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michellesantiago's review against another edition
4.0
Guardian of the Gate is the second book in Michelle Zink's gothic young adult series. I reviewed Prophecy of the Sisters (the first book; see my review here) yesterday, which ended with Lia leaving New York for England. This book began eight months after Prophecy ended and Lia is hard at work honing her newfound powers, continuing to learn more about prophecy and searching for the other two keys--all of which will help her win against her twin sister, Alice, in their inevitable battle that will pit good sister against the evil sister. However, Guardian is mostly about Lia's journey to a mythical island to look for the missing pages that contain the other half of the prophecy.
The dark, gothic feel I loved from the first book is very much present in this book. It's also still slow and not much really happen to move the plot along but unlike the first book, there is more action in this book which I really liked. We are also introduced to a new love interest for Lia in Dimitri. I didn't really like James from the first book so Dimitri, who Lia forms an instant connection with, is a welcome addition. My other complaint from the first book was that the secondary characters there were a little flat, but in Guardian they are more fleshed out. Alice, the "evil" twin, is hardly in this book and I definitely want to see more of her but suffice to say Guardian surpassed Prophecy and I enjoyed reading this book a lot more. I am definitely looking forward to reading the conclusion of this trilogy!
4 out of 5 stars
The dark, gothic feel I loved from the first book is very much present in this book. It's also still slow and not much really happen to move the plot along but unlike the first book, there is more action in this book which I really liked. We are also introduced to a new love interest for Lia in Dimitri. I didn't really like James from the first book so Dimitri, who Lia forms an instant connection with, is a welcome addition. My other complaint from the first book was that the secondary characters there were a little flat, but in Guardian they are more fleshed out. Alice, the "evil" twin, is hardly in this book and I definitely want to see more of her but suffice to say Guardian surpassed Prophecy and I enjoyed reading this book a lot more. I am definitely looking forward to reading the conclusion of this trilogy!
4 out of 5 stars
marylou1993's review against another edition
4.0
Δεν ξέρω γιατί πολλοί είναι αυτοί που βρίσκουν βαρετή αυτή τη σειρά εμένα πάντως προσωπικά μου άρεσε πολύ!Το δεύτερο βιβλίο είναι βέβαια το πιο αδύναμο καθώς η πλοκή εξελίσσεται με πολύ αργούς ρυθμούς αλλά όλο το σκηνικό της ιστορίας είναι άκρως γοητευτικό όπως και η εποχή που διαδραματίζεται!
saguaros's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
Lia and Sonia have been in London for nine months now. They are getting ready to travel to Altus, the mystical island where Lia's aunt will tell them where to find the Prophecy's missing pages. These pages are important to Lia, as they are suppose to tell her how to end the Prophecy and defeat her sister Alice. They are soon joined by Edmond and Luisa and leave on the perilous journey to Altus. They are joined and helped by Dimitri, a boy Lia finds herself attracted to. They are pursued by Hounds and face betrayal within their ranks. It is a long way to Altus and an even longer way to the missing pages, but Lia is determined to see her quest through and end the Prophecy once and for all.
The first book of this series felt a bit gothic and was definitely intriguing, I got sucked into the Prophecy and really wanted to know more about it. The second book was, in my opinion, disappointing. Most of the book follows Lia, her two friends (and Keys to the Prophecy) Sonia and Luisa, her faithful servant Edmond, and a new powerful ally, Dimitri, on their way to Altus. The second book is more of a quest/adventure story than a gothic mystery like the first one. Still, while a bit slow, the plot moves forward steadily and more details are slowly revealed, but very few, and maybe not enough, in the end. Most of all, we are introduced to a new character and love interest, Dimitri. Now, if you have read my reviews or my book blog for a while you know I am highly critical of love stories in YA fiction, but I am not immune to them. I like them when they are well written. This was not one of them. It was one of those almost-love-at-first-sight-I-trust-you-almost-immediately-I-don't-know-why-but-you-bring-me-such-comfort-and-I-feel-safe-with-you relationship. It had almost immediate making out sessions by campfire light, even though this is suppose to be the 19th century. Oh I'm sure people still made out in those times in secret even though it was considered improper. After all, all those stereotypes about quiet gardeners and sexy stable boys must have come from somewhere, but really? It was not written in a believable fashion. Not to me anyway. I was rolling my eyes so hard, I gave myself a headache. Not only that, but Dimitri? He was boring. Look, he was a nice guy, and I like nice guys. They are not present enough in YA fiction. But they are also hard to write. He had no personality. He was brave and strong and loved Lia unconditionally almost immediately. He was ready to die for her, right there and then. He was so much about her, he was the male equivalent of all those empty females characters you see in Hollywood movies that are there to help the hero on their way and offer them emotional support, but have no real life of their own.
