the doom that settled over every page, growing darker with each passing line.
I've said it before: a lesser writer makes you feel every page, but Ms Elliott exults in the minutiae so much you can't help but enjoy it with her as she builds a world that lives and breathes as much as its characters do.
Traitor's Gate swells with anticipation and dread, pushing at the skin until it rips wide an everything you feared comes to be. It was a wild ride, and so very worth it, though it is let down a bit by the unsatisfying end. Yet, I think some will be happy with the outcome as Elliott does a lot to try to soothe the anguish. It may not satisfy those looking for an alternative to Martin, but it will satisfy those looking for fantasy that has no interest in your chosen ones and your stark and arbitrary morality.
It manages to be grim without being grimdark, as the kids say these days, and yet seeds a lining of hope for all the failures of its heroes, and even the villain in his victory finds it a pyrrhic one.
There's a lot to unpack in this story, not just this book but the entire series. If I were to pick a book for a book group that was fantasy, this series would be high on the list. There is so much to unpack, so much to unravel and decipher and mull over to find parallels and metaphor that it could be discussed for ages.
I must admit to being a bit exhausted now, but I keep eyeing Black Wolves because...damn her...I need to know.
I've said it before: a lesser writer makes you feel every page, but Ms Elliott exults in the minutiae so much you can't help but enjoy it with her as she builds a world that lives and breathes as much as its characters do.
Traitor's Gate swells with anticipation and dread, pushing at the skin until it rips wide an everything you feared comes to be. It was a wild ride, and so very worth it, though it is let down a bit by the unsatisfying end. Yet, I think some will be happy with the outcome as Elliott does a lot to try to soothe the anguish. It may not satisfy those looking for an alternative to Martin, but it will satisfy those looking for fantasy that has no interest in your chosen ones and your stark and arbitrary morality.
It manages to be grim without being grimdark, as the kids say these days, and yet seeds a lining of hope for all the failures of its heroes, and even the villain in his victory finds it a pyrrhic one.
There's a lot to unpack in this story, not just this book but the entire series. If I were to pick a book for a book group that was fantasy, this series would be high on the list. There is so much to unpack, so much to unravel and decipher and mull over to find parallels and metaphor that it could be discussed for ages.
I must admit to being a bit exhausted now, but I keep eyeing Black Wolves because...damn her...I need to know.
This is a book about betrayal. Hundreds of years ago the gods gave Guardians to the Hundred. These Guardians are resurrected people who died for a just cause and they were given the power to see into the hearts of men and judge them. Life, however, is seductive and the Guardians have become corrupt, pursuing their own continued existence instead of justice. They’ve betrayed the people of the Hundred and set themselves up as dictators that cleanse the land of corruption while their army destroys and enslaves its own people.
The Guardians have betrayed the trust of the people and many allegiances will be tested and broken. The characters in this book are pulled through one betrayal after another as they are faced with truly difficult decisions. Would you betray a loved one if it meant saving their life or the life of your child? Would you betray a friend to save your country? Would you betray all your beliefs in order to see justice done?
Captain Anji has a new son and a beautiful wife but he is an unwitting heir to the Imperial throne of Sirniaka and thus subject to being hunted by assassins from his brother who has claimed the throne. He also completely believes that the Guardians are demons who must be put down. Mai is his wife, and her brother Hari is one of the Guardians and he comes to her asking for sanctuary from the others.
Joss is a reeve – one of a police force that rides giant eagles and is sworn to seek out justice, in years past he would have worked closely with the Guardians to ensure that people are brought to trial. Now he finds himself allied with Captain Anji against the beings that his gods created as a sacred means of providing government in the Hundred. Killing one would be against the will of the gods but letting them live would destroy the peace and the land that he has lived in from birth.
There is also Shai, Mai’s uncle who is on a journey to discover his own strength. There is Zubaidit, the temple trained assassin sent to learn how to kill a Guardian, and her brother Kesh, the slave who struggles to overcome his own self-serving nature in order to prove his worth.
