Demon's Gate

Rating:
Summary: delightful merging of horror with sorcery fantasy
Review: As the heir to the Dhulon throne, Valdar, accompanied by warrior Khaavorn, is sent to Schaerisa to diplomatically pass on good wishes to Tarhynda on his ascension to Emperor. However, inside the city, the elderly sorcerer Nyrthim accosts the visiting duo. Valdar knows Nyrthim as a wise teacher so he and his companion follow his former mentor to a hidden locale where they cans safely talk. Nyrthim warns the pair that demons threaten mankind's existence due to the machinations of a demon-worshipping cult headed by the Empress and includes Khaavorn's half sister married to the top general. His final revelation is that the newly crowned Emperor is a demon leading the genocide scheme.

Demons once ruled the world before being exiled into a nether realm. Now they are coming back to regain what they lost. Only Valdar and his compatriots stand in their way, but can they shut the DEMON'S GATE when the original sorcery that locked these beasts away has been lost for millennia. Failure means the demise of humanity.

DEMON'S GATE is a delightful merging of horror elements inside a classic style sorcery fantasy tale that hooks the audience from the moment the wizened old man intercepts his former student. The plot moves at a fast-pace with action and adventure at every turn of the page. Stephen White makes his key players including a demon or two seem genuine so that fans receive a terrific story starring epic heroes and vile villains that never slow down until the final confrontational adventure occurs.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: delightful merging of horror with sorcery fantasy
Review: As the heir to the Dhulon throne, Valdar, accompanied by warrior Khaavorn, is sent to Schaerisa to diplomatically pass on good wishes to Tarhynda on his ascension to Emperor. However, inside the city, the elderly sorcerer Nyrthim accosts the visiting duo. Valdar knows Nyrthim as a wise teacher so he and his companion follow his former mentor to a hidden locale where they cans safely talk. Nyrthim warns the pair that demons threaten mankind's existence due to the machinations of a demon-worshipping cult headed by the Empress and includes Khaavorn's half sister married to the top general. His final revelation is that the newly crowned Emperor is a demon leading the genocide scheme.

Demons once ruled the world before being exiled into a nether realm. Now they are coming back to regain what they lost. Only Valdar and his compatriots stand in their way, but can they shut the DEMON'S GATE when the original sorcery that locked these beasts away has been lost for millennia. Failure means the demise of humanity.

DEMON'S GATE is a delightful merging of horror elements inside a classic style sorcery fantasy tale that hooks the audience from the moment the wizened old man intercepts his former student. The plot moves at a fast-pace with action and adventure at every turn of the page. Stephen White makes his key players including a demon or two seem genuine so that fans receive a terrific story starring epic heroes and vile villains that never slow down until the final confrontational adventure occurs.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: COULD BE BETTER, COULD BE WORSE
Review: DEMON'S GATE is a nice tight little fantasy revolving around 'demons,' actually interdimensional travelers, and their desire to take over the human world. To do so they need humans to 'open' the gates allowing them access to the human world, which technology wise is in the middle of the Bronze Age.

The plot is fairly formula and the characters are rather one-dimensional caricatures of good barbarians and not so good imperials, bad priestesses and good sorcerers. As far as storylines go I've see much worse. It is a quick read with enough action and suspense that you'll probably want to read the next installment. There is also some, very slight mind you, hint of romance, but as with most of Whites books it is very, very little. Hey you read him for the war scenes anyway right?

To be honest this is pretty average fare. While it isn't Mr. White's best it's good enough that I will RECOMMEND it

Rating:
Summary: COULD BE BETTER, COULD BE WORSE
Review: DEMON'S GATE is a nice tight little fantasy revolving around `demons,' actually interdimensional travelers, and their desire to take over the human world. To do so they need humans to `open' the gates allowing them access to the human world, which technology wise is in the middle of the Bronze Age.

The plot is fairly formula and the characters are rather one-dimensional caricatures of good barbarians and not so good imperials, bad priestesses and good sorcerers. As far as storylines go I've see much worse. It is a quick read with enough action and suspense that you'll probably want to read the next installment. There is also some, very slight mind you, hint of romance, but as with most of Whites books it is very, very little. Hey you read him for the war scenes anyway right?

To be honest this is pretty average fare. While it isn't Mr. White's best it's good enough that I will RECOMMEND it

Rating:
Summary: Some great scenes, some shortcomings . . . .
Review: I have great respect for Steve White after having recently enjoyed the novels IN DEATH GROUND and THE SHIVA OPTION which he co-authored with David Weber. I expected much from this book, but I was somewhat disappointed. DEMON'S GATE has some great scenes that kept me reading, but to my mind the book also has some serious shortcomings. And some of the problems Steve White created for himself.

