Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by erinbrenner
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
2.0
After thinking about this for a couple of days, I've decided that while I liked the book, it wasn't as great as I originally thought.
Card writes an entertaining story, no doubt. But in the epilogue, he wrote about how the book was six months late because he ripped it apart and started over. The only draft, he said, was in our hands. In my professional opinion, he should have written another draft before handing it in. The results are uneven and underdeveloped.
The beginning is slow. As Card wrote in the epilogue, there was a lot of exposition to get through. Granted. But a rewrite might have uncovered a better way to do it. I almost put the book down. Yet once the story got rolling, I was along for the ride.
It was refreshing to have a young male character wanting to stay chaste and to see him struggle with it. However, I found that fact that all the high school girls around him were overeager to jump into bed with him. It stinks of male egoism. Even Pat was ready for sex, which is at odds with the rest of her character: quiet, practical, reliable. I found it unbelievable and disturbing.
When it comes to it, none of the high school students were believable. The girls are too concerned with sex and getting pregnant, the boys too uninterested in it, and all of them overly concerned that Danny might be gay. And none of it advances the story. Only Nicki's actions do, and she's not part of Danny's circle.
Wad is also incredibly inconsistent (unless it will be revealed that he's being strongly controlled by Anonoei). One minute he's impressed with Danny's character and beating himself up for not teaching him and protecting against the chance that the Belmage, the next he's plotting revenge and determined not to give Danny his gates back.
Despite the action of the story, the characters are weak, some no more than cardboard cutouts. I don't know that I'll read the last book when it's published.
Card writes an entertaining story, no doubt. But in the epilogue, he wrote about how the book was six months late because he ripped it apart and started over. The only draft, he said, was in our hands. In my professional opinion, he should have written another draft before handing it in. The results are uneven and underdeveloped.
The beginning is slow. As Card wrote in the epilogue, there was a lot of exposition to get through. Granted. But a rewrite might have uncovered a better way to do it. I almost put the book down. Yet once the story got rolling, I was along for the ride.
It was refreshing to have a young male character wanting to stay chaste and to see him struggle with it. However, I found that fact that all the high school girls around him were overeager to jump into bed with him. It stinks of male egoism. Even Pat was ready for sex, which is at odds with the rest of her character: quiet, practical, reliable. I found it unbelievable and disturbing.
When it comes to it, none of the high school students were believable. The girls are too concerned with sex and getting pregnant, the boys too uninterested in it, and all of them overly concerned that Danny might be gay. And none of it advances the story. Only Nicki's actions do, and she's not part of Danny's circle.
Wad is also incredibly inconsistent (unless it will be revealed that he's being strongly controlled by Anonoei). One minute he's impressed with Danny's character and beating himself up for not teaching him and protecting against the chance that the Belmage, the next he's plotting revenge and determined not to give Danny his gates back.
Despite the action of the story, the characters are weak, some no more than cardboard cutouts. I don't know that I'll read the last book when it's published.