The Lost Gate (Mither Mages) (utgåvan 2011)

Do not read. ( )

I honestly didn't know what to expect with this one, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find a magic system that incorporates every myth of gods and creates families out of them, weak with time but always hoping for the potential to get much, much more powerful.

That only happens with Gate magic.

Enter Danny, learning that he can bend space and time and learning much about himself as he leaves his scary folks and their community to become a thief. It's a perfect field for someone who can jump anywhere. :)

There's a lot more, too, of course, and the end was fascinating and open to so much goodness... but the one thing that really stands out the most is the post word.

Anyone who's been a big fan of Card's early short fiction will be very pleasantly surprised that this whole novel has the feel of some of his most imaginative works. That's saying quite a bit. I still have a grand memory of them that led me into a life-long love of reading Card in general and not just because he wrote a few of my absolute favorites, like Ender's Game or A Planet Called Treason. :)

I'm still quite amazed that he can write such cool things and do it so engagingly. He deserves respect. His personal opinions on some topics aside, his regular writing is quite fine and always entertaining. I personally don't think he's lost his touch at all. I love the ideas going on here. If he does have issues in RL, it's not showing up in his novels. In fact, I'm very interested in plowing right through all three of these to see where it'll head!

( )

bailing @ 35% / 4:16:50. I don't care about the characters. Writing seems stilted.

DNF @ 14%

Something about Danny North's character turned me off. I can't speak much to the plot, but it hadn't actually gone much of anywhere before I gave up on this book. I listened to enough to know that Danny was supposed to be more intelligent than his peers, that he was on the edge of being killed by his family for being different, and that he was doing nothing about it. Yawn. Then he finally gets to a point where Something Happens to force him to take action, and all of a sudden Danny is this know-it-all smart ass. Sure. Fine. That's enough of this book for me.

A great stand alone piece of science fiction fantasy, and likely the start of a promising new series. This novel should appeal to Card's legion of fans as well as anyone who enjoys speculative fiction with characters who rely on quick thinking rather than violence or tales of mind-bending time-travel conundrums. ( I have been a huge fan, ever since The Ender series, and have whole-heartedly loved his novel Enchantment. I still carry around a copy of this paperback. lol)
Orson Scott Card is one of those rare authors who is not only prolific but continues to write incredibly creative and fascinating science fiction and fantasy. His latest book, The Lost Gate, continues in this tradition. Card has done it again: he has created a whole new world and populated it with incredibly interesting characters. When you combine this with the fact that Card is a masterful story teller, it is no surprise that this book is a real page turner.
Card is an expert at building up suspense while moving the story forward at a rapid pace. The biggest danger in picking up this book in the first place is that you will not want to put it down. I started reading this at a time where I really didn't have much time to read and Card still got me hook, line, and sinker. And when you reach the end, it is clear that there is so much more to tell. In The Lost Gate, Card has created the basis for a saga that will rival his Ender or Alvin Maker series. For those of us who crave cutting edge fantasy, this book is the real deal. Highly recommended. ( )