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)

Keeps you on edge

What a great book! I look forward to listening to the third and final book. I did not see the ending coming but what a great in the edge of your seat part. Really enjoy Mr. Cards writing style I always have.

Embarrassing..

Not as good as the first book.
I hated the embarrassing teenage sexual parts which felt redundant and unrealistic. I mean, it’s not believable that everyone suddenly wants to sleep with Danny. From being an outcast he is suddenly the class prince?

awesome

awesome book love Orson Scott Card.
can't wait to start next book starting it tonight.

Can't wait!!!!

really liked the story

it's a great book I seen what was going but it is a fun ride to say... I'm going to finish the last book can't wait to see the ending!

He didn't even turn into a golden swan.

I agree with the reviews that are put off by the infatuation of teenage pregnancy. Orson Scott Card's books often come across as a pedantically cyclical read, so when the topic get's brought up, suddenly all the teenage girls in the story are obsessed with it in the same very disturbing and stupefied way. Grabbing at men's waists and demanding men 'put their baby inside me,' was an approach my mother must have missed. It's incredibly insulting to young women that this is how their teenage interests are portrayed. Really think about your teenage experience, and try to count on one hand the number of girls in your school, who would do this, and throw themselves at boys like this.

The dialogue is all in the same kidney, this adds to the cycling feeling of the book. It could almost be one person arguing with them self. The sentence structure, word usage, lines of thought, etc. cohere so that there are some golden opportunities for OSC's brand of humor, but it's not often believable that you are listening to several people talk, just one man's interpretation of a conversation.

OSC tackles Christianity, and a lot of other religions, legends, and myths, in this book. I'm not religious, but if you are, fair warning, he reinterprets the big J into his canon. Neil Gaiman did this in American Gods, then went back and edited him out, and it probably saved him some angry readers.

Stefan Rudnicki has a super creaky deep voice, like someone is opening and shutting an old door. Emily Rankin tried to match his voice in this book, which made her voice croak and crack. And to get what they are saying, you can't just dim the volume until you can just barely hear the words. The croaking is still loud before the words fuzz out. It's okay in the short term, but after a few hours it starts to hurt. When I took my ear buds out, I couldn't hear all that well for a few days.

The storyline is original. The plot twists aren't too severe. The book ambles, but it stays pretty cut and dry sequential. It'll be great for a solid OSC fan, but it's not Ender's Game.

Series Has Lost Its Way...

I don't know what happened to this story. I really enjoyed The Lost Gate and anxiously awaited book 2. Unfortunately The Gate Thief was a major let down.

This book really makes me wonder if OSC skipped over his teen years because it seems like he has no idea what teenagers are like. It's not as if his characters act like adults as some bad YA authors' protagonists do, they don't really act like any human being I've ever met. It's as if an android tried to write about human emotions based off of observations alone.

Danny North is obsessed with kissing girls, but also has some weird sexual repression/female purity issues going on. It doesn't help that all the teen girls in his life are walking wombs in waiting. They don't just want to have sex, they desperately want to get pregnant. Granted I'm no expert on the sex drives of teen girls, but I've never seen a single girl act like the girls in this novel do. It's just really weird, not exactly creepy just mind bogglingly odd and not normal. I don't know if he has strong religious beliefs about sex for procreation only that forces him to phrase teen sexual desire in this manner, but it's just strange and divorced from reality. To make it worse, the story spends an inordinately large amount of time exploring these feelings. It's true teens spend an inordinately large amount of time thinking about and discussing sex/relationships, but not like this.

Aside from poor representation of teen life, the rest of the story is lack luster compared to The Lost Gate. I lost interest in caring about Danny, Wad/Loki, and their version of the universe. The story does progress well enough, and OSC still knows how to tell a story with proper pacing. I just found myself struggling even to want the good characters to succeed. There were none of the endearing shenanigans of The Lost Gate(ie the Walmart scene). They talk about Danny being a trickster, but he doesn't do anything deserving of that title.

This story wasn't a wasted credit. The setting and magic system are interesting and fresh enough to keep me entertained. However I will have to carefully read reviews of book 3 before I decide to buy it.

Not Ender

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

To a friend, no because I keep my nerdery close to the vest. But to a fantasy fan, YES!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like the coolness of Stone. He's a nice guy with a consistent personality. I also like Wad/Loki. Loki is a tragic, smart, awful creature...

Which scene was your favorite?

When Danny drops the goons in the ocean. It was a glimpse into his potential abuse of power. I liked the emergence and abruptness of the act.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yep, I bing listen when I have been waiting for the story to continue.

Any additional comments?

Whatever you think of OSC, his offbeat politics, etc. He's a great story teller. This series is well worth a listen.

Powerplay and a lot of garbage

Let me say this first. The story is interesting and cool. The narrative is engaging.

But I didn't like it and I couldn't finish the novel. Sometimes, a novel can be good, without you liking it, and this is one of them for me. I guess, this is a fantasy novel - so some things are going to be unrealistic - hey, there's gods and kids with strange supernatural powers. But, for me, there is something basically inhuman in this entire narrative.

See, human beings are motivated by a number of motives - love, hate, anger, desire to succeed, desire for fame, power, etc. They all meld together to form us as human beings. These novels are focussed purely and purely on power and control. You know this is going to be a sole focus, when getting eating extra breakfast to be fit becomes a discussion about who has power. It's an interesting perspective to look at from a distance. Love and approval only came up in one scene where parents were involved. The characters otherwise were just focussed on power otherwise.

But somehow, it grated, and eventually it got too much and I gave up. But hey, if you think of books like pop corn and don't want to think about what they are saying, go ahead. But I warn, this book acts very pretentious and logical - but when you get right down to it, it's inhuman and disgusting in an indescribable way.

Good Story

Where does The Gate Thief rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The story is very interesting. The problem as a listener is the way the towns in the story are constantly mispronounced .

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Gate Thief?

The ability to heal the coaches daughter.

What three words best describe Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Rankin ’s performance?

Emily Rankin's performance is wonderful. Stefan constantly mispronounced Buena Vista and Staunton that I focused on that than the story. He should ask Mr. Card on the correct pronouncement .

Good story, not well paced- needed more editing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would not recommend this book unless it was on a great sale, as it was a few days ago. It is a good story, but the author gets bogged down over and over again discussing motives and inner narrative that doesn't advance the story that the book is rather tedious. The performers do a good job with the material- it would be worse reading it in paper form. It needed to be cut in half in terms of the content that is there, and more plot needs to be added. All in all, the editor dropped the ball on this book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Orson Scott Card? Why or why not?

Yes- I love a lot of his other books, from Enchantment to Ender's Game. This one is weak tea in comparison.