The names drove me crazy. White creates dozens of odd names. They have too many verbs, or in some cases, too many consonants, and are unpronounceable. What is worse, many of the names are confusingly similar. For example, two brothers are named Khaaradh and Khaavorn. I kept leafing back to the previous chapter, trying to straighten out which was which. I will quote one sentence which can suggest to you how very awkward these names become: "Lanoraak, Khaaradh, and Akhraworn were immediately on their feet besides Khaavorn, bellowing their support for him." I could NOT keep these characters straight.

For another example, two of the most central evil characters in the book, a high priestess and the demon emperor, have highly similar names of about 10 letters and -- again -- I found it almost impossible to keep them straight. The place names are just as bad. This slew of clumsy names is just continual -- the chapters are salted with them. I can't remember having so much struggle just to keep straight who was who. Or where they were! This was completely unnecessary, in my opinion.

The demons were great! Steve White not only sprinkled the book with demons, but he created several orders of demons with different powers and appearance. The scenes where the characters battled the demons were very well executed and were real page-turners. These parts of the book show White at his best. Some of the magic users -- high priests and sorcerors -- were also excellently rendered. The female mages were both drop-dead beautiful and also very frightening.

Some scenes in the book appeared to violate common sense. A good example -- Late in the evening before the great battle, the king gets this "brilliant idea" to defeat the demons. He asks one of his officers if the men can find some digging tools. A few hours later, demons the size of elephants are falling into ENORMOUS hidden pits that have been cleverly covered over with branches and leaves. In other words, soldiers with a few scrounged up shovels -- in a few hours and within sight of the enemy -- have excavated enough dirt to practically dig another Holland Tunnel. I mean, this borders on "nuts." As though a writer would describe how a bunch of janitors have rebuilt the World Trade Center overnight.

A mixed bag. A few great scenes, a few memorable wicked characters, and . . . I have to say it . . . some major shortcomings.


Rating:
Summary: Quick guilty pleasure
Review: It starts out as a normal embassy visit--warriors Khaavorn and Valdar are visiting 'the city,' center of a resurgent empire to pass on their High King's good wishes and to visit Valdar's cousin, Andonre. But the moment they get off their ship, their plans are disrupted--first by a riot, then by the arrival of a man they'd both thought long-dead. Nyrthim, a sorceror, tells them that the demons, long barred from their world, have returned. Only human sacrifice and support from the most powerful in the Empire--and in the High Kingdom could raise the energies needed to bring demons across the dimensional gates.

His fears are quickly justified when a demon appears. Nyrthim persuades Khaavorn and Valdar to spy for him--and what they discover is worse than they had immagined possible. A demon now rules the empire and plans to open a gate between universes, flooding their home world with powerful demons. When that happens, only one species will survive. Given the demon's near immunity to bronze-age weapons, humans seem the likely losers. To further reduce their hopes, Andonre has been converted by the humans who worship demons and have performed the tasks to bring them over.

Somehow, Khaavorn and Valdar must survive to get a warning back to the High King. But even that seems inadequate--because no human army seems capable of standing against a horde of demons.

Steve White's DEMON'S GATE makes for pleasant beach-type reading. His characters are fairly one-dimensional and don't seem to grow much during their adventures, but good old-fashioned demon-bashing and brawny barbarians are ever-popular and appealing. Like cotton candy, this book is a quick guilty pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful fantasy adventure.
Review: Long ago, the world was ruled by demons. Evil walked the earth and there was much pain and destruction. Using dark magic, the sorcerers drove out the demons and shut the gate behind them. Now, an old evil has risen and threatens to open the gate once again. If it does, the gate will never again be shut and demons will rule the world forever.

Original, interesting and exciting are the words I would use. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful fantasy adventure.
Review: Long ago, the world was ruled by demons. Evil walked the earth and there was much pain and destruction. Using dark magic, the sorcerers drove out the demons and shut the gate behind them. Now, an old evil has risen and threatens to open the gate once again. If it does, the gate will never again be shut and demons will rule the world forever.

Original, interesting and exciting are the words I would use. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: Now that one of the co-emperors has died, Valdor and Khaavorn are on their way to the imperial city of Schaerisa to offer the High King's condolences to the now lone emperor, Tarhynda. However, on arrival, they find themselves waylaid and brought before Valdor's old mentor, the sorcerer Nyrthim. Once, the world had been tormented by demons of great power and evil, and now someone is trying to bring those days back. Someone in the emperor's household is dealing with demons, and it is up to Valdor and Khaavorn to find out who it is. Also, with the empire's armies on the march, things are getting downright dangerous.

Overall, I found this to be a pretty good book. The setting of the story is ostensibly a bronze-age world, but everything in the story seems to point to the sixth century A.D., when the Eastern Roman Empire was seeking to reconquer the lost west. (I could not read "General Vaelsaru" without hearing "General Belisarius.") Overall, I found this to be a good story, with lots of terrifying demons and adventure, but something didn't quite click. The story is good, even very good, but it's just not great.

So, if you are looking for a good fantasy story, filled with warriors and demons and marching armies, then this book is for you.