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A review by mackle13
The Seventh Gate by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
3.0
The finale of the Death Gate cycle, and, ultimately, I'd say it probably went the way I was generally expecting it to go. Which isn't a bad thing, per se.
I did find parts of it a bit weird that were like, "And here's a 5 page reminder of what's happening on other worlds, as addressed in prior books" - but I probably would've found it more useful if I were reading these books years apart, instead of just a month at a time.
Anyway - as with most of the books in the series, I found it to start slower and then pick up as the story progressed. I sort of felt like, though, with this being the last series, and with the cliffhanger ending of the last book, that it should've been a bit more... tense? Exciting?
I just felt kind of flat, in parts, after the ending of the prior book. For me...
Anyway -
I did like the ending, including I continued to be annoyed with the one set of Sartan, lead by Ramah, but I liked Balthazar and company, from the Labyrinth.
I wish we'd seen a little more of the other worlds in this book, though - aside from the recaps. Like, to see how they were reacting to the events happening, instead of just a little aside bit. We got some in the epilogue, but I would've liked to have revisited the group at Celestra, especially, if only briefly.
Overall, I would say that while I enjoyed the series, it also feels a bit dated to me. (And the covers are hysterically perfect for fantasy books of the time period. Oh gods, I love how bad they are... )
But it is an interesting series, and I like the characters and how they develop over time - especially Haplo and Alfred, of course - and also the overall messages about coming together and working together and overcoming prejudices and all that good stuff.
I think this could easily be a 4-star series if the writing was a bit tighter and each book didn't take so long to actually get going...
I did find parts of it a bit weird that were like, "And here's a 5 page reminder of what's happening on other worlds, as addressed in prior books" - but I probably would've found it more useful if I were reading these books years apart, instead of just a month at a time.
Anyway - as with most of the books in the series, I found it to start slower and then pick up as the story progressed. I sort of felt like, though, with this being the last series, and with the cliffhanger ending of the last book, that it should've been a bit more... tense? Exciting?
I just felt kind of flat, in parts, after the ending of the prior book. For me...
Anyway -
I did like the ending, including
Spoiler
Xar's 11th hour bolt of realization that he's a giant asshole and sacrifice.I wish we'd seen a little more of the other worlds in this book, though - aside from the recaps. Like, to see how they were reacting to the events happening, instead of just a little aside bit. We got some in the epilogue, but I would've liked to have revisited the group at Celestra, especially, if only briefly.
Overall, I would say that while I enjoyed the series, it also feels a bit dated to me. (And the covers are hysterically perfect for fantasy books of the time period. Oh gods, I love how bad they are... )
But it is an interesting series, and I like the characters and how they develop over time - especially Haplo and Alfred, of course - and also the overall messages about coming together and working together and overcoming prejudices and all that good stuff.
I think this could easily be a 4-star series if the writing was a bit tighter and each book didn't take so long to actually get going...