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A review by sastrau1
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
4.0
I'm a big Card fan and I was really looking forward to this book, but I walked away with mixed feeling. I give the story 5 stars, for sure. Card is a great story telling and a fantastic world builder and he does not let down with this Book 2 of the Mither Mages series. Card continues a great tale, explaining many unanswered questions from Book 1 and setting up a whole new set of problems for what will be Book 3. I loved the major characters and was definitely invested in what happened to them. As with all Card stories, what I love most is how off the grid his creativity is. You never feel like you are reading a copy of something else with his works. This story is definitely worth a read (or listen in my case).
What I can't give 5 starts to are the minor characters and some of the dialog and personality traits. Everyone in this book spoke the same - everyone is witty and a bit sarcastic. All of the teenage characters speak in a very unrealistic way about books and sex. It was obnoxious enough in parts that it distracted from the story. In his afterward, Card talks about not wanting these minor characters to be peripheral or dispensable, but they were - you just can't get attached to a bunch of obnoxious girls saying "please put a baby in my belly." And I don't know what teenager would ever say that. Also, since I've read all of the Ender books, I feel that Card's characters are starting to sound the same across his books. Part of this problem might have been due to having Rudnicki read for both series. I loved Rudnicki for the Ender books, but hearing his same unique voice applied to Danny North was confusing. I also do not like the tone Rudnicki used when he was portraying Danny's teenage friends, especially the girls. I think Rudnicki is great, but for Card fans, it might be worth considering different voices for different novels. On the other hand, Emily Rankin, who read for the parts that occurred on Westeros, was terrific at doing male and female voices - I really enjoyed listening to her.
So, in summary - 5 star story + major characters, 2 - 3 star dialog/minor character issues, but well worth the read to disappear into this new world. Hoping some of these minor issues will get fixed in the next book and I can go back to my usual 5 stars for Card.
What I can't give 5 starts to are the minor characters and some of the dialog and personality traits. Everyone in this book spoke the same - everyone is witty and a bit sarcastic. All of the teenage characters speak in a very unrealistic way about books and sex. It was obnoxious enough in parts that it distracted from the story. In his afterward, Card talks about not wanting these minor characters to be peripheral or dispensable, but they were - you just can't get attached to a bunch of obnoxious girls saying "please put a baby in my belly." And I don't know what teenager would ever say that. Also, since I've read all of the Ender books, I feel that Card's characters are starting to sound the same across his books. Part of this problem might have been due to having Rudnicki read for both series. I loved Rudnicki for the Ender books, but hearing his same unique voice applied to Danny North was confusing. I also do not like the tone Rudnicki used when he was portraying Danny's teenage friends, especially the girls. I think Rudnicki is great, but for Card fans, it might be worth considering different voices for different novels. On the other hand, Emily Rankin, who read for the parts that occurred on Westeros, was terrific at doing male and female voices - I really enjoyed listening to her.
So, in summary - 5 star story + major characters, 2 - 3 star dialog/minor character issues, but well worth the read to disappear into this new world. Hoping some of these minor issues will get fixed in the next book and I can go back to my usual 5 stars for Card.