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vaderbird's review against another edition
4.0
re-read
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
mackle13's review against another edition
3.0
The finale of the Death Gate cycle, and, ultimately, I'd say it probably went the way I was generally expecting it to go. Which isn't a bad thing, per se.
I did find parts of it a bit weird that were like, "And here's a 5 page reminder of what's happening on other worlds, as addressed in prior books" - but I probably would've found it more useful if I were reading these books years apart, instead of just a month at a time.
Anyway - as with most of the books in the series, I found it to start slower and then pick up as the story progressed. I sort of felt like, though, with this being the last series, and with the cliffhanger ending of the last book, that it should've been a bit more... tense? Exciting?
I just felt kind of flat, in parts, after the ending of the prior book. For me...
Anyway -
I did like the ending, including I continued to be annoyed with the one set of Sartan, lead by Ramah, but I liked Balthazar and company, from the Labyrinth.
I wish we'd seen a little more of the other worlds in this book, though - aside from the recaps. Like, to see how they were reacting to the events happening, instead of just a little aside bit. We got some in the epilogue, but I would've liked to have revisited the group at Celestra, especially, if only briefly.
Overall, I would say that while I enjoyed the series, it also feels a bit dated to me. (And the covers are hysterically perfect for fantasy books of the time period. Oh gods, I love how bad they are... )
But it is an interesting series, and I like the characters and how they develop over time - especially Haplo and Alfred, of course - and also the overall messages about coming together and working together and overcoming prejudices and all that good stuff.
I think this could easily be a 4-star series if the writing was a bit tighter and each book didn't take so long to actually get going...
I did find parts of it a bit weird that were like, "And here's a 5 page reminder of what's happening on other worlds, as addressed in prior books" - but I probably would've found it more useful if I were reading these books years apart, instead of just a month at a time.
Anyway - as with most of the books in the series, I found it to start slower and then pick up as the story progressed. I sort of felt like, though, with this being the last series, and with the cliffhanger ending of the last book, that it should've been a bit more... tense? Exciting?
I just felt kind of flat, in parts, after the ending of the prior book. For me...
Anyway -
I did like the ending, including
Spoiler
Xar's 11th hour bolt of realization that he's a giant asshole and sacrifice.I wish we'd seen a little more of the other worlds in this book, though - aside from the recaps. Like, to see how they were reacting to the events happening, instead of just a little aside bit. We got some in the epilogue, but I would've liked to have revisited the group at Celestra, especially, if only briefly.
Overall, I would say that while I enjoyed the series, it also feels a bit dated to me. (And the covers are hysterically perfect for fantasy books of the time period. Oh gods, I love how bad they are... )
But it is an interesting series, and I like the characters and how they develop over time - especially Haplo and Alfred, of course - and also the overall messages about coming together and working together and overcoming prejudices and all that good stuff.
I think this could easily be a 4-star series if the writing was a bit tighter and each book didn't take so long to actually get going...
inferiorwit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
vycee's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lazyowl's review against another edition
5.0
The Death Gate Cycle is definitely high on my list of favourite books. I've read these books a few times over and always enjoy them.
The final book in the series does not disappoint. If you are a lover of fantasy genre, then I highly recommend the Death Gate Cycle.
The final book in the series does not disappoint. If you are a lover of fantasy genre, then I highly recommend the Death Gate Cycle.
louisv's review against another edition
3.0
Still a bit disappointed but I expected it so that helped a bit
knutsoel's review against another edition
1.0
Ok, the final book.
It was like "Oh now the realy big stuf must all happen!"
And that in the shortest volume of the series...
That can't be a good thing, with all the stuff that still had to happen.
And I was right.
Characters became caricature like playing cards.
Scenes became sort of rushed.
And again, reppetition...
plus useless sidenotes
And then it ends like a typical fairy tale; they all live happily ever after. "yay......."
The complete series was a waste of time for a reread.
It was like "Oh now the realy big stuf must all happen!"
And that in the shortest volume of the series...
That can't be a good thing, with all the stuff that still had to happen.
And I was right.
Characters became caricature like playing cards.
Scenes became sort of rushed.
And again, reppetition...
plus useless sidenotes
And then it ends like a typical fairy tale; they all live happily ever after. "yay......."
The complete series was a waste of time for a reread.
albatrossonhalfpointe's review against another edition
3.0
Finally over. As I suspected it might be, this one was an improvement over the last few. I even found that its middle was somewhat less meandering and interminable as most. So that's good. But it had its flaws, too.