I did not want to read this book. The first two books of the series seemed to have characters that I didn’t care about doing things that didn’t seem to really matter in a world that only had a cursory foundation for its existence. Since there is only one series of books that I’ve started and never finished (and don’t intend to) I took a deep breath and plunged in. You see Traitor’s Gate is also a lot longer than the two books that came before it.
In Traitor’s Gate, something happened. I suddenly found that I cared for the characters. Betrayal comes from all sides and even characters that seemed safe find themselves victims of it. This book is the perfect ending – though not necessarily a happy one – for this series. It pulls the other two books together so tightly that it made the two previous volumes worth plodding through to get to it.
The Guardians have betrayed the trust of the people and many allegiances will be tested and broken. The characters in this book are pulled through one betrayal after another as they are faced with truly difficult decisions. Would you betray a loved one if it meant saving their life or the life of your child? Would you betray a friend to save your country? Would you betray all your beliefs in order to see justice done?
Captain Anji has a new son and a beautiful wife but he is an unwitting heir to the Imperial throne of Sirniaka and thus subject to being hunted by assassins from his brother who has claimed the throne. He also completely believes that the Guardians are demons who must be put down. Mai is his wife, and her brother Hari is one of the Guardians and he comes to her asking for sanctuary from the others.
Joss is a reeve – one of a police force that rides giant eagles and is sworn to seek out justice, in years past he would have worked closely with the Guardians to ensure that people are brought to trial. Now he finds himself allied with Captain Anji against the beings that his gods created as a sacred means of providing government in the Hundred. Killing one would be against the will of the gods but letting them live would destroy the peace and the land that he has lived in from birth.
There is also Shai, Mai’s uncle who is on a journey to discover his own strength. There is Zubaidit, the temple trained assassin sent to learn how to kill a Guardian, and her brother Kesh, the slave who struggles to overcome his own self-serving nature in order to prove his worth.
I did not want to read this book. The first two books of the series seemed to have characters that I didn’t care about doing things that didn’t seem to really matter in a world that only had a cursory foundation for its existence. Since there is only one series of books that I’ve started and never finished (and don’t intend to) I took a deep breath and plunged in. You see Traitor’s Gate is also a lot longer than the two books that came before it.
In Traitor’s Gate, something happened. I suddenly found that I cared for the characters. Betrayal comes from all sides and even characters that seemed safe find themselves victims of it. This book is the perfect ending – though not necessarily a happy one – for this series. It pulls the other two books together so tightly that it made the two previous volumes worth plodding through to get to it.
The best volume in the trilogy by far. I was a little disappointed at how fast everything wrapped up at the end, but it was still a fantastic read. 4.5 stars!
This is the first series I read by Kate Elliott, of whom I had previously heard A LOT of good things. But I just felt like the series was really slow moving and I didn't find myself caring for any of the characters very much. Honestly, I felt like a huge portion of each novel could have been cut out and the story would have worked much better, or at least had been a little faster in it's pacing. Although I should say I recognize how well thought out the world and the series was as a whole, which is why I've rated it so high (even though it's reveal of why the bad guys act as they do was... lame).
However, I will say that my lack of feeling any attachment to any of the characters changed in this last novel. I was always ambivalent about Anji, and Mai always seemed too perfect -- seriously give the girl a flaw. Joss just annoyed me to the point where I wanted to yell at him to get over his dead ex-girlfriend already. But I will admit that I liked Nallo and Pil, and Peddo, even Snake. In fact, because of these four I wish we had been able to see more about the lives of reeves; it just seemed really cool to me -- the job, the eagles, the lifestyle, the camaraderie...
But I digress. What I wanted to say was that second-to-last scene between Mai and Anji at the end just really hit me emotionally. In fact that whole last part, Part Seven: Gates, made me really care for Mai, Joss, Bai, Shai, and the Guardians (well, except for the first couple of chapters). And that seals my rating for the series and makes me want to go out and read Ms. Elliott's other novels/series.
