The Gate Thief

Mithermages, Book 2

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Rankin

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

In this sequel to The Lost Gate, best-selling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the mages of Westil, who live in exile on Earth.

Here on Earth, Danny North is still in high school, yet he holds in his heart and mind all the stolen outselves of 13 centuries of gatemages. The Families still want to kill him if they can’t control him - and they can’t control him; he is far too powerful.

On Westil, Wad is now nearly powerless - he lost everything to Danny in their struggle. Even if he can survive the revenge of his enemies, he must still somehow make peace with the Gatemage Daniel North, for when Danny took that power from Loki, he also took responsibility for the Great Gates. And when he comes face-to-face with the mages who call themselves Bel and Ishtoreth, he will understand just why Loki closed the gates all those centuries ago.

©2013 Orson Scott Card (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"Card weaves another in a chain of satisfying, teenager-pleasing fantasies…. Card has a grand old time romping around in the fields of comparative religion while letting a feud worthy of the Hatfields and the McCoys unfold, with much tongue-in-cheek humor but a touch of gore, too." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Familiarity with The Lost Gate is useful, but not essential, as Card gives readers enough background to have at least a partial understanding of the world he’s created….Defined characters and a highly imaginative story. For the author’s fans, a must-read." (Booklist)

Great work from Card.

After being heavily disappointed by Cards' last sequel book 'Ruins', I found this book to be excellent. The story was very good and a great performance as always from Stefan Rudnicki/ Emily Rankin. Well written, good plot, believable situations.. great ending that leaves you wanting more.

Card puts alot of sexual tension into this book

Pros:
- Good story
- Easy to keep track of whats going on
- Intriguing plot twists
- Exceptional main character

Cons:
- Card does a lot of sexual (pre-pubescent) tension, not his thing
- Weird / kiddy feel to the book

Overall, card does a lot of kids books, so i kind of expected the cons, but it doesn't change the fact that the simplistic story and sexual tension is beyond weird for Cards writing.


Good book though, highly recommend any Card fans to read it, overall 4/5.

Orson Scott Card at his very best

during the afterward, card describes the challenge of being a seasoned writer. As a man who is enamoured by great stories I am thankful that he recognizes and puts into practice the lessons this epiphany has endowed upon him. the result is this wonderful tale taken from many mythologies throughout history. it is both human and fantastic with nearly perfect balance.

I love these books

Can't wait to listen to book 3. Great voice actors to boot as well. :)

Great Fantasy World

I enjoyed this as much if not more than the first book. Being about contemporary Norse Gods seems a little odd at first but interesting (got over that in the process of reading the first book). Danny's conflicts are fun and I felt I could relate to him in some ways (even though I'm much older now). His interacting with people in his own age group is fun. I think what I really like is the parts of the story that take place in Westil (sp ?) with characters like Wad (the gate thief ... who lived for 1,000 years inside of a tree), Anonaway (sp ?) and her children, and Queen Bexoy. There is much magic and it is set up in a way that is fairly believable and very enjoyable.

Another great Orson Scott Card

Great story that brings you in, then, the twist. now I have to go get the next book.

It was kind of okay

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I really enjoyed the first book... but I could've skipped this one and not finished out the series and been okay with it. The story dragged a bit, and as soon as it seemed to be going somewhere and getting good, it slowed back down and got sluggish again.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting part of the book was the last 2 hours.

Which scene was your favorite?

Set's introduction.

Did The Gate Thief inspire you to do anything?

Read a different book.

Great, but not proofread

I liked the story, but Card really ought to have had it proofread. It was inconsistent with The Lost Gate in too many ways.
<spoiler alert>
In TLG the North family is a hard bunch used to harsh conditions. Card makes this very clear by letting Danny run around barefoot his whole life. He hardly knew what shoes were for. But in TGT he is too footsore to walk barefoot over the gravel on the driveway.

In TLG Card makes an elaborate plot to get Danny a fake birth certificate with “Stone” as his last name so he can enroll high school. So when his high school friend calls him “Danny North” in the start of TGT, I was convinced he was possessed.... but later everyone in the school, including the principal calls him “North”.
And wasn’t the wild gate a one way gate in TLG? I might have that one wrong though.

Exceptional

I'm not much of a reader and haven't been to involved in Audible to make such a great comparison to other stories and this story seems to dwarf my understanding on how to create such a glowing review I would choose to impose. With that being said this has quickly turned into the best story I have conciously perceived. I'm only 30 and there is still another book to get through, I'm looking forward to the final book and dread there being no more once it has concluded.

Go Card Go

If you could sum up The Gate Thief in three words, what would they be?

Time travel
Religion
Teenaged angst

I know these aren't 3 words.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

How the story began to weave in ancient religions into the fabric of the story and how it made perfect sense to do so!

Which scene was your favorite?

I cannot tell you but it is near the end!

Any additional comments?

Another Orson Scott Card hit!