That said the love story did not take over the whole plot, which is a good thing. Lia did keep her eyes on her goals, and never really forgot her purpose or quest. In my review of the first book, I presumed I would love Lia more in the sequels, and I was partly right. I did not dislike her, but I was indifferent to her for most of the book. It is only toward the end, when she is finally on her own, that she shows how strong she can be, and in those moments, I really liked her. My favourite characters were still Luisa and Sonia, although their relationship with Lia was obscured by Dimitri, and I would have much prefered if their bond had been more at the forefront of the story like it was in the first book.
This series is told from Lia's first point of view, but I think, for me, it would have been much better if it had been told from a third-person point of view. It could still focused on Lia, but it would have been nice to have some insight into other characters once in a while. For example, Alice is almost absent from this novel, because Lia and her are no longer together. But Alice is such an interesting character, and through the novel all the characters kept mentioning how powerful she was becoming, how evil and determined, but we never saw it truly. It would have been nice to have some chapters from her point of view. Since this is a story about a Prophecy between two sisters on opposing sides, it would have been nice to see both sides. It really made me realize how important the choice of point-of-view in a story can be.
In spite of its fault, though, I really really want to know how the whole story ends. The whole mythology atround the Prophecy is interesting and characters are changing and evolving and I think it will still be entertaining to read the last book, Circle of Fire, coming out this August.
Lia and Sonia have been in London for nine months now. They are getting ready to travel to Altus, the mystical island where Lia's aunt will tell them where to find the Prophecy's missing pages. These pages are important to Lia, as they are suppose to tell her how to end the Prophecy and defeat her sister Alice. They are soon joined by Edmond and Luisa and leave on the perilous journey to Altus. They are joined and helped by Dimitri, a boy Lia finds herself attracted to. They are pursued by Hounds and face betrayal within their ranks. It is a long way to Altus and an even longer way to the missing pages, but Lia is determined to see her quest through and end the Prophecy once and for all.
The first book of this series felt a bit gothic and was definitely intriguing, I got sucked into the Prophecy and really wanted to know more about it. The second book was, in my opinion, disappointing. Most of the book follows Lia, her two friends (and Keys to the Prophecy) Sonia and Luisa, her faithful servant Edmond, and a new powerful ally, Dimitri, on their way to Altus. The second book is more of a quest/adventure story than a gothic mystery like the first one. Still, while a bit slow, the plot moves forward steadily and more details are slowly revealed, but very few, and maybe not enough, in the end. Most of all, we are introduced to a new character and love interest, Dimitri. Now, if you have read my reviews or my book blog for a while you know I am highly critical of love stories in YA fiction, but I am not immune to them. I like them when they are well written. This was not one of them. It was one of those almost-love-at-first-sight-I-trust-you-almost-immediately-I-don't-know-why-but-you-bring-me-such-comfort-and-I-feel-safe-with-you relationship. It had almost immediate making out sessions by campfire light, even though this is suppose to be the 19th century. Oh I'm sure people still made out in those times in secret even though it was considered improper. After all, all those stereotypes about quiet gardeners and sexy stable boys must have come from somewhere, but really? It was not written in a believable fashion. Not to me anyway. I was rolling my eyes so hard, I gave myself a headache. Not only that, but Dimitri? He was boring. Look, he was a nice guy, and I like nice guys. They are not present enough in YA fiction. But they are also hard to write. He had no personality. He was brave and strong and loved Lia unconditionally almost immediately. He was ready to die for her, right there and then. He was so much about her, he was the male equivalent of all those empty females characters you see in Hollywood movies that are there to help the hero on their way and offer them emotional support, but have no real life of their own.
That said the love story did not take over the whole plot, which is a good thing. Lia did keep her eyes on her goals, and never really forgot her purpose or quest. In my review of the first book, I presumed I would love Lia more in the sequels, and I was partly right. I did not dislike her, but I was indifferent to her for most of the book. It is only toward the end, when she is finally on her own, that she shows how strong she can be, and in those moments, I really liked her. My favourite characters were still Luisa and Sonia, although their relationship with Lia was obscured by Dimitri, and I would have much prefered if their bond had been more at the forefront of the story like it was in the first book.
