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Book Review: The Lost Gate

    Hey, everyone. If you're like me, you're constantly on the lookout for good books, games and movies. I often ask people, "Have you read any good books lately?" Also, if someone tips you off to a bad book, it will save you some money.
   Recently, someone mentioned the Fantasy novel called The Lost Gate, by Orson Scott Card. I went over to Amazon and bought it as an E-Book for a hefty $12.00 or so. I won't even begin to rant on the price of E-Books right now.
     Fantasy is something I rarely read. Science Fiction is preferred to Fantasy but I don't even read much Sci-Fi any more. When I was a teen, I read the Rings Trilogy and I liked it okay, though I've never watched any of the movies. So when I say that I liked this book fairly well but I didn't love it, keep in mind that you may love it if you love the genre. Here's the recipe for the book.
    Danny is a 12-year old boy who lives in a compound with the Northers, descendants of the Norse people from the realm of Asgard. Though they were worshiped as gods by ancient peoples they are merely mortals who lived in another world apart from Earth. They could travel back and forth through gates until Loki, the Trickster closed all the gates. Then the race was scattered and powerless to a large extent.
    Danny doesn't have any of the mutant-like abilites of his peers, at least for his first 12 years. Then he discovers that he is a Gate Mage, possibly the first such mage in 1300 years. This means that he can open gates and move instantly from one place to another, even though it's thousands of miles or even to the fabled world of Asgard.
    You'd think that this ability would make him the 'Belle of the Ball', but noooooo. There are many people, including his parents, who want him dead. Then there is a Gate Keeper who would instantly try to steal his powers if the youngster tries to travel to the ancestral homeland of the "Northers".
   As the boy gates around this world and others there are new friends to make and new foes as well. There are slow parts to the book and other parts that are very entertaining. The best part is where Danny tries to go to High School like a normal kid, which he certainly is not.
    I actually skipped a few pages here and there, which I almost never do with a book. The reason being that the author started off the book by throwing out a lot of terms which Earthlings have no knowledge of and he didn't explain them. Things like Beastfriends and Wind Mage, for example.
    As the story progresses, you have two separate themes. Besides Danny, there is a completely separate 'hero' on another planet. This is a guy called Wad, who enters the picture when a family discovers a lump on a tree that resembles a boy. Imagine their fear when a boy begins to emerge from underneath the bark. It seems that this youngster has gated to a place he didn't want to be, one of the many hazards of 'gating'. How will Wad and Danny even remotely relate to one another? Do they even exist in the same time? Perhaps they are even the same boy? You'll have to read the book to find out, dude.
   The book was refreshing for me in that it was a genre that I never partake of and I enjoyed it. Was it great? No. Was it good? Yes. Will I buy the sequel, if one is indeed written? Probably. By the way, the book doesn't end, really. It's very apparent that a sequel is intended.
    The bottom line is 3.5 stars out of 5. I'd say that it would be a better buy if you ordered a paperback version or something, so you could get by with a purchase half the size of my $12. Of course, if you're a Fantasy guy or gal, you might love it.
    Posting this from Mittgard? Nah, just the author's green retreat.
    I'm CE Wills.
P.S. Hey, those of you who are into music, I have a couple of songs for you to check out on Amazon or I-Tunes. Try I Won't Let Go by Rascal Flatts and Jar Of Hearts by Christina Perri. Goodnight! 

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