Edited to add: I think one of the reasons I wasn't as big a fan of this book as I might have been is because my parents are from a part of the world that was under colonialism for so long, and once the reign of colonialism started winding down the whole region became a giant mess that's still trying to recover and find it's original culture and create a better life for it's people. So, I'm not a fan of reading about something pretty controversial in a fantasy fiction book that actually plays a big part in my daily life.
However, I will say that my lack of feeling any attachment to any of the characters changed in this last novel. I was always ambivalent about Anji, and Mai always seemed too perfect -- seriously give the girl a flaw. Joss just annoyed me to the point where I wanted to yell at him to get over his dead ex-girlfriend already. But I will admit that I liked Nallo and Pil, and Peddo, even Snake. In fact, because of these four I wish we had been able to see more about the lives of reeves; it just seemed really cool to me -- the job, the eagles, the lifestyle, the camaraderie...
But I digress. What I wanted to say was that second-to-last scene between Mai and Anji at the end just really hit me emotionally. In fact that whole last part, Part Seven: Gates, made me really care for Mai, Joss, Bai, Shai, and the Guardians (well, except for the first couple of chapters). And that seals my rating for the series and makes me want to go out and read Ms. Elliott's other novels/series.
Edited to add: I think one of the reasons I wasn't as big a fan of this book as I might have been is because my parents are from a part of the world that was under colonialism for so long, and once the reign of colonialism started winding down the whole region became a giant mess that's still trying to recover and find it's original culture and create a better life for it's people. So, I'm not a fan of reading about something pretty controversial in a fantasy fiction book that actually plays a big part in my daily life.
I've been busy and thus wary of starting this for fear I'd get sucked in and neglect all else. I was right! I started it yesterday and stayed up all night finishing it! Aui!
Another thing I was worried about was that I would have to refer to Books 1 & 2 to remember what was going on, but as soon as I read page one I was back in the flow. The characters do an initial info dump as they are reintroduced in a way that flows right with the story. Really well done.
In fact, I was a bit more than half-way through the book when I caught myself thinking that this whole trilogy is really a masterpiece of the epic fantasy form.
As to the ending, no WONDER the blurb on the front called it "surprising". One of those shocking things that nonetheless had a lot of warning. One might even call them red flags. I too, have perfect hindsight.
The most bittersweet wrap up ever.
I'm full of questions, of course
...semi spoilers ahoy ...
.
.
.
Is this the end of Mai & Anji's story as central characters? What about Shai, & Zubaidit?
When did Kate Elliott know what was going to happen to Mai & Anji -- right at the start or did it surprise her too? Did it break her heart? I'm guessing it was planned; really an amazing way of driving home the point of the history Jothinian was retelling -- we didn't see until it was too late.
What's the plan for the next books -- when & where will they be set?
Another thing I was worried about was that I would have to refer to Books 1 & 2 to remember what was going on, but as soon as I read page one I was back in the flow. The characters do an initial info dump as they are reintroduced in a way that flows right with the story. Really well done.
In fact, I was a bit more than half-way through the book when I caught myself thinking that this whole trilogy is really a masterpiece of the epic fantasy form.
As to the ending, no WONDER the blurb on the front called it "surprising". One of those shocking things that nonetheless had a lot of warning. One might even call them red flags. I too, have perfect hindsight.
The most bittersweet wrap up ever.
I'm full of questions, of course
...semi spoilers ahoy ...
.
.
.
Is this the end of Mai & Anji's story as central characters? What about Shai, & Zubaidit?
When did Kate Elliott know what was going to happen to Mai & Anji -- right at the start or did it surprise her too? Did it break her heart? I'm guessing it was planned; really an amazing way of driving home the point of the history Jothinian was retelling -- we didn't see until it was too late.