This series is told from Lia's first point of view, but I think, for me, it would have been much better if it had been told from a third-person point of view. It could still focused on Lia, but it would have been nice to have some insight into other characters once in a while. For example, Alice is almost absent from this novel, because Lia and her are no longer together. But Alice is such an interesting character, and through the novel all the characters kept mentioning how powerful she was becoming, how evil and determined, but we never saw it truly. It would have been nice to have some chapters from her point of view. Since this is a story about a Prophecy between two sisters on opposing sides, it would have been nice to see both sides. It really made me realize how important the choice of point-of-view in a story can be.
In spite of its fault, though, I really really want to know how the whole story ends. The whole mythology atround the Prophecy is interesting and characters are changing and evolving and I think it will still be entertaining to read the last book, Circle of Fire, coming out this August.
dieciseisl's review against another edition
3.0
Meeeeeeeeh D: No me ha gustado mucho, pero bueno, ha sido mejor que el primero.
marisa9459's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
not as pleasurably mysterious as the first book but still good! I do think Lia and Dimitri's romance was a little quick but I guess if you know you know. This book felt a little more placerholder-y between the 1st and 3rd. Excited to see how this prophecy ends!
lazygal's review against another edition
3.0
I'm being a little generous with this, as it's really a 2.5-star book, in large part because it suffers from series-itis: if you haven't read Book One, it will take you a while to get into Book Two (and I hadn't read Book One).
The plot is rather simplistic - battle between Good and Evil, set in vaguely Victorian era London. There's a Prophecy, and twins (Lia and Alice) who appear to be on different sides yet completely linked by this Prophecy. Book Two is largely concerned with a trip to a mysterious island, Altus, and the retrieval of missing pages from the Prophecy.
The other reason that I wanted to give the book 2.5 stars was because of Altus. It feels like a rip-off of the Avalon imagined by Marion Zimmer Bradley in The Mists of Avalon, and part of me resented that. It may have been intended as an hommage, or an unconscious similarity, but... if you loved the original, you may be equally bothered.
ARC provided by publisher.
The plot is rather simplistic - battle between Good and Evil, set in vaguely Victorian era London. There's a Prophecy, and twins (Lia and Alice) who appear to be on different sides yet completely linked by this Prophecy. Book Two is largely concerned with a trip to a mysterious island, Altus, and the retrieval of missing pages from the Prophecy.
The other reason that I wanted to give the book 2.5 stars was because of Altus. It feels like a rip-off of the Avalon imagined by Marion Zimmer Bradley in The Mists of Avalon, and part of me resented that. It may have been intended as an hommage, or an unconscious similarity, but... if you loved the original, you may be equally bothered.
ARC provided by publisher.
rozanne_visagie's review against another edition
5.0
This was an excellent read - I bought this book on a sale and usually never read them straight away. What first caught my attention was the cover and the way the book looks inside. There is a intricate snake pattern, which automatically makes you think this book is interesting. The book is about twin sisters (One is the Gate and the other the Guardian), who have to find missing pages of a book in order to fulfill the prophecy, but Lia is the good sister, and she will fulfill the prophecy for the good - while her twin Alice, is on the bad side, and is trying everything in her power to prevent Lia from finding the missing pages first...
The book is in a series, and I never knew it after I started reading it, so I would love to read the final installment :) Lia & Dimitri are my favorite characters, I lost all respect for Sonia, who was supposed to help Lia find the pages of the book to complete the prophecy. Sonia betrayed Lia in such a bad way, their friendship will never be the same again. Only Dimitri can be trusted, or so I hope....
Lia, Sonia & Louisa was in Altus, the place where Lia's aunt passed away. Her aunt played a great role in the history and the future of Altus - but now that she has passed away, the role is given to Lia, and Lia can't take the role now... neither her twin sister Alice who is on the side of the Souls...
This is a great fantasy, easy to read and the characters are amazing. The world that they describe is a world that I can believe can exist in fantasy.
You have to read this book!!
:)
The book is in a series, and I never knew it after I started reading it, so I would love to read the final installment :) Lia & Dimitri are my favorite characters, I lost all respect for Sonia, who was supposed to help Lia find the pages of the book to complete the prophecy. Sonia betrayed Lia in such a bad way, their friendship will never be the same again. Only Dimitri can be trusted, or so I hope....
