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g8girl 's review for:
The Lost Gate
by Orson Scott Card
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
***3***
Danny North is a gate mage. He comes from a family of mages, and they, at one point, came from Westil (aka Asgard. Yes, as in Loki, Thor and Odin). But Loki, a powerful gate mage (and trickster) himself, closed all of the gates between earth and Westil. Danny's parents hope that Danny can reopen the gate. That is if the families don't kills him first. Gate mages have always been killed among the magical families, and Danny is hiding right in front of them, believing that he is in fact powerless until he realizes one day that he is actually a mage. A gate mage, the most powerful of them all.
There was nothing particularly bad about this book, but there was nothing particularly good either. Danny was a jerk kids through most of the book and I actually didn't like him. In fact, there was no one character that I did particularly like. The plot was dragged out beyond a reasonable time frame. Danny spent most of the book gating around places, stealing and causing overall havoc. It wasn't until he met the Silvermans that he actually turned into a half decent human being. This unfortunately took place about 3/4 of the way through the book.
On top of not really liking Danny, and feeling like the story was going nowhere, every few chapters are interrupted by the story of Wad, or the Tree Man and his gate mage abilities and lack of memory of who he is. At first this really irked me as there didn't seem to be any connection whatsoever to the rest of the story. Again, about 3/4 of the way through the book we realize that there is a link, an important one in fact, but it is a story made up of a whole bunch of other character that I likewise didn't really care about.
The magic system in the book was, I will admit, interesting. The characters were fairly well developed, especially Danny (even though I didn't like him and early on a lot of his actions felt forced, as though Danny the character wanted to do one thing but the authour was forcing him to do another because that's how he was "supposed" to act). He changed from the beginning to the end of the book, a very steady character arc that culminated in me not hating him by the end, but still not caring overly for him.
The inclusion of Loki and Thor and a few other Gods from other religions was a little bit confusing at first. Especially since some of the Westil families reuse names and Danny's father is the current Odin of the family.
The book had potential, but really felt drawn out and long winded. Not a whole lot actually happens in the book and unlike some other drawn out authours that I love (Brandon Sanderson) this book didn't grab my attention and took me a very long time to finish.
Unsure if I will read the sequels or not.
***3***
Danny North is a gate mage. He comes from a family of mages, and they, at one point, came from Westil (aka Asgard. Yes, as in Loki, Thor and Odin). But Loki, a powerful gate mage (and trickster) himself, closed all of the gates between earth and Westil. Danny's parents hope that Danny can reopen the gate. That is if the families don't kills him first. Gate mages have always been killed among the magical families, and Danny is hiding right in front of them, believing that he is in fact powerless until he realizes one day that he is actually a mage. A gate mage, the most powerful of them all.
There was nothing particularly bad about this book, but there was nothing particularly good either. Danny was a jerk kids through most of the book and I actually didn't like him. In fact, there was no one character that I did particularly like. The plot was dragged out beyond a reasonable time frame. Danny spent most of the book gating around places, stealing and causing overall havoc. It wasn't until he met the Silvermans that he actually turned into a half decent human being. This unfortunately took place about 3/4 of the way through the book.
On top of not really liking Danny, and feeling like the story was going nowhere, every few chapters are interrupted by the story of Wad, or the Tree Man and his gate mage abilities and lack of memory of who he is. At first this really irked me as there didn't seem to be any connection whatsoever to the rest of the story. Again, about 3/4 of the way through the book we realize that there is a link, an important one in fact, but it is a story made up of a whole bunch of other character that I likewise didn't really care about.
The magic system in the book was, I will admit, interesting. The characters were fairly well developed, especially Danny (even though I didn't like him and early on a lot of his actions felt forced, as though Danny the character wanted to do one thing but the authour was forcing him to do another because that's how he was "supposed" to act). He changed from the beginning to the end of the book, a very steady character arc that culminated in me not hating him by the end, but still not caring overly for him.
The inclusion of Loki and Thor and a few other Gods from other religions was a little bit confusing at first. Especially since some of the Westil families reuse names and Danny's father is the current Odin of the family.
The book had potential, but really felt drawn out and long winded. Not a whole lot actually happens in the book and unlike some other drawn out authours that I love (Brandon Sanderson) this book didn't grab my attention and took me a very long time to finish.
Unsure if I will read the sequels or not.