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)

Not bad, Not good

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listen on my way in to work in the morning, and my way home in the evening.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

As I'm listening through the book, I don't feel like there is a whole lot of character development within this book specifically. In the first book of the series, we got to spend a lot of time with the characters, and really get why and how they reacted to things. In The Gate Thief, I'm constantly feeling like people are doing random things against their character for no reason what so ever. OSC Keeps trying to portray Danny as this kid who wants to do the right thing and be a stand up guy, but then there are parts of the story where he acts like a little brat. Specifically the way Danny treated coach leader, and acted when joining the track team. I know leader's a jerk, but the mark of someone truly good, is their ability to respectfully handle a situation without making them self look like an ass. I would like to see reaffirmations of how the character behaves and interacts with people and let me be the judge of whether that person's choices were good choices or not. I felt like I was being Pushed and prodded towards Danny being a really stand up guy, but his actions that he took half the time felt the opposite.

Was The Gate Thief worth the listening time?

The book was rather short compared to other books I've listened to, and since the book was, in my mind mediocre, it about evened out.

Any additional comments?

I know that in most books your going to encounter periods of things you enjoy and things that bore you, etc. Because I often listen to audio books during my commute, I often can judge a book by how often I walk into my house and keep the audio book running on my phone. If I'm listening outside of my car, it often means that something interested me to the point that I really wanted to know more. That so far in this book has only happened once to me.

A Good Second Book

I listened to the first book only two weeks before this one and it flowed nicely from book to book. This is one of those book series that is one large story and not true series. The story line picks up where The Lost Gate left off and continues on nicely and end with me looking for the next part of the download.

If you liked The Lost Gate you will like this one too.

Dull

I loved Orson Scott Cards work but this series is just going downhill hoping for a strong finish but not expecting one. Amazing world and ideas brought down by terrible characters!

How long till Book 3?!

Would you listen to The Gate Thief again? Why?

The intertwining story lines that begin to met more and more in this book have lots of little intricacies which would really be highlighted by a second listen.

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

When Bel took over Danny North's body, you could see it coming but the entire time you could not stop listening!

What does Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Rankin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I really enjoy Stefen Rudnicki, could do without Emily but they do create an interesting tension as they trade off.

Any additional comments?

I can not wait for the next book!

good story. preferred miss card.

the female narrator is nasally and irritating. the story is good though. the ending made me rage a little, I hope the 3rd solves this.

Irritating Voice Reads Part Of Story

Would you be willing to try another one of Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Rankin ’s performances?

Stefan, yes. Emily, no.

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

No because I I often turned it off when Emily started reading.

great story

Really enjoyed this story and the whole series thus far. Can't wait to start book 3 next!

OSC 4-EVER

he has a way with words , keeps even me interested , best narrators!

what are mages

Good read. wanted more information about mage history and the duat. I really liked it though.

Set-up novel to what will be an Awesome third.

OSC protagonists tend to have common themes, special young boys, Intelligent wise and insightful beyond their years. Most of this book the reader is following along with Danny making insights into the nature of Magery and its mechanics with the interactions between the "in-self" and "out-self". To me this rounds out the mechanics, leaving only the final revelation on the nature and origin of magic/the enemy missing. Meaning that the next book, rather than struggle through definitions of character and powers, the world will be set loose to the machinations of powerful mages to drive an action packed third novel.

I've come to look forward to each Afterward from OSC. Many of his afterwards are explanations of thought processes he had while writing that make you feel connected to the writing process. The afterward explains the what I felt was a discontinuity between the first and second novel.