The Lost GateBy Orson Scott Card
Tor, 2011. 384 pgs. Fantasy.
Danny is something of an outcast among his cousins growing up in a remote family compound where magical abilities are valued above all else. His parents are both powerful and respected mages who are frequently away and seem to care little for their only child. Danny’s lack of magical talents is nuisance, but when he discovers he may be far more powerful than any mage in ages, his life is in serious danger.
Card has built an intriguing new world of magic. Danny’s magical ability allows him to build gates that immediately transport him to another place. But beyond a transit device, gates also possess healing powers and can strengthen a mages powers when the gate is used to travel between worlds. However, I could not help but feel that the whole book was about the magic at the expense of story and characters. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that the entire book was a buildup for novels yet to come, an aspect of fantasy fiction that I struggle to embrace. This could be the good start to a new popular series, though I doubt I’ll be motivated to dive in any further.
CZ
1 comment:
Danny starts as a fairly unremarkable character. He’s surrounded by a family where everyone has magical abilities, but not him. He tries to find his place in the family dynamics, but his cousins look down on him for his lack of magic. When he discovers a unique ability, he must go on the run to protect his life as well as his family’s. The magic system Card created is interesting, as well as the way mythologies interact, but the characters generally felt a little flat and stereotypical for me. In the author’s note at the end of the book Card explained that when he conceived the magic system and characters for this story he had imagined them at a later point in their journey, but then created The Lost Gate as their origin story. Thus, it feels like a lot of build up for later stories, rather than a full story on its own.
ACS
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