Lia, Sonia & Louisa was in Altus, the place where Lia's aunt passed away. Her aunt played a great role in the history and the future of Altus - but now that she has passed away, the role is given to Lia, and Lia can't take the role now... neither her twin sister Alice who is on the side of the Souls...
This is a great fantasy, easy to read and the characters are amazing. The world that they describe is a world that I can believe can exist in fantasy.
You have to read this book!!
:)
phoebe_osgood's review
4.0
✩✩✩✩/5 stars
“Some things must be done however much we wish to avoid them.”
°。°。°。°。°。Summary°。°。°。°。°。
A prophecy that pits two sisters against each other. A prophecy that predicts the end of the world as we know it in 1891. A prophecy that we only know half of. In this second novel of the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy, our main character, Lia Milthorpe, is on the hunt for the missing second page of the prophecy. This second book focuses almost exclusively on Lia and her journey to uncover the rest of the prophecy that instructs her how to finish the battle she is in with her sister and the spirit world.
°。°。°。°。°。Characters°。°。°。°。°。
Lia as the heroine is a great example of a woman who can have it both ways, be a strong independent woman while also having a wholesome (kind of scandalous) relationship. Her boyfriend Dimitri is protective over her, but when it comes down to the most important part of their mission, retrieving the pages, she goes about it alone, without the help or support of her boyfriend (?) Dimitri.
That being said, as much as I loved the romance between Dimitri and Lia, there were many moments that I feel Dimitri's presence took away some of the engaging suspense. Dimitri’s protective nature makes both Lia and the reader feel at ease even when Lia and Dimitri are in danger. Our second introduction to Dimitri is him protecting the traveling group of Lia and her friends from hell hounds, one of the most intense parts of the book so far! When one of their guides betrays them on their quest to find the pages, Dimitri is quick to save Lia, though moments before he was struck in the head and presumably passed out. Finally, while Lia and Dimitri are being chased by, bad spirit, Samuel’s guards, Dimitri is able to draw them away from Lia again, lessening her danger immensely. But all the same, I am a huge sucker for a romance that puts butterflies in my tummy so I just ignore those issues and move right along in loving this book.
Michelle Zink did a great job filling out our side characters as well, really digging deep with Lia’s truest friends and companions, Sonia and Luisa as well as Edmund. I loved getting more backstory from those characters.
Overall Michelle Zink did a remarkable job of giving us characters that we can empathize with. While I was reading I felt just as betrayed as Lia did, just as impatient as Luisa and just as protective as Dimitri.
“The sky is inky and endless, with only a sliver of moon to light the tall, swaying grass in the fields.”
°。°。°。°。°。Story °。°。°。°。°。
The exposition at the beginning of the book, for the first hundred pages at least, left me a little tired and bored. The exposition was important, especially to set the mood of the book, but I felt like I was wishing more excitement would happen. That excitement did make itself present after we really got into the overarching conflict, but the beginning still left me wanting more.
There are also a lot of complaints that this book focuses a lot on travel. It is true, a lot of the time the characters are riding on their horses through the forest. This fact doesn't make the story any less interesting though. Michelle Zink's brilliant use of word painting draws us into the story and makes the traveling scenes irresistible. She also uses the forest setting, and the limited knowledge of the area to create a sense of suspense that wouldn't have been achievable otherwise.
“But I know that in order to get to the end of a thing, one must start at the beginning.”
°。°。°。°。°。Overall °。°。°。°。°。
This story was an incredible connection between the first book and the third one of the trilogy. It matures the characters, especially Lia, giving her a more pronounced sense of purpose. Guardian of the Gate continues to grow the concept of the prophecy by giving us the second page of the prophecy (right at the very end!!). That second page of the prophecy is also an awesome segue into the third book.
Read the first book if you haven’t already, Prophecy of the Sisters, but if you are into historical fantasy this is definitely the series for you!
Keep Reading! Phoebe <3
myeverskye's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book. I find the story very enthralling. The only complaint about this book is that there is too much traveling. She is journeying to & fro constantly in this book & the story starts to lag a little. I love Dimitri & I hope that she ends up with him. Looking forward to the next installment!
hollylynna's review against another edition
4.0
Started this on the beach today and couldn't put it down till I finished it tonight. Cannot wait till the end to see how the prophecy will be resolved.