The Lost Gate

Mithermages, Book 1

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Janice Card

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Orson Scott Card’s The Lost Gate is the first book in the Mithermages series from the New York Times bestselling author of Ender’s Game.

Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different—and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an outself.

He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father. Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.

There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow. There is a secret library with only a few dozen books, and none of them in English—but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books. While Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.

Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny as well. And that will lead to disaster for the North family.

©2011 Orson Scott Card (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[T]his ambitious tale is well crafted, highly detailed, and pleasantly accessible." (Publishers Weekly)

Interesting new world, characters - classic Card

Would you listen to The Lost Gate again? Why?

I enjoyed the development of an alternative world so nearly like our own, but with a secret set of rules most of us never see.

Great Story!

What did you love best about The Lost Gate?

The Story kept me on the edge of my earphones! Could not wait to listen

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

The whole story. Not just one point.

Not bad

It was a good, if trite fantasy story. not a horrible way to spend the time, but if there are Orison Scott Card books that you have not read, it would be better to spend your time and money on them.

Another exhilarating adventure

Whenever I listen to one of Card's novels I expect to be transported into the story, intrigued, and entertained the entire way through and The Lost Gate doesn't disappoint.

Missed opportunity

I really hoped that the book would involve a lot more of Dannys escape from the families and him learning the ways of the common man while at it. And I really wish it involved more of the families heck maybe even a small war between them during the book. Instead I got a book about ancient mystery witch was completely boring and I didn't really enjoy Wade's parts that much either I could have, but here it was also a missed opportunity for what could have been an awesome tale.

Good story, Bad language

I was very disappointed in all the swearing. I enjoyed the story and world of magic created by the author, but will not be able to recommend it to my friends or my children because of the use of offensive words so often through the story.

a truly magical story

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

OSC is a wonderfully talented writer of science fiction. The reader (listener) feels a close personal relationship with well developed characters. The narration is excellent, and draws you into the story. I just loved it

Good Story, a nice change for OSC

Any additional comments?

I like the story a lot, its very good and i highly recommend reading it if you like fantasy stories. Don't go into it comparing it to any other series b/c that always taints your experience. Keep an open, clear mind and allow yourself to become immersed in the world of the Mithermages.

That said, the narration is not great. There is no reason to have two narrators in this story and knowing that the female voice is OSC's daughter, i can't help but think that she is only narrating this b/c of that fact, not b/c its appropriate for the story. Not that she does a bad job, to be honest, i would've preferred if she narrated the entire book.

If you want to hear a great example of a male/female narration team (along with a great, great story) listen to The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (or any of the Wheel of Time books). The husband and wife duo of Kate Reading and Michael Kramer masterfully narrate the entire series and it is by far the best example of dual gender narration i've heard to date.

Lastly, Stefan Rudnicki's voice is very stiff and full and doesn't feel like it fits an adolescent protagonist or the supporting characters. However, knowing OSC likes audiobooks, I think he tailored his writing to work with audiobooks b/c there weren't many times when you didn't know who was speaking despite the fact that Rudnicki seems to be incapable of sounding remotely like a female.

So I slammed the narration portion pretty hard (this IS Audible, after all) but if you're willing to pay the money and give it a chance, you will be able to get past any of this book's shortcomings simply b/c the story is great.

by far the best in the series

great first book. second book was okay. third book totally fizzled. as the author himself said, he was done with the story by early book 2 and then had to write in new stuff to make it a full trilogy...

Double narrator is interesting.

The main character is in his teens, yet the man narrating is obviously older, so that was sort-of odd, but he does a good job none-the-less. The female narrator does a fantastic job, especially since she's narrating a man half of the time (I also loved her voice in general!).

The first part is a bit slow, especially when he gets into figuring out how to go about using his own gift (not really a spoiler), but it picks up after that. I think that Card started out slowly because he knew he was writing multiples so hopefully the ones after this have more action and heart.

I see a lot of potential later on, because there is a lot of room to move around within the world that Card sets this in, so it's a good starter book for a series.