What's the plan for the next books -- when & where will they be set?
RIght, this book makes me want to get as many other books by Kate Elliot as I can.
I have to say, this was a spectacular ending to this series, and it REALLY made me understand so much better what was going on in the [b:Black Wolves|20980680|Black Wolves (Black Wolves, #1)|Kate Elliott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418186294s/20980680.jpg|40357908]. What totally blew me away is that all the characters remained true to who they were - they were completely consistent in their actions, they learned from the things that happened to them in realistic ways, and the ending of the book was bloody fantastic.
I think that Mai was the central character of this series. She changed the most, and had the most complete ending - she started as a daughter suppressed by a horrible family and culture, and ended up as a woman in control of her destiny and taking no shit from anyone :) Surrounded by people who loved and respected her, and totally self-aware.
Mai is a perfect "strong female character" who is not trying to beat the boys at their own game. SHe does her thing - motherly, caring, empathetic - and she owns it totally. I loved it.
Anji, oh god. I love the characterisation of this guy. Even though he is ostensibly the "hero" of the Hundred (and becomes the Overlord of the Hundred, and totally changes the traditions of the Hundred) he is a slave to his upbringing (and mother...) I love what Kate Elliot did for this character, and how he was written. He was actually one of the few characters that was always totaly self-controlled and self-assured. He was sure of himself and all his decisions, and he never thought that he made the wrong decision...
Just like the bad guys he was fighting.
I love the idea that Mai was actually the good influence that made Anji a hero. One she was lost to him, he was again engulfed by his cultural heritage and became (to me anyway) an evil overlord.
There are a host of other characters that got great endings. Shai was stunning and got a wonderful ending he had totally earned and deserved. Miravia, Joss, Marit, etc...
At its heart, this book is a reflection on the potential costs of the drive to "order and peace". I strongly suggest this series be read by all.
I have to say, this was a spectacular ending to this series, and it REALLY made me understand so much better what was going on in the [b:Black Wolves|20980680|Black Wolves (Black Wolves, #1)|Kate Elliott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418186294s/20980680.jpg|40357908]. What totally blew me away is that all the characters remained true to who they were - they were completely consistent in their actions, they learned from the things that happened to them in realistic ways, and the ending of the book was bloody fantastic.
I think that Mai was the central character of this series. She changed the most, and had the most complete ending - she started as a daughter suppressed by a horrible family and culture, and ended up as a woman in control of her destiny and taking no shit from anyone :) Surrounded by people who loved and respected her, and totally self-aware.
Mai is a perfect "strong female character" who is not trying to beat the boys at their own game. SHe does her thing - motherly, caring, empathetic - and she owns it totally. I loved it.
Anji, oh god. I love the characterisation of this guy. Even though he is ostensibly the "hero" of the Hundred (and becomes the Overlord of the Hundred, and totally changes the traditions of the Hundred) he is a slave to his upbringing (and mother...) I love what Kate Elliot did for this character, and how he was written. He was actually one of the few characters that was always totaly self-controlled and self-assured. He was sure of himself and all his decisions, and he never thought that he made the wrong decision...
Just like the bad guys he was fighting.
I love the idea that Mai was actually the good influence that made Anji a hero. One she was lost to him, he was again engulfed by his cultural heritage and became (to me anyway) an evil overlord.
There are a host of other characters that got great endings. Shai was stunning and got a wonderful ending he had totally earned and deserved. Miravia, Joss, Marit, etc...
At its heart, this book is a reflection on the potential costs of the drive to "order and peace". I strongly suggest this series be read by all.
I appreciated the way Kate Elliott ended this trilogy. But gosh, I don't want to spoil it for anyone!!
All I can say is...she kept in favor of fairness, equality, respect... for all.
All I can say is...she kept in favor of fairness, equality, respect... for all.
THERE' STILL ANOTHER BOOK!? This is definitely the one where things got interesting. This series suffers a bit from being way too long and nothing happening.