The main one, I'd have to say, is the lack of closure for almost all the characters. At the end, we get a resolution of sorts for a good chunk of the characters (Haplo, Marit, Alfred, Hugh, Jonathon, Xar, and to a certain extent, the rest of the Sartan and Patryns, as well as the serpents and dragons. We get a little bit of Limbeck and Jarre, a little of the Kenkari, and even a little something for Zifnab. Which sounds like a lot, but there are even more who got nothing. On Arianus: Iridal, Re'shahn (or however they choose to spell his name at any given moment), Stephen & Anne. On Pryan: Paithan, Rega, Aleatha, and Roland (basically everybody left alive). On Chelestra: Again, everyone. On Abarrach there was no one really left, but even if there had been, I bet we wouldn't have found out what happened to them. So the point is that that is a lot of people that we have no conclusion for whatsoever.
And frankly, I don't know why Pryan and Chelestra were even in this story. Chelestra at least contributed the serpents, but none of the mensch from that world had any bearing on the final outcome. And really? Same goes for Pryan. The only thing it really contributed was extreme aggravation, and the most tiresome characters I've read about in a very long time. I just feel that if you're going to do this whole four worlds coming together thing, make all of them equally important. Otherwise, a few of them really do come across as being completely superfluous, and the reader is left wondering why they even bothered with those books.
And then there's the repetition. Oh. My. God. This book had less of it than the others, but seriously? Were Weis and Hickman under the impression that all of their readers had the attention span of a gnat on speed? I can forgive repeating stuff from previous books (once), because although it's annoying when you read them all at once, with the time between the publication of each book, that's justifiable. But there is no call whatsoever to repeat things multiple times within the same book. A reminder of who some character is that you met briefly at the beginning, but he doesn't come back until the end? Sure. Several reminders within a few pages of a major character's background and intense magical powers? Makes me want to throw things. So at the risk of being repetitive myself, these two desperately needed a better editor to reign them in.
There's a decent story here, with some really great characters. But it reads like it was written by a not very skilled teenager with very little experience, and that's really too bad.
The main one, I'd have to say, is the lack of closure for almost all the characters. At the end, we get a resolution of sorts for a good chunk of the characters (Haplo, Marit, Alfred, Hugh, Jonathon, Xar, and to a certain extent, the rest of the Sartan and Patryns, as well as the serpents and dragons. We get a little bit of Limbeck and Jarre, a little of the Kenkari, and even a little something for Zifnab. Which sounds like a lot, but there are even more who got nothing. On Arianus: Iridal, Re'shahn (or however they choose to spell his name at any given moment), Stephen & Anne. On Pryan: Paithan, Rega, Aleatha, and Roland (basically everybody left alive). On Chelestra: Again, everyone. On Abarrach there was no one really left, but even if there had been, I bet we wouldn't have found out what happened to them. So the point is that that is a lot of people that we have no conclusion for whatsoever.
And frankly, I don't know why Pryan and Chelestra were even in this story. Chelestra at least contributed the serpents, but none of the mensch from that world had any bearing on the final outcome. And really? Same goes for Pryan. The only thing it really contributed was extreme aggravation, and the most tiresome characters I've read about in a very long time. I just feel that if you're going to do this whole four worlds coming together thing, make all of them equally important. Otherwise, a few of them really do come across as being completely superfluous, and the reader is left wondering why they even bothered with those books.
And then there's the repetition. Oh. My. God. This book had less of it than the others, but seriously? Were Weis and Hickman under the impression that all of their readers had the attention span of a gnat on speed? I can forgive repeating stuff from previous books (once), because although it's annoying when you read them all at once, with the time between the publication of each book, that's justifiable. But there is no call whatsoever to repeat things multiple times within the same book. A reminder of who some character is that you met briefly at the beginning, but he doesn't come back until the end? Sure. Several reminders within a few pages of a major character's background and intense magical powers? Makes me want to throw things. So at the risk of being repetitive myself, these two desperately needed a better editor to reign them in.
There's a decent story here, with some really great characters. But it reads like it was written by a not very skilled teenager with very little experience, and that's really too bad.
danarama's review against another edition
2.0
All I really recall from this series is really enjoying the first five books, being meh on #6 and #7 being such a let down that it made me regret buying and reading the rest of them.