Horror Book Reviews
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Title: Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle) |
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Review of Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle)
- Pursued by assassins, Haplo, the only one who knows the location of the mysterious Seventh Gate, and his old companion, Alfred, seek refuge in the Labyrinth, a lethal prison maze whose inhabitants are condemned to death. Reprint.
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Comments for Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle)
- Posted on 2006-07-09
Death Gate Cycle
This is the 6th book in the Death Gate Cycle series. If you haven't read the previous ones, this book does do a good job of catching you up. However, for full understanding you should read them in order. The authors do a great job on character development and plot. I could not put this series down.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2006-05-01
Into the Labyrinth
Into the Labyrinth
The book Into the Labyrinth by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman was an amazing book. It is the seventh in the Death Gate series. In this book Haplo, Alfred, Marit, and Hugh the Hand are thrown back into the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is the prison created by the Sartan to hold the Patryn but something went wrong and the magical prison started to use its magic to try to kill any and all who wished to escape. Using evil magic, creatures, and the forces of nature it tries to kill all inside of it. While in the prison the heroes discover a Patryn city inside the Labyrinth, something unheard of for the Patryns because they are constantly moving on hoping to reach freedom. While in the city they make another astonishing discovery -read the book to find out what it is.
The book was incredibly exciting to read because there were a ton of cool battles between good and evil. The battles were so exciting to read because the author made up so many new creatures to fight against, like the Chaodyn, an insect-like creature that if it is not stabbed in the heart and killed instantly any drop of blood shed will make another Chaodyn. You were definitely able to feel like you were in the book because the author brings you into a new world and puts so much detail into everything. You can picture every thing happening because of the amazing descriptions. The main conflict did interest me because it was the classic good vs. evil but with a new twist where good and evil have been given actual beings that try to persuade people to do good or evil. That makes the book a lot more interesting too. Most of the characters seemed realistic, except they had magic powers or weren't human, because they had real emotions and the author was very good at describing them. Instead of saying "they were happy" the author would say "they felt boundless joy." The books' ending was pretty satisfying but it did leave a lot to be answered in the next one.
The author's voice is generally first person except when they might explain some of the history. The author uses a simple vocabulary but mixes in made up words like Sartan and Patryn. Some things that make the authors unique are that they made up an entirely new world, one where there is four worlds not one. They have gone above and beyond to create this world. They made a history of all the races and the actual worlds. They have made up new creatures to inhabit this world, like Wolfen and Snogg, and they even went as far as to not create one history for all for worlds but every world has its own unique story. The author used dialogue to move the story along, explain things, and let you know the characters better. The author was very descriptive of everything be it a person, place, or other. The overall tone of the book was we must save the world. I really like the way the author writes because I love fantasy and they have made a great fantasy series for all those who enjoy reading. It is new, unique, and an original story line.
I would give this book a nine and a half out of ten because I like the way the author was detailed about everything, the battles were amazing, and the story made you not want to put it down but it did leave a bit unanswered. I hope you read it.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2006-03-26
Finally, We get to go "Into The Labyrinth"
Wow! Into The Labyrinth was one heck of a book! An amazing entry into the Death Gate Extravaganza! Its only shortcoming is that it is the penultimate (next to last) book in the series! But that's beside the point...let's get to the plot of this amazing book...
"Labyrinth" starts out with a four chapter prologue of sorts with Xar in Abarrach. Xar is trying to find the secret to Necromancy, the art of raising the dead. He soon finds out about the presence of a Seventh Gate, the place where Samah sundered the world. Just as he finds out this news, he is alerted to the fact that some Patryns have just captured Samah and Zifnab, apparantly also looking for the secret of Necromancy. Xar goes and kills Samah, and then ressurects his body and presses it for information about the Seventh Gate. Unfortunatly, Xar ressurected the body too soon, it still carries some of the stubbornness of Samah to not tell Xar anything, thus the body won't talk. As Xar goes to interrogate Zifnab, Johnathon the Lazar comes and free's Samah's soul from the body, making Samah officially dead. As Xar runs to try to stop this, Zifnab escapes. Xar then appoints Marit (Haplo's former partner and lover in the Labyrinth) to murder Haplo. She leaves immediatly for Arianus.
On Arianus, Hugh the Hand has returned to the Brotherhood to see Chang. Hugh tells Chang that he has a contract to kill Haplo. He asks her advice and she gives him the Accursed Blade. The accursed blade is a magical Sartan weapon that transforms itself into whatever is best for the task it is up against. Hugh takes it and leaves.
On Drevlin, The leaders of each race enter the catacombes of the Factree to start the Kicksey-Winsey. The machine starts, and the islands slowly start to allign...
With all the ingredients of a great novel, the cake at the end is amazing, with twist after twist and shocker after shocker. This is one of the best in the series, and definitly worth getting.
As always..read the appendicies...they're important!
Score: 5 - Posted on 2005-07-29
The thin plot really starts to unravel in this book
First, I will tell you how to get the most enjoyment out of this series. Start with going to the library and renting all of these books. Do not buy them as they are not worth it. Then read books 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 without reading the footnotes or the appendixes. You have the option of reading books 2 and 5 if you are really enjoying the series, but they are only filler and do not even need to be skimmed. Finally, accept the fact that Weis and Hickman may only be one hit wonders and move on.
Second, I write reviews for those who seek good fantasy and not for the zealots who hang on every Weis and Hickman word. You would think from some of the reviews of this series that these books were greater than War and Peace and written by Bronte and Conrad. In reality, this series is not very good. I am not trying to trash Weis and Hickman, I found the Dragon Lance series to be extremely enjoyable and would give at least the first two series of that line four stars. This series deserves no more than 2 stars. The books are incomplete thoughts that may have been much better had the authors taken more time to flesh out the story. Beware of fantasy books that contain footnotes and appendixes. Usually, these are the telltale signs of poor writing. Having said that, I did manage to read most of these seven books and here are some thoughts.
Many reviewers have made a lot of the fact that Xar is actually tsar or czar. I fail to see the significance here. Xar is a ruler and a tsar is a ruler. So what? What I found to be much more interesting and ultimately distracting was the use, by the authors, of the word mensch. Mensch is a Hebrew word. It is not close to a Hebrew word, it is a Hebrew word. If you look it up, mensch means a person of integrity and honor. What are the authors trying to say here? That all people without ambition or power are full of integrity and honor. I read all seven books trying to understand the use of this word to no avail.
Not surprising considering the books are filled with errors and inconsistencies. Some of these errors and inconsistencies are no doubt addressed in the footnotes and appendixes, but it would take an additional seven books to address all the problems. I believe that most of these problems occurred because the authors did not take the time to complete their work. Perhaps they were pressured by their publisher.
Most of the characters are thinly veiled shadows of those characters from the Dragon Lance series. Only, these characters are not as interesting or as engaging. Part of the problem is that Weis and Hickman never determine where they want the story to go. They blur the line between good and evil, then they erase the line, then they re-draw the line in bold. In Dragon Lance, it was intriguing to see how the characters dealt with the discovery of the duality of their own nature. In this book it is just confusing.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2005-04-08
A true Fantasy Masterpeice
This review may be short but I hope it helps. Anyone who loved, liked, or enjoyed Lord Of the Rings or the Dragon Lance books will theroughly enjoy this book. I recommend it. It is full of wonderful characters and some humor even though this seris is mostly dark.
Score: 5
